What an athlete eats every day has a Diabetes Freedom big effect on how they perform. What an athlete eats before a game has a huge effect on how they perform. The purpose of the pre-game meal is to provide the body with an ongoing fuel source which will power the athlete through the demands and requirements of the competition. This is primarily done by preventing significant drops in blood sugar during competition.
The athlete's blood sugar is simply the amount of glucose (sugar) present in the blood stream. These glucose molecules are great to have available during exercise as they are quickly and easily taken up by the cells of the body where they can effectively be used to energize on-going exercise.If an athlete's blood sugar levels drop to low during competition their ability to recover and perform is significantly impaired.
The body will feel fatigued and sluggish as it struggles to create glucose from other substances within the body which is a slower and much less efficient process.This means that an athlete's pre-game meal should include primarily food with high carbohydrate content as they are most easily broken down into glucose which as we know is responsible for keeping blood sugar at adequate levels to fuel high-level performance and manage fatigue. It is important to understand that not all carbohydrates are created equal.
