Best Soccer Diets

Now that you know what you shouldn't eat, let's take a look at what you should. A healthy diet is a diet rich in the following ingredients:

o Vegetables, particularly green ones. Salad is excellent for you, as is broccoli; just remember to go easy on the dressing.

o Whole grains

o Lean meats, such as chicken, fish and low-fat steak

o Fresh fruits (try to avoid canned fruits and vegetables; the former are high in sugar and the latter high in sodium)

o Water. Even though iced tea is low in calories it is high in caffeine, something you should also try to avoid while you're in training. Drinking water regularly provides a second benefit as well; your body's levels of hydration are a critical factor in determining how well you perform on the field. Muscles which have been dehydrated, even slightly, are going to cramp faster and tire more easily than muscles whose cells have maintained their high water content.

A general rule in any form of athletics (but particularly one where you are going to be running around out-of-doors for any length of time) is that if you are thirsty you are too late. Your body is already dehydrated enough to begin to cause complications. Try to drink water consistently throughout the day, whether you are thirsty or not. Keep a sports bottle with you at all times; freezing the water inside the bottle overnight will help to keep it cold and refreshing, since you will have a constant supply of ice. Just be sure to drink a big glass of water when you first get up in the morning to help get you over that "hump" where the ice is just beginning to melt. (Freezing a bottle of water, then taking it out of the freezer about an hour before game time will help to ensure that you have a cold liquid available to you the entire time you are on the field).

Although it probably is not something you focus on with regularity, if you are unsure as to whether or not your body is properly hydrated take the time to examine your urine each time you go to the bathroom. Urine contains certain substances which serve to give it its traditional yellow hue; when these substances are undiluted the urine will appear to be darkly colored. The principle is that you want your body to be as hydrated as possible, thereby expelling excess fluids in greater amounts and strongly diluting other substances in your urine, giving your urine a clear color. Short story: if you go to the bathroom and your urine is yellow, you need to drink more water.

o Fortified cereals. Try to steer clear of those which are high in sugar (sorry, Lucky Charms still aren't on the list of approved food intake while you are attempting to get your body in shape); however, Raisin Bran, Total, Special K and other related cereals are extremely healthy, keeping your body stocked up on the nutrients it needs to survive.

o Milk and other dairy products

Carbohydrates. It is essential that you carefully monitor your daily intake of carbohydrates, however; although carbs are the part of your diet that provide your body with the all-important energy that you are going to need to keep up once you set foot on that field, if you do not use up the calories in your carbs they are going to settle in and become fat (you've no doubt heard people say that the spaghetti they ate went straight to their hips and dismissed it as foolishness; there actually is a ring of truth to this statement).

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