Encouraging time to sit down and eat an actual meal typically results in deeper nutrition and less need for snacking. Time your meal around the start of the game by working backwards. I hope this article gave you a better understanding of what to eat before a soccer game and why food choices matter for peak performance. The night before a soccer game you want to eat complex carbohydrates because they take longer to break down allowing energy to be stored and ready later. If you do need food within two hours of a match (and this is where players can vary in their needs), you should try eating snack foods that are more easily digestible. Fats have the least impact on blood sugar levels, so they provide sustained energy without dips and crashes. The night before a game a player should eat a high carbohydrate meal to maximize glycogen stores. A granola bar or half a sandwich can also work. The body is thus reliant on a combination of glycogen, the storage form of carbohydrate, and fat for fuel. I am the owner of Primal Peak, a “nutrition specialist” at Copper Moose Farm, and a Board Member for a local non-profit, EATS (Eat Awesome Things at School). This should feature lean proteins such as meat, eggs and beans. These are broken down into glucose to provide the energy that you need during the game. Pregame meals are really a two-part program. Eat a carbohydrate-rich dinner the night before and drink extra water throughout the previous day. Proper nutrition in an athlete’s diet can make the difference between playing your best game and experiencing the dreaded “bonk.”. Read more about general guidelines HERE. Try and eat something starchy the night before, a good spaghetti dinner, and the next day go light before the game and eat something sweet for a bit of extra energy - the pros seem to like jaffa cakes. Try to get at least an extra hour of sleep. Most of the fat that is used for energy during soccer will be pulled from existing fat stores, but it is still a good idea to include healthy fats on your pre-game plate for satiation, nutrient absorption, and insulin and glucagon balance for blood sugar stability. Game-Day. Also, your body will be using energy to digest that food rather than allowing your it to use energy for your muscles. On the contrary, processed carbs have been stripped of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, leaving us with empty calories. Opt for starches such as sweet potatoes, bananas, and white rice to top off muscle fuel. With your unique circumstances in mind, find what works for you and the young athletes in your family. A great place to start when building your main pre-game meal is with: Clearly defining general nutrition recommendations is nearly impossible due to individual differences including age, skill, exercise intensity and duration, stress levels, food preferences and availability, and the open systems of athletic games. Tortilla, Bagels, Cereals and fruits, And a moderate amount of protein such as: low-fat dairy, yogurt, eggs or ham. Go to bed early so you can get a good rest for the next day. Eat foods that are high in carbohydrates and protein the night before a tryout, to increase energy levels for the following day. Eating real food is “best practice” for strong bioavailability and micronutrient attainment. tbh i usually play morning kickoffs so i just go with a sugary cereal. Soccer requires endurance, speed, agility, and strength – at any level. Unprocessed carbohydrates are a rich source of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and easily convertible energy. This is a common practice among elite athletes. Enjoy higher fat meals away from activity. Proper food choices can help keep blood sugar stable throughout a soccer game. Macronutrients — carbohydrates, protein, and fats — provide the energy and essential building blocks necessary for physical feats and mental acuity. Your email address will not be published. Keep your last dinner before game day high in carbs, strong in protein and low in fat, and you’ll be on your way to success. I'm sure most people like a round or two of toast from time to time, so before playing sport, try and make sure you're eating whole grain toast. But what about pure water, which athletes used for … Examples for What to Eat Before a Soccer Game 3-4 Scrambled eggs with veggies and slices of avocado. Aim for nutrients to come from real foods rather than gels, bars, powders, and supplements. It sounds silly, but you want it in the light lemonade or even clear shade. When the time comes to take center stage and try out for soccer, what you eat beforehand is critically important. You can't force them to eat what they won't, and they can only eat so much. They're kids. The eggs have the essential amino acids we need to provide energy for our muscles and … Liquids fill the belly and signal satiety without the calories and nutrients to match. W ake up 4 hours before important games or soccer events, eat a simple breakfast (bread + a nut butter), and then go back to bed. Vitamins and minerals unlock energy, support reactions, and complete pathways to keep athletes in top condition. 