Building a diet plan Quiz

1. If you train hard, you can eat all the bad foods you like and yet stay healthy
o False
2. The calories in sugar are called ‘empty’ because don’t provide you with any nutrients

o True
3. Your vitality depends upon a careful balance of at least:

o 50 nutrients
4. Which of the following is an essential fat?

o Linoleic acid
5. Before foods can give you energy and stamina, hundreds of chemical reactions must take
place, involving:

o 28 vitamins and minerals

6. If you want to eat healthier, try NOT to:

o Eat more processed meat such as sausages

7. Which of the following is not a C.R.A.P. food?

o Complex carbohydrates
8. Your diet won’t affect your athletic performance

o False
9. All athletes should aim to consume the same amount of protein

o False
10. Energy availability is:

o Dietary intake minus energy expended during exercise

11. If you significantly reduce your total caloric intake during hard periods of training, you
will:

o Increase your risk of injury

12. You can calculate how many calories you need daily from your body weight and physical
activity
 o True
13. The number of calories you burn at rest to keep your heart beating and lungs breathing is
called:

o BMR
14. To estimate your basal metabolic rate, you can multiply your body weight in kilograms
by:

o 22 calories if you are female and 24 calories if you are male

15. The number of calories you burn during a workout isn’t connected to your body weight

o False
16. To calculate your daily caloric needs you need to:

o Multiply your BMR by your physical activity level

17. If you eat more calories than needed, you will:

o Gain weight
18. BMR calculations take into account your body weight and gender

o True
19. The International Olympic Committee is not competent to provide nutritional guidance
for athletes

o False
20. A 73 kg athlete would expend approximately how many calories per hour of swimming?

o 423
21. A 91 kg footballer would expend approximately how many calories in the first half of the
match? (Hint: half a match is 45 minutes, which equals to 0.75 hours)

o 500
22. The basal metabolic rate of a 58 kg female athlete is approximately:

o 1,276
23. The physical activity level quotient for an athlete that trains intensively every day is:

o 1.7
24. The daily caloric needs for a male sprinter that weighs 78kg and trains hard from Monday
to Sunday is:

o 3,182
Analysing food journals Quiz
1. The most accurate method to record your client’s dietary intake is:
o A daily food diary
2. A 24-hour food recall is the most common technique for assessing food intake

o True
3. If you decide to use the 24-hour food recall method to monitor your client’s
carb loading diet, you should obtain several 24-hour recalls within a week

o True
4. The benefit of a food frequency questionnaire is that it itemises the intake on
a specific day

o False
5. A 7-day food diary could be a deceiving method as it includes what you eat
and drink over the weekend

o False
6. The maximum recommended amount of caffeine is 300mg per day, which is
about 6 cups of tea

o True
7. The Eat Well Plate is a pictorial representation of food guidelines for the
general public and not necessarily applicable to athletes

o True
8. The Training Food Pyramid is appropriate for clients who exercise at least:

o 5 hours a week
9. During a power and strength training session:

o Water is preferred over sports drinks

10.Most carbohydrates in a training diet should ideally come from:

o Wholegrain foods, legumes and potatoes

11.The oils found in nuts, seeds and coconut oil may improve endurance

o True
12.If you are on a training diet, you should have plenty of vegetables, ideally:
 o 3 to 5 portions daily
13.In a training diet, a portion of fruit is about the size of 2 tennis balls

o False
14.In a training diet, the “fats and seeds” group includes fat from dairy and meat

o False
15.If you exercise every day, 2 medium cups of milk and 2 small pots of yogurt
would help meet your calcium requirements

o True
16.Beans, lentils, dairy and protein shakes should be counted towards your daily
protein target

o True
17.Sports drinks and energy bars don’t count as optional calories in the Training
Food Pyramid

o False
18.If you train daily, you should drink 1 or 2 litres of fluids a day and add at
least:

o 400ml per hour of exercise

How the body stores fuel and fat Quiz
1. On average, 1 gram of carbohydrate has:
o 4 calories

 On average, a 70 kg healthy male stores about how many calories in their muscles?
 350
 1,200

 24,000

 0

 The sum of all of these numbers

If you look at the bottom row of the Fuel Type and Energy Availability Table, you will see the
calorie values for each type of fuel stored in muscle, as follows: Glycogen 1,200 calories; Fat
350 calories; Protein 24,000 calories. So the total calories from all three fuel sources (1,200 350
24,000 = 25,500) is the approximate amount of calories stored in the muscles of a 70 kg average
male.

