Nutrition for footballers: eating well for a match

Cannabis seeds are already legal in the UK, and you can order fast flowering seeds, for instance, but you can’t legally grow them.

But you can also use cannabis in the kitchen! The following nutritional advice will help you eat well for a football match and recover better after your competition.

Footballers’ muscles need energy

Footballers’ muscles need energy to function. The muscles must, therefore, produce the energy they need to function as and when they need it during competition, using aerobic and anaerobic energy sources.

During a football match, you will use your muscles over a long period and sometimes very intensively, depending on your position. Energy will mainly be produced in the presence of oxygen (aerobic pathway) during low-intensity phases. On the other hand, when the action is more intense, the anaerobic pathway (without oxygen) is also heavily used and generally leads to a greater feeling of fatigue: the effort seems more difficult. Hence the feeling of being “in the red” and having stiff muscles…

To cope with this high energy expenditure, which can reach over 1500 kcal per match for professional players, diet plays a vital role.

Adequate food intake to eat well before the match

A footballer’s body needs carbohydrates (sugars) that can be used quickly to produce energy. These come from the food consumed during sporting activity and glycogen reserves (carbohydrate storage) in the liver and muscles. Glycogen reserves are the primary source of carbohydrates used by the muscles to produce energy. Unfortunately, they are low, averaging around 500g in total.

However, optimising them should get you through part of the match if you have optimised them.

The meal before the match

3 to 4 hours before going to the stadium, you can eat a small meal adapted to the time of day, favouring slow sugars and semi-liquid or liquid foods which are easier to digest.

This pre-match meal can be a sweet or savoury snack with traditional foods such as biscuits or bread accompanied by yoghurt or ham and a rice cake or a small sugar-free compote for dessert. If required, it can be more substantial with potatoes or rice, chicken and fruit.

Avoid dishes that are too heavy to digest and in too large quantities. Glycogen reserves should be built up the day before, not on the day.

For added convenience, you can also use diet products such as an exercise cake accompanied by a drink (avoid tea and coffee, which are stimulants unless you’re used to them). 

Finally, if you prefer simple carbohydrates such as sweetened products, you can do so because of the type of effort involved. The impact on performance will be less significant than in endurance sports, where low glycemic index carbohydrates are preferable for snacks. The most important thing is to consume between 2 and 4 g/kg of weight of carbohydrates at this last meal before the match.

Eating during a football match

Dehydration is a source of poor performance, so remember to drink at least some water, if possible, with mineral content, during the match. Carry a sports drink bottle (1/2 l min) and hydrate regularly during stoppages and half-time to get the ideal amount of water and energy. You can also make your own by following our energy drink recipe sheet.

Using sweetened drinks or sports gels will be essential if you didn’t think to eat slow sugars in the days leading up to the match or if your pre-match meal needed to be lighter. They should be consumed during the warm-up, at half-time or even before extra time, at a rate of 30g of carbohydrate each time.

What are hemp seeds?

This nutty-tasting seed has a texture very similar to sunflower seeds. It is less granular than flax or chia when bought shelled or hulled.

If you’re worried about eating hemp, you should know that hemp seed comes from a different variety from the plant from which marijuana is produced.

The benefits of hemp seeds

Long ignored because it belongs to the cannabis family, hemp is now considered a superfood. They are rich in protein and offer numerous health benefits:

• Source of protein: hemp seeds are one of the 20 best plant proteins, alongside spirulina and moringa. Hemp seeds are, therefore, ideal for replacing animal proteins as part of a flexitarian, vegetarian or vegan diet.
• Protects the cardiovascular system: various scientific studies have shown hemp seeds to benefit cardiovascular health.
• Reduces cholesterol levels: hemp seeds are an excellent superfood for people with high cholesterol. They contain numerous nutrients that help to reduce harmful cholesterol levels.
• Antioxidant: hemp seeds also have an antioxidant action. They effectively combat free radicals and the damage they cause to cells and tissues.
• Relieves skin problems: its seeds are also valuable for improving skin problems such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and eczema.
• Aids digestion: hemp seeds are reputed to speed up transit, prevent constipation and promote intestinal activity and a healthy digestive system.

To order the best marijuana seeds online, choose SensorySeeds.com!