2 or More Hours Before Game Time. Pre-game lunch ideas. Your meal should enrich of whole grains, such as darker breads, pasta and rice. Your email address will not be published. It’s time to take the suggestions of what, when, and how much to eat on soccer game day, along with the meal ideas provided, to put together a plan that will set your young athlete up for success. If you are a recreational soccer player, you might arrive at a game after eating a large meal and find you're too full to run well during a 90-minute outdoor contest or a 48-minute indoor one. Along with hydration, this recipe results in a focused and high functioning athlete. The right food and proper hydration provide us with energy (the get-up and go), stable blood sugar (prolonged function), and athletic precision (neural patterns). As part of the pre-game meal, protein helps stabilize blood sugar, provide satiation, and deliver the building blocks needed for post-activity recovery. Having the right combination of produce, proteins, and grains goes a long way in helping one play to their highest ability. A meal 3-4 hours before a game or practice should be rich in complex carbohydrates and a moderate amount of protein but be low in fat and excessive fiber because fat and fiber takes longer to digest, which can cause an upset stomach and slow your child down. Is It Safe to Play Indoor Soccer During Coronavirus? You also might rush to the game without having eaten all day. An 85-pound athlete should drink at least 45 – 50 ounces of water per day. But with all that in mind, let’s look at some general eating guidelines that you can apply to sports like soccer. This includes breakfast on game day. … Most athletes do best eating a higher calorie meal two to three hours before any intense activity. Simple carbohydrates such as fruits, pudding or yogurt are ideal for this time. Lean meats and yogurt are two good choices for this type of post match re-fueling. We cannot apply the same rules to adult athletes to kids. An average sized man, about 70kg, should therefore be looking to eat a pre game meal of around 70g of carbs. Required fields are marked *. The right combination of foods can give you the edge over your competition. A light meal may be added for an early afternoon start. Sugars and refined flours are also digested quickly, resulting in blood sugar and insulin spikes, which zap energy and lead to overeating. How to Hydrate Your Body Before a Game. Ever since sports drinks first hit the market, there seems to be a never-ending evolution of beverages that have better electrolytes, more energy and offer all-around better hydration. And let us know what you have found to be the best foods to eat before a big soccer game. More water is necessary for hot weather or during intense training sessions. Fill the rest of your plate with colorful veggies and fruits, Scrambled eggs (protein, fat) with sweet potato (carb) and pepper hash (carb), Oatmeal (carb) with chopped nuts (fat), fresh fruit (carb), and chicken sausage (protein) on the side, Deli meat roll-ups (protein) with spinach and peppers (carb), leftover roasted potatoes (carb), grapes (carb), and olives (fat), Almond butter (fat, protein) and banana (carb) sandwich on sourdough, or sprouted grain bread (carb). As a Nutritionist, and founder of Primal Peak, I share current content, recipes, and programs to guide you towards vitality and peak performance. This will just limit your body from achieving its full potential, and could cause your stomach to hurt with all the running you will be doing. Rather than reaching for the standard sports drinks packed with high fructose corn syrup and artificial colorings, look to choose: I’m a believer in simplicity. Trying to oversaturate the blood with sugar and simple carbs close to the start of a game may cause insulin to spike and trigger low blood sugar (followed by headaches, light-headedness, and fatigue). Light meals and snacks for between games. Avoid soda, juice, and candy, as well as meals emphasizing baked goods, breakfast cereals, refined breads and pasta, and packaged snack foods before game time. “An athlete’s plate should be half full of ... 