Proper Nutrition for Athletes

Nutrition for AthletesProper nutrition is an essential part of living a healthy life; this is even truer when considering nutrition for athletes. Athletes who are more active or are engaged in a sport need to have a well-balanced diet. Including the proper nutrition that the body needs will help you stay healthy and energized. Today, obtaining proper nutrition for an athlete is not difficult to achieve; with the help of scientists and nutritionists, there is a wide variety of nutrition plans and nutrition programs to choose from. Without the adequate nutrition, athletes can develop various diseases, and also run the risk of poor performance on the field, court or athletic event.Why is proper nutrition for athletes important?The main reason why athletes should find a nutrition program is so that they can stay healthy and prevent injuries. Recent research reports that injuries are more prevalent during the last 20-30 minutes of a game; this is because during this time the body is more fatigued and the mind becomes less concentrated. A healthy diet can help athletes build endurance not only physically, but mentally as well. Staying focused and energized throughout a game or an event can help prevent injuries.Another important reason to obtain proper nutrition is to enhance your overall performance. Despite of all the training and skills received, the only way for an athlete to reach his or her full potential is by nourishing and fueling the body. By eating healthy meals full of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, athletes can provide their body with the adequate energy source to perform well.What should healthy nutrition for athletes include?Athletes should consider consuming a healthy diet that includes the following;Carbohydrates – Since they provide up to 50% of the energy source, carbohydrates should definitely be on top of the nutrition plan list. The more active a person is the more carbohydrates the body will use. Including proper amounts of carbohydrates in your diet will aid in your performance and strength.Water – As most know, water is necessary for life. Being well-hydrated is crucial for all human beings especially athletes. Becoming even slightly dehydrated can be extremely dangerous while you’re active. Water is needed to regulate your body temperature and protect your health.Fats – Like carbohydrates, fats are also a good source of energy. While fat is typically only used after one hour of performance, an adequate amount of fat should be included in an athlete’s diet. Lack of fat consumption can highly affect your physical activity.Protein – Once carbohydrates and fats have been used, the body will search for proteins as an alternative energy source. When extra protein is consumed, the body stores it as fat and uses it when energy is necessary.Vitamins & Minerals – Riboflavin, thiamin, and niacin are three important vitamins that should be included in an athlete’s nutritional regimen. These vitamins are required in order for the body to produce energy.How can you obtain the proper nutrition?Most people don’t have the time or patience to build their own nutrition plan. That is why special nutrition programs for athletes have been developed. These nutrition plans are made especially to help athletes improve their performance as well as their overall health. Athletes should always be careful to provide their body with the nutrients it needs to succeed.

Occupational Health – Workplace Health Management

Workplace Health Management (WHM) There are four key components of workplace health management:

Occupational Health and Safety

Workplace Health Promotion

Social and lifestyle determinants of health

Environmental Health Management
In the past policy was frequently driven solely by compliance with legislation. In the new approach to workplace health management, policy development is driven by both legislative requirements and by health targets set on a voluntary basis by the working community within each industry. In order to be effective Workplace Health Management needs to be based on knowledge, experience and practice accumulated in three disciplines: occupational health, workplace health promotion and environmental health. It is important to see WHM as a process not only for continuous improvement and health gain within the company, but also as framework for involvement between various agencies in the community. It offers a platform for co-operation between the local authorities and business leaders on community development through the improvement of public and environmental health.The Healthy Workplace setting – a cornerstone of the Community Action Plan.The Luxembourg Declaration of the European Union Network for Workplace Health Promotion defined WHP as the combined effort of employers, employees and society to improve the health and well-being of people at workThis can be achieved through a combination of:

Improving the work organization and the working environment

Promoting active participation of employees in health activities

Encouraging personal development
Workplace health promotion is seen in the EU network Luxembourg Declaration as a modern corporate strategy which aims at preventing ill-health at work and enhancing health promoting potential and well-being in the workforce. Documented benefits for workplace programs include decreased absenteeism, reduced cardiovascular risk, reduced health care claims, decreased staff turnover, decreased musculoskeletal injuries, increased productivity, increased organizational effectiveness and the potential of a return on investment.However, many of these improvements require the sustained involvement of employees, employers and society in the activities required to make a difference. This is achieved through the empowerment of employees enabling them to make decisions about their own health. Occupational Health Advisors (OHA) are well placed to carry out needs assessment for health promotion initiatives with the working populations they serve, to prioritize these initiatives alongside other occupational health and safety initiatives which may be underway, and to coordinate the activities at the enterprise level to ensure that initiatives which are planned are delivered. In the past occupational health services have been involved in the assessment of fitness to work and in assessing levels of disability for insurance purposes for many years.The concept of maintaining working ability, in the otherwise healthy working population, has been developed by some innovative occupational health services. In some cases these efforts have been developed in response to the growing challenge caused by the aging workforce and the ever-increasing cost of social security. OHA’s have often been at the forefront of these developments.There is a need to develop further the focus of all occupational health services to include efforts to maintain work ability and to prevent non-occupational workplace preventable conditions by interventions at the workplace. This will require some occupational health services to become more pro-actively involved in workplace health promotion, without reducing the attention paid to preventing occupational accidents and diseases. OHA’s, with their close contact with employees, sometimes over many years, are in a good position to plan, deliver and evaluate health promotion and maintenance of work ability interventions at the workplace.Health promotion at work has grown in importance over the last decade as employers and employees recognize the respective benefits. Working people spend about half of their non-sleeping day at work and this provides an ideal opportunity for employees to share and receive various health messages and for employers to create healthy working environments. The scope of health promotion depends upon the needs of each group.Some of the most common health promotion activities are smoking reducing activities, healthy nutrition or physical exercise programs, prevention and abatement of drug and alcohol abuse.However, health promotion may also be directed towards other social, cultural and environmental health determinants, if the people within the company consider that these factors are important for the improvement of their health, well-being and quality of life. In this case factors such as improving work organization, motivation, reducing stress and burnout, introducing flexible working hours, personal development plans and career enhancement may also help to contribute to overall health and well-being of the working community.The Healthy Community setting In addition to occupational health and workplace health promotion there is also another important aspect to Workplace Health Management. It is related to the impact that each company may have on the surrounding ambient environment, and through pollutants or products or services provided to others, its impact on distant environments. Remember how far the effects of the Chernobyl Nuclear accident in 1986 affected whole neighbouring countries.Although the environmental health impact of companies is controlled by different legislation to that which applies to Health and Safety at work, there is a strong relationship between safeguarding the working environment, improving work organization and working culture within the company, and its approach to environmental health management.Many leading companies already combine occupational health and safety with environmental health management to optimally use the available human resources within the company and to avoid duplication of effort. Occupational health nurses can make a contribution towards environmental health management, particularly in those companies that do not employ environmental health specialists.Coming up. Key steps in developing New Workplace Health Policies

What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate

The results of this past election proved once again that the Democrats had a golden opportunity to capitalize on the failings of the Trump Presidency but, fell short of a nation wide mandate. A mandate to seize the gauntlet of the progressive movement that Senator Sanders through down a little over four years ago. The opportunities were there from the very beginning even before this pandemic struck. In their failing to educate the public of the consequences of continued Congressional gridlock, conservatism, and what National Economic Reform’s Ten Articles of Confederation would do led to the results that are playing out today.. More Congressional gridlock, more conservatism and more suffering of millions of Americans are the direct consequences of the Democrats failure to communicate and educate the public. Educate the public that a progressive agenda is necessary to pull the United States out of this Pandemic, and restore this nations health and vitality.

It was the DNC’s intent in this election to only focus on the Trump Administration. They failed to grasp the urgency of the times. They also failed to communicate with the public about the dire conditions millions have been and still are facing even before the Pandemic. The billions of dollars funneled into campaign coffers should have been used to educate the voting public that creating a unified coalition would bring sweeping reforms that are so desperately needed. The reality of what transpired in a year and a half of political campaigning those billions of dollars only created more animosity and division polarizing one extreme over another.

One can remember back in 1992 Ross Perot used his own funds to go on national TV to educate the public on the dire ramifications of not addressing our national debt. That same approach should have been used during this election cycle. By using the medium of television to communicate and educate the public is the most effective way in communicating and educating the public. Had the Biden campaign and the DNC used their resources in this way the results we ae seeing today would have not created the potential for more gridlock in our government. The opportunity was there to educate the public of safety protocols during the siege of this pandemic and how National Economic Reform’s Ten Articles of Confederation provides the necessary progressive reforms that will propel the United States out of the abyss of debt and restore our economy. Restoring our economy so that every American will have the means and the availability of financial and economic security.

The failure of the Democratic party since 2016 has been recruiting a Presidential Candidate who many felt was questionable and more conservative signals that the results of today has not met with the desired results the Democratic party wanted. Then again? By not fully communicating and not educating the public on the merits of a unified progressive platform has left the United States transfixed in our greatest divides since the Civil War. This writers support of Senator Bernie Sanders is well documented. Since 2015 he has laid the groundwork for progressive reforms. He also has the foundations on which these reforms can deliver the goods as they say. But, what did the DNC do, they purposely went out of their way to engineer a candidate who was more in tune with the status-quo of the DNC. They failed to communicate to the public in educating all of us on the ways our lives would be better served with a progressive agenda that was the benchmark of Senators Sanders Presidential campaign and his Our Revolution movement. And this is way there is still really no progress in creating a less toxic environment in Washington and around the country.