Eat to perform better: 8 nutrition tips that will help you!

What to eat to perform better? Playing hockey is demanding and is not just about your skills, is also about your body. You need to eat to perform, and as this can be challenging, we have prepared 8 tips for you that will help your body and get you ready for the pitch:

1. Don’t allow the pain to bring you down:

If your muscles are sore then you need to be careful on what you eat to perform well… You will need healthy food to heal so you need to pay attention what you eat to perform better. Be sure that you eat the right things. For example, tart cherry juice reduces the inflammation associated with muscle soreness.

2. Give the right nutritional support to your muscle growth:

If you add high-quality proteins to your diet after playing or training, you will be helping to repair damaged muscle tissue and you will be able to go on. Nuts, seeds, read meat (no fat) and salmon are good sources of proteins.

3. A very important tip: DO NOT EAT more than you burn.

Know your body and do the math. If you exercise for 20 minutes and then you go running to eat fast food, most likely you will put fat in your body, meaning, you will recover what you burnt and add extra! Be careful!

4. Your immune system needs your support:

If you are under a strong exercising routine, you need to support and protect your immune system by adding probiotic-rich foods. Some of these meals are: Yogurt, Kefir, Sauerkraut, Dark Chocolate, Microalgae, Miso Soup, Pickle, Tempeh, Kimchi, Kombucha Tea. You can find more about each one of them here.

5. Timing the moments to eat:

Schedule when and how you eat. Don’t just munch on anything that you see around and try to program your body not to suffer hunger. Eat around your training times and schedule and try to make your body suit your routine.

6. Hydration, drinking to power-up your body:

Dehydration is one of the worse things that can happen to you. You will feel fatigue, burnt out and you do not want that when you are in training. Keep replenishing your body of fluid and electrolytes.

 

7. Keep it natural:

Nowadays there are so many un-prescribed nutritional formulas that you have to be careful. Not every formula works equally for each body, specially if this is not prescribed by a doctor. Therefore, keep it natural: fruits, nuts, smoothies, vegetables, water, etc…

8. Eat to support your own unique sporty lifestyle:

Each person is unique and a different individual if you consider genetics, lifestyle, activity, and food preferences. Don’t just follow trends, try creating your own personal trend. Nobody knows your body better than you so plan for yourself.