Ontario Cup Tournament Nutrition – Rob Millar

The large number of matches played in this tournament, combined with the resulting depletion of nutrients, heat stress and dehydration can dramatically affect how a player recovers between games and in the days after a tournament. From a nutrition perspective, a player who prepares well before, during and after a tournament can maintain a high level of energy and performance even in the later games of a tournament to gain a large advantage over competition that is tiring from improper nutritional preparation and maintenance. The following are guidelines for athletes who wish to play at a high level all tournament long.

Day prior
Eat regular meals with little or no junk food; hydrate well (mostly water, but some electrolytes so the body retains the water); carbohydrates (rice, pasta, potatoes), along with protein (meat, fish, poultry etc.), 4-6 servings of fruits and veggies.

Day of Tournament
Morning: regular breakfast (don’t skip breakfast!); eat whatever you can digest easily; hydrate.

Pre-game suggestions (30-60 min prior): banana, yogurt, bagel, pretzels, sip an electrolyte drink.

Game: electrolyte drinks

Between games: eat something within 15 minutes post-game; ideal foods have a 4-1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein: chocolate milk (excellent), yogurt, milk, bagel (if you digest it easily), banana, electrolyte drink (Endurox); find a cool place to relax and stay out of the sun; maybe a small amount of a salty snack.

Day after Tournament
Continue to drink regularly if the weather was hot during the tournament.

Note: do not experiment with new foods or electrolyte drinks on game day. It is important that you know how a food will digest for you (everybody is different). All foods should digest easily and relatively quickly. For example some people have a hard time digesting foods high in fructose; food high in fat will digest more slowly, as will foods very high in protein. It is better to eat 6 balanced (meaning having carbohydrates protein and some fat), smaller meals and snacks than a few big meals.

Electrolyte Drinks
Gatorade is not ideal. Electrolyte drinks should have sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium (and as a bonus some have manganese, branch chain amino acids, and lactic acid buffers, but that is for another time). It is very important that the athlete likes the taste of their drink or they will not drink enough. S

Notes on Hydration
It is important to be vigilant with hydration. It can take up to 2 days to fully re-hydrate after a vigorous day of exercise in the heat. Therefore hydrating at all times, but especially the day before during and after a tourney, is very important to performance and recovery. However, an athlete should not drink massive amounts of water alone over several days, as this can cause hyponatremia, a dangerous condition. Also, drinking just large amounts of water without any electrolytes causes the water to flush through your body, and come out as pee instead of your body hanging on to the water. There are electrolytes in fruits and vegetables as well as most other foods. Ice cold water does not get taken up in the body as quickly as cool water; there is no need to fill water bottles with lots of ice. Use ice packs to cool yourself.

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Dietary and Food Habits – by MG7

This package of information is to help you help yourself from a food and health. We all know that you all have a lot of exercise (which by the way is awesome☺) but food and dietary habits are a really important part of your life too.

Some good choices to make for breakfast are:

eggs (protein) and toast (grains)

The best toast for you is probably whole wheat and stuff like 12 grain or something like that. White bread is not the best because it is not natural – it has been processed a lot more than whole wheat and some of the healthy parts of the wheat have been removed.

I also suggest that you only have eggs once or twice a week; I don’t suggest you eat them everyday.

Omelette (protein and veggies)

Omelettes are very healthy but it does depend on what you put in it. Tomatoes, cheese, peppers stuff like that is a good choice for omelettes

toast (grains)and peanut butter (protein)

The best peanut butter to buy is the organic one. It may be a bit runny (oily) but all you have to do is stir it and it will taste exactly the same and the peanut butter with all the added sugar.

pancakes (grains) and fruit (fruits and vegetables)

The best syrup to have with your pancakes is the 100% maple syrup kind (instead of the pancake syrup), plus it tastes better and is from Ontario☺

cereal (grains)

It depends which cereal though. Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs are not the best because they are really sugary. But on the other hand Multigrain Cheerio’s are not that bad and also Muselix, Oatmeal Crisp and All Bran are also really good for you.

