Gloria Averbuch / Nancy Clark
Food Guide for Women's Soccer
Tips and Recipes from the Pros
Meyer & Meyer Sport (UK) Ltd.
© 2015 by Meyer & Meyer Sport (UK) Ltd.
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978-1-78255-393-9
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DISCLAIMER
The information in this book is not intended to replace the personalized nutrition and medical advice that is best offered on an individual basis with your health care providers. Personalized medical and nutritional advice should be sought from a competent health professional in your local area. The authors and publisher of this book have made all best professional effort to prepare it, as well as the advice contained within it. Neither the author nor the publisher will be liable for possible disadvantages or damages resulting from this book.
Food Guide for Women’s Soccer: Tips and Recipes From the Pros includes the contributions of women professional soccer players who were members of the Women’s Professional Soccer league. While that league has since been replaced by another version (National Women’s Soccer League, NWSL), the majority of the players featured in the book (some last names changed due to marriage) are still active professionals, many of them in NWSL. Their nutrition tips and recipes included in the book are top-notch, and represent a long track record of soccer, sports and life success.
We acknowledge and thank: Cori Alexander (photos) and Robyn McNeil (Photo Editor); Doron Tamari, for research and invaluable player interviews; Nancy’s and Gloria’s family for being patient recipe testers.
To all aspiring soccer stars—Eat wisely and well, and win with good nutrition!
Gloria Averbuch
Nancy Clark RD
Learning how to fuel for soccer is a meaningful and lifelong habit—one of the many that a ‘soccer education’ provides for young people. I have seen it time and again. Most prominently, I can recall an early incident that helped inspire Food Guide for Women’s Soccer. It was the day I overheard a 10-year-old player who had learned the benefits of eating according to the principles of this book. She spontaneously declared aloud, “I will never drink another soda again!” She understood that fueling wisely for sports, as well as for life, is in her best interest.
My adult daughters have played soccer since early childhood. Soccer has defined their lives through college, and has taken them all over the world. One is a currently a professional player, and the other still plays avidly in adult leagues and works for Major League Soccer (MLS). They are lifelong beneficiaries of the game.
Female soccer players all over the country mirror their passion. Those of us involved in soccer experience the excitement for ‘the beautiful game’, as it is often called, when we watch the players. We see it on the faces of the young girls, the families, the fans, and everyone involved in the sport.
When people ask What is the greatest benefit of participating in soccer (and any other sport, for that matter)?, I offer this answer: the most fortunate among us are those who can possess and nurture a passion. For millions, both here and around the world, soccer is the vehicle for that passion.
I dedicate this book to all those who are passionate about soccer, and to the many people who have brought their talents, energy and generosity to the game.
Gloria Averbuch
Eating with a purpose, and also with enjoyment—that’s what nutrition for soccer is all about! Good food is not only one of life’s pleasures; it is also a powerful tool for helping you to be a better soccer player. Eating the right foods at the right times can help you train at your best so you can then compete at your best. It will also improve your health and future well-being. Unfortunately, eating well on a daily basis doesn’t just happen magically. You need to understand good nutrition, and find time to food shop, so you’ll have wholesome sports foods available.
You also need to find time to fuel up and refuel with an eating schedule that enhances your energy and improves your performance. Unfortunately, the chaos of training and general schedules that lead to erratic eating patterns may result in losing track of what you have—and have not—eaten.
In this chapter, you will learn the basic tips about how to eat well, even when you are eating on the run. But first, it helps to understand what "eating well" means. A simple definition is to eat:
At least three kinds of wholesome foods at each meal.
At least two kinds of wholesome foods for each snack.
Evenly-sized meals about every four hours throughout the day (as opposed to "crescendo eating" with a small breakfast and a large meal at the end of the day).
At least 90 % of the calories from quality foods and, if desired, the remaining 10 % from sweets and treats.
