I’m not going to name names, but some of my athletes just have awful eating habits. AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

The things you tell me about what you eat before games, if anything at all, truly makes me appreciate what it is like to be young again. Because if I ate what you ate before a game, I’d probably collapse.

Which some of you do. If you ever wonder why you might have had a poor performance in a contest, well then let’s start there.

All the training we do to get you prepared for your game, gets negated by fueling your body with YUCK! You obviously don’t know what to eat, so I’m going to eliminate that excuse from your arsenal, by telling you what to eat.

The first mantra you have to get through your thick skull is this:

“Athletes EAT and TRAIN.  They don’t diet and exercise.”

If you are an athlete, you cannot look at eating just one meal correctly and you will be good for your game. This is a process. As soon as you are done with a game, you have to eat to replenish the energy/nutrients you just lost. Then you have to eat to get your body ready for the next day’s practice. Which continues all the way up to that practice.

That is basically your cycle throughout the whole season. Yes, you can eat some junk here and there as long as the majority of your meals are part of the nutrition plan to optimize your athletic potential.

Before I tell you what to eat, understand I don’t know your food allergies so take that into play. If you have any issues with what I tell you, then by all means go to a registered dietitian and figure out how you need to fuel yourself.

I’m also going to try to keep this real basic and real simple. My athletes don’t want to have to prove any theorems before figuring out their meal plan. Alright, here’s what I’m thinking:

  • You need to stay hydrated daily to account for bodily functions and sweat loss. Get about ½ your body weight in fluid ounces each day. When you exercise, that number increases because you need to drink more fluid during those activities. If just 1% of dehydration kicks in, then that can decrease PERFORMANCE by 10-12%.
  • You need to eat protein to repair muscles that have been broken down after a workout. A deck of cards is about the size of protein that you want to consume (3-4 ounces of protein is about 20 grams) for your meals. You don’t need more than 40 grams at one sitting because you waste anything beyond that.
  • Animal protein sources are preferred such as chicken breast, fish, lean meat, even nuts, and dairy products have a decent amount of protein. There is no difference between food and supplement protein so if convenience is a factor then a good supplemental product will work. Personally, I like Advocare’s products.
  • After a workout, game, or practice, if you can consume something that contains protein AND carbs, that would be great. Ideally, 20-30 minutes after the activity ends.  Some of those post workout drinks can be fine. Chocolate milk seems to be popular. Or something like fruit and nuts. Or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich could be good. No fast food burgers and fries, processed chips or similar items, no ding dongs either.
  • Eating before games, I would probably consume your meal a few hours prior to the game. This should include some type of carbohydrate and low fat protein. Don’t want to load up on saturated fats.  That just makes you sluggish. Make sure it is something you have eaten before that won’t upset your stomach. Good carb choices are potatoes, pasta with a marinara sauce or potentially meat sauce, brown rice, and fruit.
  • An hour before, if you need to eat something I would keep it fruit related and then anything you need during a game can be fruit or some type of fluid.
  • EAT BREAKFAST NO MATTER WHAT!!! Even if you have a morning competition, make sure you have a good dinner and/or post meal snack and get up early enough to have a breakfast. Pancakes with a little syrup isn’t bad. I like whole grain bagels with some jelly or fruit. Oatmeal is good as well. This isn’t an option, you need to eat breakfast.

I think that is simple enough to follow. Any specific questions, put in the comments box below. But, I think that handles the majority of nutrition issues I have to hear about from my athletes.

NO eating pizza prior to a game. NO being too nervous you don’t eat anything all day. You are setting yourself up for a sh!tty athletic performance. I don’t want that and I know you don’t either. Use food as another weapon in your arsenal to beat your competition.

Photo courtesy of Mr.TinDC on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_t_in_dc/