 Fat is the most concentrated form of energy, providing the body with:
 More than twice the calories in carbohydrate or protein

 100 grams of beef mince has 332 calories and contains 30 grams of fat, which means that:
 270 calories come from fat

 Steamed cod fish typically provides more protein and less fat than beef mince
 True

 The glycogen storage capacity in an athlete can amount to:

 400 grams in muscles and 100 grams in the liver

 Glycogen in the liver helps maintain your blood glucose levels during prolonged exercise
 True

 If you build more muscle, it doesn’t mean that you can store more glycogen
 False
 Low-carb diets make you lose a lot of water weight in the first few days because of glycogen
storage depletion
 True

 The body stores glucose rather than glycogen in muscles

 False

 Small amounts of glucose are present in the blood and brain to keep you functioning
 True

 Around 300 to 400 grams of fat is stored in your muscles

Incorrect
 True

 On average, a 70kg healthy male stores about how many calories of glycogen in their body?
 1,600

 A female with a body fat percentage of 21% to 24% is considered:

 Fit

 A male with a body fat percentage of over 25% is considered obese

 True

 The body fat percentage of a male elite runner is typically about 8 to 18%
 False

 A typical professional footballer has about 8 to 18% body fat

 True

 During exercise, you can’t get fuel from the protein in your muscles
 False

 There’s limitless supply of glycogen in the body

 False

 If you cycle fast for about 4 hours, your body won’t absorb more than 60g of carbs per hour
 False

 Tuna has more Omega 3 than salmon

 False
 Flaxseed oil has less Omega 3 than cod liver oil
 False

 Carbohydrate requirements are now expressed as a percentage of your total caloric intake
(rather than grams per kilogram of body weight)
 False

 The amount of carbohydrates that you need is based exclusively on your body size
 False

 Carbs are stored as glycogen in the body but released and used as glucose
 True

 In events of about 1 hour, a carbohydrate mouth rinse improves performance, even when you
don’t swallow it
 True

 An untrained person at the start of an exercise programme needs more protein than a
sedentary person
 True

 You can enhance your performance by eating 1 to 4 grams of carbs per kilogram of body
weight:
 Between 1 and 4 hours before exercise

 An office worker that doesn’t do any exercise other than a couple of football matches a
month needs around:
 0.75 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily

 If you want to gain muscle, it’s recommended that you eat about:
 20 to 25 grams of protein immediately after a workout

 Eating more protein than needed leads to additional muscle growth

 False

 Eating significantly more protein than you need can lead to fat gain
 True

 If you eat a combination of carbs and protein after training you promote muscle building
 True
 The recommended percentage of body fat for health is 5 % for men and 10% for women
Incorrect
 False

 Omega 3 is particularly beneficial for athletes because it:

 Improves strength and performance

 If you are a regular exerciser, your dietary fat intake should be around 20 to 35% of your
daily calories
 True

 Which of the following is NOT a source of Omega 3:

 Apples

 Severe dehydration won’t disturb your athletic performance

 False

 The sodium in sports drinks helps you retain water to prevent dehydration
 True

 After exercise, you should always have sports drinks to replace water and sodium losses
 False

 Intensive exercise increases your need for vitamins and minerals, in particular calcium, iron
and vitamin D
 True
Carb loading strategies for peak
performance Quiz
1. Saying “low GI” or “low carb” is the same thing
o False
2. Your client’s ideal carbohydrate intake for their training volume is 420 to 490 grams. This
requirement would be met by eating 420 to 490 grams of bread.

