Before I get into the deep world of athlete/sport nutrition a couple things need to be known about athletes that needs to be understood.  Being an athlete is hard, its hard on your physical health, mental health, and your emotional health. You absolutely have to understand that every athlete is different across the face of the planet. Yes, you may be similar to other athletes or even teammates, but you are not the same. Everyone's shape, sizes, genders, genetic makeup, mobilities, muscles, brain function, body function, and so many other things are different. That’s why it’s so important to discover who YOU are as an athlete and what YOU need to do to be the best athlete you can.

As athletes all know their nutrition is one of the most important parts of their craft. The foods you eat all play a role in how you feel and perform for a game or even practice. We’ve all had the point in time when your muscles and mind and body feel super weak, almost like the static on a tv. It is a terrible feeling that no matter what you do you can't get the feeling and or thought out of your head. You are stuck competing at that level, and it really plays a role on your performance. It all breaks down to what you are eating and doing to fuel your body. As an old coach once told me “Your body is a furnace, it’ll burn whatever you put in, but it’s up to you to find the fuel that feeds you right”. Below are the basic but most important factors and tips of athlete nutrition. This article is made for all athletes throughout the NCAA, but before we get started you need to understand the differences through the divisions and where to start depending on what division you’re in.

Understanding Differences Between Divisions

Coming into college many athletes fail to realize the differences between divisions and schools at the higher levels. The nutrition aspects between D1 and D3 are not even close to comparison for the athletes that compete. Tracy Stephen, an Associate Athletic Trainer here at North Central College says it best “College athletic nutrition greatly varies between divisions/levels of play due to the resources that they have available. At a big D1 institution they typically have nutritionists and dedicated food services for athletes setting those athletes up for successful food intake to perform at their best. Lower division school just don’t have the same resources available (money) to provide those to their student athletes, which in turn requires the individual student athlete or unqualified coaches or staff to provide the appropriate food offerings. This causes many student athletes to under fuel for their bodies to perform at the highest level of their ability.” Many D1 schools have “fueling stations” available in the athletic parts of the school. These stations have all the meals, snacks, and supplements always available for free for the athletes. These athletes get the best nutrition possible without having to do it themselves. Back in 2014, the NCAA allowed all D1 athletes to have Unlimited Snacks and Meals. At the D3 or even smaller levels, the most they have is the college dining hall. Athletes at these levels have to do the research themselves to get the proper nutrition they need to compete.

Getting the Proper Nutritional Information

In an athlete’s everyday world, it is hard to take the proper time out of their day to do the research they need.  The best athletes, however, find the time out of their day to do the research they need. Over time in Tracy’s career she has noticed things like this, “From my experience the knowledge of college students’ athletes on how to fuel their body and use their nutrition to their advantage is lacking. They don’t have the most current up to date information on what type of food sources will provide the desired outcome. They see their fellow student athlete be successful eating a certain way and will emulate that for their own nutrition which is not often the best. An example is that many teams and sports are cutting out protein and “carbo loading” before big event efforts; this type of nutritional timing has been in recent years discouraged as it doesn’t take into account how the body uses food for fuel in the athletic event.” There are many simple ways for athletes to find out the information they need. Thankfully, we have this great thing called Google.

Getting Started as an Athlete Caring About Nutrition

There are many websites and specialists out there that all provide information on nutrition. The hard part is finding where to start. As talked about earlier, athletes just don’t have enough time to find the information. To find valid, true answers and options it takes hours to find. Below are the three best sources for athlete nutrition in my opinion.

1. The Student Athlete Nutrition website was created for the everyday college athlete who needs help with their nutrition. It was created by two former female student athletes who are now dieticians. Their website is simple and straight forward with the facts these athletes need. They also have free e-guides that walk athletes through what they need to do.  

2. Ohio State's Athlete Nutrition Manual  is one of the greatest sources for an athlete learning about nutrition. It has just about every piece of information one will need to take their nutrition to the next level. It has everything from vitamins, foods, supplements, pre-event snacks, grocery shopping, etc. In my opinion, this manual is the greatest tool for an athlete wanting to learn about nutrition.

3. Your Workout Book  is a great source for athletes to learn 12 very important facts of nutrition. This one is best for the people who are just starting off and are trying to get an overview of what the nutrition process should look like.