Luckily for today’s soccer players, you (or your parents) don‘t have to be a good cook to eat well. You can still manage to nourish your body optimally even if you are dashing from school or work to workout, and are spending very little time in the kitchen.
Some Top Sports Foods
The following top sports foods offer mainly cook-free and convenient best bets for soccer players (and their families) who eat and run.
Some of the best fruits for vitamins A and/or C or potassium:
Oranges, grapefruit, cantaloupe, bananas, apricots, berries, kiwi, mango
Some of the best vegetables for vitamins A and/or C:
Broccoli, spinach, kale, green and red peppers, tomatoes, carrots, sweet potato, winter squash
The easiest sources of calcium for strong bones:
Low-fat milk, yogurt, cheese, calcium-fortified orange juice, soy milk, and tofu
Convenient cook-free proteins for building and protecting muscles:
Deli roast beef, ham, and turkey, canned tuna and salmon, hummus, peanut butter, tofu, cottage cheese
Cook-free grains for carbohydrates and fiber:
High-fiber breakfast cereals (preferably iron-enriched), wholesome breads and bagels, whole-grain crackers
Here are some guidelines to help you make optimal food choices:
Try to eat at least 2 cups of fruit and 21/2 cups of vegetables per day.
Choose a variety of colors of fruits and vegetables each day: red apples, green peppers, orange carrots, yams, or bananas. If you can’t eat them, drink 100 %-fruit and/or vegetable juices.
Enjoy whole-grain products at least two times per day, such as oatmeal for breakfast and whole wheat bread for lunch. The rest of the recommended grains can come from enriched grain products, such as enriched pasta. In general, at least half the grains should come from whole grains. (Whole grains include whole wheat, brown rice, oats, corn, barley, etc.)
Drink 3 cups (24 ounces; 720 ml) each day of fat-free or low-fat (soy) milk or yogurt, or eat the calcium-equivalent in low-fat cheese (1.5 ounces (45 g) of cheese = 8 ounces (240 ml) of milk or yogurt).
When selecting and preparing meat, poultry, dry beans, and milk or milk products, make choices that are lean, low-fat, or fat-free.
Limit your intake of saturated and trans fats and choose healthier oils such as olive and canola oils, nuts and nut butters, and oily fish such as salmon.
Dietary Recommendations for Good Health
By following these dietary recommendations, you can substantially reduce your risk of developing heart disease and other diseases of aging. If you are a growing athlete, the guidelines can help you create good eating habits for both sports and life.
Balance calorie intake and physical activity to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.
Consume a diet rich in vegetables and fruits.
Choose whole-grain, high-fiber foods.
Consume fish, especially oily fish, at least twice a week.
Limit your intake of saturated fat to <7 % of energy and trans fat to <1 % of energy per day by:
choosing lean meats and vegetarian alternatives.
selecting fat-free (skim), 1 %-fat, and low-fat dairy products.
minimizing intake of partially hydrogenated fats.
Minimize your intake of beverages and foods with added sugars.
When you eat food that is prepared outside of the home, follow these dietary recommendations.
Source: Diet and Lifestyle Recommendation Revision 2006: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association Nutrition Committee. A. Lichtenstein et al. Circulation 2006; 114:82-96.
Many soccer players and their families wonder about eating organic. While that answer is complex, we simply recommend you choose in-season, locally grown foods whenever possible. Go organic if you wish, but first and foremost, remember that the priority is to get the basics right. That means your soccer diet (or that of your children), should not be a random affair, or routinely a fast food stop. Be responsible, plan ahead and take meal times seriously.
Balancing Your Diet
Food can be divided into four groups: grain, fruit & vegetable, dairy/calcium-rich options, and protein. The trick to balancing the recommended servings of foods during your day is to plan to have at least three out of four food groups per meal, and one or two food groups per snack, such as:
Breakfast | Lunch | Snack | Dinner | Snack | |
1. Grain | bran flakes | bread | spaghetti | popcorn | |
2. Fruit & Vegetable | banana | apple baby carrots | berries | tomato sauce | cider |
3. Dairy/calcium-rich foods | (soy) milk | yogurt | Parmesan cheese | ||
4. Protein | almonds | tuna fish | ground turkey |
"When I eat as healthy as possible, I feel better overall, and in the long run, I perform better. My body is more resilient; I have rarely been sick since I started eating well-balanced meals throughout the day."
