High Performance Eating

Ten Tactics for Top Gymnastics Gymnast eating a giant sandwich

Tactic 1: Eat a Variety of nutritious Food
Tactic 2: Enjoy Healthy Eating
Tactic 3: Eat more Go Foods
Tactic 4: Go Slow on the Fats
Tactic 5: Eat Enough Grow Foods
Tactic 6: Eat Plenty of Glow Foods
Tactic 7: Eat Plenty of Calcium Rich Foods
Tactic 8: Eat more Iron Rich Foods
Tactic 9: Drink more Fluid
Tactic 10: Recovery

Eating for Competition

Eating Before the Competition
Eating During the Competition
Information Source

Ten Tactics for Top Gymnastics

Tactic 1: Enjoy a Wide Variety of Nutritious Foods
It is important to choose healthy foods most of the time from all of the food groups, that is rice, breads and other cereals, fruits, and vegetables, meat, fish, pulses, yoghourt, milk and cheese, and fats and oils. This helps us get enough nutrients to keep us healthy.

Try to eat a variety of foods within these food groups as well. Don't just eat apples every day or have the same cereal every morning, try eating fruits and cereals you haven't tried before. You might be suprised how good they taste.

Tactic 2: Enjoy Healthy Eating
Eating is also a pleasure and it is important that we have a balanced approach to what we eat. For special occasions eat some "go slow" foods, but try not to have too many.

Tactic 3: Eat More 'Go' Foods
Carbohydrates are the best fuel for your active body, just like petrol is the best fuel for a car. That's why we call the "Go" foods.

Carbohydrates are stored in your muscles as glycogen and supply your body with energy. They fuel your muscles so that you can run, vault and somersault, and they also fuel your brain so that you can think and concentrate.

When you don't eat enough carbohydrate-rich foods, you will feel very tired and find it hard to do all of the things you want to do.

The following foods are all rich in carbohydrates as well as being a power house of vitamins, minerals, and, except for milk and yoghourt, a great source of dietry fibre.

Rice (brown and white)
Fruit (fresh, canned or dried)
Legumes (lentils and baked beans)
Yoghourt and Milk
Potato, Pumpkin, Corn, Peas
Rice Cakes, Bread, Crispbreads, Breakfast Cereal
Pasta, Noodles

All of your meals should include at least one of these carbohydrate-rich foods.

Sugar is also a carbohydrate but not as nutritious as those listed above. The way to eat sugar is to use small amounts with other carbohydrate-rich foods, for example, spread jam on rice cakes or make a creamy rice dessert with fresh berries and save your soft drinks and lollies for recovery after competition.

For energy for training, eat meals containing rice or pasta. Both are great sources of carbohydrate and are low in fat.

Tactic 4: Go Slow on the Fats
Fats and oils are essential for a healthy body. Fat from foods provides your body with some important vitamins. These include: vitamin A, D, E and K. These vitamins all play a very special role in keeping your body healthy and working properly. So it is important that you include some fats and oils in your diet.

Although you need to eat some fat, you should not eat too much because these foods do not energise your body like carbohydrate-rich "Go" foods do. If you eat too many high fat foods, they may be stored as body fat. So to maintain your lean, fit body, eat low fat foods and use added fat sparingly.

Foods that are high in fat include:

Butter and Margerine
Potato crisps and corn chips
Deep fried foods such as chips, dim sims, battered fisg and spring rolls
Pasteries such as pies, pasties and sausage rolls
Fat on meat and skin on chicken
Cream
Salad dressings and mayonnaise
Chocolate
Cakes, sweets biscuits and donuts

Tips to eat less fat:

Use only a scrape of butter or magerine on toast and in sadwiches. As an alternative, try cottage cheese or light cream cheese, pickles, mustard or chutney
Check that not alot of oil is used in cooking at home. Suggest using a cooking oil spray instead
Choose low fat dairy products such as reduced fat milks, low fat yoghourts, low fat cheeses and low fat ice creams
Choose lean meats and trim visible fat
Remove skin from chicken
Substitute cream with low fat yoghourt
Choose 'no oil' salad dressings
Eat less cakes, biscuits and potato crisps

What are the best choices?

Fish & Chip Shop - Grilled fish, souvlaki, salad, bread rolls.
Hamburger Bar - Plain hamburger: with no magarine, raw onions (not fried) and salad.
McDonalds - Hot cakes and syrup (no butter), Junior Burger, orange juice.
Hungary Jacks - Chicken Fillet burger (no sauce), Ocean Catch Sandwich.
Red Rooster/KFC - BBQ Chicken (no skin), bread, corn on the cob, Salad.
Pizza Parlour - Thick crust vegetarian or seafood pizza with a small quantity of cheese.
Italian Reataurant - risotto with vegetables, pasta with a tomato based sauce eg. nepolitana, marinara; ricotta and spinach cannelloni with tomato sauce.
Sizzlers (all you can eat) - soup, small steaks or grilled fish (no sauces), rice salads, pasta with tomato based sauce, salads, fresh fruit, bread.
Pancake Parlour - crepes or pancakes with fruit, syrup or lemon.

