On the day of a tennis tournament you can plan on doing
thousands of little sprints- generally in warm or hot weather.
These repeated short bursts of intense
energy and heat make repeated withdrawals on your body, taxing and dehydrating
cells muscles and organs.
During these high intensity competition and training days, it is
essential to keep your body properly fueled and hydrated throughout the day to
perform your best.
A Word about Sugar:
Sugar in its cane form has been part of our lives for about
10,000 years!
The four sugars that appear in your food are:
sucrose (Table Sugar) fructose (appearing naturally in fruits), corn
sugars (dextrose and high-fructose corn
syrup, or HFCS) other sugars you will find include agave, maple syrup and honey.
In our industrialized world we are surrounded by sugar. In
our lifetimes food manufacturers have taken the fats out of many foods which
appeals to weight conscience consumers.
What they don’t tell you is that when fat is removed from foods flavor
is lost. The food industry
discovered a great inexpensive way to boost the flavor- by adding High fructose corn sugars to our foods!
Look at the facts:
2012: Americans
consume on average 22.7 teaspoons of sugar a day!!!
11.6
tsp in coffee/tea/ baking sugar 8.2 tsp in HFCS 3 tsp in other sugars
1970- American’s consumed 33 calories from sugar
In 2011
American’s consumed 363 calories per day from sugar
1973- 4.2 million Americans (2% of the pop) were diagnosed
w/ diabetes
2010- 22.1 million Americans (7% of the pop) were diagnosed
w/ diabetes
READ THE LABELS
Next time you are in the market, look at the labels of
things you buy, and you will see a list of ingredients that you can barely
pronounce.
Choose the canned items that feature ONLY the item canned
and water. Other additives like added dextrose or sucrose that you find in many
popular commercial brands convert the consumed sugars into triglycerides which
is stored in your liver as fat.
Over time the
added sugars begin to take a toll on your liver, and you see signs of it
ceasing to function properly.
Early warning signs include weight gain, and when left unattended this condition will evolve into
elevated blood sugars, diabetes and high blood pressure, putting you at risk
for stroke and other life limiting chronic conditions.
Game
Day Nutrition:
On the days of a big match it is important to eat small
well-balanced meals the week before a day of competition to have your fuel tank
filled with good fruits, veggies, and lean proteins.
On the day of competition your 2 nutritional priorities are:
1)
Staying hydrated- Replace any fluids lost during the match
2)
Replacing any energy (carbohydrate reserves), which has been
depleted.
Hydration: You need to drink 20-24 oz of
water per pound of water weight lost. Make your own electrolyte rebalancing
beverages that are easy on the digestive system, without added processed sugars
that can cause an upset tummy, while keeping you at the top of your game!
DRINK OPTIONS: During competition
Zico Coconut water: the same electrolyte balance as humans, with more potassium than a banana!
Lemonade twist:
2 c water
1/2 orange juiced
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
“Beet” the competition recovery juice:
Drink this juice w/in :30 min. of completing
competition to speed muscle recovery.
Fresh juices are a
great source of concentrated quickly absorbed vital nutrients without processed
sugar and a lot of bulk (peeling the vegetables will reduce the bitterness
and make the pulp more useable to blend into sauces later). Fresh beets are
filled with muscle recovering anti-oxidents that refuel your brain heart and
body while keeping healthy liver function!
3 medium beets peeled
+ 1 apple cored
+ 4 medium carrots
(Other options include adding 1/4 fresh pineapple, 1 c chopped kale,1/3 fresh
parsley,
1 c celery)
63cal
per serving 15g carbohydrates
Readers interested in a game day menu filled with tasty easy to prepare recipes your email to info@guitartam.com and you will receive a Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and between set snack combination that will keep you filled with healthy fuel for your big day.
If your not happy with how you feel and how you eat day to day, I can help you learn some easy food habits with easy to prepare meals that that will help you and your family stay healthy, improve energy, concentration to be your best every day!
Recommended Reading and source articles:
About Sugar
Look at the facts: from National Geographic Aug 2013 ed
Sugar why we can’t resist it
Martina
Navratolova fitness expert
http://www.aarp.org/health/experts/martina/
Labels: aarp, martina navratalova, myfitnesspal.com, national geographic, sugar, tennis tournament, zico coconut water
DRINK OPTIONS: During competition 
Drink this juice w/in :30 min. of completing
competition to speed muscle recovery.