Whole grain or oat bread with lean turkey or chicken is a nutritious pre-workout sandwich, or try yogurt with fruit and nuts. You may have developed an ice cream craving from years of hitting the Dairy Queen after a winning game, but you can maximize your exertion efforts with better carbs and protein.

Within just a few hours of your workout, your protein level drops and your muscles begin to break down. The rule of thumb is eat about 30 grams of protein and 30 grams of carbs 15 minutes after your workout.

And remember, good food for the body is not enough. Feed your mind everyday as well. Join our squad in getting weekly updates on the most helpful content for your youth teams, sports clubs, students, and more. For the best experience on our site, update your browser to Google Chrome.

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Performance Nutrition Think of performance nutrition as more than a wellness diet. Here are 10 sports nutrition ideas to get you and your team in good shape for the season: 1. Functional foods The Mayo Clinic says functional foods may have a positive effect on performance that goes beyond basic nutrition.

Hydration You know the drill: Drink water, lots of it, to replenish the fluid lost in perspiration. Juicing The average fruit smoothie has as much as calories and walking or running one mile only burns calories.

Snacks Staying under calories for snacks is easier when you choose the right foods. Pain Management Anti-inflammatory foods include ginger, olive oil, red grapes, turmeric, and caffeinated coffee in limited amounts. Pre-Workout Not eating before a tough workout can lead to low blood sugar and rapid exhaustion.

Workout Recovery You may have developed an ice cream craving from years of hitting the Dairy Queen after a winning game, but you can maximize your exertion efforts with better carbs and protein.

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For longer events, you may benefit from sports drinks. They provide electrolytes and carbohydrates. Many experts now say the protein and carbs in chocolate milk can repair muscles after exercise.

Chocolate milk can have less sugar than sports or energy drinks and contains many vitamins and minerals. Avoid drinks that contain caffeine.

They can dehydrate you more and cause you to feel anxious or jittery. Athletes require a lot of energy and nutrients to stay in shape. Because of this, strict diet plans can hurt your ability and be harmful to your health. Without the calories from carbs, fat, and protein, you may not have enough strength.

Not eating enough also can lead to malnutrition. Female athletes can have abnormal menstrual cycles. You increase your risk of osteoporosis, a fragile bone condition caused in part from a lack of calcium. These potential risks are worse in adolescence but still present for adults.

Get medical help if you need to lose weight. Be sure to talk to your doctor before making major nutrition changes. People often overestimate the number of calories they burn when training. Avoid taking in more energy than you expend exercising.

Also, avoid exercising on an empty stomach. Every athlete is different, so consider:. If you need to gain or lose weight to improve performance, it must be done safely. If not, it may do more harm than good. Do not keep your body weight too low, lose weight too quickly, or prevent weight gain in unhealthy ways.

It can have negative health effects. This can lead to poor eating habits with inadequate or excessive intake of certain nutrients. Talk to your family doctor find a diet that is right for your sport, age, gender, and amount of training. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Sports, Cardiovascular, and Wellness Nutrition, Nutrition Resources for Collegiate Athletes.

National Institutes of Health, MedlinePlus: Nutrition and athletic performance. Last Updated: May 9, This information provides a general overview and may not apply to everyone.

Talk to your family doctor to find out if this information applies to you and to get more information on this subject. Getting these other than by mouth is called artificial…. Getting the right amount of water before, during, and after exercise helps your body to function properly.

A lack…. Sugar is a simple carbohydrate that provides calories for your body to use as energy. There are two main…. Visit The Symptom Checker. Read More. Knee Bracing: What Works? Sore Muscles from Exercise. Hydration for Athletes.

Exercise and Seniors. The Exercise Habit. Why Exercise? Exercise: How To Get Started. Home Prevention and Wellness Exercise and Fitness Exercise Basics Nutrition for Athletes. Calories come in different forms. The main types are carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.

