Bring Home the Bacon

Bring Home

Steering athletes in a different nutritional direction to improve the aspects of their lives. Stop stigmas and start change.

By Jade Cubbin

Nutrition is an important aspect of an athlete’s career and lifestyle. Playing sports can be very physically demanding and athletes tend to restrict their intake of food with the misconception that it’s healthier. It’s quite the opposite. Diet culture has been looked upon positively for many years. The health of an athlete was determined on the appearance of their body. This creates a community that relies on perfection and control over your caloric intake. Bodies are built to let us know when we need water, rest, and food. When you constantly ignore these signs, you stop hearing them. Everyone’s needs and performance levels differ so it’s not sustainable to hold the same athletic standards for everyone. Although it’s important to eat ‘healthy”, dietitians are advising athletes not to restrict food intake. It’s better to maintain a healthy relationship with food, rather than regulating to have an “athletic body”.

“Respond to when you’re feeling hungry and respond when you’re feeling full. Think less about specific number of calories or grams of nutrients and think more about if you’ve been eating enough, responding to your hunger, stopping when you’re full, because if the answers yes then there’s not a need to track all of those calories and all of those numbers.” says Kamran Khan, a local Austin dietitian nutritionist. Khan explains the ideal way to treat your body and manage your nutrition as an athlete. Tracking numbers can become obsessive and result in disordered eating or body image distress.

There are no good or bad foods, allowing yourself access to a healthy relationship with all foods is the most important thing for athletic nutrition.

- Kamran Khan, Dietitian

Diets can be unhealthy and inaccurate because nutritional needs vary so much between each person. One diet doesn’t fit all. This is why going on a diet is not always good for you. Just because a specific diet was good for someone else, that does not guarantee it will be good for everyone. “There’s a huge variety in people’s needs nutritionally. A super small gymnast will need a lot of different foods and quantities of foods than a lineman on a football team. Different athletes have such different needs, not only different based off of their sport, but also the individual. There’s so much variety that goes into it and there’s not one solid approach for anybody.” Khan says.

Many athletes are also enrolled in school. This adds another layer of stress around getting assignments in on time and balancing all necessary responsibilities. This can have a huge strain on mental health for athletes. “Nutrition is more mental health and about the relationship you have with food and your body then it is with the actual food that you are eating. I’d say food is more mental health than anything.” Khan says. If you control your food intake so much to the point where it’s all you think about, the other important

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the Bacon

Taken In Italy on October 3rd 2017. Curtesy of Jade Cubbin.

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Taken in Downtown Berkely on July 12th 2021. Curtesy of Jade Cubbin.

It’s a lot to manage as a student athlete but I think its all worth it to have that experience - Christain Vazquez, Coach

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responsibilities in your life will be affected. Athletes could stop being as social and slack in school. While these two things aren’t necessarily related to sports, eventually the buildup of stress will affect the athletes performance. In order to keep up with your sport, it’s important to stay on top of everything else.

Christian Vazquez is a former coach and athlete. He played soccer in college and coached women’s volleyball, so he has lots of experience about dealing with the responsibilities of an athlete and managing them efficiently. He met with a nutritionist while playing soccer to make sure he was staying healthy. It can get stressful during the school year while also playing a demanding sport. He recommends utilizing your tools as a student; tutoring, office hours, and communication with professors. “Those resources will help you prioritize what’s important and what you need to do. Just like you find time for sports, you should also block out time for homework. It’s a lot to manage as a student athlete but I think its all worth it to have that experience.” Vazquez says. If an athlete dealing with school stress starts worrying about their diet, mental health can be effected and the consequences will catch up. Constantly tracking what you eat takes your focus off of more important priorities. If an athlete is restricting their food for other reasons it’s still important to give yourself a break. “It’s important, within moderation, to have your cheat days with food. Giving yourself a break will improve your mental health.” Vazquez says.

Although athletes shouldn’t make their main focus nutrition, it’s still important to make sure you’re eating enough to support the energy you are using as an athlete. “If you’re doing more activity, you should be eating more to support that use of energy.” Khan says. What each athlete is putting in their body depends on their specific needs, but “There are no good or bad foods, allowing yourself access to a healthy relationship with all foods is the most important thing for athletic nutrition.”Khan says.

Taken in Austin TX on March 26th 2022 at Two Hands restaurant. Curtesy of Jade Cubbin.

Graphic by Jade Cubbin

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