One reason for this attitude is for sure that we all know we should eat healthy and well balanced – athlete or not. Every nutrition guide tells us exactly this. Well, sweets are not considered healthy foods. So here’s a good argument as to why athletes should avoid a cookie. Furthermore, we know that a healthy body is very important for athletes….everything around an athlete should be healthy, no? And then there’s the story about avoiding high-calorie, high-fat foods for a healthy weight. That’s, again, sweets (besides a few other foods, of course). It can only seem logical that athletes need to avoid a cookie.
But let us now take a look at the food guide pyramids and recommendations of various dietetic associations. Do they say: no sweets? No cookies? Actually, no….dietetic associations suggest a minimal consumption of sweets. It’s usually the top of the pyramid, representing only very small servings of sweets.
Why do athletes, then, have to avoid sweets?