Packing Snacks for Your Competition
It can be a daunting task to decide what are the right foods to bring to your competition. Often enough, you wake up in the morning on the day of competition and have no idea what to put in your bag!
Wrestlers often have a hard time eating throughout a competition day, and sometimes that is okay. We are dealing with nerves, emotions from match to match, and unpredictable changes. Eating large portions at one time can leave your stomach upset and end up on the mat :(
Eating a few bites frequently throughout the day is an awesome way to maintain energy without getting queasy. Your stomach can take time to process and focus solely on the smaller amounts of food. Digestion actually begins in the mouth, when we chew. When we eat smaller bites, we actually tend to eat slower. This means that when we eat small bites, we are actually helping our stomach do less work. This is a strategy for good digestion and for our nervous stomaches on competition day!
When you are choosing your food for competition day, each small snack should contain a bit of carbs, protein, and fat. The carbs can be a simple sugar, but don’t over do it. Half of an energy bar is perfect (chocolate, nuts, grains). It is helpful to choose foods that spike your blood sugar quickly for in between matches and proteins that can be consumed slowly over time, or for during longer rest periods. Proteins take longer for your stomach to digest, and some of this will be trial and error for you to learn which snacks are best for you at specific times on your competition day. The list above can help you get inspired to pack smart the night before an event.
Let me know what YOU pack for your competition days, and best of luck in your season!!