o False
3. Lactose is a protein and not a carbohydrate

o False
4. Glucose and fructose are complex carbohydrates

o False
5. Dietary fibre is a simple carbohydrate

o False
6. The faster a carbohydrate is absorbed, the faster it can help with your training and
recovery

o True
7. Wholegrains, cereals and potatoes are complex carbohydrates, whereas fruit sugar and
honey are simple carbohydrates

o True
8. Glucose polymers and maltodextrin are typical ingredients in sports drinks

o True
9. Corn flakes have a lower GI than table sugar

o False
10. A low GI diet may help you lose weight because it:

o Increases your satiety

11. Which of the following foods has a low GI?
 o Beans
12. Which of the following foods doesn’t have a low GI?

o White rice
13. High GI foods eaten 2 to 4 hours before a marathon may improve endurance and delay
fatigue

o False
14. If you train really hard for more than 4 hours daily, your carbohydrate requirement is
about:

o 10 to 12 grams per kilogram of body weight

15. The bigger your muscles, the bigger your glycogen storage capacity

o True
16. If you reduce your training volume, you won’t need to eat as many carbohydrates to fuel
muscles

o True
17. If you train every day, you should eat a low carb diet to recover glycogen stores

o False
18. If you exercise with low muscle glycogen stores, you force your muscles to use fat as a
fuel

o True
19. Carb loading methods aren’t appropriate for long distance triathlons

o False
20. Exercise tapering and rest before a competition will negatively affect your performance

o False
21. The goal of a carb loading method is to top up your body’s glycogen stores before a
competition so you can last longer

o True
22. It’s recommended to start a carb loading diet:
 o 7 days before the event
23. Carb loading can produce fat gain of about 1 to 2 kg

o False
24. The days before any competition, you should increase fibre intake and avoid compact
carbs

o False
25. Carb loading is unlikely to benefit you if the competition lasts less than:

o 90 minutes
26. When carb loading, it’s best to eat after a taper training session - that’s when your
muscles are primed to absorb more glycogen

o True
27. A carb loading diet can extend your time before exhaustion by 20%

o True
28. Carb loading methods are mainly used before events such as:

o Marathons
29. A 65 kg female swimmer that trains heavily for about 5 hours every day, needs to refuel
with how much carbohydrate?

o 650 to 780 grams daily

30. How much carbohydrate does a 76 kg male footballer need the day before a match for his
carb loading plan to work?

o 608 to 760 grams

31. How much carbohydrate does a 57 kg female runner need on the 4th day before the race
for her carb loading plan to work?

o 285 to 399 grams

32. Which of the following isn’t a low GI starchy vegetable?

o Potato
33. Apples have a lower GI value than watermelons

o True
Fuelling muscles before, during and after
exercise Quiz
1. It’s a bad idea to have some banana in between sets when you’re playing a long tennis
match
o False
2. Eating between workouts isn’t necessary if you have 2 or more training sessions
separated by breaks

o False
3. Carbohydrates eaten between workouts should be low GI

o True
4. Which of the following is NOT ideal 2 to 4 hours before your first training session of the
day?

o Sports drink
5. Which of the following is NOT ideal 1 to 2 hours before exercise?

o Chicken burger with chips

6. Ideally you should eat between 2 and 4 hours before training to allow your stomach to
settle

o True
7. The closer you are to the start of your training session, the bigger your meal should be

o False
8. 200 to 300 grams of carbohydrate about 3 hours before exercise helps you exercise 9 %
longer

o True
9. High GI is better than low GI for your pre-exercise meal

o False
10. Your pre-exercise meal would ideally have 2.5 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of
body weight
 o True
11. For most activities lasting less than 45 minutes to 1 hour, drinking carbohydrate
containing sports drinks is necessary

o False
12. A drink containing both protein and carbohydrate during exercise improves endurance to
a greater extent than carbohydrate alone

