Affect of Exercise and Diet on Youth Fiitness - Research Paper Example

ducators, scholars, trainers and health care professionals emphasize the importance of physical activity and appropriate diet for progressively achieving optimal physical development, health and fitness outcomes particularly for growing children aged 5 to 17 years. Children and adolescents need to develop different basic skills to become good athletes, before training in a particular sport. This is known as multilateral development, “and it is one of the most important training principles for children and youth” (Bompa, 2000, p.3). Basic physical skills include running, jumping, throwing, catching, tumbling and balancing, and these contribute to children achieving physical coordination.

Thesis Statement: The purpose of this research paper is to investigate youth fitness and physical development based on diet and physical activity. The promotion of multilateral physical development of children enhancing biomotor abilities such as strength, power, endurance, speed, flexibility, coordination and agility will be examined. Nutrition is defined as as “the total of the processes of ingestion, digestion, absorption, and metabolism of food and the subsequent assimilation of nutrient materials into the tissues” (Jeukendrup & Gleeson, 2010, p.2). To ensure that children and young people have optimal reserves of energy, a balanced diet that provides nutrients from all the food groups is essential.

“Food provides nutrients that have one or more physiological or biochemical functions in the body” (Jeukendrup & Gleeson, 2010, p. 2). The six different categories of nutrients are: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and water. Among these, the macronutrients are: carbohydrate, fat, protein and water, present in comparatively large amounts of more than a few grams in the human diet; while the micronutrients are: minerals and trace elements, of which 1 gram or less is required per day.

The three main functions of nutrients can be classified as: the