sports nutrition | Badminton supplements & balanced diet
Sports nutrition is a branch of modern sports medicine, which focuses on supplements, balanced diet and healthy nutritional regimen that help athletes to keep their bodies in a good condition.
Importance of sports nutrition increases especially with high-intensity sports to enhance the athletic performance and more especially with young athletes as they are in their growing-up years.
In this article, Notbadminton will help you to know all information about healthy balanced diet, what is the most suitable nutritional sports program at the match day and during training sessions, focusing on badminton game as an example.
Sports nutrition for badminton players
Badminton game is one of the fastest sports in the world, which involves frequent fast movements, so the body of badminton players is expected to burn more calories and loses more fluids.
For this reason, badminton players should have a balanced diet to take their body needs from energy and fluids to stay healthy, avoid injuries and to help them for faster recovery between consecutive matches.
Balanced Diet
To be a healthy badminton player, your daily meals should be balanced to provide your body with all essential nutritional elements.
A well-balanced diet should include the following:
- Fruits and vegetables
- Carbohydrate sources as bread, cereals (pasta – rice – noodles) and high starch vegetables as the potato.
- Protein-rich foods as eggs, fish, lean meat, poultry, and seafood
- Low-fat Dairy products as yogurt, cheese, and milk
- Healthy fats, which provide the body with the good form of cholesterol “HDL (High-density lipoprotein)” as vegetable oils, seeds, nuts, and olive oil.
- Sufficient amount of fluids.
Hydration
It is mandatory to drink a sufficient amount of fluids before, during and after training and matches to keep your body hydrated and to compensate the fluid loss and minerals with sweat during playing with badminton shuttlecock.
- Water is totally enough for short games under 60 minutes. Although needs can vary, the recommended daily fluid intake is 91 ounces (2.7 liters) for adult women and 125 ounces (3.7 liters) for adult men.
- Sports drink for longer badminton games as it contains carbohydrates and vitamins.
Supplements for badminton players
Badminton supplements aim to complement the balanced diet to support recovery and produce sufficient energy for the games you play. Here are some badminton supplements recommended by sports nutrition specialists.
Sports drinks are very popular among athletes and recreational exercisers, as they provide the body with more energy during competitions.
However, they are not necessary for most people except in specific situations. Let’s take a closer look at the best energy drinks available in the market and its benefits.
Main ingredients:
- Water is the main component of all sports drink.
- Carbohydrates in the form of sugars as Glucose – sucrose – fructose.
- Electrolytes as sodium and potassium.
According to healthline.com, most sports drinks contain about 6–8% carbohydrates. A 6% solution contains about 14 grams of carbs per 8 fluid ounces (240 ml).
Benefits of energy drinks for badminton players:
- All components of sports drinks – water, carbs, and electrolyte – are important for the player’s body to improve exercise performance or recovery.
- Badminton players lose water and electrolytes in sweat and consume carbs during exercises and drinking sports drinks is the way to replace them quickly, particularly in prolonged continuous exercise.
- Some researches revealed that different flavors of sports drinks encourage athletes to drink more if they are consuming water alone, which in turn leads to more hydration.
Warnings:
Energy drinks are primarily directed at youth and should not be given to children as they contain a lot of sugars.
If you are playing badminton to lose weight, it is better to avoid energy drinks, unless you need them as in long matches, as it may interfere with your plan in weight loss.
So if you choose to use energy sports drinks, be aware of their calorie contents.
Protein powder is considered as a nutritional supplement as it contains almost all essential amino acids. More and more athletes use protein supplement nowadays in the form of powder or ready protein shakes.
There are three forms of protein powder commonly used:
- Whey protein: the most common one as it is water-soluble and contains all nine essential amino acids.
- Soy protein: another popular protein powder preferred by vegan, but it is water-insoluble and an unpleasant taste.
- Casein protein.
Best Protein powder for badminton players
Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder
Dymazite ISO 100 Whey Protein Powder
Isopure Zero Carb Protein Powder Isolate
Platinum Hydrowhey Protein Powder
Protein supplements are essential to build your muscles and promote muscular recovery after exercise.
Besides eating protein-rich food, Badminton players may prefer to add an additional source of protein to make their muscles more powerful, as it contains relatively more proteins.
Although protein powder is not an essential supplement in sports nutrition, it may be beneficial for badminton players who suffer from badminton injuries as these protein powders help them to heal faster.
3- Energy bars and gels
Easily digestible carbohydrates, caffeine, vitamins and essential amino acids used as a light snake during training and matches.
Nutrition Program for badminton training
Nutrition during training
For short period training, a bottle of water is enough, but for long time training for over one hour, sports drinks are needed.
Recovery / post training meal
It is important to have a snack meal rich in carbohydrate and protein immediately after training to help you to recover quickly. You can take a banana with low-fat milk for example.
Badminton match day nutrition program
As badminton matches are open-ended and vary in its duration, professional badminton players may continue to play for several hours.
Therefore, planning for suitable hydration and nutrition programs should be considered to ensure that badminton players have the proper amount of energy and fluids required for long rallies.
You should test a variety of food items and drinks during badminton training to know what is best for you.
Before badminton match
A low fat, carbohydrate-rich meal 1-4 hours prior to the match usually is enough to improve the performance of the player.
It is better to avoid eating prior the badminton game by one hour, but if necessary to eat, you can take a light carbohydrate-rich snack as cereals with a glass of low-fat milk, banana with low-fat yogurt or a slice of toast with peanut butter.
During badminton match
If the game is extended for more than 60 – 90 minutes, you should refill your energy stores with carbohydrates as much as you can.
Sports drinks, gel, energy bars, and banana will compensate sodium, potassium and water loss, which will help you to avoid badminton injuries as muscle cramps and dehydration.
At a recreational level, the matter is slightly different as players may play for shorter time ranges between 30 minutes to an hour.