Cardwell - Gold Medal Nutrition

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cardwell, Glenn, 1956-

Gold medal nutrition / Glenn Cardwell. -- 5th ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4504-1120-2 (soft cover) -- ISBN 1-4504-1120-7 (soft cover)

1. Athletes--Nutrition. I. Title.

TX361.A8C35 2012

613.2024796--dc23

2012002719

ISBN-10: 1-4504-1120-7 (print)

ISBN-13: 978-1-4504-1120-2 (print)

Copyright 2012, 2006, 2004, 2003, 1999, 1996 by Glenn Cardwell

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This edition is dedicated to Sports Dietitians Australia, the dietitians who created the organisation in 1996, and the team that keeps it a leading professional sports nutrition body today.

Glenn and I live on opposite sides of a big country, so we sadly dont get to see each other that often. Recently, however, we got together to celebrate a happy occasion: the 15th anniversary of the creation of Sports Dietitians Australia, the professional body to which this book is dedicated. It can be quite jarring to look back over old photos of yourself. The clothes! The hair! (Except for Glenn, of course.) What were we thinking?

Gold Medal Nutrition is a testament to our changes in thinking about sports nutrition. The various editions track our progress in understanding the ways that nutrition can help an athlete achieve goals in training and competition. Like previous editions, the fifth edition provides the latest evidence-based information on eating for your best outcome in sport. Its all delivered in Glenns expert style, which means that complicated stuff becomes understandable, even the most mundane stuff becomes memorable, and the factual stuff becomes practical to achieve.

I have always learned new things by reading Gold Medal Nutrition. Each successive edition has collated new or updated information, demonstrating the exciting and evolving nature of the science of sports nutrition. Who would have thought at the time of the fourth edition that we would be talking about beetroot juice or worrying about athletes who trained indoors? Yet nitrate supplementation and vitamin D status are now the hottest of topics at conferences and sports institutes.

Of course, data are only as good as the practice they allow or inspire. Here is where Gold Medal Nutrition is at its best. Glenn presents facts on sports nutrition with the insight of someone who has worked at the coalface of elite sport, understood the passion of the weekend warrior and been blessed with the skills of an entertainer. The book is filled with information that helps athletes translate concepts into activities and convert present eating patterns into better choices. I particularly enjoy the Final Score element. After you take the journey through the narrative and fascinating sidebars of each chapter, it is good to be able to cut straight to the bottom line and to check off your understanding.

It has been exciting to be part of the journey of sports nutrition and to see it has grown both in sophistication and recognition. Gold Medal Nutrition has played a role in this journey, and I hope to see the number of editions continue into double figures!

Louise Burke, OAM, PhD, APD Fellow of SDA Head of Sports Nutrition for Australian Institute of Sport

Back in the early 1980s, a colleague of mine suggested we run a marathon. Purchasing the only two books we could find on eating and sport, we set about learning about the best nutrition to complete the distance. They told us that sports drinks were of little value, that fit people could safely lose 4 to 5 per cent of their body weight through sweating before their performance is affected and that athletes probably need less protein than sedentary people because they use protein more efficiently. These books were based on the very little research available at the time. Today, we know differently. There is a huge foundation of research on nutrition and hydration for sports performance, so our advice has greatly improved, yet there is so much more to learn. Now, virtually all elite athletes use the services and advice of sports dietitians and adhere to the nutrition guidelines in this book. Guidelines are the best anyone can offer in a book because athletes differ greatly. Some sweat heavily, whereas others seem to lose very little sweat; as a result, fluid intake advice is going to be different for different athletes. Some will respond to a creatine supplement; others wont. Specific monitoring by a sports dietitian will be invaluable, as will personal experimentation within the guidelines at training sessions.