✓ Healthy nutrition for young sportsmen, tips

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It is important that children and and adults practice one sport, in order to have a good quality of life, to improve the mood and the general well-being of the organism.

According to a recent study by the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, in the USA, even those who start exercising at the age of 50 improve their life expectancy.

So how can the youngest athletes (and young athletes) reconcile good performance in sport with health and well-being in the best possible way?

Romina Cervigni, biologist, nutritionist, scientific director of the Valter Longo Onlus Foundation, and Cristian Petri, official nutritionist of ACF Fiorentina, gave birth to an interesting debate during the digital Talk entitled Nutrition, Sport and Sustainable Future: here's how to put the turbo to the performances of children and future athletes, organized by Valter Longo Onlus Foundation, with the participation of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Foundation.

Here are five tips developed by the two nutritionists to help young sportsmen maintain ahealthy nutrition.

Read also: 10 tips for a healthy and green diet for the whole family

Young sportsmen, 5 tips for healthy eating

Here are five important tips for healthy nutrition and a correct lifestyle for young athletes:

Choose complex and low-glycemic carbohydrates, like cereals e pseudocereals, for example amaranth, quinoa and buckwheat, vegetables e Whole grains;
Red light for 4 P.: Pasta, Bread, Pizza, Potatoes - as very starchy foods - and for sugar - among the special "guarded" fruit juices, snacks, sugary drinks carbonated. Limiting does not mean avoiding, so the right quantities are accepted by minimizing snacks and sugary drinks. Even a dessert every now and then is fine, especially the slightly healthier ones based on fruit or dark chocolate.
Watch out for fats: minimize saturated, hydrogenated and trans fats present in snacks and industrially packaged and processed products;
Eat more, not less, but better: for children in general, and especially for those with excess weight, it is recommended to replace a part of foods containing high amounts of starch - such as pasta, bread, rice or potatoes -, with vegetables e vegetable that are rich in fiber and therefore they give more sense of satiety. Take, for example, 50-60 grams of these foods every day and replace them with 100 or more grams of carrots, broccoli, chickpeas or beans, etc.
Eat within 12 hoursfor example, having breakfast at 8 am and finishing dinner by 20 pm. This is especially important for overweight and obese children. Small variations, for example 11 or 13 hours, are tolerated if the weight is normal.

Read also: Childhood obesity: what are we doing wrong? The role of parents

Proper nutrition, because it is important

According to Cristian Petri, an incorrect diet can compromise sports performance. «There are no diets or miracle foods capable of transforming a mediocre player into a champion, but a champion could play like a mediocre if the power fails", he has declared.

Exercise, longevity and health are key to slowing aging and staying fit for as long as possible. In fact, in combination with physical exercise proper nutrition can help certain tissues heal and regenerate.

Finally, Romina Cervigni stated that "our diet (the longevity diet of the Valter Longo Foundation) reduces the intake of proteins of animal origin, favoring vegetable protein sources, but with an important recommendation for those who train: pay attention not only to the type of food you eat, but also to the time in which it is consumed, before or after training, without forgetting to let at least twelve hours pass between dinner and breakfast the next day ".

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