When eating out, try to select the healthier meals. Don't choose meals which contain fat, e.g. hamburgers, creamy sauces and fried food. An assortment of rice dishes, pastas with tomato based sauces, lean meats, salads and vegies are healthy meals available at many restaurants

Tactic 5: Eat Enough Grow Foods
Protien is another important nutrient hequired by healthy gymnasts. Your hair, skin, blood, bones and muscles are all made of protein. To keep these strong and healthy. it is important to eat enough protein. You should try to include one food at every meal that is a protein rich food. For example: yoghourt for breakfast; baked beans for lunch; and chicken for dinner.

Foods that include protein are:

Beef, pork, lamb and veal
Chicken, Turkey and fish
Milk, eggs and cheese
Yoghourt and drinking yoghurt
Nuts and peanut butter
Legumes (lentils and baked beans)
Seeds

Tactic 6: Eat Plenty of Grow Foods
Vitamins are substances in food that you cannot see, but are very important for a healthy gymnast. they help you to use carbohydrates for energy, keep your bones strong, your hair shiny, your skin healthy, and your vision.

Tactic 7: Eat Plenty of Calcium-rich foods
It is important that your diet supplies you with calcium to help your bones grow and be strong. Calcium also helps your muscles work properly. If you do not have enough calcium in your diet, your bones may be weak and fracture more easily.

The best sources of calcium in the diet are dairy products including milk, yoghourt and low fat cheese. You should aim to eat atleast 3 serves of these foods every day. Other good sources of calcium are: canned fish with edible bones, such as sardines and salmon, green leafy vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Tips to eat more calcium rich foods:

Make a smoothie with low fat milk or drinking yoghourt and fresh fruit
Melt low fat cheese on rice cakes
Eat a small tub of yoghourt as a snack
Make creamed rice with low fat milk
Spread ricotta on toast instead of margarine or butter
For a delicious breakfast combine yoghourt, fresh fruit salad and breakfast cereal

Tactic 8: Eat More Iron-Rich Foods
Iron is a mineral found in your blood that carries oxygen around your body. It is essential for maximising your energy levels. A lack of iron can make you feel tired and weak and will affect your training and performance.

The richest sources of iron in the diet include liver and lean red meat. Other good sources of iron are green leafy vegetables such as spinach, legumes, including lentils and baked beans, eggs and some breakfast cereals. However, your body doesn't absorb the iron from these foods well. Eating foods that supply vitamin C with these iron rich foods, will help you absorb the iron. For example, strawberries on your breakfast cereal or tomatoes with your spinach will increase your body's absorption of the iron.

Tactic 9: Drink More Fluid
Did you know that half of your body's weight is made up of water? If the fluid level in your body drops because you forget to drink during the day or sweat a lot during training, you may be at risk of dehydration which will affect your performance.

A dehydrated gymnast will feel hot, tired and zapped of energy and may get muscle cramps.

To prevent dehydration, you should try to drink at least 6-8 glasses of fluid every day. Get into the habit of drinking before training and sipping fluids frequently during training. Then continue to top up your fluid levels after training.

The best way to avoid dehydration is to drink plenty of water throughout the day especially during training sessions. Carrying your own drink bottle provides easy access to water. Remember to not only drink when you're thirsty - by then it's too late.

Tactic 10: Recovery
to help your body recover from each training session, it is important that you have a recovery plan.

Your recovery plan should include eating some carbohydrates as soon as you finnish training. This will help you to replace the carbhydrate in your muscles (ie. glycogen) that you used during training. If you do not do this, you will feel tired tomorrow at training, and more tired the next day, and by the end of the week you will be running on empty.

After a tough training session or competition it's important to eat the correct foods to allow the body to recover. Banana and honey sandwich, fruit and plenty of water are excellent sources of recovery food.

Eating For Competition

Eating Before the Competition
This meal should be eaten about two - three hours before your competition starts. this will give the food time to digest. Your pre-competition meal should be low in fat and high in carbohydrate. You should also eat something that you know you like. don't try new foods before a competition, just incase it upsets your stomach.

Suggested pre-competition meals:

Breakfast cereal, low fat milk and fruit
Toast, muffins or crumpets with honey or jam
Bowl of steamed rice and stir fry vegies
Low fat smoothie
Bowl of fresh fruit salad
Rice cakes topped with honey or jam, sliced banana, tomato, or spaghetti
And remember to drink a couple of glasses of water or fruit juice

Before competitions, eat rice cakes with a fruit spread. They are light, easy to prepare and satisfy your hunger without making you too full!

Eating During the Competition
During the competition it is important to regularly sip on your drink bottle to reduce your risk of dehydration.

you may also need to top up your blood sugar levels. Try drinking a sports drink or snack on rice cakes, fruit, low fat muesli bars or jelly confectionary.

Information Source
The information from this section is from a recent publication by the Victorian Institute of Sport. Although it has been distributed in gymnastics clubs around Victoria, I feel that the information provided is of great use to gymnasts all over the world as it provides excellent dietry guidelines designed specifically for gymnasts, as well as great tips on what to eat to gain optimum performance in training and competition.

Full credit for all of the information goes to the Karen Inge, The Victorian Institute of sport and sponsors of the booklet, Sunrice and Jalna.b