This will give your body enough time to digest any foods before the game. You can have tummy troubles or GI discomfort if you chow down right before. These competing demands can become a challenge for optimal performance.

Carbohydrates provide the primary fuel for exercising muscles. Athletes should focus on eating carbs, which are broken down in the small intestine. As mentioned before, having food during exercise may result in stomach cramps.

Hydration is key during this time. Although there are certain foods that provide energy-boosting hydration as well. Hydrate based on the length and intensity of the activity. Replace fluids according to thirst and weather. The most important meal on game day is what you eat after your game or workout.

During heavy exercise, your body taps into your glycogen storage for energy, which is the fuel stored in your muscles. This will ensure that your energy stores are refilled, your muscles that were broken down are given nourishment to rebuild and repair, and will keep your metabolism at a steady pace.

The sooner you refuel, the better! Electrolytes are essential minerals that your body needs to stay hydrated before, during, and after exercise.

But they do more than that. Adding an electrolyte supplement to your drink throughout the day will keep you in check. Adding lemon and a bit of sea salt to your drink will do the trick as well!

A small amount of protein in your pre game meal can be useful as it can be helpful in preventing hunger throughout the game.

Rather than focusing on how much protein you're getting, the timing of when you consume protein has been shown by recent research as potentially more important. Protein sources that provide all of the nine essential amino acids are called complete proteins. Below is a list of complete and some non-complete proteins to consider when preparing your pre game meals.

OTHER SOURCES OF NON COMPLETE PROTEINS INCLUDE:. Vegetables broccoli, spinach, asparagus, artichokes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, Brussel sprouts. Firstly, try avoiding full fat milk and instead go for semi-skimmed or skimmed along with choosing low fat cheeses like cottage cheese. Lastly, having plenty of oily fish like salmon and mackerel is a great source of lean protein whilst getting in those omega 3 fatty acids.

They are what keeps everything in nice working order by providing protection, aiding recovery and maintaining good long-term health. Essential vitamins include A, C, E, B6 and B12 and minerals include things such as iron, copper, magnesium, selenium, sodium, zinc.

No matter whether the food is fresh, frozen, dried, canned or juiced, the anti-oxidants are retained. Aim to have at least 5 portions of vegetables or salad per day along with portions of fruit.

The amount of fruit is lower due to the fructose in fruit getting stored as fat when your liver energy levels are full.

You might think fats should be completely avoided, but this is far from the truth. Fats are a necessary component for your body, but should be consumed mindfully in moderation.

They actually protect your vital organs as through providing insulation and help to keep the body warm. They are actually beneficial to heart health and can improve your cholesterol as they provide essential fatty acids your body needs but cannot produce.

The not so healthy fats which are known as saturated fats are found in things like butter, cheese, whole milk, cream, ice cream and fatty meats. These fats are okay in moderation, but a high consumption can have quite negative effects on your health.

There are no performance benefits from consuming fats during your football games or training. If anything, the results could actually be harmful and cause an upset stomach or poor performance. Below are examples of both good and bad fats that will help you in planning your pre game meal.

It's a good idea to work on replacing bad fats with good fats in your diet. One way of doing this is cooking from scratch rather than buying packaged processed foods and using healthier cooking methods such as baking, grilling or steaming. Another way is by trying avocado or organic peanut butter on your bread or toast instead of butters along with choosing fat-free or low-fat options such as light mayo.

Cooking with coconut or extra virgin olive oil is a great tip too, and measuring out the amount needed rather than pouring from the bottle. Knowing when to eat before a game does depend on what time the kick off is along with some other considerations.

This hour guideline depends on how substantial your meal is. For example, A carbohydrate heavy meal will likely require longer than 1 hour to digest, whereas you may find your body digests a lighter meal or snack after 1 hour just fine. Just try avoiding running on both a full or empty stomach.

The majority of us here at Formation Studio eat 2. This will also prevent you feeling full and bloated for the game so your mind can concentrate on your performance as opposed to any discomfort.

First thing in the morning your glycogen levels are low and you will be in a fasted state due to not consuming food for 8 hours. During a normal day your glycogen will increase as you eat food. Therefore if you have a game before midday, it is important to increase your carbs in the morning, as your window for carb loading is shorter.

Dinner the night before will be important and should include a decent amount of easy to digest carbohydrates such as wholemeal bread. pasta or brown rice. Make sure you eat dinner at least 2 hours before going to bed. Breakfast on the day of the game is also extremely important for a morning kick off, which should be light, limited in fat and predominantly carbohydrates.

Remember to respect the time for digestion and eat a couple of hours before. The ideal breakfast should combine carbohydrates with protein. The main meal before your afternoon kick off should again be between 1 — 4 hours before to give your body enough time to digest and absorb the nutrients.

It should be based on carbohydrates, a small amount of protein whilst avoiding fats and high fibre. Some good choices may be wholemeal sandwich with a light stuffing, a rice dish, baked potato with tuna or a chicken breast with pasta salad.

You may choose to eat more of a substantial breakfast with an afternoon kick off to fill your fuel tank with foods rich in carbohydrates such as poached eggs with wholemeal toast.

Some snack ideas include fruit, yoghurt, cereal energy bars, wholemeal toast with peanut butter or a sports drink. The same timing rules apply and you should be eating your pre match meal between hours before the game starts.

If your kick off is on the earlier side closer to 6pm, you might want to consider having a snack in between your lunch and kick off or perhaps trying a later lunch. If you have a later kick off, you might want to have your dinner in the hour window before kick off and have a snack after playing.

Or a later lunch and snack beforehand with dinner. Pretty much alI the major systems in your body depend on water. It is the medium for all chemical reactions, including accessing stored energy from muscles along with playing a major role in muscle growth. Fluid requirements depend on your effort level, the temperature of the day, humidity, your hydration level before the game and how much you sweat.

When you train or play matches, the losses due to sweating can range from litres depending on the weather. Sweat rates will of course be lower in colder weather. So the trick is to drink regularly to stay ahead of the game!

And remember to go to the bathroom before heading out to the pitch. A great way to understand your sweat rates and train your body to rehydrate is during your practice sessions to avoid figuring this out during the match. This is the last thing you want to experience during a game as it has some pretty intense negative effects.

A simple way to determine how hydrated you are is by looking at the colour of your urine. The aim is to have a pale straw coloured urine as this equals a good level of hydration. There are debates as to whether hydrating through solely water or drinking energy drinks is better.

We believe this again comes down to personal preference and the intensity level of your match. While water is the priority fluid during training, for hydration throughout the day, and in most matches, sports or electrolyte drinks may be useful during a game for players who have high energy requirements or heavy fluid losses as they can deliver some fuel and electrolytes.

Sports drinks may sometimes be deemed superior to water as a rehydration drink due to the sodium chloride table salt and carbohydrates they contain such as sucrose and glucose. When salts and carbohydrates are added to the water, gastric emptying improves, which improves its transport from the intestine to the blood compared to drinking only water.

Again, this is likely to depend on the level of intensity, so energy drinks may not be entirely necessary for 5 a side football games for example. Confusing hunger with thirst is extremely common as dehydration symptoms are the same as those for hunger!

If you still feel hungry after eating the right amount of food, try drinking some fluids to see if that reduces the feeling of hunger. Carrying a bottle of water with you throughout the day can help you to stay hydrated and helps you to drink little and often.

Be careful not to over-hydrate though, as this can negatively influence your body. Another important factor to consider is what to consume during your match.