In life, and even more importantly, in roller derby, your body is the most important tool in your toolbox. There are a lot of theories about what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, to keep our bodies at the maximum level of awesome that we need to play roller derby. There's a spectrum out there that goes from seriously hardcore to don't really care. I find myself to be in the middle but more towards the hardcore side. I try to eat healthy, I really do. Not only to keep myself at a good weight, but to give it the proper nutrition that it requires to do all the crazy stuff that derby skaters do. I am healthy, but I also understand and accept the fact that I really, really like chocolate. I like dessert, I like pie and cake and cookies and brownies, and that's not a bad thing. The key is to keeping myself in check, by eating right and rewarding myself on occasion with a dessert that I deem worthy enough to expend those calories on. So without further ado, I give you my advice for a roller derby diet:
1) Evaluate your diet
The diet you had before you started roller derby is probably not sufficient to support your body's growing needs. You are doing things you have never done before, with muscles you probably didn't know existed, AND you are doing it all on skates. Think about that and take that into account and change your diet to fit your body's new needs. You WILL be hungrier, you are expending way more energy than you ever have before, it's natural, so don't worry!
2) Eat something before and after practice
Before:
-Eat something with a mixture of simple and complex carbs so that the release of energy during your practice is slow and steady, enough to get you through to the end of practice. (i.e. bagels, toast, withe peanut butter...or Nutella, if you are a Nutella-lover like me)
-Eat some potassium---during exercise, potassium levels tend to lower, so eat something that is high in potassium like bananas, dried apricots, raisins, spinach, yogurt, avocados.
-Drink water....seriously, I cannot stress how important it is for you to stay hydrate (you should ideally start hydrating a few days before practice)
During Practice:
-Hydration, hydration, HYDRATION!!!!!!!
Hydration is so important, especially if you are practicing somewhere where it is humid, hot and does not have air conditioning. Just do it, okay? :)
-Have a sports drink handy---it's a good idea to drink both water and a sports drink to keep you hydrated and provides sodium and carbohydrates as well.
After Practice:
-Eat protein--your body is going to be in recovery mode and protein is the best thing you can give to your body to aid in muscular recovery and growth. Proteins like eggs, chicken, avocados, fish, hummus, beans are good.
-Eat carbs--after lots of aerobic exercise (endurance drills, anyone?) carbs need to be replenished! Foods like bananas, sweet potatoes, dried fruits and nuts, breads, and pastas are chuck full of good carbs.
-Drink water---are we sensing a pattern here? Good! Your body needs water all the time! Drinking water after a workout replenishes fluids that you have lost during practice.
3) Consider your snack choices
Consider what you eat as snacks and how often you eat snacks. I'm not saying you have to give up junk food, but I'd advise you to take notice of your snack choices, make as Yoplait calls it a "swapportunity. I don't consider things like chips, candy and other junk food to be good snacks. Are they delicious? Heck yes! Are they high in fat/sodium/cholesterol? Yes. Do you often find yourself gorging on a bag of chips and having it take the whole bag to feel full? Yes. Junk food doesn't have the nutrients it takes to fill you up. Consider swapping for healthier choices like: apple slices and peanut butter, veggies and hummus or low-fat dressing, grapes, celery....really any vegetable or fruit. In the end, those chips are not doing you any favors, on the track or on your waistline....
4) Pick and choose your desserts
Dessert is wonderful. I love dessert. I love chocolate. I love baking. Love. Love. Love. People at practice ask me all the time how I'm so skinny, because I simply love food! My answer: I pick and choose my battles (or desserts....same thing really...;) )
Like I said, I like to bake, however I don't eat what I bake. That's my secret. If I'm baking something, I'll eat/taste one to make sure it came out okay and then I give the rest away to my friends and family. I don't keep any for myself (because seriously that is just inviting temptation).
I also pick and choose my desserts. I don't have dessert all that often, but when I do, I want to make sure it'll be worth it. There's nothing worse than sinking my fork into a delicious-looking piece of pie only to discover that it tastes like the crap.......so when I indulge, it had better be soooooo worth it.
*Tip*-I really like to buy those individually-wrapped chocolate squares....automatic portion control, people! :)
5) No soda
My former coach used to rail on us about soda whenever she saw one of us drinking any (both inside and outside of practice). And yes, this DOES include diet soda...it still has sugar in it, artificial though it may be, don't think that it isn't there. Soda will never do for you what water can do for you. Avoid the glare of death from your coach....soda is not worth that!!!!!
Hmmmmm......all this food has gotten me mighty peckish ;)
Until next time,
XOXO
Emma
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