Winter Sports have started here at Bel Air High School and we have many athletes preparing themselves for their sport seasons. One problem with some of our school’s athletes is their diet during the season and, most importantly, on game day.
There are many foods that an athlete can eat to prepare their bodies for a good game, practice, meet, competition etc. It is good for an athlete to eat lots of carbohydrates. Carbs are quickly digested and converted into energy. Foods with lots of carbohydrates include bagels, pasta, yogurt, waffles, or any sort of wheat based food you can think of. Foods like these should be eaten around 2 hours prior to activity so your body has time to digest them. Proteins are also beneficial for athletes to consume. Proteins provide the 2nd most energy for your body, behind carbs, but should be eaten the day before the game because they are harder and more complex for your body to digest.
Each athlete should eat a pregame meal 3-4 hours before start time. This meal should consist of lots of starches and carbohydrates. Breads, cereal, pasta, fruits and vegetables are all good components of a pregame meal. Before the game athletes should avoid fattening foods or foods with lots of sugar because they take longer to digest.
Ms. McDonough suggests, “The day before or up to four hours you are going to participate in a sport, I’d say peanut butter with some bread is really good, or turkey sandwich and some fruit. You always want to make sure the fruits have lots of water in them [such as] watermelon, honeydew, grapes, apples or peaches. Those are all really good for you.”
Choosing a good drink also heavily affects athletic performance. The absolute best drink is water. It is important to drink water before the game to hydrate yourself so that your body will be able to produce sweat. During the game it’s important to drink cold water because it will lower your body temperature. After the game, it’s important to drink water to replace the water that your body has sweat out during the game. Anything with caffeine, like soda or coffee, is very bad to drink before the game because caffeine is known to dehydrate you. Gatorade, Powerade and other sports drinks are good but only in small amounts. They have lots of salts and sugars so they replenish your body of electrolytes. However, they are not good when consumed in large amounts. You should drink 3 waters for every 1 sports drink.
After the game or event, it is good to eat foods with lots of protein to restore energy in your muscles. It’s good to eat carbohydrates to replace the ones that you burned off during the event. Chocolate Milk is a great snack for after the game because it has a high carbohydrate and protein count and it doesn’t dehydrate you.
As you eat on game day, make sure you eat the best foods possible to enhance your performance so you can represent the Bobcat Nation to your fullest potential!