I
am a 24-year-old Cricketer. I recently read that it is not
advisable to choose nuts and chocolates as a in bettween event
snack. They advised dried fruit, banana or jelly. Since both
give energy what is difference? Could you please explain?
Today
we have research which shows that besides your God given ability
and talent to play a game and your training by professional
coaches, what goes into your body as food on a long term basis
as well as exactly what you eat 3 days before your event and
through out and after the event have a tremendous influence
on your performance.It
is very important for a cricketer to concentrate on a high
carbohydrate diet from 3 days before a match. 60-70% of the
food should be carbohydrate food.( fruits, sugars, vegetables
and cereals-rice, wheat etc) This gets converted to glycogen
and is stored in the muscles. During a cricket match one has
to be able to endure long hours as well as have muscle glycogen,
which is where energy is taken from for the spurts of high
intensity activity that occurs when you bowl, bat, take a
run or run for the ball.
For
this we recommend that you make a conscious effort to cut
down on all fatty food from 3 days prior to the event. During
event and after event replace those calories with large quantities
of carbohydrate foods. Use skimmed or low fat milk, do not
apply butter on bread or ghee on roti, avoid coconut chutney
and any fried items like vada, masala dosa etc in breakfast.
Ideally your breakfast should be a glass of skimmed milk with
bread and jam, or idli and sambar. or oats porridge or cereal
and milk. A boiled egg may be eaten but sausages, bacon etc
must be avoided. Top up the breakfast with fruits or fruit
juice.
Carry
with you dilute juice with glucose or sports drink but avoid
any concentrated drinks and aerated drinks during event. Between
events frequently snack on fruits - banana, dates, raisins
etc. Jelly and crackers may also be eaten. Chocolates and
nuts are a definite no as they are high fat and will feel
heavy in the stomach without doing the needful. Lunch
too should be high carbohydrates, moderate protein meal but
low in fat. Curd rice, dry roti with dhal, veg sandwiches,
macaroni and tomato sauce with a little cheese added. But
try to increase your rice or roti intake and avoid the non-veg.
Many eat
less during the event saying they don't want to feel heavy.
Please note, if you fill up on carbs you will not be heavy
as they get digested fast. Only if your eat fat then fat takes
6-8 hours to get digested and it feels heavy in the stomach.
After the event too do not neglect your eating. For a cricketer
every day is important every event is important and you should
take care to replenish your muscle glycogen stores which would
have got emptied by the end of your game.
It
is recommend that you give 100 gms of carbohydrate with 5-10
gms protein within half an hour after event. This can be got
from a milk shake or lassi plus 4 slices bread & jam or
5-6 idli with sambar and some fruits. Later that night's dinner
too must be a high carbohydrate meal with lots of rice but
definitely low on fat. Fruit and milk at bed time too is a
good way to load carbohydrates.Rich biriyani, poori, paratha
and Chinese food are best avoided after a match as they are
too high in fat.
Today
we have research which shows that besides your God given ability
and talent to play a game and your training by professional
coaches, what goes into your body as food on a long term basis
as well as exactly what you eat 3 days before your event and
through out and after the event have a tremendous influence
on your performance.It
is very important for a cricketer to concentrate on a high
carbohydrate diet from 3 days before a match. 60-70% of the
food should be carbohydrate food.( fruits, sugars, vegetables
and cereals-rice, wheat etc) This gets converted to glycogen
and is stored in the muscles. During a cricket match one has
to be able to endure long hours as well as have muscle glycogen,
which is where energy is taken from for the spurts of high
intensity activity that occurs when you bowl, bat, take a
run or run for the ball.
For
this we recommend that you make a conscious effort to cut
down on all fatty food from 3 days prior to the event. During
event and after event replace those calories with large quantities
of carbohydrate foods. Use skimmed or low fat milk, do not
apply butter on bread or ghee on roti, avoid coconut chutney
and any fried items like vada, masala dosa etc in breakfast.
Ideally your breakfast should be a glass of skimmed milk with
bread and jam, or idli and sambar. or oats porridge or cereal
and milk. A boiled egg may be eaten but sausages, bacon etc
must be avoided. Top up the breakfast with fruits or fruit
juice.
Carry
with you dilute juice with glucose or sports drink but avoid
any concentrated drinks and aerated drinks during event. Between
events frequently snack on fruits - banana, dates, raisins
etc. Jelly and crackers may also be eaten. Chocolates and
nuts are a definite no as they are high fat and will feel
heavy in the stomach without doing the needful. Lunch
too should be high carbohydrates, moderate protein meal but
low in fat. Curd rice, dry roti with dhal, veg sandwiches,
macaroni and tomato sauce with a little cheese added. But
try to increase your rice or roti intake and avoid the non-veg.
It
is recommend that you give 100 gms of carbohydrate with 5-10
gms protein within half an hour after event. This can be got
from a milk shake or lassi plus 4 slices bread & jam or
5-6 idli with sambar and some fruits. Later that night's dinner
too must be a high carbohydrate meal with lots of rice but
definitely low on fat. Fruit and milk at bed time too is a
good way to load carbohydrates.Rich biriyani, poori, paratha
and Chinese food are best avoided after a match as they are
too high in fat.