I used to take my high school team to Lake Placid for our annual visit competing against  the local teams that where much better than mine. In addition to the excellent conditioning my teams were in and since they were with me for the weekend, I attempted to have some control over what they ate. During breakfast and dinner before a player was able to place his order with the waitress, his meal was compared with the guidelines below.

The following tips are based on nutrition and if the guidelines are followed now, your body should be acclimated to the change by playoffs.

Nutrition is so important that almost all college coaches have a special diet the players follow to maintain their conditioning and game performance. It could the an edge over a more skilled Burger King eating team and that is the key here.

To get to the point, in order to perform well you should load up with complex carbohydrates, protein, and limit the saturated fat that is difficult for the body to break down quickly.

This does not mean you drive to GNC and purchase every supplement on their shelves! It means to eat a well balanced diet with "real" foods that your body can absorb naturally.

So I don't lose you , I'll be very brief.

PREGAME AND POST GAME-

• Meals should be complete 3 hours before a contest. Eat foods which are easy to digest. Allow as many as 6 hours if high in fat.

• Water is fine to drink but drinks high in sugar should be avoided within 2 hours of the game. The "high" you receive from the sugar is counter productive when it starts to wear off during an event. During a tournament where teams may play 3 or 4 games in one weekend, a sports drink could be consumed but not take the place of water. Post game after such a instance , the meal should contain plenty of fluids and carbohydrates.

• Beware of the sports drinks before a game as mentioned above with the sugar factor. Read this short article.

• Water should be consumed in large quantities and NEVER allow anyone to decline your request for more water. I worked with a coach a couple of years back that did this but it was total ignorance on his part.

All coaches should encourage their players to commit to good nutritional habits as everyone benefits.

EXCELLENT CARBOHYDRATE, LOW FAT FOODS

• Non White Breads, Cereals (check labels, stray from the granolas), Pasta without meat and cheese, Vegetables uncooked, steamed or cooked in a small amount of water, Fruits, clear broth Soups (no cream style).

HIGH PROTEIN, LOW FAT FOODS

• Tuna in water, Fish, Chicken, Turkey, Lean Beef all broiled or baked, Skim Milk, Non Fat Cottage Cheese (very healthy), Non Fat Yogurt (good Carbo), Egg Whites.

NO NOs

• Butter, Ice Cream, Hot Dogs (loaded with saturated fat and chemicals), Big Mac, Bacon, Sausage, Egg Yolks, Cheese (more negatives than positives), Cookies, Cakes, Doughnuts.

• Soda is bad before and after an event especially the ones containing caffeine as they DEHYDRATE YOU.

If you must....

CHOOSE	INSTEAD OF
Pretzels	Pop corn, chips, nuts
Olive Oil	Partly hydrogenate, palm, coconut oils
Mustard or Ketchup	Mayo
Fruits or Jello	Cookies, Cake, Milk
Hard candy	Chocolates
Baked or Broiled food	Fried

If you follow even the basics mentioned above you are on your way to a healthier life and will perform more efficiently physically and mentally.

For more information read Jack Blatherwick's: Over-Speed Skill Training for Hockey.

SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE GREEN STUFF

From a nutritional and athletic standpoint, Gatorade is about the worst stuff you could put into your athletes, especially during competition. It is far too high in complex sugars to be easily absorbed by the system during exercise (as compared to water or "simpler" sports drinks) and so rich in flavoring as to cause easy irritation and cramping of the stomach lining.

In short, it makes many athletes feel "weighted down" and "slower".

Gatorade is great for quenching thirst - IE, after a game. For practices and game time however, you can't get much better than good ol' water (or a drink with very light flavoring and only simple sugars).

Borrowed from the HOCKEY-L list server (The College Hockey Discussion List) and written by Greenie.

Good Luck,

Dan Otten

Hockey Coaching Home Page