Nicole Barnhart, Goalkeeper
Just as each teammate depends on the others to be fit, focused and ready to play, so too with being well-nourished. When you eat right, you do so for yourself and for the team effort, since what, when and how you fuel has a direct impact on your performance. Parents, coaches, team captains and/or managers: take a poll before games. Ask players what and when they ate before arriving. If it isn’t up to speed (often that means not enough), pass the pre-game snacks. Gloria’s teams made sure to do this, particularly for important games. The players soon got the message, and learned to eat well on their own.
By eating grains, fruits and vegetables as the foundation of each meal, you‘ll consume about 55 to 65 % of your calories from carbohydrates. This is exactly what you need for a high-energy sports diet. These carbohydrates are stored in muscles in the form of glycogen and provide the energy you need for performing on the soccer field.
Grain foods are a popular source of carbohydrates for most soccer athletes. The exceptions are the weight-conscious athletes who believe they will get fat if they eat breads, cereals and pastas at each meal. False. Carbohydrates are not fattening; excess calories are fattening. (See Chapter 14 for an explanation of calorie needs.)
"When I eat carbs, I try to make them healthy choices, like whole-wheat pasta and bread."
Tina Ellertson, Defender
Fruits and vegetables are also excellent sources of carbohydrates. But some players have trouble figuring out how to consume the recommended daily 2 cups (500 g) of fruits and 21/2 cups (600 g) of vegetables. As one 22-year-old sheepishly remarked, "I‘m lucky if I eat that much in a week." The trick is to eat large portions. Most soccer players can easily enjoy a banana (counts as one cup fruit) and 8 ounces (one cup) of orange juice in the morning. That’s already the minimal 2 cups of fruit for the day! A big bowl of salad filled with colorful spinach, tomato, carrot, and pepper can account for the minimal recommended 21/2 cups of vegetables.
Fruits: Recommended Daily Intake—2 or more cups (500+ g)
Here’s what counts as "one cup." Hungry soccer players can easily consume double portions and achieve the recommended intake of two or more cups per day.
Orange Juice | 8 ounces | 240 ml |
Apple | 1 small | 100 g |
Banana | 1 small | 100 g |
Canned Fruit | 1 cup | 240 g |
Dried fruit | 1/2 cup | 80 g |
Vegetables: Recommended Daily Intake—21/2 to 3+ cups (600 to 700+ g)
Here’s what counts as "one cup." Plan to eat double!
Broccoli | 1 medium stalk | 200 g |
Spinach | 2 cups raw | 60 g |
Salad Bar | 1 average bowl | 100 g |
Spaghetti Sauce (Tomato) | 1 cup | 250 g |
Fruits and vegetables are truly nature‘s health-protectors, chock full of vitamin C (to help with healing), beta-carotene (to protect against cancer), fiber (to aid with regular bowel movements), and numerous other vitamins, minerals, and bioactive compounds. The sidebar Eat More Veggies! offers suggestions for ways to boost your veggie intake simply.
Eat More Veggies!
If you struggle to consume the recommended two to three servings of vegetables per day, the following tips may help you to enhance your vegetable intake—and your health.
Eat more of the best vegetables, less of the rest. In general, colorful dark green, deep yellow, orange, and red vegetables have far more nutrients than pale ones. Hence, if you dislike pale zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers, don‘t work hard to acquire a taste for them. Instead, put your efforts into having more broccoli, spinach, and winter squash—the richly colored, more nutrient-dense choices.
Include lettuce, tomato and green or red peppers on your sandwiches and wraps.