o True
13. The best strategy is to begin consuming carbohydrate soon before the start of a workout,
ideally around 30 minutes prior

o False
14. For exercise longer than 1 hour, the ideal intake is between 30 and 60 g of carbohydrate
per hour

o True
15. “Hitting the wall” can happen after 2 to 3 hours of continuous exercise without
consuming carbohydrate

o True
16. High GI carbs, such as sports drinks, are generally better than low GI during a workout
lasting over 1 hour

o True
17. After prolonged and exhaustive exercise, such as a marathon, it may take up to 7 days to
refill glycogen stores

o True
18. It takes an elite athlete longer to replace their glycogen stores than a beginner

o False
19. An appropriate recovery meal should include 4 grams of carbs for every gram of protein

o True
20. It’s recommended to eat 4 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight during the
2-hour post-exercise window

o False
21. If you exercise daily, low GI recovery meals are better than high GI to enhance your
performance during the subsequent workout

o True
22. If you have milk after resistance training, you’re likely to gain more muscle than if
having a soy drink

o True
23. When you have several training sessions a day, your carbohydrates should be distributed
between 4 and 6 small meals rather than eaten all at once

o True
24. How much carbohydrate does a 72 kg cyclist need 4 to 2 hours before competing?

o 180 grams
25. An 82 kg triathlete should each how much carbohydrate within 2 hours after competing?

o 82 grams
Muscle building and weight control Quiz
1. Active exercisers need to eat the same amount of protein as the general population
o False
2. Protein comprises about how much of your total body weight?

o 20%
3. Protein in muscle is used as fuel for exercise only when glycogen stores run low

o False
4. Protein in muscles fuels exercise even when your glycogen stores are high

o True
5. A low intake of protein won’t result in muscle loss, even if you’re training hard

o False
6. Beginners need more protein than elite athletes

o True
7. If after a workout you eat just protein (15 - 25 g), without any carbs, you’ll build more
muscle

o False
8. Muscles absorb more protein within 2 hours following a workout

o True
9. For muscle repair and growth, it’s best to have protein in the evening rather than
throughout the day

o False
10. Milk is less effective than protein supplements

o False
11. Casein and soy are ‘fast’ proteins

o False
12. Eating more protein than your optimal intake helps you build more muscle
 o False
13. Additional protein is needed to compensate for the increased breakdown of protein during
intense training

o True
14. Protein plus exercise equals greater weight loss for dieters

o True
15. For fat loss, you should decrease your daily calories and carbs by:

o 15%
16. For power and resistance training recovery, you need how much daily protein per
kilogram of body weight?

o 1.4 to 1.8g
17. To build muscle, you need to increase your protein to 1.8 to 2 grams per kg of body
weight a day, combined with:

o Heavy resistance (strength) training

18. When you eat protein, it’s broken down in your digestive tract into:

o Amino acids
19. If you start your training session with low muscle-glycogen stores, you won’t lose as
much muscle

o False
20. 12 of the amino acids can be made in the body from other amino acids, carbohydrate and
nitrogen. These are called:

o Non-essential amino acids

21. Which of the following is NOT an essential amino acid?

o Glutamine
22. Branched-chain amino acids are important for athletic performance because they:

o Can be used directly as fuel by muscles

23. When your glycogen stores run low, protein contributes to your energy production by
about:
 o 15%
24. Strength and power athletes have additional protein needs compared with endurance
athletes

o True
25. If you’re on a weight (fat) loss programme, don’t reduce your carbohydrate too
drastically, otherwise you’ll lose muscle, mainly because:

o Protein in your muscles will be used to fuel exercise

26. Your client’s ideal carbohydrate intake to support their training is about 500 grams on
average. That’s approximately: [Hint: apply learnings from Module 3 Unit 1]

o 2,000 carbohydrate calories

27. Drinking skimmed milk after resistance exercise for 12 weeks causes:

o Body fat reduction, muscle mass increase and strength gains

28. Approximately how many daily protein calories does a 53 kg distance cyclist need to
maintain her weight? (Decimals have been rounded) [Hint: apply learnings from Module
3 Unit 1]

o 254 to 297 calories

29. Your client, a 93 kg weight lifter, wants to gain 0.5 – 1 kg of muscle within a month. How
much protein does he need to help achieve this goal?

