Nutrition

Nutrition is key for optimal health athletic performance.

How you fuel your body significantly impacts the intensity of your workout, how your body recovers and how you perform for your team. Strive for a balanced diet rich in whole foods, lean protein sources and water for hydration.

It’s not only what you eat but when you eat that counts.

Be sure to fuel and hydrate pre-, during-, and post workouts to help you maintain fluid and electrolyte levels, repair damaged tissues and promote muscle growth.

Healthy choices matter while on the road for away games.

Tournaments or away games make wise nutrition choices harder. Plan to bring your own nutrition with you to avoid fast food choices which will negatively impact your performance.

Not all supplements are created equal.

Look for Informed-Sport certified, all natural, high-quality supplements. Informed-Sport is a certification program that regularly tests dietary supplements and foods for banned substances and confirms they’ve been manufactured under high-quality standards

Greg Eskedjian, MSc. CSCS

H20

More than half of our bodies are made up of water, which is stored in our cells, muscles, blood and organs. We also have lots of water stored outside of our cells (extracellular fluid), which is the fluid we lose when we sweat. This fluid is not just water; it is salt water, with about 9 grams of sodium (salt) per Liter of fluid.

Functions

• Water serves a number of different roles in the body, including:
• Maintain blood volume
• Remove wastes & toxins
• Regulate body temperature (sweating)
• Nerve function
• Shock absorption & lubrication

Dehydration

Severe Dehydration

When we lose a certain amount of internal water, or do not drink enough, we can become dehydrated. When we become severely dehydrated (large amounts of fluid loss), we can be at risk of serious health problems, such as heat exhaustion or stoke.

Mild Dehydration

Mild dehydration, which is not a health risk, can affect performance in athletes. *2% body mass loss during exercise can result in decrease in both physical and mental performance.

EXAMPLE: If you weigh 1551bs (70kg), 1.4 L is 2% of your body mass.

During intense competition lasting an hour or more, it is not uncommon for athletes to lose much more than 2% of their body mass, with research showing sweat losses of as high as 5% in an hour of competition.