Game Day Nutrition - Rule #1 No New Foods

All of your training is so that you can compete at your best and your game day nutrition needs to be on point to allow for it. Very few things can make or break a game for you like what you eat before a game. Don't take that lightly.

Consistent Game Day Nutrition

On game day you want to avoid as many surprises as you can. Consistency is key as it makes preparation easier. You know what you need to feel good mentally and physically for the task at hand. This is even more true when it comes to what you eat.

Think about what foods sit well for you and which ones don't. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is the G.O.A.T. and we all know how we feel after we eat one. The vast majority of us respond great to a classic PB&J and this would be great to have on a game day. Deep fried pickles and fast food burgers on the other hand is a different story! While that may be ok to treat yourself to on an off day, this won't sit well for many of us on a game day.

This idea applies to snacks as well! At every level from grade school to the pros, snacks are always there. You may not always get to pick what the snacks are though. Even though there may be some new things you haven't had before that look good, don't eat them before your game!

Try New Foods At Practice

If you can't have anything new on game day, how do you test anything out? That's what practice is for! In case you don't feel great, it's better to have a bad practice than a bad game.

The more that you can replicate a game day scenario, the better. If testing something new, you want to give it a true test! Pick which training day is going to be the toughest and that is the test day. In a game you will be pushing yourself so naturally we want to push ourselves to see how our stomach and body responds to the new item. You want to time up when you have the new item as well. If this is a snack you want to have before a game, have it right before training. If it's something to drink during, then have it on the sideline to try during training.

When trying new things, make sure to do so one at a time. You won't be able to know what caused the problem if you have two new products and aren't feeling well. Keep it simple, plan ahead and have patience. The trial and error process may not be the quickest but it will help make it clear what you respond well to. All the effort is worth it come game day!