Eating Well for Sports

Eating Well for Sports

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Optimal sports performance demands quality eating and training. Quality food choices fuel your muscles and brain without slowing you down.

Following are some suggestions for healthy eating to facilitate optimal performance:

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Eat Regular Meals and Snacks

• If you exercise during meal times, eat small meals before and after exercising.

• Pack healthy and convenient foods to take with you to work, school and the gym.

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Eat Enough to Fuel Your Muscles and Maintain Weight

• If fatigue slows you down you may not be eating enough.

• Even if you want to lose weight, don’t skimp on calories since rapid weight loss can be detrimental to your performance.

• Instead, eat a balanced diet rich in complex carbohydrates and low in fat. Carbohydrates should be your main energy source.

• Both simple carbohydrates (sugars) and complex carbohydrates (starches) provide energy, but complex carbohydrates and some simple carbohydrates provide other nutrients as well.

• Carbohydrate energy is stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen

• Muscle glycogen is used for all exercise.

• When muscle glycogen is depleted, fatigue sets in. Some people describe this as "hitting the wall."

• Speed recovery by eating carbohydrate foods after a training session to refuel your muscles with glycogen.

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Limit Fat Intake

• If you consume too much fat, you might not be eating enough carbohydrates.

• Choose low-fat, high carbohydrate foods, such as bread, bagels, cereal, pasta, rice, fruit, juice, nonfat yogurt, skim milk, legumes and vegetables.

• Add minimal fats to your foods.

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Eat Moderate Amounts of Protein

• Try to include a lean protein food (milk, dairy, meat, fish or poultry) at each meal.

• Your body requires...