Nutrition for Recovery in Soccer
Injuries happen. Muscles get sore. Athletes get tired. All of this is par for the course. Seeking medical attention, stretching or physical therapy, and rest can help. But so too can diet. Here are some experts’ suggestions on nutrition for recovery.
Sports Dietitians Australia points out recovery nutrition helps young athletes to refuel and rehydrate but also:
Promotes muscle repair and growth
Boosts adaptation
Supports immune function
Inadequate nutrition recovery can lead to:
Increased fatigue
Reduced performance
Suboptimal gains from the session just completed
Greater muscle soreness
How to Get Your Nutrition for Recovery
Walk down the grocery store aisle today and you’ll see shelves full of recovery drinks, bars, and shakes. Helping athletes regain their stamina to be able to get back to training the next day is a booming business. Only you don’t have to splurge on store bought and packaged foods to get the benefits of nutrition for recovery. Plenty of foods found in other areas of the market can help.
After a tough training or intense exercise several snacks can have a positive impact. VeryWellFit recommends:
1 medium banana and glass of low-fat milk
A bowl of granola with 1 cup low-fat milk
Low-fat yogurt with 1/2 cup of fresh berries
Almond butter on whole wheat toast
A bowl of whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk
Research suggests the magic ratio you’re looking for in your recovery food is a 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio. Too much protein immediately after exercise “slows rehydration and glycogen replenishment.” Glycogen is “the fuel that makes exercise possible.”
You may also have heard about the health benefits of chocolate milk after a game. Well, it’s touted as the “ideal exercise recovery drink” as it has that magic 4:1 combination. Those who had sports drinks and those who drank chocolate milk, in research, showed similar levels of muscle soreness and fatigue. But the players who had the milk had less creatine kinase (which indicates of muscle damage).
Find out more about Eating for Your Brain and Concussion Recovery Nutrition here!
Choosing easily digested foods can also help with nutrient absorption. For the carbs you might consider sweet potatoes, berries, rice cakes, oatmeal, fruits, pasta. You can get protein from eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, chicken, salmon, tuna or a lean beef.
Don’t rule out fats either. While eating fat might slow down absorption of the nutrients, the research doesn’t show these foods in a post-recovery meal actually hurting nutrient replenishment. So, a handful of nuts or trail mix of dried fruits and nuts, or some avocado toast, can still be a possibility.
Other Recovery Tips for Athletes
You also don’t want to wait too long to eat to replenish, rehydrate, and repair. Eating within 30 minutes of exercise can help your body store three times as much glycogen as it would if you waited for two hours
Drink lots of water too. You want to drink as much water as needed to replenish the amount you sweated away. Not sure if you need to be drinking more? Your urine should be relatively clear in color. So, if you have dark urine, you likely need to consume more water.
Exercising on an empty stomach can also impair your recovery rates. If you haven’t eaten and hydrated properly before 90 minutes of training or an intense game, your body is going to have to work that much harder to get back in balance.
Working your body hard is part of being an athlete. But don’t forget the importance of eating right to make sure you’re always feeling up to your sport an your body is staying healthy in the long term.
