Nutrition for the Pros

When was the last time you heard a story on a pro athlete?  Today, yesterday?  Professional athletes are all over the news, everyday!  Our children look up to them and we want to meet them.  Would you guess they have just as much trouble with nutrition as the rest of population?

When I visit FC Dallas (www.fcdallas.com) at the beginning of every season, the first thing I do is meet with the rookies and meet with the guys that gained too much weight in the off season.  After being off for several months, it’s very possible there has been fat gain and/or muscle loss.  The new guys have to know the importance we put on nutrition in that club.  The returners should continue to use the information they’ve learned from me in past seasons.

When sitting down with a Pro, the first thing we do is run through their current nutrition habits.  Where do they shop for food (if they shop), have they had any injuries, where do they eat out and of course a quick run through of their daily intake.  This helps me begin to see what areas we will need to work on.  After doing this for four seasons, I see the same rough spots in nutrition and would like to share them so you can begin to work on them as well.

1)      Nutrient Timing.  Athletes and active individuals should be eating 5-7 times a day.  A typical day for an FC Dallas athlete is as follows:

7:00 a.m. – Breakfast

9:00-11:00 a.m. (depending on heat) – Practice

11:15-11:30 a.m. – Recovery

By 12:15 p.m. – Lunch

Nap and/or lift weights

3:30-4:00 p.m.– Snack

6:00 p.m. – Dinner

9:00 p.m. – Snack

If an athlete is not eating this way their performance is likely suffering.

2)      Hydration. Water is the best hydrator throughout the day for athletes.  However, if training exceeds on hour, there has to be a sports drink for them to drink.  During training is not the time to cut sugars out.  Cutting back the daily five sodas, slushes, or lemonade is the place to begin cutting the sugar out.  Remember, the general recommendations for daily water intake are for the majority of the population, not athletes.  Athletes have to keep in mind they have to replace the fluid they lost during exercise in addition to daily hydration needs.  Rule of thumb to see this number increase: for every drink besides water you drink, drink the same amount of water with that beverage.

3)      Eating out. The macronutrient in our food supply that causes the athlete the most trouble is fat.  Athletes should eat between 15-30% of their diet from fat depending on the sport.  The majority of our food choices at restaurants have over 38% fat in them, some as high as 65% fat!  It’s extremely important if you’re eating out more than once per week to learn which food choices you can eat that can be part of an athlete’s diet.  For example, Olive Garden’s Fettucine Alfredo not only contains 1220 calories, but it’s 55% fat!  However, their Capellini Pomodoro has only 18% fat.  (This information was taken directly from their website.)

These are just three of the most important areas that not just professional soccer players need help with, everyone does!