Paper Topic Ideas

For my paper topic I decided to go with how a specific fad diet affects the performance of an athlete. This topic interests me greatly because I am currently a student athlete and I also like to focus on what foods I put into my body. All student athletes might not be the same, but certain foods will affect the way athletes perform. With this theme I plan to isolate a specific fad diet and show how it affects the performance of an athlete. While healthy eating can be key to sustaining good health and boost performance fad diets are not always the most beneficial for athletes. At this time I am still uncertain on which fad diet I want to isolate. Potential fad diets that I am considering are Atkins, Paleo, or gluten free. I plan on looking at the negative side affects that that specific diet has on athlete performance. Others might argue that the diets might positively aid the athletes or not affect them at all. Researching the diet will show what type of foods specifically affects certain aspects of an athlete’s performance. I hope to find multiple examples to reference in my paper that supports my argument. Taking the gluten free diet into consideration, many people would not suggest it for athletes. Athletes need an adequate amount of carbohydrates for energy. If gluten is eliminated from an athlete’s diet they might not be able to correctly refuel or will become deficient in some important nutrients. A gluten free diet is not meant for everyone. Before it became a fad diet its main purpose was to help people who could not tolerate gluten. Now some believe that such diets like the gluten free diet can help boost an athlete’s performance. They think that if the athletes take foods that are high glycemic, refined or processed carbohydrates as a recovery food. By doing this paper I hope that I will learn to understand what that correct thing to eat is to be able to perform my best when I am on the court with out cheating corners. All athletes can benefit from eating the right foods and staying away from fad diets unless they need to medically.