The Fall sports season has started and many of us have kids actively involved in organized or school sports. How your student athlete fuels his/her body makes a difference in their performance.
Feel free to share these guidelines with your kids, or use them yourself!
Fuel your Performance
A strong, capable athlete trains hard for competition. He studies the game, practices fundamentals, and fuels his body properly. You wouldn’t fuel your car with poor gas and expect it to run properly. The same is true with your body. Fuel it with good, whole, healthy food so it performs at its best.
Below are some tips to help you fuel your body for performance
Pre game Lunches/Snacks
If you are eating within 30 minutes of start time or at half time, choose a fiber filled fruit such as a banana or orange. If you have an hour before the start of the game, consider one of the following:
- Banana or other fruits
- Yogurt with granola and berries
- Peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole grain bread
- Protein bars (choose one with few ingredients and less than 20g of protein so they are easy to digest)
Foods to avoid before a game
- Fast food
- Fried foods
- Greasy foods
- Candy
- Chips
- Ice cream or milk
- Pizza
Night Before a Big Game
Just like your pre-game meals, stay away from the listed “foods to avoid”. Instead, eat a balanced dinner with lean protein, vegetables, fruit and carbs. Many people believe carb loading before a game is a good practice. Increasing your carb consumption slightly is a good plan, but carb loading (eating excessive carbs) isn’t very effective unless you carb deplete for several days before and for most student athletes, that is not necessary nor is it a good practice.
Day to Day Eating
How you eat before a game is important, but so is your day to day nutrition. Consider the following:
- Keep processed food to a minimum. Try eat to “whole” food as much as possible. If it didn’t grow on a plant or have mother, avoid it. For example, a piece of chicken had a mother, chicken nuggets did not.
- Choose foods found mostly on the outside aisle of the grocery store – vegetables, fruits and lean meats.
- Reduce your sugar intake. Sugar is hidden in so many foods and has about 50 different names. Check the labels.
- When it comes to processed foods, try to choose products that have 6 ingredients or less. And if they are full of words you can’t pronounce, put it back on the shelf.
How to Fill your Plate
It is important to eat a balanced diet so you get the nutrition you need. If you divide your plate in thirds, fill one-third with lean protein like chicken, fish or low fat beef; one-third with rich green vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, and green beans; and one-third carbs such as rice, quinoa, potatoes, or pasta. Fruit makes a great dessert!
Eat the rainbow
The more color you eat, the more nutrition you are getting into your body. See if you can eat something from each color every day. Have fun! Try to make your plate as colorful as possible. Shoot for at least 4 colors and white is not a color!
Stay Hydrated
Drink water. Lots of it. A general rule is to drink ½ your body weight in ounces every day. So if you weigh 150 pounds, you should drink about 75 ounces of water.
Start your day with a glass of water. Drink water with your meals. Drink water before practice or a game. Take advantage of breaks and drink during practice/games. After your game or practice, drink water before you have anything to eat. Also, eat water rich foods like cucumbers, watermelon, and strawberries.
Sports Drinks
Sports drinks have their place, but you need to pay close attention to the ingredients. Many sports drinks are loaded with sugar, food coloring and preservatives. Don’t be fooled by the brand name. Do your research. Read the labels.
In many cases, a sports drink isn’t needed. However, if you are playing for long times with intensity and are sweating heavily, you may need to replace both fluids and electrolytes. If you are going to drink a sports drink, look for one with a carbohydrate content of less than 8% made with more than one type of sugar. The lower amounts of sugar help with adsorption. Stay away from anything labeled diet, zero, or lite – they are generally full of artificial sweeteners — something you want to keep our of your body.
Some other alternatives to consider are coconut water or low fat milk.