Featuring Stefanie Senior, BSc, Registered Dietitian Meal Planning For Maximum Energy During Sports Duration: 1 minute, 47 seconds

Well, one of the most important things is timing, and so a lot of athletes hesitate to get up too early before their event because they are nervous of being tired during their event and to eat a substantial breakfast.

And so they may rely on something quick and simple before they head out for their event. Ideally you actually want to eat something three to four hours before an event, and that’s not always realistic.

But if you have the time to do that you definitely want to make sure that you’re consuming a meal or large snack that is focusing on carbohydrate. So that could be oatmeal, that could be a muesli type cereal, that could be a Sparta grain bread, another type of low sugar but high carbohydrate breakfast cereal, fruit is a great, and then you want to make sure that it is low in fat, low in fiber, and then moderate in protein.

So you could have depending on the timing of the meal you could add some eggs or have some Greek yogurt or cottage cheese something higher in protein. But that shouldn’t be the basis of your meal. It should more be a garnish to your pre-event meal.

So if you’re looking at the snack right before, you want to make sure it’s something that is easy to digest, and that you are going to be able to absorb to benefit from it during your event. So that would be a quick-acting carbohydrate, so that could be something like a banana or a sports drink.

So for a detailed sports nutrition plan that outlines what to consume before an event, contact a local dietitian to help you out.

Presenter: Stefanie Senior, Registered Dietitian, Toronto, ON

Local Practitioners: Registered Dietitian