Good Side Dishes for Breakfast ☺

Nice side dishes for breakfast have to be healthy and light to have a healthy active day!

These are some good side choices for breakfast:

Yogurt
Juice – not the kind that says cocktail, punch or drink (it should say 100% Juice, no sugar added)
Fruit
Nuts
If there was not a lot of meat and alternatives in your main dish
Milk

Now once you’ve had a healthy and nutritious breakfast you can begin your active day right☺

Lunch Time!
Lunch time is also a very important part of your day. I think of it as a little extra push to get through your day. Breakfast starts you off, Lunch gives you a push and dinner makes sure you’re full.
Also for lunch I suggest that you have something that has carbohydrates because carbohydrates give you a lot of energy

And here are some healthy choices for lunch:

Whole wheat bagel with honey or peanut butter

If you’ve already had toast and peanut butter or honey for breakfast I suggest you don’t have it for lunch too.
Whole wheat pasta
Whole wheat tortillas
Grilled cheese on whole wheat bread
Believe me it doesn’t taste any different with whole wheat bread than with white bread…it’s just that’s its healthier☺
Anything that is whole wheat our you know that it’s healthy
Sandwiches, with healthy stuff inside
Sides for Lunch☺
Fruit
Like always ☺
Nuts
E.G. – Pistachios, Almonds, Peanuts, Walnuts
Vegetables and Dip
Crackers
Whole wheat
Dinner Time!!!

Dinner is last meal of the day so therefore it has to be well balanced and healthy.
For this list of foods I can’t really give you a list I just have to give you good choices and good foods that go together that are healthy as well.

Fish, Rice and Green beans
Spaghetti (has three food groups: Grains, Fruits and Vegetables and Meats and Alternatives)
Pork Chops, Sweet Potatoes and Cauliflower
Chicken, Spinach and a whole Wheat Bagel
There are tons of other options and different foods that you can combine and also be healthy☺
Mosh Salad
Which is made with uncooked spinch, mandarin

Dessert
Dessert is sort of tricky to plan and make because, most likely dessert is not that good for you. So here are some healthy dessert options that you can use:
Angel Cake with Quick Whip and Berries or Fruit of your choice
Fruit with dark chocolate sauce
Rice Crispy
Homemade Deserts are usually better too.
Dessert is not a necessity in your day like Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner so if you don’t want to have dessert that is totally fine.

Good Foods to eat before Soccer

The type of food you need to have before soccer is protein and stuff that is energizing.
Food that is good before soccer
Sports drink
Bananas
Fruit
Granola Bar/ Cereal bar (with no chocolate)
Pasta
Food that is light and healthy (e.g. crackers)
Food that is not good before Soccer
Milk
Chocolate
Chips
Cookies
Fruit roll ups, gummies, surgery stuff, etc.

Food that is good for after Soccer
It is crucial to eat after soccer within the first 45 minutes after you’ve played and here is some stuff that you could eat after your done playing:
Water
Protein (nuts, eggs, beans, etc.)
Sports Drink to regain your source of sodium

Food that is not good after soccer
Heavy greasy stuff (e.g. chips and fried stuff)
Surgery Foods
Junk food

Snacks
Snacks; you will always want to have. But most people think that the word “snack” means junk food and stuff that is not good for you. Well this is not true. Here are some snacks that are healthy:
Granola Bar
Fruit
Nutrigrain Bar
Yogurt
Crackers
Vegetables

Always check with your parents when trying to eat something new. Believe it or not they have a lot of experience eating LOL.  Keep in mind that we all eat different foods, sometimes good and sometimes bad and its not healthy to avoid eating something because it may be bad for you.  The goal here is to develop habits so that we minimize the bad foods, and understand why we eat good foods.  Better nutrition means better performance. Lets do the little things to give us the edge over the competition.

Go Panthers!

-Captain MG7