Good nutrition and hydration can really enhance athletic performance. Listed below are a few tips to help keep our Eagle athletes healthy and ready for competition!

1. Always eat breakfast. When you wake, your body has already processed the food you ate the night before, and your blood sugar is low. In order to restore your blood sugar to optimum levels, choose a breakfast that contains both carbohydrates and protein (ie: fresh fruit with yogurt, eggs and whole wheat toast, or whole grain cereal with milk).

2. Consume adequate amounts of calories with correct ratios of carbohydrates (at least 60% of total calories) and protein (10-15%). Make sure to eat plenty of whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, and low-fat sources of protein each day.

3. Eat at regular intervals (every 2-4 hours). Skipping meals will negatively affect your energy level!

4. Hydrate! Drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water a day. Drink more on warmer days and try to drink every 15 minutes while exercising. To keep hydration at an optimum level, drink water throughout the day. Don’t wait until practice or the big game to drink water – by then its too late – you will already be mildly dehydrated which can detrimentally affect your performance. Make sure to drink some sports drink with electrolytes as well to replace those lost through sweating.

5. Avoid fast food and junk food. The calories you consume should be as high in nutritional value as possible. Fast food and junk food consists of mainly empty calories with little nutritional benefit and high fat content. These foods will sit heavy in your stomach and may possibly hamper athletic performance.

6. Avoid fad diets and supplements. Frequently, “performance enhancing” diets and/or products have very little scientific basis and may falsely promise desirable results. Very often they may detract from your performance rather than enhance it.

7. Avoid sodas, colas, and sugary juice drinks. These are often very high in sugar content which causes a roller coaster effect on blood sugar (a spike quickly followed by a plummet). They also often have high levels of caffeine, which is a diuretic and can contribute to dehydration. The phosphorous in sodas has also been proven to leach calcium from the bones, contributing to osteoporosis (brittle bone disease).

Here are 10 great ideas for HEALTHY PRE-WORKOUT SNACKS to help you maintain energy throughout your sports practice or competition:

½ bagel with 1 tbsp. peanut butter

½ cup of nuts and dried fruit (trail mix without the m&m’s!)

¾ cup Greek yogurt with ½ cup of berries

low-fat granola bar and a string cheese

3 or 4 fig newtons

½ sandwich made with whole grain bread and lean meat

whole grain crackers with real cheese or 1 tbsp peanut butter

low fat protein bar (see list of good choices below)

fresh fruit smoothie

a banana and a handful of almonds or cashews

Remember to keep your portions smaller the closer you are to practice time. Exercising right after a heavy meal can give you an upset stomach! Keep snacks small and save the bigger meal for after practice. Also make sure you drink at least 8 ounces of water with your pre-workout snack.

OPTIMAL CHOICES for protein bars:

Kashi chocolate caramel flavor (the other flavors are good choices, too), Clif Bar cool mint chocolate flavor, Odwalla Bar peanut crunch flavor, Nature Valley Crunchy Granola peanut butter flavor

Snacks to AVOID:

-Sugary sodas or juices

-Any sugary candy like Skittles, M&M’s, candy bars, etc.

-Caffeinated drinks like soda, iced tea, or coffee

-Frappucinos or “smoothies” that are mainly sugar

-Potato chips or other snack chips

-“protein bars” with less than 5 grams of protein, less than 3 grams of fiber, and more than 35% of total calories from sugar