Trackstaa Elite nutrition guide
Eat the right foods the day before competition:
Our main fuel is carbohydrates, which is stored inside our muscles. It takes around 24 hours to fully fuel the body.
If you want to have full carbohydrate capacity, you need to eat carbohydrate-based foods every 2-3 hours the day before. For example:
Breakfast – Toast, tea cake, crumpet, muffin and jam, fruit juice and water.
Snack – Banana, water
Lunch – Soup and a sandwich, yoghurt, fruit and water
Snack – Banana, water
Evening meal – Rice, potatoes or pasta, chicken/fish in source, at least 2 vegetables, water
Supper- Bowl of cereal with piece of fruit and water.
Eating in this pattern may require you to try new foods, which can be difficult at first. Increase the variety of foods in your diet and always eat 5 portions of fruit, vegetables or salad a day.
Fluid intake should be high as blood flow (fluid) is essential for transportation within the body and temperature regulation. Athletes lose a lot of fluid through sweating; therefore, fluids need to be drank before, during (when appropriate) and after competition or training.
Snacks and lunch ideas:
Sandwiches – Tuna, lean beef, lean ham, chicken, eggs, marmite, vegemite, cottage cheese, banana and jam sandwich.
Dressing – Chutney, sweet pickle, piccalilli, beetroot, salsa sauce, tomato ketchup, brown sauce.
Any salad or raw vegetables, beans or spaghetti on toast, crumpets and jam, potatoe cakes and vegemite, pasta or rice salad in a tub, fruit e.g raisins, malt loaf, scones, banana loaf, bagels, jaffa cakes, yoghurt, muesli bars.
Drinks – fruit juice, milk or flavoured milk, cordial, WATER!!!
Hot meal suggestion:
Soup, lean chicken or beef casseroles or stew, all with bread. Spaghetti Bolognese, chicken curry, tuna pasta, fish fingers, mash potato peas and beans, Fish and potato pie, sweet and sour chicken, chicken and vegetable risotto, turkey burgers in honey.
Deserts: Banana and custard, fruit crumble, fruit pancakes, sponge puddings, yoghurt, sorbet, rice pudding, custard and jelly.
Pre- event meal
Always should be easily digested food with high levels of carbohydrates e.g soup, bread, potatoes, low fat pasta, baked beans on toast, vegetables, salad, toast and jam. Eating a good meal 3 hours before seems most acceptable. Try eating 3 jaffa cakes or other easily digestible snacks around 1.5 hours before.
Body fat
To reduce body fat, you must still eat a high carbohydrate diet to provide energy but reduce your intake of foods which contain fat and oil. These include; cheese, pastry, sausage, burgers, peanuts, crisps, butter, certain chocolate and biscuits.
Post exercise
It is important to eat (carbohydrates) and drink within 15 minutes of exercise. This can be as simple as eating a banana and having 500ml of water after training. This helps aid the recovery process and improve the adaptations of the training session. Within an hour you should attempt to eat a good meal with plenty of carbohydrates and protein.
Super foods
Beetroot- Beetroot/Beetroot juice, contains high amounts of nitric acid. Nitric acid aids vasodilation, meaning it helps relax blood vessels, so they widen. As a result, for blood can be transported around the body.
Caffeine – Mostly consumed from coffee, Caffeine can give a boost in energy levels. Mixed with carbohydrates it also aids the replenishment of muscle glycogen.
Dark chocolate 85% – Dark chocolate also aids vasodilation. Within a study it was found that Dark chocolate meant less oxygen was consumed by cyclists performing at moderate exercise and overall dark chocolate consumers covered more distance in a two-minute flat-out time trial.