As much as many of us would love to score the winning touchdown at the Super Bowl or make a game-winning dunk in the NBA finals, the stark reality is that most people don’t end up being professional sports athletes. No matter how good you are, only a select few will ever make it to the pro game level.
But that harsh lesson in reality should not put you off doing everything you can to improve your game skills if you enjoy playing sports. As much as that means putting in the long hours on the training field or court, it also means watching what you eat and living healthily.
Unfortunately, many of our go-to comfort foods will become off-limits to anyone looking to live a sports lifestyle. You don’t have to be featuring on the highlights reels or sports betting sites to understandwhat is good for you. So, with that in mind, here are some of the foods that you definitely should avoid if you want to give yourself the best chance of sporting glory – whatever your level.
Diet Soda
You might think that you are doing your body a favor by going for the diet option when it comes to soda. But the reality is that you need to cut out soda drinks entirely if you want to be at your best on the field of play. It really doesn’t matter that you have chosen the “zero calorie” option when it comes to liquids.
By choosing a drink that gives you no nutritional value you are effectively wasting a chance to refuel. That’s how the pro athletes would see it, anyway. In fact, the artificial sweeteners you would be taking in would actually trick your body into thinking you are consuming food and its response would be to produce even more of the fat storage hormone, insulin.
White Bread
You probably know already that white bread is worse for you than other whole-grain variants. This is because the fiber and essential vitamins that are stripped from the wheat to make white bread mean that you end up consuming highly processed food for your sandwich.
But any semi-serious sports athlete needs to know that you are not just taking goodness out of your diet by choosing white bread. The processing of this food means that you will experience less energy and put more weight on by eating it. That is not what any athlete wants to hear.
Nutrition Bars
We thought we would include nutrition bars here, as they are another perfect example of a food product that has been marketed as being healthy but is actually not good for anyone playing sports. You may be swayed by the promise of extra energy or protein, but it is everything else that will slow you down.
Making your own protein bars would actually be very beneficial to helping you be at your best. But if you are relying on the highly refined ingredients used in snack bars found in any store, you will be taking in very little actual nutrition. The added sugars and fats are not doing you any good either.
Salad Dressing
We will applaud your intention to eat more salad and vegetables. But if you are then covering them with any kind of bottled salad dressing, you are instantly ruining all those good intentions. The sheer amount of cream, sugar, and fat that you are now about to intake negates any of the goodness of the vegetables.
We get it though. You might want to add a little more flavor to your salad bowl than just eating them by themselves. Put back the ranch or Caesar dressing though – and choose a dressing that is more olive oil-based. A vinegar base is also a good idea here and you can always add extra spices to suit your taste.
Cereals
A lot of the food types and dishes we are mentioning here have leaned on their supposed health credentials over the years to fool wannabe sports athletes that they are going for the good option over fried food and more obviously unhealthy alternatives. If you didn’t know, cereals tend to fall into this category too.
The problem, like many of the examples given here, is that the product you end up pouring from your cereal box is so highly processed and refined that there is very little nutrition for your body. The spike of sugar that you will experience is also not a great way to start the day.
Sports Energy Drinks
If you watch any live sports on TV you will have seen specially placed bottles and fridges on the sidelines, filled with sports energy drinks. So they must be good for athletes, right? Wrong. The sugar content alone makes any of these sports, or energy drinks a bad idea.
Preservatives, sweeteners, and all kinds of other highly processed ingredients can actually do a fair bit of harm to your body. It is a much better idea to stick to water to hydrate before, during, and after a sports workout. And look to replenish electrolytes in a more natural way.
Rice Cakes
We’ve all been there. Feeling good about going for the rice cakes over the chocolate or candy for a snack. The good news is that you are doing yourself a favor if you want to cut out on those kinds of foods. But if you are thinking about preparing your body for sports, you are wasting your time.
We are not saying you should go for the candy instead. But a rice cake has no calorie component – which athletes actually need – and it will also send blood sugar levels soaring. As with all of these examples, look for a more natural alternative instead and you will put yourself in a better position to play sports.