Soccer involves constant motion for 90 minutes or more, unlike football, basketball and baseball that have either intermittent action or timeout breaks. The proverbial fuel in the gas tank for the soccer's strolls, jogs, sprints and runs are carbohydrates. So if bread, pasta and rice are among your favorite foods, you have come to the right sport.
Function
Although the carbs you eat provide fuel for glycogen in the muscles, especially the soccer power train of the glutes, hamstrings and quadriceps, that fuel is short-lived, notes the nutrition council that advises FIFA, the international governing body of soccer. In its booklet "Nutrition for Football: A Practical Guide to Eating and Drinking," the council notes that you need to replenish your carbohydrate intake daily. Carbs not only fuel training and matches, but also they assist in recovery afterward, they note. In particular, female players who engage in "restrained eating practices" may not meet intake targets for carbohydrates and thus limit the replenishment of muscle glycogen, the authors warn.
Targets
"Nutrition for Football" recommends targets for carbohydrate intake, including 1 g per kilogram of the player's body weight per hour for four hours after exercise. For a player weighing 140 lbs., this translates to 2 oz. per hour. The total daily carb intake for recovery from a moderate-intensity session can be 5 to 7 g per kilogram of body weight, or 11 to 15 oz. for a 140-lb. player. To fuel before a match or to recover from heavy exercise, the target becomes 7 to 10 g per kilogram of body weight, or 11 to 22 oz. of carbohydrate intake for someone weighing 140 lbs.
Application
In practical terms, soccer players need to make carbohydrates the foundation of most meals, write soccer journalist Gloria Averbuch and registered dietitian Nancy Clark in "Food Guide for Soccer." They advise having cereal for breakfast, sandwiches made with hearty breads for lunch, bagels and bananas for snacks and pasta-based meals for dinner. Carbohydrates are not inherently fattening, they note. Although excess calories are problematic, the body has to work harder to convert excess carbohydrate calories to body fat than it does to convert dietary fat to body fat.
Expert Insight
Clark points to the performance of athletes conscious of the importance of carbohydrates, such as the U.S. National Women's Team, as "nutrition in action." She observes that female soccer players, having to play for 90 minutes at the 2011 World Cup level, followed that effort with another 30 minutes of overtime for two of the Cup games. "You can't do all that on a hit-or-miss sports diet," Clark notes. The players follow good eating habits during the competitive season and consume carbs and fluids during halftime to boost their dwindling stores to stay sharp through the second half and possible overtime.
References
- FIFA; F-MARC Nutrition for Football; September 2005
- "Food Guide for Soccer: Tips & Recipes from the Pros"; Gloria Averbuch and Nancy Clark; 2010
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