A diet for sports must give the athlete sufficient carbohydrates, fats, protein, vitamins and minerals. As a general guideline, the Fitness website suggests a diet for sports that derives 55 to 60 percent of its calories from carbohydrates -- 10 to 15 percent of which should be from sugars -- no more than 30 percent of calories from fat, and about 10 to 15 percent of calories from protein.
Weight Loss Diet
Athletes participating in sports like boxing and wrestling must sometimes lose weight quickly before a competition to fight in a specific weight class. Rather than a starvation diet of one meal a day to achieve these results, Jen Case, a Kansas State University doctoral student in human nutrition, recommends a high-protein diet that includes plenty of food. She bases this on a preliminary study she conducted on a group of soldiers and Air Force cadets.
Before the Event
What and when you should eat your pre-event meal ultimately depends on personal choice. The publication "Winning Nutrition for Athletes" provided by the Fitness website recommends a diet of high carbohydrate food including bananas, fruit juice and bagels. The body can break these down quickly, providing glucose to your muscles for energy.
Extra Protein
Some athletes consume protein supplements or eat extra protein to assist in muscle development. However, information from Fitness contends eating two to three servings of meat, beans or eggs, along with the same amount of dairy products, supplies all the protein your body needs to build muscle.
Fat Content
An athlete's diet should contain about 20 to 25 percent calories from healthy fat, according to Nancy Brinch, campus nutritionist at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Brinch, who holds a master's degree in nutrition from Penn State University, says a sports diet deficient in fat can impair performance and does not benefit overall health. The healthiest fats include those from fish, plants such as olive oil, and oils from nuts and seeds.
Hydration
Athletes should drink beverages during training sessions and competitive events. Dehydration can prevent peak performance, even in top competitors. For every continuous 30 minutes of strenuous sports, players should consume about six to eight ounces of fluid, according to The Center for Nutrition in Sport and Human Performance at the University of Massachusetts. The center recommend athletes drink water if the activity is less than one hour, or a sports drink for action lasting 60 continuous minutes or more.
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