Proper hydration and adequate fuel improve a skier's mental and physical energy, but U.S. Olympic Committee sports dietitian Susie Parker-Simmons advises that types of skiing have specific caloric and nutritional requirements. The Nordic skier requires more calories than a ski jumper or downhill skier who skis on lift-serviced terrain. While tweaking the diet to suit your snow-sport might enhance performance, some nutritional requirements apply to all types of skiers.
General Dietary Guidelines
Nordic and alpine skiing are weight-bearing activities, which require active muscle contraction and strong bones. Nutritionist Jess Higgins, in an article on the Ski Magazine website, explains that calcium, which is easily lost through perspiration, is essential for muscle contraction and bone health. Higgins warns that phosphate-rich soda and diuretic coffee speed calcium depletion. Sports nutritionist Dan Benardot suggests foods such as cottage cheese, broccoli, mustard greens, tofu, salmon, sardines and calcium-enriched orange juice are viable calcium sources.
Water also plays a key role in snow-sport performance. In the book "Science and Skiing IV," the effect of dehydration on ski performance was studied and it found that dehydration decreases muscle strength. One study showed that water, in conjunction with a protein/carbohydrate gel, reduced the skier's perceived exertion.
Nordic Diet
Marathoner and cross-country skier Hal Higdon dedicated a chapter of his book "Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide" to diet. His website features a modification of this advice for cross-country skiers. Higdon believes that a cross-country skier's dietary requirements are similar to those of long-distance runners. Complex carbohydrates, which include vegetables, pasta, fruits, grains and legumes, should make up 55 percent of a Nordic skier's diet.
Higdon also cites a the Physician and Sports Medicine article, whose authors explain that sustained, cross-country skiing creates a 10 percent to 20 percent increase in energy requirements. An increase in calories is needed, but the calories should come from complex carbohydrates.
Female Nordic Skier Diet
The International Ski Federation issued a paper on the specific nutritional requirements of female cross-country skiers. While an1,800 to 2,000 calorie diet usually supplies sufficient vitamins and minerals, female Nordic skiers might need more calories in order to get their minimum requirements of iron, calcium and vitamin D, zinc, magnesium, and the B vitamins. Because iron-deficiency anemia is common among young female athletes, cross-country skiers should should consume iron-rich foods such as meats, poultry, fish, raisins, oats and spinach.
Alpine Skiers
John Yacenda, who wrote "High Performance Skiing," advises that downhill skiing is not an endurance sport. Because the sport does not burn a significant amount of fat, skiers need not add extra fat to their diet. Yacenda believes a downhill skier requires an 80 percent carbohydrate diet, but nutritionist Nancy Clark does not agree. She is quoted in a February 2009 USA Today article about the diets of Olympic skiers. Clark explains that the athletes require carbohydrates for refueling energy, but protein for rebuilding muscle. In fact, Troy Flanagan, head of sports science for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association reports that when U.S. Ski Team athletes cross the finish line, their coaches advise them to go right to a "feed bag" consisting of a high carbohydrate sports drink, milk and yogurt.
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