To ensure there is adequate energy to refill those stores, your post workout meal MUST contain carbohydrates. SIMPLE carbohydrates should be consumed immediately after activity when you have another bout of high-intensity activity within the next 24 hours.

COMPLEX carbohydrates should also be consumed to keep you feeling full thanks, fiber! and to provide a sustained source of nutrient-dense fuel to help provide energy for the rebuilding process. Remember, recovery after your game has two concerns…now that we understand we need carbs to REPLENISH….

what about rebuilding? During games, your muscles are required to both EXERT and ABSORB a lot of force. Muscle, tendon, and ligament breakdown occurs when too much force is applied than it has the capacity to absorb. Protein is a building block for your muscles as well as a structural component for every cell in your body.

After a game, you want to consume protein so that your body has the building blocks it needs to help REBUILD. The faster you rebuild, the better able you are to conquer your next game or practice! But remember, you cannot rebuild with the building blocks alone.

This energy can come from complex carbs or fats as both provide a steady stream of energy to help your body recover hours after your game! But not too much fat! Gives a feeling of fullness satiety after a meal. Slows down digestion.

Concentrate source of energy more than proteins and carbohydrates energy. reserve of energy. protects vital organs. increases calorific value of foods without adding bulk. provides texture to food. provides flavour. gives a feeling of fullness satiety after a meal. slows down digestion.

formation of cell membranes. Remember, your game is STRESSFUL. But, stress is GOOD when it helps our body ADAPT. Fueling your body after your game is ESSENTIAL in determining how your body recovers. With a meal full of protein, carbs, and a bit of fat, you will be able to REPLENISH your glycogen stores and REBUILD your body to a stronger, more resilient player!

What Should You Eat After A Game? Jan 12 Written By Emily Pappas. Emily R Pappas, M. Written By Timothy Sentongo, MD. Sentongo, MD. The long-term nutritional goals include good hydration, eating patterns, and food choices that support normal growth while also meeting daily exercise demands.

Short-term goals involve appropriate dietary preparation for each athletic activity. The long-term goals involve regularly consuming a balanced diet of three standard meals and at least two snacks. The preferred snack should include protein and carbohydrates carbs with a low glycemic index.

Examples of high glycemic index carbs that should be minimized include sweets, pastries, and refined grains. These cause sharp blood sugar spikes and lows, leading to more sweet cravings resulting in binge eating, which is not good for an athlete.

While younger kids who compete in shorter games might not need to pay as much attention to their game-time nutrition, older kids who are serious about their performance should follow these nutrition rules to maximize their athletic abilities.

Broccoli adds calcium, vitamins A and C. Sentongo recommends avoiding new foods that might upset your stomach during the game. Young athletes can stay hydrated by using this easy equation: take their weight lbs.

Staying hydrated is especially important on the day of the game. Anything too fatty, like junk food or milk, is digested slowly and will make athletes feel slow and sluggish. Athletes should also avoid eating too many high-fiber foods, like beans, fruits and vegetables, which are also difficult to digest and cause stomach problems on the field.

Some parents are encouraged to bring snacks for the kids to eat mid-game. These include a small, plain or whole grain bagel, graham crackers, dried fruit, sliced orange, and half a banana.

While parents often pack sugary treats like granola bars, Sentongo recommends the same starchy foods kids should eat before the game. While on the sidelines, athletes should drink both water and sports drinks like Gatorade which have electrolytes and potassium to help them recover.

Though some athletes are getting creative with hydration options — pickle juice has grown in popularity in recent years — Sentongo recommends sticking with sports drinks, which have the right combination of salt and sugar that increases the absorption of electrolytes in the body. After the game, athletes should eat a high-protein meal that contains poultry, meats, fish, or legumes.

Though athletes may feel fatigued, Sentongo cautions against overhydrating, which can cause light-headedness and even more fatigue. Energy drinks are becoming increasingly popular with young athletes.

However, this is mostly because of marketing and not safety. Many young athletes who consume energy drinks strongly believe they have a positive effect. However, research shows that young athletes who rely on energy drinks are more likely to engage in health-damaging physical intensity and experience more adverse health symptoms like headaches, stomach aches, hyperactivity, and insomnia poor sleep.

Therefore, the consumption and reliance on energy drinks should be discouraged in athletes. Pediatric gastroenterologist Timothy A.

Sentongo, MD, specializes in chronic disorders that affect growth and nutrition in children, including short bowel syndrome, food intolerances, feeding problems and cystic fibrosis. At Comer Children's, your child benefits from the combined expertise of many of the nation's leading specialists in gastrointestinal diseases.

Our gastroenterologists are nationally and internationally recognized for providing breakthrough care of complex digestive diseases. Save time by skipping the trip to the doctor's office and video conference with your provider instead. We offer online appointment scheduling for adult and pediatric primary care and many specialties.

UChicago Medicine and Ingalls Memorial offer a broad range of challenging clinical and non-clinical career opportunities doing work that really matters.

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The minute window Recovery after training and games is one of the most important nutritional challenges that we face. Taking advantage of the minute recovery window post-exercise may help the body to recover more effectively than delaying nutrition intake.

This period after a training session, gym workout or game is when our muscles are primed to recover our energy stores and support the building of muscle mass. One of the key goals of recovery nutrition is to replace the energy that we have just used and ensure we are ready to perform to our best in the next training session.

To do this, consuming adequate carbohydrate post-exercise is key. Football match-play and strength training also cause muscle breakdown.

As a result, consuming high-quality protein post-exercise is important to help our muscles to adapt to training. What happens to our muscles during a match? Carbohydrates are the main energy source for football. The physical stress of a game can also cause damage to your muscle fibres meaning that you need to repair and rebuild them in the days after the match.

Quality nutrition is vital in the hours and days after the game to replenish your energy stores and repair your damaged muscle fibres. If you do things right, your muscles will recover and reload with fuel so that you can train or play again in a matter of days. When should I start my recovery process?

Recovery should begin as soon as you enter the changing room. In the first two hours after match play, our muscles are highly sensitive to storing nutrients and so we should take advantage of this window of opportunity by eating carbohydrate rich foods for several hours after match play.

Failure to do so can significantly reduce your recovery which could then impair your ability to train or play another match in the coming days. How many carbohydrates do I need?

For those athletes choosing to eat more healthy fats and less carbohydrates, their pre-game plan may look a little different from the athlete that relies on carbohydrates as their fuel source. Note 4 hours prior to play for pre-game and those choices may depend upon playing time and older youth players and adults can have caffeine 30 min before the event.

Soccer players can have a snack hours before the event to top off your fuel stores. Reload during the game and at halftime with carbs, electrolytes, and fluids to power you through the remaining game.

A small snack can delay fatigue and help with recovery. Refuel immediately following the match, you should have a recovery snack within minutes ideally. Make this a mix of carbs and protein to replenish your fuel stores glycogen and repair damaged tissue. Always follow up with an actual meal within an hour after your recovery snack.

Amy Dirks is the former sports performance nutritionist for MLS' Sporting Kansas City. Dirks has counseled many professional athletes during their pro seasons and is a Registered Dietitian-Nutritionist with a background in Sports Nutrition and Wellness. Also certified as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Personal Trainer, Dirks has a refreshingly logical approach to working with professional sports teams, elite youth soccer players, and individual pro athletes.

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Amy Dirks Amy Dirks is the former sports performance nutritionist for MLS' Sporting Kansas City. Next Article JOHN GALLUCCI ON SOCCER PLAYERS: THE COLD FACTS ON WHEN TO ICE.

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