NUTRITION IN SPORT

Written By Nathan Denham

What you eat affects performance, and the foods that you choose in training and on game day will affect how well you train and play. Diet may have its biggest impact on training and a good diet can help support consistent intensive training while limiting the risks of illness or injury. Eating a good healthy diet, is an important piece of the puzzle to help you consistently achieve high level performances on the field.

Every player is different, and there is no single diet that meets the needs of all players at all times, so read through the tips below and determine what works best for you.

BEST PERFORMANCE STARTS WITH THE BASICS

1. Enjoy a wide variety of nutritious foods from the five groups Consuming a varied diet based on nutrient-rich choices such as vegetables, fruits, grain foods (cereals, breads, rice, pasta, oats), protein (lean meats, fish, beans, legumes) and dairy foods should ensure an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals. And drink plenty of water.

2. Limit foods and drinks containing saturated fat and added sugars. Limit takeaway food, commercial burgers, pizza, fried foods, potato chips, pies, biscuits, cakes, pastries, confectionary, sugar-sweetened soft drinks, cordials, fruit drinks, vitamin waters and energy drinks.

These foods don’t provide your body with anything it needs for training or everyday life and instead can reduce your performance capacity on the field, leave you sluggish, and cause long-term lifestyle related disease.

3. Eat regularly. Eat Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and snacks every day, skipping a meal is like skipping a training session.

4. Support your training with what you eat. Pre & post training snacks that include a combination of Carbohydrate, Protein and fluid will help you get the most out of a session and ensure recovery for your next workout.

CARBOHYDRATES & EXERCISE

Carbohydrates are the key source of fuel during exercise. The body has limited capacity to store carbohydrates therefore they should form a vital base of the footballer’s diet. An inadequate intake of Carbohydrates can result in fatigue, reduced ability to perform or train hard, impaired mental performance or decreased immune function.

PROTEIN & EXERCISE

Protein is an important part of the training diet and plays a key role in recovery and repair. Generally, footballers eat a sufficient amount of protein as part of a healthy balanced diet. Many different foods contain protein and it is important to have mixture of different protein sources.

COMMON NUTRITION ISSUES IN FOOTBALL

Football players should be fast, agile, powerful and have a good level of endurance. Combined with good training, what you eat can help you to maximise speed, agility and endurance.

Pre-event: The pre-event meal is an important part of the athlete’s preparation. A high carbohydrate meal 3-4 hours before exercise has a positive impact on performance. If tolerated, a small snack 1-2 hours before exercise can also benefit performance. Meals high in fat should be avoided pre-game as they increase the risk of gastric discomfort.

NUTRITIOUS PRE EVENT MEALS OR SNACKS

  • Breakfast cereal with fruit

  • pasta with a tomato-based sauce

  • bread rolls or sandwiches

  • baked potatoes with low fat fillings

  • fruit salad with yoghurt

  • muesli bar

  • toast/muffins/crumpets

NUTRITION DURING RECOVERY IS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT TO:

  • refuel the carbohydrate stores

  • replacing the fluid and electrolytes lost in sweat

  • manufacture new muscle protein, red blood cells and other cellular components as part of the repair and adaptation process

  • allowing the immune system to respond to the damage occurred during exercise

Ideally you should aim to eat a carbohydrate source combined with protein within the first half hour post exercise, as this is when your body can absorb the greatest amount. If this is not possible be sure to eat a nutritious recovery snack as soon as you can. Consuming fluid as part of the recovery snack will help replace any fluid that has been lost.

NUTRITIOUS CARBOHYDRATE-PROTEIN RECOVERY SNACKS

  • 250-300ml milk shake or fruit smoothie

  • 600ml low fat flavoured milk

  • 1-2 sports bars (check labels for carbohydrate and protein content)

  • 2 cups breakfast cereal with milk

  • 1 large or 2 small cereal bars + 200g carton fruit-flavoured yoghurt

  • 220g baked beans on 2 slices of toast

  • 1 bread roll with cheese/meat filling + large banana

  • 300g fruit salad with 200g fruit yoghurt

  • 2 crumpets with thick spread peanut butter + 250ml glass of milk

  • 300g (large) baked potato + cottage cheese filling + glass of milk

HYDRATION

Staying well hydrated is vital as dehydration has been prove to impair athletic performance. Drinking plenty of fluid before, during and after exercise will help you stay hydrated. Water is a suitable drink, but sports drink may be required to replace electrolyte losses in warm weather and to increase consumption of fluids.

Nathan Denham
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