#3- Nutrition

Last time we talked about preseason and the importance of staying in shape and working hard in the offseason and why that is so important. So today I want to talk about nutrition in depth. Athlete or not, this blog post will be helpful to all who have open minds about health, whether you are seeking to be better or to increase your knowledge period. Here we go! What is nutrition? Google says this, “the process of providing or obtaining the food necessary for health and growth.” Woah! That is an awesome definition. It is the process where we have good health and growth! I would say that that is pretty important that we do it right. Merriam-Webster defines nutrition as, “: the act or process of nourishing or being nourished.” To me that means that it is the way that we are filling our body and what we are giving to our cells and organs and brain. It is also very good for maintaining weight along with physical exercise. But it goes beyond that! Nutrition also helps with; reducing the risk of some diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, some cancers, and osteoporosis. Reducing high blood pressure, lowering high cholesterol, improving your well-being, improving your ability to fight off illness,improving your ability to recover from illness or injury and increasing your energy level. (https://www.tuftsmedicarepreferred.org/healthy-living/expert-knowledge/importance-good-nutrition) As you can see nutrition is so important in everyday lives!! Now let's talk about why it is so important in sports, and in athletes lives. When you are doing physical exercise for 90 minutes or more it is important that our nutrition will carry us through so our bodies can perform at the peak performance. I found 5 specific guidelines to help with this. The first is load up on carbohydrates. Carbs are foods like bread, rice, vegetables, sugars, pasta,etc. “Carbs are an athlete's main fuel. Your body changes them to glucose, a form of sugar, and stores it in your muscles as glycogen.When you exercise, your body changes glycogen into energy. If you exercise for under 90 minutes, you have enough glycogen in your muscles, even for high-intensity activities.” The second is to get a good enough amount of protein. Protein doesn't give you as much energy as carbs but it does help with your muscle strength. It is essential to have a certain amount of protein each day. Protein is meats and milk and cheese. Drinking milk after a workout replenishes your muscles which is good for you! The third one is go easy on fats. Your body turns to fats to get energy if your carbs run low. Obviously we can't completely avoid fats, but on game days especially be cautious to not eat a ton because it can upset your stomach. The fourth one is to drink fluids earlier in the day and often. I can testify to this one that it works! It is important to give your body something to sweat out but still have energy. When working out in hot temperatures it is easy to get dehydrated which then affects your performance and can hurt your body. "All high-intensity athletes should drink fluids early and often," Dubost says. "And don't wait until you're thirsty. By the time you feel parched, you may be seriously dehydrated." The fifth one is to replace lost electrolytes. “Sweating removes both fluids and electrolytes. Electrolytes help transmit nerve signals in your body. To replenish them, reach for sports drinks. If you’re also losing a lot of fluid as you sweat, dilute sports drinks with equal amounts of water to get the best balance of fluid and electrolytes.” (http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/nutrition-tips-athletes#1) There is no worse feeling than running out of energy in a game. On game days I always try my best to eat carbs, and drink lots of water and get lots of sleep. It may not seem like it will affect your game or no, but I promise it will Especially playing lacrosse in all sorts of temperatures, it can be difficult at times to keep running in that hot sun. I also think that their is a mental strength we get when we have good nutrition. This may be a stretch for you to comprehend but if you think about it, if you think that you ate the best you could that day and that your body is being filled with great energy and is ready to perform your brain will believe you and it will act so.