A Case Soccer Players Need To Eat A High Carbohydrate

Himani Patel

Case Study 3

Soccer players need to eat a high carbohydrate diet starting 2-3 days prior to game so that the muscles and liver stores the correct amount of glycogen needed to uphold enough energy throughout the game, which last for 90 minutes.2 A proper nutritional diet is crucial to keep energy up during the game and to avoid any health consequences after the game. Below is the menu for pre game day for a 160 pound male player. A 160-pound male player should ingest 3,200 to 4,000 calories per day. Out of which at least calories from carbohydrates should be 640-680 grams of carbohydrate per day, calories from fats should be around 50-70 grams of fat per day, and calories from proteins goes to 100-128 grams of protein per day.

As the game is going to be played in moderate temperature, player can lose as much as 2 liters of fluid through sweat during the game. Thus, fluid replenishment is one of the most important nutritional concerns for a soccer player. Two hours prior the game, player should drink 2-3 cups of fluids, two cups of beverage should be drunk 30 minutes prior to the game. At the half break he will be made to drink another 2 cups of beverage or sports drink and in the end around 3 cups for each pound lost. Player will be made to weigh himself before and after game to keep a track of weight loss due to sweat loss. Player should train himself for the intake of fluids accordingly, so that there is no more than 1 kg of weight loss from baseline. Sports drinks such as Gatorade, Powerade will be ingested more than plain water as these sports drinks have sodium, potassium, minerals and essential electrolytes. Beverages containing sodium helps water retention by kidneys and makes player to drink more fluid to delay fatigue and improve performance. It also helps to keep up cognitive power which is crucial to maintain throughout the game. Hydration should continue for several days as it takes longer to hydrate player’s body. The following are some recommended foods that are balanced in carbohydrates, and proteins that can be ingested after training: Peanut butter, nuts, whole grain cereal, whole wheat bagel, and beans. If player/athlete wants to make little change within the menu they can if the nutritional value is almost similar. For example, if they don’t like drinking milk then they can opt for yogurt. One more interesting fact that came across reading articles is that eating sugar or honey before a game does not provide extra energy in fact it can trigger