Appropriate Eating Habits Before Competitions

What you eat before an athletic competition can be just as important as all your physical training. It’s important to eat the right foods in the right quantity at the right time in relation to a competition. In order to do this, obviously, you need to know which are the correct foods for your body type and the activity you’re competing in; how much you need to fulfill your metabolic requirements without overeating so you become sluggish; and how much time your body will need to process these foods in time to utilize them in competition.

When to eat

A general rule of thumb is not to eat at all within half an hour before a competition. Since digestion is actually a form of exertion, you don’t want to be doing the bulk of it while you’re competing. The half-hour window gives your body enough time to do the hard parts of digesting food, so that those calories will be available to your competition activity and nothing else when the time comes.

You last actual meal, however, should be approximately four hours before a competition. This means a complete meal involving all the food groups, so you may need to adjust your eating or workout schedule accordingly. And yes, in the event you have an early morning competition, you would be well-advised get up in time to eat a full meal four hours before it.

What to eat

How do you know what to eat? It’s not as simple as good foods or bad foods, or high this or low that. Your ideal training diet will differ from someone else’s depending on body types and what sport you’re competing in. Trainers and sports medicine doctors are good sources of advice on this topic. If you haven’t access to an expert, or doubt the advice you’re getting from one, there are some general guidelines that may help:

About two hours before a competition, have a high-carb snack. This gives you some easy-energy calories to utilize during your competition.
An hour before competing, drink a sports drink with electrolytes and sodium. These are the vital elements you’ll lose most quickly as you begin expending lots of energy: having plenty of them to start with will help keep you going better, longer.
If you eat anything in the last 60-30 minutes before your competition, it should be in the form of unprocessed carbohydrates, such as fruit, veggies, or juice made from either or both. These foods are easy to digest – especially in juice form – so you won’t have any stomach upset during competition. Some doctors recommend eating something sugary during this period, including candy bars, energy bars or soft drinks. You may want to try health foods one time and junk foods the next to see which works better for you. It is true, however, that refined sugar carbs give you energy very soon after you consume them, so it is possible to “crash” before the competition. Fruits and veggies give you complex carbs and a less intense but longer lasting rush of energy.

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