The old adage “You are what you eat” doesn’t just apply in daily life, in fact, whether your diet is correct before, during and after sport can also affect the sporting objectives you have set and your results.
 

Diet before sport Simple in principle

People often say that you shouldn’t eat before sport. Is this correct? Nutritionist Chang Pei-rong says that actually it’s incorrect to do sports without having eaten anything all; it is essential to eat before doing sport, but the most suitable time to eat is 3-4 hours before. If eating 1-2 hours before sport, she suggests not eating too much or food that is too complex, for example, high fat foods such a French fries or fried chicken; instead, small quantities of foods that are high in saccharides, such as toast, rice balls or fruit, should be eaten because they can be easily digested and absorbed and immediately provide the energy and nutrients your body needs.

Saccarides are digested faster than any other nutrient by the body, followed by protein and then fat. Fat needs the assistance of more digestive enzymes before it can be absorbed by the digestive tract. If people who have the habit of exercising in the early morning do it without eating anything first they will feel easily tired and will be unable to concentrate. We would thus like to remind people who have the habit of getting up early to play badminton to be sure to eat some breakfast before going out to play. When your body begins to store up energy you will perform better when you do sport!

Small quantities of fruit can be eaten before sport

Think for a moment, after eating dinner many people don’t eat again until the next day. When we wake up in the morning we haven’t stored up any new energy for the past 10-12 hours because we have been asleep most of the time. If we don’t eat after getting up (store up energy) and go straight off to do sport (use up energy), the brain will immediately send out a signal that makes the whole body slow down to reduce energy consumption. If we carry on doing sport in this situation we will not only feel easily tired, our muscle strength will also probably decline and endurance reduced. If elderly people with low blood sugar do sport on an empty stomach they can, in serious cases, suffer hypoglycemia and feel dizzy or faint. In particular, diabetes suffers should measure their blood sugar before going out to exercise. If blood sugar is below 100mg/dl then you should first eat a food high in saccharide, such as a slice of toast.

Drinking 250-500cc of water 2-3 hours before doing sport is recommended, however, you should avoid drinking a large amount of water in the 30 minutes before doing sport to avoid stomach discomfort during sport.
 

(The above content represents the author’s views alone and not those of this company)
(Edit by VICTOR Badminton )