What should soccer players eat for breakfast

Instead, pair your fruit with plain, low- or nonfat yogurt, have a hard-boiled egg or vegetable omelet or spread whole-grain toast with unsweetened nut butter to meet your protein needs. A typical moderate-protein breakfast for a soccer player might be a scrambled egg, whole-grain pancakes and 1 cup of low-fat milk, which would supply approximately 18 grams of protein. As you get closer to game time, choose a liquid form of protein to reduce digestion time, such as a high-carb fruit smoothie prepared with milk and yogurt.

Skip butter, margarine and any breakfast entrees featuring gravy, cream sauces or oil-heavy items such as chicken-fried steak or fried potatoes. Your pre-game meal should consist of no more than 5 percent fat if you're eating three to four hours before play. If you are eating closer to game time, your meal should contain less than 5 percent fat. In a typical breakfast, the fat should come from foods naturally high in mono- and polyunsaturated fats such as canola or olive oil, nuts, seeds or avocados.

For example, put one-half of a sliced avocado on your omelet or mix 1 ounce of toasted nuts or seeds into your oatmeal. Fluid requirements during matches can be considerable due to the high intensity of a match further exacerbated if hot weather. Dehydration can negatively impact soccer performance — particularly endurance, speed, skill execution and decision-making. Having fluids with all meals and snacks, carrying a water bottle throughout the day, and drinking ml of fluid just before the start of training are useful strategies to optimise hydration levels.

When training, players should make use of any break opportunities to grab a drink. During intense or long sessions, sports drinks can be useful as they contain carbohydrate to help replace energy stores plus fluid and electrolytes for rehydration. Rehydrating after training is particularly important — especially if training in hot weather or with training sessions close together.

The addition of electrolytes to fluids or consuming salty foods alongside fluids e. Each player is different, but most will often eat a pre-game meal around 3 to 4 hours before the start of the match. This meal should contain some carbohydrate for fuel as well as some fluids for hydration. A small amount of protein in the pre-game meal is also useful, as it can help to prevent hunger during the game.

Many players will also have an additional small snack hours prior to the game. This is often something light that is rich in carbohydrate but relatively low in fat and fibre so it is easy to digest. Players should work closely with an Accredited Sports Dietitian to trial nutrition strategies during training and matches to find which foods work best for each player.

These are part of muscle glycogen. It appears that muscle glycogen is the most important source of energy for soccer players. The game requires a high energy expenditure produced, in part, by the high distance travelled during a match. The higher the competitive level, the greater the intensity at which efforts are made and the greater the number of matches played per season. Therefore, if this expense is not compensated, it will directly affect the performance of the players.

This is why it is so important to control nutrition during a match, as well as before and after. The preparation will be dictated by the type of competition to which you go and the frequency with which you compete. As we have seen the energy reserves in our body is one of the main factors when it comes to obtaining optimum performance but what would a menu look like for the previous days?

The concern should begin at dinner the day before the game. One of the most researched issues in football, has been the hydration and nutritional intake intra match. As the minutes of the match go by the muscular glycogen decreases causing fatigue and with this the decrease in the effectiveness of execution of technical and tactical movements.

The consumption of carbohydrate drinks in the rest of the game, ensures the hydration of the body and the maintenance of glucose levels in the blood. Other effective measures to reduce fatigue in the second half is to take around 40g of carbohydrates at rest. But where we can get them:. Normally the majority of footballers do not drink enough during a game, if we pay attention to the losses that can occur. Depending on the weather conditions and the intensity of the match, the losses due to sweating in football players can range from 1 to 4 liters.

Therefore the main objective from the nutritional point of view will be to keep the player hydrated. A simple way to predict the level of hydration is to control the colour of the urine, the higher the colour, the greater the level of dehydration. The doubt that arises is to use water or sports drinks. If we do not have a budget, water is better than nothing and can be sufficient for training and competition in cold environments or when the intensity of the match is low or moderate.

Here are some menu ideas for your soccer teams! Remember — people should always consult their own personal physician for guidelines. This is only a general recommendation and not applicable for all players.