Nutrition for Young Athletes: Fueling Up Before the Game
Nutrition can play a pivotal role in supporting the
training and competition demands of any elite athlete.
Food alone will not make you
pass the ball faster or knock seconds off your personal best, but the right
diet is absolutely central in supporting training to make those achievements
possible. Good food choices help ensure fuel needs are met to promote
adaptations to training, to aid recovery in order to continue and intensify
training and to ensure good health to prevent illness and injury. What you
consume before, during and after a game is important for comfort and
performance during the game. While eating soon before a game doesn't provide
the bulk of the fuel needed for the activity, it can prevent the distracting
symptoms of hunger during it. The major source of fuel for active muscles is
carbohydrate which gets stored in the muscles as glycogen in the days before
the game. This is one reason that the post-game meal is critical to recovery
and being ready for the next game.
What Not to Eat
A good diet sometimes starts with not consuming things that you
shouldn't. The two biggies for young people are fast food and soda. You can't
perform at your peak when you're eating food that is over-processed and made
for mass production. Sodas are some of the biggest performance inhibitors out
there. The high level of sugar and carbonation forces your body to work harder,
and takes energy from you, rather than providing the energy you need to
perform. If you simply cut out these two items, you'd be a lot better off
nutritionally. You also want to avoid as much processed or packaged food as you
can. Examples of this are pre-packaged, or microwave dinners. The more
processed the food, the less real nutritional value it has. Any foods
with a lot of fat can be very difficult and slow to digest and remain in the
stomach a long time. They also will pull blood into the stomach to aid in
digestion, which can cause cramping and discomfort. Meats, doughnuts, fries,
crisps, and sweets should be avoided in a pre-exercise meal.
Drink Lots of Fluids
You've probably heard this over and over, but you really cannot get
enough water and electrolytes. Most young people don't stay hydrated. When
you're training intensely, your body depends on good hydration to successfully
perform and recover. Find a good electrolyte replacement drink to help with
this recovery. Keep a water bottle with you during the day, so you're keeping
yourself hydrated all day. If you wait until you're thirsty, it's too late!
When to Eat
Exercising
on a full stomach is not ideal. Food that remains in your stomach during an
event may cause stomach upset, nausea, and cramping. To make sure you have
enough energy, yet reduce stomach discomfort, you should allow a meal to fully
digest before the start of the event. This generally takes 1 to 4 hours,
depending upon what and how much you've eaten. Everyone is a bit different, and
you should experiment prior to training sessions to determine what works best
for you.
If you
have an early morning game or training session, it's best to get up early
enough to eat your pre-exercise meal. If not, you should try to eat or drink
something easily digestible about 20 to 30 minutes before the event. The closer
you are to the time of your event, the less you should eat. You can have a
liquid meal closer to your event than a solid meal because your stomach digests
liquids faster.
What to Eat
Because
glucose is the preferred energy source for most exercise, a pre-exercise meal
should include foods that are high in carbohydrates and easy to digest. This
include: foods such as rice or whole wheat pasta, fruits, Choice energy bars
and drinks. I use a combination of B vitamins and Vitamin C for my energy
drink, works a lot better than the commercial brands with no added chemicals or
sweeteners.
Planning
Planning
is essential if you are competing in an all-day event, such as a tournament.
Consider the time of your event, the amount of your meal and the energy
required. Also, be aware of the amount of fluid you consume. You should plan
ahead and prepare meals and snacks that you have tried before and know will sit
well with you. Do not experiment with something new on the event day.
Suggested Pre-Training Foods
Eating
before training is something only the footballer can determine based upon
experience, but some general guidelines include eating a solid meal 4 hours
before exercise, a snack or a high carbohydrate energy drink 2 to 3 hours
before exercise, and fluid replacement (sports drink) 1 hour before exercise.
1 hour or less before
competition
• Fruit
or vegetable juice such as orange, tomato, or V-8, and/or
• fresh fruit such as apples, watermelon, peaches, grapes, or oranges and/or
• Energy gels
• up to 1 1/2 cups of a sports drink.
2 to 3 hours before
competition
• Fresh
fruit
• fruit or vegetable juices
• low-fat yogurt
• sports drink
3 to 4 hours before
competition
• Fresh
fruit
• fruit or vegetable juices
• rice or pasta with tomato sauce
• baked potatoes
• energy bar
• cereal with low-fat milk
• low-fat yogurt
• toast/bread with limited peanut butter, lean meat (chicken or turkey breast),
or low-fat cheese
• 30 oz of a sports drink
Sugar and Performance
If you
are an endurance athlete, evidence suggests that eating some sugar (like energy
bars, some types of fruit, or sports drinks) 35 to 40 minutes before an event
may provide energy (glucose) to your exercising muscles when your other energy
stores have dropped to low levels
Caffeine and Performance
Caffeine
(tea and coffee) acts as a stimulant on the central nervous system. It had been
thought to boost endurance by stimulating a greater use of fat for energy, and
thereby reserving glycogen in the muscles. Research, however, doesn't support
that theory. When caffeine improves endurance, it does so by acting as a
stimulant.
Caffeine
can have serious side effects for some people. Those who are very sensitive to
its effects may experience nausea, muscle tremors, and headaches. Too much caffeine
is a diuretic, and can result in dehydration, which decreases performance.
Eating after Exercise
It is
also important to consume carbohydrate, such as fruit or juice within 15
minutes post-exercise to help restore glycogen - your muscles' energy store.
Research
has shown that eating 100-200 grams of carbohydrate (such as pasta) within two
hours of heavy training is essential to building adequate glycogen stores for
the next session. Waiting longer than two hours to eat results in 50 percent
less glycogen stored in the muscle. The reason for this is that carbohydrate
consumption stimulates insulin production, which aids the production of muscle
glycogen.
Carbohydrate plus Protein
Speeds Recovery
Research
shows that combining protein with carbohydrate in the two hours after exercise
nearly doubles the insulin response, which results in more stored glycogen. The
optimal carbohydrate to protein ratio for this effect is 4:1 (four grams of
carbohydrate for every one gram of protein). Eating more protein than that,
however, has a negative impact because it slows rehydration and glycogen
replenishment.
Protein Needs after Training
Consuming
protein has other important uses after exercise. Protein provides the amino
acids necessary to rebuild muscle tissue that is damaged during intense,
prolonged exercise. It can also increase the absorption of water from the
intestines and improve muscle hydration. The amino acids in protein can also
stimulate the immune system, making you more resistant to colds and other infections
Carbohydrates: Athletes need at least 50% of their total calories from
carbohydrates, the main energy source for physical activity. Carbohydrates fuel
the muscles.
Protein: Ten to 15 percent of total calories should come from protein.
Athletes need slightly more protein than those who are less active.
Fats: Athletes need 20 to 25 percent of
total calories from fat. Fats are important for allowing the body to absorb
fat-soluble vitamins. Some types of fat are 'essential' in and of themselves, meaning
that the body cannot produce these types of required fatty acids.
Other nutrients: Most athletes
eating a balanced, varied diet with proper choices from all the food groups
will meet their needs for vitamins and minerals. If your child is not the type
to eat what you suggest, you may supplement with a quality supplement (generic
brands are the worse).
Have a Healthy and Successful Day!
Coach Mask