Simple carbs fruits, milk, and vegetables are easier for your body to break down. They provide quick bursts of energy. Complex carbs take longer for your body to break down. They are a better source of energy over time. Complex carbs in whole grain products are the most nutritious. Examples include whole-grain bread, potatoes, brown rice, oatmeal, and kidney beans.

Fat is another important source of calories. In small amounts, fat is a key fuel source. It serves other functions, such as supporting good skin and hair. Do not replace carbs in your diet with fats. This can slow you down, because your body has to work harder to burn fat for energy.

When you can, choose unsaturated fats, like olive oil and nuts. These are better for your health than saturated and trans fats. Too much fat or the wrong kinds can cause health problems. Plus, these antioxidant-rich foods will help you combat illness like a cold or the flu.

Choose whole grain carbohydrates sources such as whole-wheat bread or pasta, and fiber-rich cereals as power-packed energy sources. Limit the refined grains and sugars such as sugary cereals, white breads and bagels. You'll benefit more from whole-grain products.

Choose healthy sources of protein such as chicken, turkey, fish, peanut butter, eggs, nuts and legumes. Stay hydrated with beverages, as a two percent drop in hydration levels can negatively impact performance.

Options include milk, water, percent fruit juice and sport drinks. However, realize that sport drinks and percent fruit juice tend to be higher in overall sugar content and, in the case of fruit juice, lack many of the health benefits present in its whole food counterpart.

Also, be sure not to confuse sports drinks such as Gatorade with "energy" drinks such as Red Bull and similar beverages. Stick with whole food options as much as possible as opposed to highly processed foods.

Without adequate calories from the healthiest food sources, you will struggle to achieve your performance goals. Plan a nutritious meal by choosing at least one food from each category. Healthy fat. Adequate hydration is a key element in sports performance.

Most athletes benefit from developing a personal hydration plan. A general rule for training is to consume a minimum:. Four to six ounces of fluid every 15 minutes of exercise.

To properly assess, weigh yourself immediately prior to and after a workout. For every pound of weight lost, replace with 16 ounces of fluid. Best hydration choices include water, low-fat milk or percent juice. Sports beverages are best reserved for competition, where quick hydration and electrolyte replacement are necessary.

There are a few golden rules when it comes to eating on game day:. It happens the days, weeks, and months leading up to the competition.

Peak performance during competition means eating nutritious food while traveling. Relying on the concession stand for food during competition is an almost certain failure. Players and parents should prepare by packing a variety of food and beverages.

Choose energy-packed foods such as whole grain crackers with low-fat cheese, tortilla wraps with veggies and lean meat, hard-boiled eggs, vegetable or bean soups, small boxes of non-sugary cereal, fresh fruit, mini-whole wheat bagels with peanut butter, pita bread with hummus or pasta with grilled chicken.

Fibrous carbohydrates can be beneficial as these tend to cause GI disturbances. UW School of Medicine and Public Health. Refer a Patient. Clinical Trials. Find a Doctor.

Eat a snack before practice, such as yogurt, a granola bar, a small bowl of cereal, or a bagel with a little honey. For ideal recovery, eat or drink something within 15 minutes of finishing a practice or game.

Looking for a sports nutrition plan tailored to you? To learn more about our program and pricing, or make an appointment at the UPMC Freddie Fu Sports Medicine Center or UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, call or email SportsNutrition upmc.

Your health information, right at your fingertips. Select MyUPMC to access your UPMC health information. For patients of UPMC-affiliated doctors in Central Pa, select UPMC Central Pa Portal.

Patients of UPMC Cole should select the UPMC Cole Connect Patient Portal. Nutrition Tips for Athletes In order to perform your best at game time, your body needs the right nutrition and hydration.

Pre-Game Eating Start three days before games and eat a little more at each meal. Increase your pre-game meals by adding: A larger bowl of cereal. One or two sandwiches for lunch. A larger serving of rice, pasta, or potatoes at dinner. This will help your body store more fuel for upcoming games.

