Proper Nutrition of the Footballer

Edited by Dr. Davide Sganzerla

Importance of Nutrition

Nutrition is the means through which man introduces and assimilates, in addition to nutrients, also the energy he needs. The purpose of nutrition is to compensate, through an adequate supply of nutrients, the consumption of energy and of biological materials imposed by the basal and functional metabolism (increase in metabolism due to physical activity). In the player, this compensation must take place in a particularly precise way, as the best performance can only result from the combination of optimal training and correct nutrition .

At whatever level the activity is practiced, the way of eating is fundamental for a successful sporting performance and above all to guarantee the athlete's health. Bad habits related to food, a monotonous diet and an insufficient food culture, can in fact increase the risk of developing various types of diseases and more generally lead to a state of poor efficiency of the organism.

The player's nutrition is based on three phases:

• Feeding before the game
• Power during the match
• Feeding after the game

Feeding before the game

The main goal of pre-match nutrition is to keep the blood glucose level constant. This sugar is a valuable fuel for the brain and muscles; it can also be stored as an energy reserve, in the form of glycogen (glucose macromolecule), in the muscles and in the liver.
In the hours before the game it is very easy to make food mistakes. Sometimes some of these mistakes do not affect the performance just because the players, especially the young ones, enjoy digestive abilities above the norm, so they manage not to have any problems. Other errors, however, are not as venial, since they determine a worsening of physical efficiency even when the player himself does not realize it.
The main mistakes that can be made before the game are:

• States of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) due to prolonged fasting; this condition leads to "asthenia, or an unpleasant feeling of muscular fatigue (the so-called" soft legs ");
• States of hyperglycemia (a lot of blood sugar) accompanied by an increase in insulin production (hyperinsulinemia), which in turn determines a state of reactive hypoglycemia;
• Stop eating when there is too little time left for the start of the game. If the interval between the end of the meal and the start of the pre-game warm-up is excessively short (and / or the wrong or badly combined foods have been eaten), you can feel both more properly gastric problems (heaviness, acidity, nausea, vomiting), and general problems (dizziness, loss of strength). These unpleasant symptoms are caused by the fact that a large amount of blood is seized from the digestive system, still struggling with digestion, decreasing blood flow to muscles and brain.
  The best time to feed is at least 3 hours before the start of the pre-match warm-up.

The 5 rules for a correct pre-match nutrition

The first rule to have an easier digestion consists in reducing the fat content in the meal that precedes the meeting. Fats, in fact, on the one hand require a long time to be digested, while on the other they lengthen the time of digestion of the foods with which they are taken. Furthermore, once digested, dietary lipids cause hyperlipidemia, ie a high concentration of lipids in the blood, which reduces the efficiency of the brain.
Fried fats and those cooked for a long time should therefore be avoided; sausages are excluded (with the sole exception of bresaola and defatted raw ham) and fatty meats such as pork. The obviously fatty parts of the meat, the skin of the chicken and so on must then be eliminated; similarly, parts of roasts or roast beef in direct contact with cooking fats should not be taken; condiments, cheeses, whole milk, butter, margarine and various types of oils should be reduced.

The second rule is to eat a good amount of complex carbohydrates, avoiding simple ones. Foods rich in carbohydrates are usually easily digested and able to increase the glycogen stores in the muscles and liver; complex carbohydrates, ie starches, such as those contained in pasta, bread, rice, potatoes and boiled carrots, are preferred. Instead, it is necessary to limit the quantity of simple carbohydrates, that is sugars, starting from sucrose - that is cooking sugar - and from glucose (also called dextrose). In fact, when you take several grams of these sugars, as described above, there is first a rapid rise in blood sugar (ie "" hyperglycemia "); this results in an "entry into the blood of insulin (a hormone produced by the pancreas) in quantities much higher than normal. The glycaemia tends to return to basal values; however, when the" rise in the level of glucose - consequently that of insulin - it is rapid and of considerable entity, it can happen that the blood sugar drops below normal values; we then speak of "reactive hypoglycemia", that is, a lowering of blood sugar caused by the previous and excessive increase in the level of glucose in the blood. As has been said, hypoglycemia does not allow to express oneself at the maximum of physical efficiency.

 

Other articles on "Proper Nutrition of the Footballer"

1. Proper nutrition before and during a football match
2. Post-match nutrition of the football player