o 167 to 186 grams daily

30. Your client, a 63kg marathon runner, needs to lose some body fat. You told her to eat less
calories and carbs but to increase her daily protein intake to:

o 100 to 126g
31. You told your client to have a protein meal after their resistance training workout. You
think this meal should have about 15g of protein. Which option approximates that
number?

o A small carton of cottage cheese

32. How much protein does one chicken breast (130g) have?

o 39g
33. Which of the following may not suitable for a vegetarian athlete?
 o Turkey
34. If you’re in a serious training programme, you should never include extra milk, a milk-
based drink, eggs or yoghurt in the first meal of the day

o False
35. A low-protein diet similar to the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for sedentary
people causes strength and power athletes to lose muscle

o True
36. Strength training approximately doubles your protein needs compared with sedentary
people

o True
Replacing sweat losses Quiz
1. An average person could expect to lose around 2 litres of fluid during an hour of
intensive training
o False
2. The more you sweat, the more fat you lose

o False
3. If you don’t wear a sweatsuit, you’ll lose less fat

o False
4. If you feel really thirsty during exercise, it means that you’re already dehydrated by
around 1% of your body weight

o True
5. Concentrated, dark-coloured urine of a small volume indicates you are dehydrated

o True
6. Dehydration is non-cumulative

o False
7. Drinking more than usual today doesn’t guarantee that you’ll rehydrate fully

o True
8. You lose around 600 calories of heat energy for every litre of sweat that evaporates

o True
9. You can prevent your body from losing water

o False
10. A 10% fluid loss is by no means life threatening

o False
11. Dehydration doesn’t affect performance

o False
12. Your mind can override the feeling of thirst, which compromises rehydration slower

o True
13. “Fluid loading” prior to an event is not possible

o False
14. If you take vitamin supplements, urine quantity is a better indicator of hydration levels
than urine colour

o True
15. Wearing a sweatsuit will make you sweat more, exercise less hard and fatigue sooner

o True
16. If you wear a sweatsuit, you’ll lose more fat

o False
17. An hour before a football match, a 70kg player should drink about 350 to 490ml of fluids

o False
18. It’d be wise to drink about 110 to 250 ml of water 10 minutes before the start of a tennis
match, especially if it’s hot

o True
19. You won’t feel thirsty if you have high sodium levels in your blood

o False
20. If you lose about a kilogram of body weight following a workout, it means that you
would have dripped a litre of sweat

o True
21. If you drink skimmed milk after training, you won’t be rehydrating properly

o False
22. Sports drinks aren’t as fast as water at speeding recovery after a 10k run

o False
23. Symptoms of overhydration are completely different to those of dehydration

o False
24. During a long distance cycling event, you should drink more than 800ml per hour

o False
25. If you exercise moderately for less than an hour, water is better than sports drinks

o True
26. If you begin a competition dehydrated, you’ll lose your competitive edge

o True
27. If you exercise less than 30 minutes, you don’t need to worry about rehydration and just
drink some water if you are thirsty

o True
28. A glucose polymer drink is one of the best options if you’ve been training hard for over
an hour

o True
29. Water is better than an isotonic drink if you’ve been running fast for about 45 minutes

o False
30. During a 4 hour ultra-marathon, you’re better off drinking multi-transportable
carbohydrates

o True
31. If you need to cycle fast for about 110 minutes until the finish line, having 30 grams of
carbs from any kind of sports drinks every hour will help you stay strong

o True
32. An isotonic drink usually contains 80 grams of carbs per litre

o True
33. Water is absorbed faster than an isotonic drink

o False
34. Lite sports waters are absorbed faster than water

o True
35. Cyclists can keep going much longer and faster with a carbohydrate sports drink
 o True
36. Sodium is the best electrolyte during exercise

