By: Aubrey Kamp, MS Nutrition and Dietetics Student Maintaining nutrition on the road can be a real challenge for athletes. Planning for meals and snacks can prevent negative impact on athletic performance. While traveling, it is important to remember that what you eat and how much you eat impacts performance for competition. There are steps you can take before, during, and even while away to make sure you are maintaining your nutritional needs. Learning tips for choosing healthy meals and snacks while traveling will give you confidence to perform at your peak. Finally, special consideration for athletes with food allergies or restrictions will be addressed, as well. Paying attention to food choices when traveling is important because you want to try as much as possible to maintain your usual eating habits regarding meal choices and timing. You should eat similar and familiar foods during travel as you would while training at home. Introducing new foods or changing your usual diet when traveling is not recommended. New foods may cause gastrointestinal (GI) discomfort or distress before competition, resulting in compromised or poor performance. GI issues can include symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the type of food you’re choosing, as well as where and how the food is prepared. For example, if you do not eat fast food on a normal basis, then you should not eat fast food during travel or before a competition. If you are traveling by road and if you can find out ahead of time where and when you’ll be eating, you may be able to plan for food selections and options. When you are unable to control where you eat or how the food is prepared, it maybe helpful to bring your own food. It’s always worthwhile to talk to your coach or athletic trainer about managing meals and food choices while traveling. Before leaving for travel, if possible, map out available foods and snacks to guide you through the trip making sure to fuel your body for competition. When you can learn about local grocery stores and restaurants, you’ll feel more confident about food choices that are available. If you are able to shop for your own food at locations you’ll be staying, it can reduce stress around food and eating, and reduces the amount of food you have to pack from home. The more you can learn about the schedule, travel, and meal arrangements the more prepared you can be to make healthy choices or know to plan to bring your own food. This is particularly important for athletes who have food allergies and restrictions to ensure safety. Here are some helpful tips: 1) If you have to stop at fast food restaurants, don’t let this become a barrier to healthy eating. make the best choices you can from what is available. Most fast-food establishments offer some healthy options, try to selection food that you would choose at home or you feel will provide the best nutrition. For example, if you have to select a breakfast meal from a fast food restaurant, a breakfast burrito or egg sandwich on English muffin or bagel can provide quality proteins and healthy complex carbohydrates. You may be able to customize the order as well, so you might try a plain or whole grain bagel and add peanut butter. Most fast food restaurants offer fruit and milk, which can easily fit into a healthy meal. If possible, try to encourage the coach/team to stop at a sandwich shop, where you can select your own items, such as whole grain breads, lean meats, and added vegetables. Look for healthier options, such as grilled chicken and baked potatoes for high quality protein and complex carbohydrate. 2) If packing your own food sounds like a hassle, remember to be the best athlete means putting in the extra effort. Get yourself a small cooler or insulated travel container and several icepacks. Fill the cooler with foods you enjoy eating and provide optimal nutrition. You won’t have to depend on where or when the team stops for meals, and you’ll have plenty of your own healthy snacks and fluids throughout the day, as well. 3) Meal timing before competition is important, know your competition schedule. If you will be arriving at your destination just prior to competition, you’ll want to eat your pre-game/event meal while traveling. During travel remember to be mindful about food safety. Travelers diarrhea is a common occurrence for athletes when taking long or extended trips. Diarrhea of any sort while traveling can quickly lead to dehydration and poor nutrition, both will have negative consequences on your performance. Often, it’s helpful for athletes to pack their own food. When packing your own food, remember food safety and use storage containers that can keep cold foods cold and hot foods hot. If you are staying at a hotel, often the rooms are equipped with a mini-fridge, which is ideal for storing perishable foods, take- out orders and/or leftovers after dining out. Wash fresh produce before packing and keep fresh produce separated from any cross contamination. Pack hand sanitizer, so that you can ensure safe food handling at times when handwashing is not accessible. AND…remember to bring your own re-usable utensils. Keep these clean and stored in a small plastic bag along with your food to be readily accessible. In addition, avoidance of street food is strongly recommended, both because of unknown ingredients and unknown food safety preparation practices. While enjoying local cuisine or street food is appealing and a really fun way to explore your destination, the risk for illness and interference with performance is too high. Save your food explorations until after your competition. Athletes who are on restricted diets due to religious, medical, or personal practices will likely benefit from planning ahead and packing their own food. Ensuring proper nutrition and safe food falls on the athlete; it is an additional challenge and burden for these athletes to plan all their meals and snacks, while also training and preparing for travel, it’s often the safest option to avoid dangerous food allergies or health risks. As above, when the athlete can learn about where to purchase appropriate and available safe foods during their travel, it can reduce the burden of planning and packing extra food. So, let’s look at how to put this into practice and choose healthy food when traveling. The best fuel for competition is healthy complex carbohydrates and high-quality proteins. Traveling usually requires more portable foods, which often means packaged foods. Choose familiar foods that you’ve tasted and tried at home, and that will hold up well with travel. After a long day of travel, no one enjoys a smashed or crumpled nutrition bar or leaky water bottle. However, if you are bored eating nutrition and granola bars, trail mix, and fruit, pack a hot meal. Many convenience stores have microwaves you can use to heat up your own food (just be sure to avoid the roller food in the convenience store!), and most hotels will have a microwave you can use, as well. Use the chart below as your own Go-To Travel Pantry or check list for choosing healthy foods for your next competition out of town. More tips and tricks for the traveling athlete:
1) If your hotel only offers a continental breakfast, go for the bagels, whole grain toast or English muffin and add peanut or other nut butter. Try to limit the simple sugar and high fat items, such as danishes and donuts. Cereal or oatmeal with milk and a piece of fruit can provide healthy complex carbohydrates and protein. If hard cooked eggs or yogurt are available, these are easy and quick high-quality proteins to choose, as well. 2) When a grocery store is accessible, buy healthy snacks or meal items, such as fruit, nuts, nutrition bars, deli items (pre-made sandwiches) or even a salad bar can offer nourishing selections. If you prefer a hot meal, try a frozen entrée or soup that you can heat in the hotel microwave. 3) Last but not least, remember that while you are traveling you are not as active and it’s easy to overeat while traveling. You certainly want to eat enough food to recover from your last training session, and perform at your peak, but you don’t want to feel sluggish or uncomfortable from overeating while sitting on the bus or waiting for the plane. And for athletes who need to make weight for competition, hydration and careful attention to food while traveling will have a big impact on your success. Traveling is a rewarding and exciting part of sports competition. Enjoying the experience does not have to be sidelined by poor or unsafe food choices. Planning healthy meals and food for travel allows you to meet all your nutrition needs and reach your performance goals!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Contributing AuthorsSIUE Nutrition and Dietetics Graduate Students See More Helpful Nutrition Tips Here
April 2023
Categories |