Eating Before Competing
Nancy Clark, MS, RD
THE PHYSICIAN AND SPORTSMEDICINE - VOL 26 - NO. 9 -
SEPTEMBER 98

Many casual exercisers and competitive athletes believe they should avoid food for several hours before they exercise or compete. Others wonder if they should snack, perhaps on an energy bar before a soccer game. And a few are so nervous that even the thought of food is nauseating.

Whatever your concerns, experimenting with some of the following preactivity strategies and finding what works best for you can give you top energy and performance.

Is it bad to eat before exercising or competing?
Doesn't the food just sit undigested?
As long as your activity is moderate (at a pace you can maintain for more than 30 minutes), your body can digest food during exercise. Preactivity eating can help you significantly by supplying energy for sustained exercise and preventing the lightheadedness, fatigue, and indecisiveness that can result from low blood sugar. The food you eat 5 minutes to 4 hours before activity helps fuel your muscles and brain, and it can help you perform better.

For a few people whose activity is moderately paced, eating causes gastric upset or intestinal problems. If you have these difficulties, you simply have to learn from experience the preexercise eating plan that works best for you.

With intense activities like rowing, sprinting, or speed skating, blood flow is diverted from the stomach to the working muscles. If you'll be exercising or competing intensely, you'll probably want to allow about 4 hours between eating and the event. That's the time needed for a typical meal to empty from the stomach. Otherwise, you may have discomfort or even nausea.

What can I do before a 10 am soccer game?
Carbohydrates are very important for maintaining normal blood sugar (the fuel used by the brain) and glycogen (the fuel used by the muscles). Because your blood sugar drops as you sleep, you need to replenish the depleted stores or your morning performance could suffer.

Plan to eat a carbohydrate-based breakfast between 6 am and 8 am; then, if you're still tired, go back to bed. Cereal, bread, fruit, and fruit juice are excellent choices that may help you concentrate better and respond more quickly during that morning soccer game. Or, be sure to eat extra food the day before: Have an extra-big dinner that's low in fat and a substantial bedtime meal or snack. You'll have a better chance of maintaining a high energy level the next morning.