1-2 Hours Before Game Time/Between Events. You want to eat a high carbohydrate dinner the night before competition and a light breakfast the morning of. Your meal should contain about 50 percent carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and cereals. Here are some meal examples for how to get energy for a soccer game. The thing is you want to be careful eating fruit that close to a game, because it could run through you too fast. This will dramatically slow and interrupt digestion, causing distress and discomfort if your belly is full of food. Monitor urine color on game day. Pre game snacks for soccer. Common carbohydrate foods include pasta, potatoes, cereals and bagels. Refined grains, which show up in things like white bread, white rice, and in white flour-based food items, are more processed which removes nutrients and also does not store energy for as long. Without balanced nutrition, energy levels, recovery speeds, and peak performance suffer, leaving an athlete feeling weak, heavy, and completely exhausted. And what would I eat tomorrow, the day of my game? The road to playing well starts with eating well. The key to game-day nutrition is eating substantial yet light meals. Instead, the meal leading up to the event should help top off glycogen stores with at least forty percent of calories coming from real food complex carbohydrates. Packaged products draw us to the nutrition facts labels and can lead to obsessive behavior over food components. Also, some people tend to perform better with different amounts of food in their bodies compared to others. Balanced dinners on game night. We aren’t talking about donuts, cupcakes, French fries, and other junk foods, but we are talking about fats sourced from: Soccer and hydration go hand in hand. Some light eaters are constant grazers, but I find a balance of real food nutrients hard to obtain with this style. The Day Before. Looking at the graph above, we see that the body can create ATP quickly, but it doesn’t last long. Drinking half an ounce of water per pound of body weight is a general guideline for minimum fluid intake. In comparison, whole foods elicit an innate appreciation for pure nourishment and satisfaction. Both dietary fat and stored adipose tissue can be efficiently used for fuel when carbs and protein are properly managed. by Jeff Natt . Soccer requires sustained energy for 60 to 90 minutes with intermittent bursts of higher intensity. Eat early, and eat often; following your morning meal add in apples, pears, pretzels, sports drinks such as Gatorade and Powerade, any dried fruit and low-fat yogurt. Answer Save. Thanks! If eaten too close to go-time, this can leave an athlete feeling like they’re carrying the ball in their stomach rather than dribbling it with their feet. Fats are important for brain health, good mood, cell structure, hormone function, satiety, temperature regulation, and more – all critical for soccer success. This is important to consider because goals become more frequent later in the game … This process happens during an all-out sprint or lifting weights. Protein has been shown to increase the rate of muscle glucose uptake and glycogen repletion, so adding a small portion between games may be helpful. If you need to eat closer to game time, a light meal is usually tolerated one to two hours in advance. Fat will slow absorption and digestion and the replenishment of glycogen stores. Dinner the night before The night before, serve your child a nutritious dinner. What are good foods to eat the night before a soccer game? But again, that process doesn’t last through an entire soccer match. In addition to these guidelines for eating before and the morning before a big game, proper nutrition on a more long-term basis can also do wonders for improving your soccer game. However, I have seen too many youth players eat … Aim for dairy products, fruits, starchy vegetables, whole-grain bread or pasta, and sugary sweets. If you get into the apple juice shades, hydration levels are lacking. Because this meal is three to four hours before a meal, it might be necessary to top off glycogen stores before activity. Include large portions of grains or pasta, vegetables and small to medium portions of beans, chicken, fish, or meat. If you have a morning event, your dinner the night before becomes your most important meal! Below is our guide to the best fast food to eat before a game, whether you’ve got an early, mid-day or evening match. What other topics would you like to see? Bedtime snack Not sure what to eat? Eating proper foods at the right times will help fuel your body so you do not hit a wall before or during a soccer game. Just being 2% dehydrated can negatively affect an athlete’s performance. “Eat a bigger meal with plenty of fluids, especially water,” says Turner. A few simple guidelines will help you establish optimal pre-game nutrition: The body is first going to look for the fuel that is easiest to burn. Eat a bigger meal two to four hours before go time. Nutrient-rich carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and fluids are all important for youth soccer players, and athletes of any age. High fiber foods can also cause distress. Eat dry cereal, a bagel with peanut butter or oatmeal before bed… Let’s take a look at why food choices make a difference, the best