The Importance of Healthy Eating In Soccer

Rochak October 7, 2019 0

After a typical game of soccer, you may find yourself gasping for air, exhausted and weak. Soccer, like many sports involves regular motion, is energy intensive and requires a healthy body to function. To attain the right body, size and shape required for optimum performance, aspiring and professional soccer players follow regimens that enable them to eat regularly and healthily.

This is not as easy as it may sound. Firstly, a soccer diet plan will require that a player give up eating certain foods, at least at particular times of the day. Essentially, you are not going to have the freedom to eat whatever you want, when you want to and the quantity you desire. There will be a sort of timetable and regular measurement, turning a soccer player into something of a guarded experiment. But with patience the dividends do pay off by building character in a player, improving their performance on the pitch and helping them good health and a work-life balance.

What counts as good soccer nutrition?

There are a number of guides on what constitutes healthy eating for soccer players. Most experts and enthusiasts in the discipline of sports nutrition and science converge around similar principles as regards to what a player should eat. The macronutrients – carbohydrates, proteins and fats – are recognized as the main components in sports meals that provide for a balance of good health and performance. Carbs are expected to have the highest proportion in meals, making up between 60 and 65%; proteins between 15 and 20% while fats make up more or less of the proportion of proteins.

Good sources of protein for soccer players include lean/low-fat meat, fish, eggs, and non-fried seafood. Dairy and beans also provide rich protein for replenishing tissues. For energy, there is a range of options available, from fast-absorbing carbohydrates like watermelons, waffles and pancakes, to slow-absorbing carbohydrates like apples, milk, yoghurt and broccoli. When it comes to fats, contrary to what you may have heard, they are not all bad. By all means, a soccer player should avoid fried foods and foods like cheese that contain animal fat, but extra-virgin oil, nuts and fish which have monosaturated fats are good lubricants for protecting the body’s organs during sports activity.

How much food is enough?

Food quality is very important but so is the quantity. Young players who are inclined to just run out and play without eating enough of the healthy nutrients their body needs will not be on the field for long. The human muscles and bones need nutrients from healthy food to develop, in order to give the body necessary support for motion and the intense physical activities involved in soccer. We need to eat the right amount of food to provide the energy for the body to function. This energy value from food is what is normally referred to as calories.

A player can figure out how much food he needs to eat to be in good shape for soccer by a simple math equation: you multiply your body weight in pounds by a number between 22 and 24. The result is the number of calories a soccer player needs daily for optimum action. This means that a player weighing about 150 pounds, would need between 3,300 and 3,600 calories a day. When the right amount of calories is ingested, it will offset the substantial number of calories you burn per hour of action on a soccer field.

Eating at the right time

For food to achieve the desired effect, timing is of the utmost importance. The effect of nutritious food in the body five minutes before a game will differ when the same food is eaten three hours before. Eating thirty minutes after a game of soccer and on non-game days is also important for relaxation of the body, for adequate sleep, motivation and mood. While it may be difficult for many, it is desirable for players to form the habit of eating at regular times during the day so that the body’s metabolic cycle will organize itself to prepare for energy demands.

Professional players sometimes have to travel through the night a few hours after a game to catch up with a schedule for another game. This comes with its unique energy burdens on the body which must be supplied with necessary nutrients to adjust. Hence, the more a player develops professionally, the more important it will be to adopt the habit of eating at regular times even when you don’t want to.

Conclusion

Because food provides energy which then fuels the body, it is of paramount importance that soccer players make the right choices when it comes to their nutrition. Poor judgment in this area can cause untold damage to the body and ultimately hinder a player’s prospects of maximizing his full potential.