An event titled 'Career Steps in Sports Dietetics' was organized by the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Üsküdar University. Dr. Dyt. Cenk Özyılmaz participated as a guest in the online event. Dr. Dyt. Cenk Özyılmaz spoke about how athletes should plan their menus and issues that need attention in sports dietetics.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Müge Arslan, Head of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, moderated the online event.
"An athlete's dietitian needs to be well-equipped"
Emphasizing that an experienced sports dietitian must possess the necessary knowledge, skills, and expertise, Dr. Dyt. Cenk Özyılmaz stated: "I had to start somewhere, and I always had the idea of doing something related to sports nutrition. During this process, as I hadn't achieved academic saturation, I wanted to start a master's degree. The field I wanted was not in the curriculum, and my professors said, 'What can you do in this field? Tell us, and we will proceed accordingly.' For example, I was presenting the mother-child nutrition course as 'athlete mother.' Due to the duties and responsibilities of a sports dietitian, they must be well-equipped not only with nutrition principles but also with basic training principles, exercise physiology, biochemistry, and adaptations to training for different sports branches. Accordingly, experienced sports dietitians need to possess the knowledge, skills, and expertise required to help athletes and teams achieve their performance-related goals individually."
"It is necessary to develop resources to support educational activities"
Highlighting the importance of managing budgets for the procurement and distribution of nutritional supplements, Dr. Dyt. Cenk Özyılmaz said: "It is necessary to implement nutrition and diet practices for the performance and health of athletes, provide counseling and education to athletes when needed, determine nutritional status, and analyze and evaluate body composition and energy balance. After this comes nutrition education. Athletes and teams need to be educated on nutrition, and additionally, resources to support educational activities need to be developed. It is necessary to develop and manage athlete menu planning and food service. Managing budgets for the procurement and distribution of nutritional supplements is also very important."
"Athletes should be informed about lean body mass"
Özyılmaz, stating that athletes should be informed about lean body mass, said: "Athletes should be informed about lean body mass. If we were to list the most commonly used body measurements for athletes, these would be: Anthropometric measurements (height, length, diameter, circumference, weight), Skinfold measurements (skin fold thickness measurement), and finally Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA)."
Sharing the menu example of the A National Team with the students, Dr. Dyt. Cenk Özyılmaz emphasized the need to develop and manage athlete menu planning and food service.