Soccer Nutrition Headquarters

The body uses three primary macronutrients to provide energy in the body. They are fat, protein and carbohydrates. Each type of macronutrient provides varying benefits to the body.

Under standing which nutrients are important, when to eat them and in what quantity is vital to the performance of soccer athletes. In addition, its critical to spend time understanding the affect of proper hydration on performance. These two principles combined will propel your body to greater heights.

In the soccer nutrition section you will learn about these power principles. Because without them all your other training is limited. Imagine putting in hundreds of hours of work to perform well for the upcoming season. Your first tournament of the year is in a hot environment. During the course of game one you think you are drinking enough water. Day two comes and you start playing the game. By the 20th minute you are drained. College scouts are there watching you play. You don't understand what is causing poor performance. After the game you get back to your hotel and have bright yellow urine. Unfortunately, you are dehydrated. You didn't hydrate yourself well enough after the last game. You need to avoid these situations by having a proper hydration and nutrition plan in place.

In this section we will provide tips for properly fueling your body before, during and after competition.

Soccer Nutrition Articles

Fat-Carbs-Protein

Protein: Protein is important in your body to build and maintain muscles and bone. It comes in incomplete and complete proteins. Complete proteins have all 9 essential amino acids. Complete proteins come from sources like meat and other animal products. Most plant proteins are incomplete. To get the full spectrum of amino acids from plant protein you need to combine them.

It is important to eat protein in your diet.

Fat: Fat is another major source of energy for the body. Fat is important for development and staying healthy. Try to avoid to saturated fats (butter, lard etc) and trans fats. Instead of saturated and trans fats try canola, corn, soybean oils. 1 gram of Fat contains 9 calories. Does this mean that because fat has more calories per gram that you should avoid fat? Definitely not. You should avoid the bad fats.

Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates are a critical source of energy for soccer players. The body takes carbohydrates and changes them into glucose. Your body then takes this energy and uses it for energy.

Carbohydrates are broken up into simple and complex. Simple includes sugars from fruits, vegetables, sugars added during processing and refining and more. Complex include whole grain breads, cereals, and more. 1 gram of carbohydrates has 4 calories.

Tips for Better Performance

Follow these tips to achieve maximum performance and safety on the field.

During exercise of 90 minutes or more a sports drink may be extra beneficial. These drinks contain carbs and electrolytes.

For optimal performance more than 1/2 of your daily calories should be from carbs.

Taking huge amounts of vitamins and minerals will not boost your ability to play at a high level. It could be bad for your health.

Make sure you drink enough water. A good practice is to weigh yourself before and after a game or practice to see how much water weight you lose. Make sure you replinish yourself. Not getting enough fluids can reduce performance and make it unsafe to play.

Make sure you have enough calcium in your diet. Its critical from strong bones and muscle function. If you don't get enough calcium you may be more apt to have bone disease and stress fractures.

These tips were taken from fitness . gov

Eat a balanced diet with Carbohydrates, Good Fats and Protein with carbohydrates taking up the balance.

A good way to decide if you are eating a good protein or not is use this as a guideline: The more legs its has the worse it is for you.

Read Pre Game Nutrition for Soccer for more nutrition tips

Soccer Diet - Part one

This several part series covers many different aspects of soccer nutrition. Start on part one by clicking the soccer diet link above then follow to each subsequent article by clicking the next button. Here are quick navigation links if a certain topic especially interests you.

Soccer Hydration Strategies-Part 2

Fats, Carbs and Protein-Part 3

Vitamins and Antioxidants-Part 4

Female Nutrition Considerations-Part 5