This was the message from healthy lifestyle advocate and GraceKennedy food and nutrition consultant, Dr Heather Little-White, while addressing the recent weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Spanish Town at the Hilton Kingston Hotel.
Dr Little-White is well known for her involvement with the nutrition programme of the Reggae Boyz supported by Grace, particularly on their Road to France in 1998.
She lauded former technical director Rene Simoes who, she said, constantly emphasised the link between proper nutrition and athletic performance.
STRONG VISION
"This vision was shared by Grace and became one of the major platforms in the football development programme, with the company providing food for nutritious meals, as well as nutrition guidance, to place Jamaica firmly on the path to its historic qualification for the World Cup in France in 1998. I can't think of a more practical case, to demonstrate the importance of good nutrition in sports," said the nutrition expert.
According to Dr Little-White, the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission's move to educate athletes against the use of performance-enhancing substances has been embraced in many quarters.
"Education in proper nutrition for our young athletes and those taking care of their future at the international level, will inculcate a culture of integrity to maintain Jamaica's present standards of sensible and ethical behaviour with respect to performance-enhancing drugs," she added.
In endorsing the commission's tag line 'You don't have to dope to cope', Dr Little-White pointed out that a diet with adequate amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals and natural unprocessed food wherever possible, should be maintained in the everyday life of the athlete.
"A sedentary lifestyle and a poor diet have no place in sports," stated the Grace spokesperson on food and nutrition. "For that matter, it should have no place in the life of anyone who is concerned about personal health, for the simple reason that the cost of poor health is high - at the individual as well as the national level," she added.