Keep baby carrots and cherry tomatoes handy in the front of the refrigerator for easy snacking.
Bring a baggie of cut up veggies to practices, games, and tournaments. In an environment with hungry, thirsty young players, you’ll be surprised how popular veggies are, and how quickly they get eaten—particularly if you include a low-fat ranch dressing for a dip!
Eat colorful salads filled with tomatoes, green peppers, carrots, spinach, arugula, beets, and dark lettuces. Pale salads with white lettuce, cucumbers, onions, celery, and other pale veggies offer little more than crunch. When smothered with dressing, this crunch becomes highly caloric. Alternatives to a pale restaurant salad include tomato juice, vegetable soup, a steamed veggie or, when you get home, a handful of raw baby carrots for a bedtime snack.
Fortify spaghetti sauce with a box of frozen chopped broccoli or green peppers. Cook the veggies alongside the spaghetti (in a steamer over the pasta water) before you add them to the tomato sauce.
Choose fast foods with the most veggies:
Pizza with peppers, mushrooms, and extra tomato sauce
Chinese entrées stir-fried with vegetables
Lunchtime V-8 juice instead of diet soda
Even over-cooked vegetables are better than no vegetables. If your only option is over-cooked veggies from the cafeteria, eat them. While cooking does destroy some of the vegetable‘s nutrients, it does not destroy all of them. Any vegetable is better than no vegetable!
While farm-fresh is always best, keep frozen vegetables stocked in your freezer, ready and waiting. They are quick and easy to prepare, won‘t spoil quickly, and have more nutrients than "fresh" vegetables that have been in the store and your refrigerator for a few days. Because cooking (more than freezing) reduces a vegetable‘s nutritional content:
Quickly cook vegetables only until tender crisp and use the cooking water as a broth.
Microwave vegetables in a covered dish.
Stir-fry them with very little olive oil.
Use a food processor to finely chop veggies to include in meatloaf, soup, and stews.
When all else fails, eat fruit to help compensate for lack of vegetables. Some of the best alternatives include bananas, oranges, grapefruit, melon, strawberries, blueberries, mango, and kiwi. These choices are rich in many of the same nutrients found in vegetables.
For more information on serving sizes and ways to add more vegetables to your daily diet, see: www.ChooseMyPlate.gov
Like carbohydrates, protein-rich foods are also an important part of your sports diet. You should eat a protein-rich food at each meal. Some soccer players tend to either over- or under- consume protein, depending on their ideas about healthy eating and lifestyle. While it is true that young athletes have an increased need for protein due to the demands of their sports and the fact they are growing, most tend to consume more than they require.
Whereas high-protein eaters may frequently choose cheese omelets, fast food burgers and other meals filled with saturated fats, others bypass these foods in their efforts to eat a low-fat or vegetarian diet—but they neglect to replace beef with beans, or other appropriate substitutes. Or they equate healthy eating with low-calorie protein like skinless chicken breast and avoid important carbs and good fats. (For additional information and guidelines on how to choose the best balance of protein, see Chapter 6.)
Recommended daily protein intake:
5 to 7 ounces (or ounce-equivalents; 140 to 200 g)
Protein-rich Foods | Soccer Player’s Portion | Number of Ounces or Ounce-equivalents |
Tuna | 6 oz (170 g) can, drained | 3-4 |
Chicken | 6 oz breast | 6 |
Peanut Butter | 2-4 tablespoons | 1-2 |
Kidney Beans | 1 cup | 2 |
To meet your protein requirement, you should consume some protein-rich food with each meal and snack. The recommended 2 to 3 servings of calcium-rich dairy foods such as milk, yogurt and cheese (or calcium-fortified soy milk) can count towards your protein intake. Calcium is particularly important for growing teens and women who should optimize bone density. For only 300 calories, soccer players can easily achieve the recommended calcium intake—plus boost their protein intake—by consuming:
8 oz (240 ml) of milk or soy milk on breakfast cereal
8 oz (240 ml) tub of yogurt with lunch
a (decaf) latte made with skim or low-fat milk for an afternoon energizer
When choosing the recommended 2 to 3 daily servings of dairy foods, note that fat-free and low-fat products are preferable for heart-health and calorie control, but you need not suffer with "watery" skim milk if you really don‘t like it. You can try the new thicker forms of skim milk on the market. Or, you can always cut back on fat in other parts of your diet. For example, Patty, a midfielder on a collegiate soccer team, opted for cereal with reduced-fat (2 %) milk (5 grams of fat per cup), but saved on fat elsewhere in her diet by using reduced-fat salad dressing and eating low-fat granola. (For more information on dietary fat, see Chapter 7.)
