Chloe


 * What Foods/Drinks are Best Immediatly Before Exercising?**

My proposed topic area is to test which foods/drinks are best when exercising. I want to find out how different foods/drinks affect heart rate, mood and ability to exercise. I will get one person to consume a certain type of food/drink that I choose and then get them to do a low exercise bike ride on an exercise bike (recording the speed to make sure they go the same speed every time) for 10 minutes. I will record their heart rate and mood 10 minutes after they have consumed the food/drink, whilst they are doing the exercise and after they have finished the exercise. I will also record how easily they were able to do the exercise (e.g. did they easily complete it or did they struggle through it). I will repeat this method with two other types of food/drink (after waiting for the food/drink to be properly digested) and then I will repeat the whole experiment with three other people. Three sources of information I can use are my parents, dieting books and internet pages about different foods and their health benefits. My parents have been cooking for me and my siblings for years so they will have a fairly good idea about which foods/drinks are good for energy throughout the day or for sporting events. Dieting books should have good information about which foods are healthier and which foods are fatty and high in sugar. I could find a lot of different information from internet pages. I can find out what foods are hi/low GI, fatty or healthy and which foods are good for high or low exercise. For my experiment, the different types of food I use will be the variables. The foods I am going to use are energy drinks, a low GI snack and a big meal. I am also going to test a few different people, all the same age and gender to see if the results all turn out the same. I will need food and an exercise bike that can test rpm (so I can make sure that everyone goes the same speed). I can easily go out to a supermarket and purchase the foods I need for my experiment and we have a exercise bike at our house that tests heart rate and rpm and is available for me to use. Before I do my experiment, I will have to check if any of the people I am using for my experiment have any allergies or special dieting needs so that if they do, I can make sure the food I buy is good for them. I will also need to make sure that they haven’t had any recent injuries that may affect their ability to exercise or if any of them have illnesses (e.g. asthma) that could affect their exercise and if they do, make sure that they have medication prepared if something goes wrong. I think this experiment will take me one day to complete, but it may take longer according to how things go.