Stay Hydrated Pick your fluids wisely. Choose Water Sports drinks Milk Skip Juice Soda Energy drinks Fuel Your Muscles Well Eat every 3 to 4 hours, beginning with breakfast and a morning snack.

Incorporate carbs into your meals. Muscles require carbohydrates to function properly and avoid cramping. Ideally, carbs should take up two-thirds of your plate at all meals. Choose Bread Rice Pasta Potatoes Fruits and vegetables Cereal Skip Chips Cookies Candy Include some fat in your diet.

Choose Nuts Nut butter Small amounts of salad dressings, mayonnaise, or oil Skip Wings Ribs Hot dogs Fried foods Fatty meats Pick your proteins wisely. Proteins are not an ideal fuel source for sports. The general recommendation for protein intake to support lean body mass and sports performance is around 0.

They fuel your daily functions, from exercising to breathing, thinking, and eating. The other half can come from simpler starches such as white rice, white potatoes, pasta, and the occasional sweets and desserts.

For example, an ultramarathon runner will need a vastly different amount of carbs than an Olympic weightlifter does. For example, if you consume 2, calories per day, this would equate to — g daily. From there, you can adjust your carbohydrate intake to meet the energy demands of your sport or a given training session.

In select cases, such as in keto-adapted athletes , they will provide a larger portion of daily energy needs. Fats are unique because they provide 9 calories per gram, whereas protein and carbs provide 4 calories per gram.

In addition to providing energy, fats assist in hormone production, serve as structural components of cell membranes, and facilitate metabolic processes, among other functions.

Fats provide a valuable source of calories, help support sport-related hormones, and can help promote recovery from exercise. In particular, omega-3 fatty acids possess anti-inflammatory properties that have been shown to help athletes recover from intense training.

After protein and carbohydrates, fats will make up the rest of the calories in your diet. Another notable factor to consider when optimizing your sports nutrition is timing — when you eat a meal or a specific nutrient in relation to when you train or compete. Timing your meals around training or competition may support enhanced recovery and tissue repair, enhanced muscle building, and improvements in your mood after high intensity exercise.

To best optimize muscle protein synthesis, the International Society of Sports Nutrition ISSN suggests consuming a meal containing 20—40 g of protein every 3—4 hours throughout the day.

Consider consuming 30—60 g of a simple carbohydrate source within 30 minutes of exercising. For certain endurance athletes who complete training sessions or competitions lasting longer than 60 minutes, the ISSN recommends consuming 30—60 g of carbs per hour during the exercise session to maximize energy levels.

But if your intense training lasts less than 1 hour, you can probably wait until the session is over to replenish your carbs.

When engaging in sustained high intensity exercise, you need to replenish fluids and electrolytes to prevent mild to potentially severe dehydration. Athletes training or competing in hot conditions need to pay particularly close attention to their hydration status, as fluids and electrolytes can quickly become depleted in high temperatures.

During an intense training session, athletes should consume 6—8 oz of fluid every 15 minutes to maintain a good fluid balance. A common method to determine how much fluid to drink is to weigh yourself before and after training. Every pound 0.

You can restore electrolytes by drinking sports drinks and eating foods high in sodium and potassium. Because many sports drinks lack adequate electrolytes, some people choose to make their own. In addition, many companies make electrolyte tablets that can be combined with water to provide the necessary electrolytes to keep you hydrated.

There are endless snack choices that can top off your energy stores without leaving you feeling too full or sluggish. The ideal snack is balanced, providing a good ratio of macronutrients, but easy to prepare.

When snacking before a workout, focus on lower fat options , as they tend to digest more quickly and are likely to leave you feeling less full. After exercise, a snack that provides a good dose of protein and carbs is especially important for replenishing glycogen stores and supporting muscle protein synthesis.

They help provide an appropriate balance of energy, nutrients, and other bioactive compounds in food that are not often found in supplement form. That said, considering that athletes often have greater nutritional needs than the general population, supplementation can be used to fill in any gaps in the diet.