Soccer athletes who prefer a dairy-free diet or are lactose intolerant should take special care to eat adequate amounts of nondairy calcium sources. See the sidebar Calcium Equivalents for food suggestions. Note: Rice milk and almond milk are nutritionally poor—more like juice (with added calcium) than milk. Soy milk is the preferable alternative to dairy milk.
© Cori Alexander
Calcium Equivalents
The recommended daily calcium intake is:
Age Group | Calcium (mg) |
Teens, 9-18 years | 1,300 |
Adults, 19-50 years | 1,000 |
Adults, 51+ years | 1,200-1,500 |
The following foods all provide about 300 milligrams of calcium. Three choices per day, or one at each meal, will contribute to meeting your calcium needs.
Calcium-rich Foods | Amount for 300 mg Calcium | ||
Dairy | milk, whole or skim yogurt cheese cottage cheese frozen yogurt | 1 cup 1 cup 1 1/2 ounces 2 cups 1 1/2 cups | (240 ml) (230 g) (45 g) (450 g) (150 g) |
Proteins | soy milk tofu salmon, canned with bones sardines, canned with bones almonds | 1 cup 8 ounces 5 ounces 3 ounces 4 ounces | (240 ml) (250 g) (140 g) (85 g) (110 g) |
Vegetables | broccoli, cooked collard or turnip greens, cooked kale or mustard greens, cooked | 3 cups 1 cup 1 1/2 cups | (150 g) (550 g) (220 g) |
Many female athletes tend to consume a shockingly low amount of calcium. While we prefer food over supplements, if you don’t consume a calcium-rich dairy food or a calcium-fortified food with each meal (such as fortified orange juice or soy milk), taking supplemental calcium, in combination with Vitamin D, is a smart idea.
Although nutritionists recommend eating a wholesome diet based on grains, fruits, and vegetables, some soccer athletes eat a diet with too many sweets and treats. If you have a junk-food diet, you may be able to correct this imbalance by eating more wholesome foods before you get too hungry. Athletes who get too hungry (or who avoid carbohydrates) tend to choose sugary, fatty foods (such as apple pie, instead of apples). A simple solution to the junk-food diet is to prevent hunger by eating heartier portions of wholesome foods at meals. And once you replace sweets with more wholesome choices (including whole grain carbs), your craving for sweets will diminish.
Take note: You need not eat a "perfect diet" (no fats, no sugar) to have a good diet. Nothing is nutritionally wrong with having something sweet, such as a cookie, for dessert after having eaten a sandwich, milk, and fruit for lunch. But a lot is wrong with eating cookies for lunch and skipping the sandwich. That‘s when both nutrition and performance problems arise.
The key to balancing fats and sugars appropriately in your diet is to abide the following guidelines:
10 % of your calories can appropriately come from refined sugar, if desired. (about 200-300 calories from sugar per day for most soccer players)
25 % of your calories can appropriately come from (preferably healthful) fat. (about 450-750 calories from fat per day, or roughly 50-85 grams of fat per day)
Hence, moderate amounts of chips, cookies, and ice cream can fit into an overall healthful food plan, if desired.
