Nutrition Tuesday
Fuel your body to fuel your performance!
As pitchers, we are putting forth moderate to intense training on any given day that we are either practicing or playing, which requires us to fuel our bodies with both good carbohydrates and fats to burn for fuel. If you think about it, how many games are you playing a day on a tournament weekend? My guess is anywhere between 4 and 6, depending on how well you do as a team. If you’re pitching half of those games, your body is exerting tons of energy to keep you explosive, throwing hard through all 7 innings. We sure don’t want to run out of energy half way through the game because we chose to eat doughnuts and sugar filled snacks before stepped onto the field. Here’s a quick run down as to why you need to start incorporating healthy fats into your daily diet, if you don’t already.
Fats are what provide your body with “drive energy”. While carbohydrates are better for short-duration, low-intensity work, fats give us the energy for longer, more intense workouts (aka pitching). Remember, our bodies are literally sprinting off the mound every single pitch and we need to keep the same intensity that we start out with during inning 1 all the way through to inning 7. Fats help to manage our blood sugar, keeping it from spiking and crashing in energy, as well as supports our hormonal balance in our bodies, driving growth, development, recovery and overall health.
And there is inflammation, the big and silent cause of most of our issues. “Exercise-induced damage to your muscles triggers increases in strength and endurance. This damage also leads to inflammation in the muscles. When muscles are inflamed, they are sore, also losing strength and range of motion. Omega-3 fatty acids especially are needed to regulate the level of inflammation in your body. A diet low in omega-3 fats, while high in the more common omega-6 fats, can bias your body towards inflammation, impairing exercise recovery, according to the Linus Pauling Institute.” (https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/importance-healthy-fats-athletes-1722.html).
If you want to be able to get up Sunday morning and not be so sore, if you want to have the stamina and energy to perform at 100% the entire game, EVERY game, then you need to start adding more fats into your diet. Let’s think veggies, nuts, clean proteins like salmon, butter, olive oil, avocados, tofu and flaxseed. So when you eat dinner on Saturday after your games, load up on the veggies, maybe choose to eat salmon instead of lasagna, and try a piece of avocado toast in the morning. You can also take baggies of nuts to snack on during the day, almonds, cashews and walnuts are all high sources of healthy fats.
Always remember that the most important part of being an athlete is taking care of our bodies. Without it, we can’t do what we love, and if we want to do what we love well, then we need to show it the love and respect that it deserves.
Here’s a few ideas for post workout snacks!
I love to buy those small individual packets of hummus or guacamole to eat with crackers. These would be something that is super easy to pack in your cooler for in between games at your tournament. Also try sliced apples with peanut butter.
It’s also true what they say about chocolate milk! It’s the best refuel drink out there, being a great source of electrolytes, protein and vitamins, and tastes like a sweet treat!
Try my favorite Protein Ball Recipe!
No Bake Peanut Butter Protein Balls Recipe -
10 min· Yield: 10
Ingredients
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup old-fashioned/rolled or steel-cut oats
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup regular or honey roasted cashews, almonds, walnuts
1/4 cup semi-sweet dark chocolate chips
xo,
Coach Jen