o False
37. To prepare your own isotonic drink, all you need is half a litre of fruit juice and half a
litre of water

o True
38. Taking salt tablets in hot weather is a great idea

o False
39. Sugar free sports drinks are a good refuelling strategy

o False
40. Red Bull an hour before increases your bench press endurance

o True
41. Caffeine reduces your perception of fatigue

o True
42. Decaf coffee is completely caffeine free

o False
43. Green tea doesn’t have caffeine

o False
44. Both decaffeinated and caffeinated drinks may provide you the same levels of
rehydration

o True
45. During strenuous exercise in warm or humid conditions (e.g. marathon running), you
could be losing as much as:

o 2 litres an hour
46. Which of the following is NOT a symptom of a 4% fluid loss:

o 10% performance decline

47. If you’re dehydrated, exercise becomes much harder because:
 o Your heart has to work harder
48. You are within 1% of optimal hydration, if your urine is:

o Very pale yellow or pale yellow

49. A good strategy is to slowly drink plenty of fluids 2 to 4 hours before a competition,
ideally:

o 5 to 7 ml of fluid per kg of body weight

50. How much fluid should a 77kg athlete drink 4 to 2 hours before a long distance run?

o 385 to 539 ml
51. The International Olympic Committee warns athletes against over-drinking before and
during exercise, because:

o This may increase your risk of water intoxication

52. If you lose 2 kilograms during a competition, you should drink approximately:

o 2.4 to 3 litres
53. On non-training days, you should drink 1 litre for every:

o 1000 calories expended

Competition diets for endurance, power and
strength Quiz
1. Your client, who weighs 80kg, is competing in a 100-metre sprint in 3 days. He should
now rest and eat about how much carbohydrate a day?
o 560 to 640g
2. 65kg, is competing in a triathlon that lasting over 2 hours. How much carbohydrate
should she eat until then?

o 520 to 650g
3. In 3 days, your client, who weighs 75kg, is completing on a track and field event that
includes hurdling, pole vault and triple jumps. How much carbohydrate should he eat in
the next 3 days?

o 525g to 600g
4. If your client is carb loading and doing a 7-day taper, they should eat less calories
because they aren’t training as hard

o True
5. For a pre-competition weight loss, it’s best to aim for a loss of 0.5 kg body fat per week

o True
6. Avoid losing weight at the last minute by starvation, because:

o You’ll lose muscle and won’t perform at your best

7. A good pre-competition plan provides the requirements for carbohydrate, is low in fat and
protein and ideal for the rest of the season

o False
8. Do not skip your evening meal before your big day, even if you get anxious, mainly
because:

o You need this to top up muscle glycogen

9. Which of the following is not ideal if pre-competition nerves kick in?

o Alcohol
10. Which of the following is NOT ideal for the meal you’ll eat 2 to 4 hours before your
competition?

o Salty or spicy
11. Which of the following could be a better option an hour before competing?

o A banana
12. You should avoid solid foods during your triathlon

o False
13. Which of the following is NOT an ideal solid food during a long duration event?

o Chocolate bars
14. Which of the following isn’t a good meal between heats?

o Salad
15. What meals are ideal after a competition?

o Pasta dishes
16. Which of the following should be avoided on the competition day?

o Trying enjoyable and unfamiliar foods

17. The meal 2-4 hours before you compete should be:

o High carb, low GI

18. Between heats or events, you shouldn’t:

o Eat high fibre foods

19. If your client is too nervous to eat before the competition, what should they do?

o Eat liquid foods

20. Adding protein to a meal can reduce its GI

o True
21. How much carbohydrate does an 83 kg open water swimmer need the day before an
event for his carb loading plan to work?

o 664 to 830 grams

22. How much carbohydrate does a 62 kg hockey player need on the 4th day before the final
match for her carb loading plan to work?

o 310 to 434 grams