If you want personalized dietary advice, Nancy recommends you seek professional advice from a registered dietitian (RD) who specializes in sports nutrition and, ideally, is Board Certified as a Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD). To find a sports nutritionist in your area, use the referral networks at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ website (www.eatright.org) or the website of AND’s practice group of sports dietitians (www.SCANdpg.org). Or try googling "sports nutritionist, your city." You‘ll be glad you did! This personal nutrition coach can help you win with good nutrition. Better yet, consider doing this on a teamwide basis, and get group nutrition analysis and education.
Nutrition for soccer is all about eating with a purpose so you can then enjoy the benefits of high energy and good health. Your food goals are to eat combinations of quality carbohydrates to fuel your muscles and proteins to build and repair your muscles. You can do this by choosing at least three kinds of wholesome foods at each meal; at least two kinds of wholesome foods for each snack; evenly-sized meals about every four hours throughout the day (as opposed to "crescendo eating" with a small breakfast and a large meal at the end of the day); at least 90 % of the calories from quality foods and, if desired, the remaining 10 % from sweets and treats. You need not eat a "perfect diet" to have a good diet, but you do want to choose more of the best foods (wholesome grains, fruits, vegetables, low-fat calcium-rich foods (dairy, soy), and high-quality proteins (lean meats, poultry, eggs, fish, beans, soy, nuts) and less of the rest.
If you want to "get it right" in terms of establishing a good sports diet that helps make you a better soccer player, there’s no doubt breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Yes, there can be hurdles to eating breakfast, but the benefits far outweigh the difficulties. Breakfast eaters tend to:
eat a more nutritious, lower fat diet.
have lower blood cholesterol levels.
enjoy success with weight control.
are mentally alert and more productive—in school and on the field.
have more energy to enjoy exercise either in the morning or later in the day.
As an aspiring soccer star, plan to start your day with breakfast preferably within two hours of waking. From female athletes on a 1,800-calorie weight reduction diet, to tall men who devour 3,600 calories a day, soccer athletes deserve to eat a hefty 500 to 900 calories for their morning meal(s). If you train in the morning (such as in summer camps or team pre-season), you might want to eat part of your breakfast (as tolerated) before practice, and then enjoy the rest of the breakfast afterwards, either at home, on the way to class, or in your car. (See Chapter 13 for information on how to calculate your calorie needs for breakfast and the entire day.)
Despite our clear message about breakfast being the most important meal of the day, we have to coax many soccer athletes to experiment with eating (more) breakfast. Far too many of them under-eat in the morning. Let’s take a look at some standard breakfast excuses—and solutions.
I don‘t have time: Lack of priority is the real problem, not lack of time. If you can make time to train, you can make time to fuel for your training. Even if you choose to sleep to the last minute before dragging yourself out of bed to go to school, work, or a soccer practice or game, you can still choose to eat breakfast on the way. Some simple portable breakfasts include:
a baggie filled with raisins, almonds, and granola.
a tortilla rolled with a slice or two of low-fat cheese.
a peanut butter and honey sandwich on wholesome bread.
a glass of milk, then a banana while on the way to your destination.
a travel mug filled with a fruit smoothie or protein shake.
an energy bar and a banana during the morning commute.
The key to a grab-‘n’-go breakfast is to plan ahead. Prepare your breakfast the night before. For example, on the weekends, you might want to make the Carrot Apple Muffins in the Recipe section or buy a dozen bagels. Pre-slice the bread or the bagels, wrap the desired portion in individual plastic bags, and put them in the freezer. Take one out of the freezer at night so breakfast will be ready and waiting in the morning, or give it a few seconds straight from the freezer into the microwave.
MORE GRAB & GO BREAKFAST IDEAS
You can make pancakes or French toast (preferably whole grain) ahead of time and freeze. Or prepare it fresh and ready to eat on the road. Make a "pancake sandwich" with peanut or other nut butter and jelly. Add bananas or other fruit, baked into the pancakes or as an addition to the sandwich.