Protein powders are isolated forms of various proteins, such as whey, egg white, pea, brown rice, and soy. Protein powders typically contain 10—25 g of protein per scoop, making it easy and convenient to consume a solid dose of protein. Research suggests that consuming a protein supplement around training can help promote recovery and aid in increases in lean body mass.

For example, some people choose to add protein powder to their oats to boost their protein content a bit. Carb supplements may help sustain your energy levels, particularly if you engage in endurance sports lasting longer than 1 hour.

These concentrated forms of carbs usually provide about 25 g of simple carbs per serving, and some include add-ins such as caffeine or vitamins. They come in gel or powder form.

Many long-distance endurance athletes will aim to consume 1 carb energy gel containing 25 g of carbs every 30—45 minutes during an exercise session longer than 1 hour. Sports drinks also often contain enough carbs to maintain energy levels, but some athletes prefer gels to prevent excessive fluid intake during training or events, as this may result in digestive distress.

Many athletes choose to take a high quality multivitamin that contains all the basic vitamins and minerals to make up for any potential gaps in their diet.

This is likely a good idea for most people, as the potential benefits of supplementing with a multivitamin outweigh the risks. One vitamin in particular that athletes often supplement is vitamin D, especially during winter in areas with less sun exposure.

Low vitamin D levels have been shown to potentially affect sports performance, so supplementing is often recommended. Research shows that caffeine can improve strength and endurance in a wide range of sporting activities , such as running, jumping, throwing, and weightlifting.

Many athletes choose to drink a strong cup of coffee before training to get a boost, while others turn to supplements that contain synthetic forms of caffeine, such as pre-workouts. Whichever form you decide to use, be sure to start out with a small amount. You can gradually increase your dose as long as your body tolerates it.

Supplementing with omega-3 fats such as fish oil may improve sports performance and recovery from intense exercise. You can certainly get omega-3s from your diet by eating foods such as fatty fish, flax and chia seeds, nuts, and soybeans.

Plant-based omega-3 supplements are also available for those who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet. Creatine is a compound your body produces from amino acids. It aids in energy production during short, high intensity activities.

Supplementing daily with 5 g of creatine monohydrate — the most common form — has been shown to improve power and strength output during resistance training, which can carry over to sports performance. Most sporting federations do not classify creatine as a banned substance, as its effects are modest compared with those of other compounds.

Considering their low cost and wide availability and the extensive research behind them, creatine supplements may be worthwhile for some athletes. Beta-alanine is another amino acid-based compound found in animal products such as beef and chicken.

In your body, beta-alanine serves as a building block for carnosine, a compound responsible for helping to reduce the acidic environment within working muscles during high intensity exercise.

The most notable benefit of supplementing with beta-alanine is improvement in performance in high intensity exercises lasting 1—10 minutes. The commonly recommended research -based dosages range from 3.

Some people prefer to stick to the lower end of the range to avoid a potential side effect called paraesthesia , a tingling sensation in the extremities.

Sports nutritionists are responsible for implementing science-based nutrition protocols for athletes and staying on top of the latest research. At the highest level, sports nutrition programs are traditionally overseen and administered by registered dietitians specializing in this area. These professionals serve to educate athletes on all aspects of nutrition related to sports performance, including taking in the right amount of food, nutrients, hydration, and supplementation when needed.

Lastly, sports nutritionists often work with athletes to address food allergies , intolerances , nutrition-related medical concerns, and — in collaboration with psychotherapists — any eating disorders or disordered eating that athletes may be experiencing.

One of the roles of sports nutritionists is to help debunk these myths and provide athletes with accurate information. Here are three of the top sports nutrition myths — and what the facts really say. While protein intake is an important factor in gaining muscle, simply supplementing with protein will not cause any significant muscle gains.

To promote notable changes in muscle size, you need to regularly perform resistance training for an extended period of time while making sure your diet is on point.

Even then, depending on a number of factors, including genetics, sex, and body size, you will likely not look bulky. Another common myth in sports nutrition is that eating close to bedtime will cause additional fat gain.