There is one thing that all girls hockey players absolutely have to avoid eating at all costs before hitting the ice.  Eating this one thing will result in you feeling bad and playing worse. Staying away from this one food is easier said than done, but trust me when I tell you that this is the worst possible fuel you can put in your tank before hitting the ice.

You absolutely have to avoid eating a big pile o’ sugar before hitting the ice.

I know that most girls hockey players aren’t going to be snacking on big piles of sugar before their next practice or game.

But they don’t realize that a lot of the foods that they are eating before hockey that they think are “healthy” are really sugar-filled performance-killers.

Eating a lot of sugar before hitting the ice will take your energy levels through the roof for a short time, and will then send you crashing down faster than you went up on the sugar high.  You’ll feel great for the 3 minute warm-up and your first few shifts, and then you’ll feel like the energy just got sucked right out of you.

Let’s look at two examples of “healthy” choices that are really “sugar-bombs” in disguise:

1)  Sports drinks:  We see famous hockey players promoting these drinks on TV, so they have to be good for us, right?  WRONG.  All of these sports drinks, even the “low sugar” versions, are still made of one thing and one thing only – SUGAR.  The only time you should have sports drinks is after you get off the ice, and even then, you really only need them after a really hard practice or game, not after an easy skate.

2)  Bagels:  These are good for us, right?  Yes and no.  The majority of people eat bagels, bread, pasta and rice that is WHITE.   And WHITE = PROCESSED.  The difference between white bread and whole-groin bread is that all of the nutrients have been completed stripped out of the white bread.  And when you take all of the nutrients out of a whole-grain food, it essentially acts like a big pile of sugar in the body.  You are ALWAYS much better off having a whole-grain option instead of the white option if you want to avoid riding the energy roller-coaster.

In terms of how your body reacts, there is no big difference between eating or drinking a “healthy” option that is chocked full of sugar or just swallowing a handful of sugar before hitting the ice.

Either way, these piles full of sugar will give you a short burst of energy and leave you feeling like you got run over by the Zamboni in no time.
What are you going to eat before your next practice or game to make sure that you aren’t going to be riding the sugar roller-coaster?

For a complete nutrition program to take your performance to the next level, check out Game-Winning Nutrition HERE.