About 10% of American citizens consistently eat their recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables, an alarming statistic that professionals say is a direct factor in the increase in diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. As America’s food has lost significant nutritional value, finding ways to eat healthier has become increasingly important.
Most commonly known as an important aspect of physical health, eating food with nutritional value positively impacts physical fitness and performance.
Especially important for athletes, ensuring a balanced diet is crucial for achieving successful progress
Sophomore Kassandra Kalmanides, a soccer and track athlete, states, “I learned the hard way that what I eat literally affects how I play.”
Kalmanddies expands on the importance of healthy food, adding that when she eats healthily, she notices immense improvement in her soccer performance.
Kalmandies hasn’t just seen improvement in her physical performance; she has also noticed that her academic performance tends to improve when she follows a healthy diet.
This is because eating healthy extends far beyond physical benefits. It is known that participating in a healthy diet opens the door to increased self-confidence. This is similar to physical exercise, which is also known to be just as effective at providing physical benefits as it is at delivering mental benefits
Miss Beth Cafferty, a Certified Health Coach and family and consumer science teacher, who, outside of school, is a National Academy of Sports Nutrition Certified Personal Trainer, states, “Teens who fill themselves with all junk will start to see that they have low energy and poor concentration.”
Cafferty adds that as a result of unhealthy eating habits, students will almost always be expected to perform poorly in almost all academic settings.
A lot of this performance can be linked to the lack of nutrients that these quick-energy food sources provide, leading to short-lived bursts of energy followed by fatigue that clouds performance.
Athletic Director Mr. Jeffrey Raucci states, “When you only eat short-energy carbs like Doritos, the energy that comes from it is sudden. Eating something like rice, beans, or vegetables is a longer-lasting carb that provides healthy energy.”
The food we put in our bodies sets the tone for how we function in our everyday lives. Attempting to make this change is already a step in the right direction, even if it’s not immediate.
Because, as Cafferty states, “It’s not all or nothing, you don’t have to become a star eater in one day, it’s baby steps.”
