When I started to play soccer I didn’t had a clue of what to eat before and after my practice or games. In fact, I didn’t even know how important proper nutrition was for my performance on the field. However, I was aware of that eating properly helped me to perform better, but I wasn’t able to figure out what to eat.
I thought that eating pizza and drinking coke before a game was the ultimate soccer food. Today I feel pretty dumb but we all learn from our mistakes :-) In this article I will give you valuable soccer player nutrition tips that will help you avoid making same mistakes as I did. Let’s start…
Soccer Player Nutrition Tips - Carbohydrates
Eating quality carbohydrates is vital for your performance. You can see carbohydrates as car fuel. A car will not come any far without fuel and you will not run any long without carbohydrates. However, carbohydrates will not help you with your ball handling.
Keep in mind that the more quality carbohydrates you eat the more easily will it be to maintain a high tempo through your whole game.
You should try to start to fill your carbohydrate fuel one day before your practice or game. Try also to eat a big portion that contains a lot of quality carbohydrates 4-5 hours before the start of your soccer practice/game.
Here is an example on a quality soccer meal.
- 60% carbohydrates
- 15 % protein
- 15-25% fat
- Lot of fluids
Soccer Player Nutrition Tips - Fat is Good
You may have heard that fat will make you overweight. Make yourself a favor and don’t listen on people claiming that. Fat is good and you should try to eat it often. However, keep in mind that fat is rich of energy and you should limit it to 1 g per your body kg. For example if your weight is 75 kg you should not eat more than 75 g fat per day.
These are the types of fat that you should try to eat often.
• Omega fat (can be found in fat fish)
• Peanuts and cashew nuts
Types of fat you should avoid can be found in milk (10 % fat or more) and other similar products.
Soccer Player Nutrition Tips - Protein
Beside carbohydrates, protein is your third most important part in your soccer diet. However, you should also try to eat some protein and fat. Good protein sources are chicken and red meat. Protein will help your muscles to recover quicker and make them stronger which will help you avoid serious injuries.
Quality protein can be found in:
• Chicken
• Red meat (remove the white fat)
• Pork
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