real foods for soccer players to eat, and what, when, and how much to eat before game-time! Relevance. We took a look at the best foods for an overall healthy athlete, and how these foods help maximize nutrients, proper fuel, and stable energy. We’ve got great recipes, primal diet ideas, and a wealth of nutritional info waiting for you. Hi, I’m Shannon and my mission is to help you and your family discover a life of wellness through food and healthy habits. Whether you're trying out for your high school or college team or a local club, you need the right nutrition to give you the energy to perform at your best. I have a soccer game tomorrow after school so I just wanted to know what kind of food I should eat tonight. Carbohydrates are the most important nutrient you can consume to provide energy before a football game. The following are suggestions on what our soccer players should eat and avoid eating on game and practice days. Our bodies function as a result of what we put into them. As requested, here are some tips on what you should eat before your football match. Starting the day with a glass of water and continuing with small sips is a great strategy for staying ahead of dehydration and poor performance. For a 2 p.m. start, consider having a substantial, high-carb breakfast, such as pancakes, and a light lunch of salad with a roll around noon. Knowing when to emphasize some over others around game-time can be a game-changer. My number one recommendation is to use this information as a base to build on. That makes high-carb foods perfect for a pre-soccer meal. Without adequate, balanced nutrition, you won’t have enough energy to play your best. (2020), Best Foods to Eat the Night Before, and the Morning of, the Big Game. If you run into challenges, seek out the advice of a qualified sports nutritionist to help direct individual needs. If the event starts at 8:00 a.m., It also helps initiate the unlocking of fat stores for slow-burning fuel. While healthy fats are necessary for a healthy athlete, meals that are high in fat can slow digestion. Your meal timing may look something like this: The time of day that a game takes place will help you plan how much to eat in advance. Stay tuned for more posts on proper eating habits. Youth soccer players often participate in more than one game in a day. A glass of water should also accompany the evening meal. If your child has an early morning game or practice, here's some advice on what and when she should eat for peak athletic performance. Take notes and adjust accordingly. If your child is an eating machine then you probably can go with this premise. Prepare a pregame snack of carbohydrates, such as a bagel with peanut butter, oatmeal, a banana, yogurt or similar food. With high-intensity exercise, the body shifts up to 80% of its blood supply towards muscle tissue and away from the stomach. Cooked vegetables are easier to digest and some athletes feel better avoiding beans and legumes before sporting events. Delaney. Complex carbohydrates such as rice, cereals, pasta, potatoes, and bread are best to eat a number of hours before the match due to the fact that they release energy slower and … My 4 Weeks of Real Food meal plan gives you everything you need for a full month of delicious, healthy real food meals. Eating During Competition During the game, carbohydrate supplement drinks given before the game and at halftime have been shown to increase running volume and intensity in the second half in soccer players. Eating right is very important in our everyday lives, but it is also crucial in sports. Avoiding packaged supplements also helps athletes develop healthy relationships with food. I know to eat carbs but I need names of things. Include an average of twenty grams of protein in your pre-game meal — about a deck of cards sized piece of meat, or three large eggs. If you want to see what a portion of food providing 70g of carbs looks like, see our 11 pre-match meal suggestions for some quick, quality, affordable ideas that you can start using immediately. If you have a morning game, a substantial dinner the night before or late-night snacking can boost your liver glycogen stores, although you run some risk of putting on body fat if you eat heavily at the end of the day. Pair with veggie sticks and hummus (carb), and jerky bites (protein), Chicken (protein) stir-fry with veggies (carb), cooked in coconut oil or avocado oil (fat), over rice (carb), Hard-boiled eggs (protein, fat) and fruit (carbs). Making adjustments for consecutive game fueling, light eaters, and gastric distress are common concerns. In the morning, (or about 2-4 hours before your match if it’s later in the day), you want to eat things like cereal and fruits. The types of food a soccer player eats will impact whether glycogen stores are sufficient and whether the body can effectively access fat for energy.