Food Guide for Women's Soccer. Tips and Recipes from the Pros by Gloria Averbuch & Nancy Clark

Author:Gloria Averbuch & Nancy Clark [Averbuch, Gloria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782553939
Publisher: Meyer & Meyer Sport (UK) Ltd.
Published: 2015-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

consume enough carbs to prevent hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

You can succeed at meeting these goals by drinking carbohydrate-containing fluids (such as a sports drink) or by combining water with solid foods (orange slices; watermelon; water + energy bar; water + sports gels). You’ll rarely see elite soccer players consuming more than a sports drink during the game, but youth soccer players can do well with a variety of fluids and foods, especially at halftime.

"I sometimes cramp during games, so I work hard to stay well hydrated and well fueled. I always drink lots of water and a sports drink before I play. At halftime, I sometimes have a few bites of an energy bar."

Rachel Buehler, Defender

Creating a Fueling Plan

During training sessions, be sure to drink every 15 to 20 minutes. Remember, you want to prevent dehydration. Don‘t let yourself get too thirsty. By drinking on a schedule—let’s say, a target of about 4-8 ounces (120-240 ml), that’s 4-8 gulps, of water or sports drink every 15 to 20 minutes—you can minimize dehydration, maximize your performance, and reduce your recovery time. As explained in Chapter 8, learning your sweat rate helps you determine how much to drink and is important information, particularly if you sweat heavily. Be certain you make the effort to weigh yourself before and after a one-hour soccer session so you’ll know how much sweat you lose (and need to replace); one pound sweat = one pound of water lost (16 ounces; 480 g). Also, if possible in hot weather games, place water along the sidelines to be consumed during breaks in play.

Within the first half-hour of playing soccer, start drinking so you can maintain adequate hydration; once you are dehydrated, you won‘t catch up. Losing only 2 % of your body weight (2.5 pounds for a 125-pound player; 1.1 kg for a 57 kg player) from sweating hurts your performance and upsets your ability to regulate your body temperature. (Refer to Chapter 8 for more details.) To keep hydrated, bring one or two bottles of sports drinks and a bottle of water. Bringing extra fluids is always safer than being stuck with too little fluid. However, since it is rare to be able to drink extensively during a game, "tank up" as much as possible, but without feeling uncomfortable sloshing in the stomach or that you have to urinate. Experiment in training first.

In training, you should drink according to a schedule, but you should also pay attention to thirst. Don’t force fluids. Drinking too much fluid to the point you feel the excess water sloshing around in your stomach can make you feel nauseous. The immediate solution is to stop drinking for a while. The long-term solution is to practice drinking during training sessions, so you can learn the appropriate fluid intake.

"I normally enjoy some sports drink before a game. At halftime, I have more sports drink and some kind of gel or other carb to keep my blood sugar from dropping. I lose so much energy in the first half.

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