It seems funny to me each time I get an email with the question what should I eat the night before my race or before my big event.
The answer is very simple.
The optimal combination of food and nutrition for an athlete really varies from one sport to the other depending on whether it's a weight lifting sport, an endurance sport, or a team sport.
If you want to compete, you need to be mindful or your eating habits. This mean making conscious decisions to eat a variety of foods that will ensure you adequate iron stores for muscles, enough carbohydrates for energy, optimal levels of antioxidants, whole grains, lean protein, and omega-3 and monounsaturated fatty acids. The foods you choose should optimize your ability to recover, to maintain a strong immune system, and to support your training!
I hear this all the time: :What I eat the night before my race or game is the most important part of my race and strategy." Wrong!!!
If a solid nutrition base hasn't been established throughout your training, what you eat the night before a race or event will have very little impact on your performance.
Living a healthy lifestyle is the key to good performance.
Here are suggestions that I give to my students for pre-race meals..but these are also meal suggestions for the other 6 days of the week:)
Morning: oatmeal with honey and a banana, or toast with peanut butter and yogurt. 1 bottle of sports drink and water.
Snacks: raw veggies or handfuls or raw almonds
Lunch: lean fish, chicken or tofu! raw of steamed broccoli, brown rice, wheat bread or wheat pasta.
Snack: apple with peanut butter
Dinner..very much the same as lunch but also a large dark green salad with tons of raw veggies.
Desert...bowl of fresh fruit!
Snacks!
94% Fat-Free Popcorn
(6 cups popped)
110 calories
2.5 grams fat
4 grams protein
5 grams fiber
410 milligrams sodium
PRETZELS
(1.5 ounces)
167 calories
1.5 grams fat
3 grams protein
1 gram fiber
881 milligrams sodium
I mix the 2 of these together with a handful of raw almonds and have it to snack on all the time:)
Lisa
6 comments:
Thanks for these suggestions, Lisa. Do you suggest these foods to men and woman alike? I like the foods you list, but I suspect if I only ate this...I would still be hungry at the end of the day. Then again, I have never tried it! :-) !
We eat like this most days! if you look at all the food it is a great deal...the salads are large and full of red peppers, cucumbers, sprots and so on..men may need a larger serving then women..
try to eat this way for 1 week and I bet you feel great.
Drink lots of water to.
Lisa
I bet if we all ate like this we would be the mean, lean machine that you are!!!!!!!!
Mel
since lisa has had me eating this way i have not only lost body fat, i have lost weight and feel better than i have in 20 years.
ed
Looks Good Coach....I been getting better on my food choices.
I joined a gym to mix up my cross training and give my feet a bit of a rest off the pavement-lol oh yeah adding in some weights toooo.
Thanks for the meal tips... You inspired me to plan ahead all our meals like that for the next week leading up to MdS, so that Jeff is optimally prepared nutritionally as well as from the training that you have helped him with so much this year. (we always eat pretty healthy, but it's more important now than ever) Gotta go cook our healthy dinner now!
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