Contributed by Angela Cleveland

The Olympics are almost here! Putting aside all of the commercial excitement, Vancouver will be welcoming some of the world’s strongest and most dedicated athletes. It takes persistence, hard work, and a commitment to their sport for the athletes to make it as far as the Olympic Games. In addition, the athletes must pay attention to the foods they are eating. Here are some tips for athletes or anyone wanting to increase their exercise and improve their eating habits (from http://ezinearticles.com):

- Eat a variety of meals to get a balanced intake of energy and nutrients. Your diet should include a lot of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables in order have a balance intake of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins, and water. Because you need more than 40 different nutrients to maintain your health and there is no single food that can supply all of the nutrients.

- Eat adequate calories that equal to your exercise. You must know how much calories your body needs, because calories replace the energy you have used in competition or exercise. So as a good athlete, you should match the calories intake to your exercise.

- Eat no new meal before a competition. Because new meals may not suitable for your digestion and can give you unwanted effect to your health.

- Don't eat high fiber foods before an exercise or a competition. High fiber foods like broccoli and cereal may cause your stomach pain during competition.

- Stay away from sugars and sweets before a competition. Because foods high in sugars can boost your energy fast, but they do not last for long and most foods like candy bars don't contain any of the other nutrients your body needs.

- Reduce eating high dietary fat foods. They are harder to digest and will make you feel tired if you eat too much.

- Try to eat fresh foods, because they are healthier and tastier. And if you cook the foods by yourself, you can also save on your budget.

- Drink a lot of water, your body needs water to keep hydrated because you will lose a lot of fluids during exercise.

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