Diet Tips for Wrestling
Learn how to eat properly and get results on the mat
With the summer wrestling season in full swing and the new high school season right around the corner, it’s a good time to focus on nutrition. Whether it’s dropping to a certain weight or keeping strong and fit through a proper diet, the question of healthy eating is always on the minds of wrestlers.
A little H2O
The first step deals with hydration. A wrestler should always drink lots of water, though it is often overlooked as a part of a healthy diet. Like most athletes, wrestlers are constantly perspiring so you need something to replace the fluid. An old standby that’s a good measuring stick for the amount of water consumption is 64 ounces per day.
Fruit & Potatoes
Like with most diets, fruit and potatoes should become staples in a wrestler’s diet. Fruits like bananas and oranges are high in Vitamin C and melons are high in Vitamin A. A potato has almost no fat (hello, weight cutting) or sodium and it’s full of complex carbohydrates, making it one of the healthiest foods to consume.
Juice, no soda
A soft drink should never come within 100 miles of a wrestler looking to diet right and stay healthy. There are no nutrients to digest and soft drinks are full of calories. Just like eating a piece of fruit, breaking it down into a juice is a great way to eat and drink healthy at the same time.
Fibers and meats
Fibers can get a wrestler through the day. Start with a high-fiber breakfast cereal like Cheerios or any cereal with bran and continue throughout the day with high-fiber meals.
Protein is important; every athlete needs some sort of protein in their diet, but it’s not the beginning and end to the diet story. There are dozens of dairy products and soy-based products that can take the place of red meat for a healthy source of protein. Don’t forget foods like pinto beans or black beans when making a choice for protein.
Recover after weigh-in
The diet plan changes a bit after a wrestler goes at it on the mat and then weighs in. You need foods that will help you recover so foods with a lot of fat might not be the way to go because of the digestive problems. Carbohydrates are the key in the post-weigh in diet plan: applesauce and crackers are two greats way to go in the recovery phase because of their digestibility.