Winning sports competitions depends not only on hard training, but also on a balanced diet. Food should be easy to digest, saturate the body with vitamins and minerals, and give a lot of energy. The menu, depending on the sports, differs in calorie content and the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates (BJU). These two metrics are critical to maximizing performance, which is why we suggest using Grow Food’s Athletic Competition Nutrition . Our meals meet all the requirements of a healthy diet, they are enriched with essential micronutrients and will help you save time that you can spend on preparation.
How to eat before and during competitions?
The main rule, which applies not only to professionals, but also to sports fans, is never to train on an empty stomach. First, you will quickly get tired from lack of energy. Secondly, the body will use up the stores of glycogen in the liver, which will disrupt your physical endurance and performance, especially with prolonged training.
Glycogen is an energy reserve found in the blood and liver. If necessary, the body processes it into glucose, replenishing energy losses, which is very important during the competition. In accordance with this, the following rules must be observed:
- Food should be high in carbohydrates that are easy to digest. The list of products includes cereals or cereals with skim milk, yoghurts with a fat content of not more than 3.5%, pasta, potatoes, bread and bakery products, jams;
- It is necessary to increase the consumption of carbohydrate-containing meals gradually, a week before the competition;
- Fats and protein meals, as well as fiber intake, on the contrary, should be reduced, as they take longer to digest. But you cannot exclude them from the diet, so as not to disrupt metabolism.
It is also necessary to observe the timing of food intake and serving sizes. 4 hours before the start of the competition, you can eat about 250-300 g of food, most of which should be carbohydrate, for example, bread, potatoes, carrots, spinach and boiled white meat or beef. In 2-3 hours you can eat sea fish, omelet, drink cocoa or coffee with milk. If there is one hour left before the competition, then the portion should be no more than 200 g and contain exclusively easily digestible foods – boiled rice, soft-boiled eggs, yoghurts, fruits, milkshakes or sports bars. Remember that a balanced diet should be introduced into the athlete’s menu well in advance.
Menu for recuperation
After the competition, the body needs to restore its energy reserves, therefore, within 3 hours after the end of the start, the following tasks must be solved:
- To restore water-salt balance by drinking enough water;
- Normalize glycogen levels by eating about 100 g of carbohydrates or drinking 150 ml of a fruit drink supplemented with 50 g of glucose;
- Provide the body with vitamins and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
The menu should be enriched with carbohydrates and proteins, and also contain about 15% unsaturated fats in the form of vegetable oils, fish products and nuts. It is preferable to use boiled meat with vegetables, low-fat minced meat dishes, juices, compotes, sweet tea or coffee, fruits and berries, as well as various cereals.