Nutrition review for hockey players : enhancing performance through nutrition

Abstract

With the advancement of sports medicine in the past decade, hockey players all over the world are always trying to find a competitive edge through nutritional education and proper eating. It is very common to find young junior players looking to make the jump into the professional game always trying to find ways to get bigger and add lean muscle mass, likewise, there are always players looking to drop a few pounds while keeping their muscle mass. Research has proven that through proper education and lifestyle, players can achieve their goals using nutrition as a positive impact. Data was collected and analyzed, with the purpose to give education analysis of nutri-tional topics for players to use to enhance their careers. Once the data was collected, it was put into a review and menu format. The review portion includes in depth analysis on issues and topics concerning; proper calorie in-take, protein, carbohydrates and fat consumption. As well as muscle glycogen restora-tion and electrolyte balances within the body pre and post exercise. The menu portion of the data collected, was done with the purpose to give proper meal and portion sizes with the idea of, each meal is designed to properly fuel, and refuel the player before and after exercise. The findings were that in terms of food, players do get enough of protein, carbohy-drates, and fats, but where a lot of players lack adequate education is proper timing of meals as well as hydrating. Data has found that most players do not eat proper foods post exercise thus delaying the action of muscle glycogen restoration, making it almost impossible for players to recover fast and properly. Data has also showed that, most athletes in North America come to practice already in a state of dehydration, thus, again making it impossible for players to perform at the maximal capacity, which can lead to negative habits, reduce performance, and delay athletic improvement.