Fueling at the End of Competition Day Tips
I’m back with some tips this week filming at Heart of America about fueling at the end of your competition day to follow up with our earlier post about fueling for competition.
A few scenarios I will be focusing on are:
- Nutrition after a day of competing when you have to dance again the next day
- enjoy a filling meal that also feels good on your body. Rather than focusing on a high fat, heavy heavy meal like burgers and fries, pizza, heavy steak or pasta dishes, eat a larger portion of a well balanced choice such as a chicken or fish with potatoes or rice and include a nice refreshing vegetable option so that you satiated but also feel refreshed and ready to dance the following day rather than heavy and sluggish.
- Nutrition at the end of your competition weekend
- Let’s talk after parties and late night food ordering. At the end of an event, you are likely to be really ready for that heavier meal and likely have a travel day the next day rather than a training or competing day. In this scenario, using the heavier foods at the after party that are normally served (pizzas, pastas, etc) or one of the few late night restaurants available and choosing to sit down or stand at a table and take one bite at a time mindfully as you socialize rather than rushing your eating so that you can eat until you are satisfied rather than eating quickly and subsequently over eating and feeling uncomfortable.
- Post competition alcohol consumption.
- Lastly, it is common to have a drink after a long weekend of dancing, but you want to drink to your comfort level and avoid feeling miserable the next day. Consider drinking water in between alcoholic beverages or having your drink amount to your comfort level and then continuing with a non alcoholic choice such as club soda and lime that still provides a similar feeling as drinking.
*Bonus tip- still hydrate after you are done with competition day, it will help you recover more efficiently along with proper fueling*
I hope you enjoy these tips and look forward to any questions you have! Stay tuned for our next topic!
-Ricci-Lee Hotz, MS, RDN, LD
A Taste of Health, LLC
“The Dancesport Dietitian”