Nutritional advice for competing.

This section contains valuable guidance on the best food items to eat before, during and after competition and also has some great recipes for providing the nutrients required to fuel and aid performance.

1. Boosting carbohydrate for a competition
 Start the day with a bowl of cereal and low fat milk and/or toast (easy on the spread)
 Add dried fruit or a sliced banana to breakfast cereal.
 Reduce the fat and protein component of meals and add extra carbohydrate. For example have an extra potato and less meat, an extra spoonful of rice or pasta and a spoonful less of oily or creamy sauce. Add an extra spoonful of beans and omit the fat from the toast.
 Choose a thick base pizza rather than a thin and crispy on but cut down on the fatty toppings, i.e. more tomato, vegetables, ham, tuna, pineapple and less cheese.
 Drink extra juice, squash or sports drink with your meal. This adds additional carbohydrate with no extra fat.
 Choose carbohydrate rich, low fat snacks such as dried fruit/popcorn/tea-cakes, breakfast cereal, bagels, bananas, rusks.
2. The night before the competition
 Rice or pasta with a low fat sauce
 A noodle dish (e.g. chow mein)
 Jacket potato with low fat filling
 Deep pan pizza (ham and pineapple / vegetarian) and half the amount of cheese as normal.
 Beans on toast
 Chunky vegetable/bean based soup and sandwiches
 Breakfast cereal and toast
 Boiled or mashed potato dish with lots of potato and smaller portions of meat/fish.
3. Pre-event meals and snacks
 Breakfast cereal and low fat milk
 Porridge with syrup and raisins
 Toast (scraping of fat) with honey/Jam
 Banana or jam sandwiches
 Muffins/crumpets with jam/honey/pancakes and syrup
 Beans on toast
 Pasta with tomato based sauce
 Jacket potato with low fat filling.
4. Guide-lines for eating between races
 LESS THAN ONE HOUR
 Sports drinks or Carbohydrate supplements
 Soft drinks (diluted fruit juice & cordial)
 Bananas & raisins
 Energy bars/Nutrigrain bars.
 Jelly cubes and jelly type sweets ( Haribo )
Plain biscuits
 Rice cakes
 2 – 4 HOURS
 Sandwiches/rolls/pitta
 Currant buns/tea-cakes
 Bagels/muffins/crumpets
 Scones/scotch pancakes
 Toast/toasted sandwiches
 Cereal/Rusks . Popcorn
 Canned fruit or dried fruit
 Low fat rice pudding
 Pastas & tomato type sauce
 Jacket potato
 Rice and low fat sauce

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