Ultimate Nutrition
by Sprocket, Team Captain
At tour three, I made brief mention of the importance of food. Here's a bit more info on food for tourney's. Use it if you want to, it's totally up to you.
I've just re-read it and it's quite lengthy so don't try to hold you're breath while reading it. If people want, I can load on some other training stuff - fitness and sprinting, etc - just let me know...
There are 5 key nutritional things to consider:
1) Adequate energy intake
2) Not feeling hungry
3) Adequate fluid intake
4) Adequate electrolyte intake
5) Familiarity
I'll attack them one by one in hope of making sense, put any questions below and either I'll answer them or I'll ask Alicia (who's a dietician) and she'll answer them.
1) Adequate energy intake
1. Energy is good cause it powers your muscles and brain. Here I'm talking simple and complex carbohydrates and to a small degree, fats and oils. Simple carbs are sugars - glucose in lollies, chocolate, fructose in fruit. Complex carbs are basically chains of sugars, bread, pasta, rice simple carbs are the quickest to burn, complex take a bit longer. Because of this a mixture of the two should form a big part of your eating. Muesli bars are good because they should contain both types of carbs.
After any given game, I'll try to eat some lollies, or chocolate and at least 1 muesli bar as soon as possible - I even wander off during a call that i've been eliminated from to get food and drink.
A typical breakfast at tourney for me is 6 slices of brown bread, peanut butter and 2 banana's. Lunch prolly a filled roll/jacket potato/pasta. Dinner tends to be difficult on tour due to finishing times and we should try to sort this out at some point. I try to get a dinner with lots of pasta, rice or potato and not too much meat (although some is fine).
Basically you need to get your energy intake from carbohydrates and a little fat. The intensity of ultimate means you need 'high octane' fuel - carbs. You need complex and simple carbs, just simple will cause a blood sugar spike, then a crash The energy provided by fats and, in particular, protein is slow burning, so bugger all use. Your brain only functions on glucose so if you are low on carbs, your brain won't work so well and you'll make poor decisions on field and prolly get a bit neggy.
2) Not feeling hungry
2. Having an adequate energy intake isn't the same as not feeling hungry. At tour 3 breakfast eaten by most teams were cheap, plentiful and filling, but not high in energy. The eggs, mushrooms, bacon, and sausage that were served were high in fat and protein and low in carbs. Consequently you'd feel full but not be loaded with enough carbs. Having some fat and protein in a meal is good so you don't feel hungry, but really you need the bulk of a meal to be carbs. Keep in mind complex carbs like whole grains and brown bread will perform a similar role to fats and proteins in stopping those feelings of hunger. muesli and yoghurt is a good breakfast, it'll keep you feeling full and has lots of carbs, if you have say sugar puffs instead of muesli, you might get as much energy but you'll feel hungry sooner.
3) Adequate fluid intake
3. You lose fluids two ways, sweating and urinating. You can sweat as much as 1 1/2 litres an hour, although not in our usual tourney conditions. Caffeine is a diuretic - it makes you pee lots, so don't drink more caffeine than you're used to. I aim to finish 750 ml of drink during each game as a minimum, more if it's quite hot and try to drink a bit between games. Sort out a drink bottle that - is clearly yours (so it doesn't go walking), is a decent size (750ml minimum), and ideally has a wide neck (for easy filling). If you're wondering if you're dehydrated a good rule of thumb is to check whether you need to pee the same number of times as you play - if you have three games and don't pee three times during the day, you're dehydrated. Can be a pain when the fields are a long way from the toilets. Try to have something to drink each time you come off the field, it doesn't have to be a big drink.
4) Adequate electrolyte intake
4. Electrolytes are basically salts that are in your blood stream, muscles and nervous system. they are used to convey signals to muscles and to cause muscles to contract. You lose them when you sweat, this causes an imbalance. If you get an imbalance you will be prone to cramp. The key salts are sodium and potassium. You can replace these through food (bananas are high in potassium), or through various sports drinks. Two key things with drinks are electrolyte content and sugar content. Usually in over the counter pre-bottled drinks, electrolyte content is too low and sugar is too high. Also they're over priced. I buy powder and mix my own, it's heaps cheaper. Go to somehwere like boots, you'll have a choice. The term to look for is 'isotonic' this means the level of salts in the drink will be same as in your body. This speeds the absorbtion of the drink into your blood stream from your gut. Too much sugar will actually slow down this process, so coke, etc isn't good for continued performance.
5) Familiarity
5. Don't shock your body with a massively different diet come tournament, it'll be shocked anyway with all the running. Try to use the foods and drinks you'll be using at tourney at some pratices and during a normal day. So for some practices drink sports drink if you want to use it at tourney. Likewise, try to eat a muesli bar or half muesli bar during a break in practice. Basically you need to give your body a chance to get used to foods and drinks before tourney.
Everyone is different, I've got a high metabolism, am prone to blood sugar crashes and cramping (lucky me). Following the above guidelines means I can play hard all weekend (injury permitting). Many people won't be prone to cramping and so will be happy drinking water. That's absolutely fine. I would suggest that most people who played on the weekend could find something in here that would have made sunday's play a little easier for them.
Hope this was useful.
Nutrition
