An Athletes Update On Junk Food – You Can Relax A Bit!
Soccer Nutrition: Nutrition Information from Nancy Clark – a calmer approach to Junk Food Guilt! Like all athletes and soccer players are always looking to gain an edge. Of course, what you eat impacts greatly an athlete’s performance, but unless you are trying to be a top professional, perhaps you can enjoy the occasional brownie. Some pros even eat pizza, drink soda and have cake … once in a while!
Here are Nancy Clark’s thoughts on Junk Food Guilt:
Eating a hot dog or a candy bar once in a blue moon does not negate all of the “good stuff” you generally eat.
You rarely see elite soccer players eating junk food on the soccer fields of America but what about away from judging eyes while at home and in the car? With obesity being a major problem in the USA, nutrition information is more important than ever but junk food guilt can be overdone.
Many soccer players go to great extremes to eat healthfully.
Needless to say, the definition of “eating healthfully” varies from player to player—and can often take on religious zeal.
“Healthy eating” tends to include these parameters:
- No refined sugar, gummy candy, soda pop, sweets
- No potato chips, corn chips, Cheetos, salty snacks
- No doughnuts, pastries, croissants, pancakes, PopTarts
- No McDonald’s, Burger King, pizza, hot dogs
- No cookies, desserts, birthday cake, holiday treats.
- No foods in wrappers/“eating clean.” (Question: Are wrapped foods actually dirty? Or is trendy terminology breeding craziness?)
“I’m training really hard, doing double workouts, and eating only healthy foods. I feel full all the time—but I am losing too much weight. I don’t think I could comfortably eat any more…”
“I generally eat clean—but some days I cheat and have ice cream.”
“Fruit juice is bad; it has way too much sugar! I’ve stopped drinking it.”
Many soccer players go to great extremes to eat healthfully.
Needless to say, the definition of “eating healthfully” varies from player to player—and can often take on religious zeal. “Healthy eating” tends to include these parameters – yes, I am repeating myself:
- No refined sugar, gummy candy, soda pop, sweets
- No potato chips, corn chips, Cheetos, salty snacks
- No doughnuts, pastries, croissants, pancakes, PopTarts
- No McDonald’s, Burger King, pizza, hot dogs
- No cookies, desserts, birthday cake, holiday treats.
- No foods in wrappers/“eating clean.” (Question: Are wrapped foods actually dirty? Or is trendy terminology breeding craziness?)
While eliminating “bad” and “dirty” foods is a noble attempt to put premium nutrition into your body’s engine, the questions arise:
- Do you really need to eat a “perfect diet” to have an “excellent diet”?
- Does enjoying a hot dog or a candy bar once in a blue moon negate all of the “good stuff” you generally eat?
- Do have to “cheat” on your birthday so you can partake in a piece of cake with your family and friends?
No – you don’t. Heavens No!!
In my opinion as a professional nutritionist, there is no such thing as “bad food.”
There is a bad diet, yes, as judged by looking at the whole day’s intake.
50 calories from refined sugar in 8-ounces of sports drink will not ruin your health.
Note: For most Americans, the issue is not really eating sugar but their lack of exercise!
But consuming 400 calories from a half-gallon of sports drink displaces a significant number of nutrient-dense foods—as well as can ruin your teeth. Sipping all day on sugary, acidic fluids damages tooth enamel.
While foods with little nutritional value fail to invest in a soccer player’s well-being and ability to withstand the demands of rigorous training, occasional “junk food” does not ruin health when eaten in moderation.
You can indeed have an excellent diet without having a perfect diet.
How much “junk food” is OK to eat?
A healthful sports diet can target 85 to 90-percent of calories from quality foods and 10 to 15-percent from “whatever.”
Some days “whatever” might be blueberries and other days it might be guilt-free blueberry pie with ice cream.
Given that you can ingest the recommended intake of all the vitamins, minerals, and protein you need within 1,500 calories from a variety of wholesome foods, a hungry soccer player who consumes 2,000 to 4,000 calories a day has the opportunity to consume LOTS of nutrients.
For example, 8 ounces of orange juice offers 100% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for Vitamin C.
A thirsty soccer player who chugs the whole quart can consume 4 times the RDA in that one snack. OJ is better than an all-natural vitamin pill!
But isn’t fruit juice filled with sugar?
Yes, all the calories in juice come from natural sugar. This sugar fuels muscles. Vitamin C, potassium, folate, and a multitude of health-protective, anti-inflammatory bio-active compounds also come in the juice.
For soccer players who want to eat “healthy” but have trouble getting in enough calories to maintain weight, I often recommend grape, pomegranate, tart cherry, orange, and blueberry juices.
In contrast, overfat people who reduce their juice intake can easily delete some calories. For them, eating the whole fruit would be more satiating.
Should soccer players try to avoid refined sugar?
Refined white sugar is a nutritional zero, void of any vitamins, minerals or protein.
Yet, the calories in sugar come from carbohydrates. Muscles welcome these carbs to fuel depleted glycogen stores. Muscles don’t know the difference between carbs from juice, candy, and sports drinks vs. apple, sweet potato, and banana. The difference shows up in health, immune response, and ability to fight off colds and flu.
A rule of thumb is to limit refined sugar to 10% of total calories.
For most active women, that equates to 200 to 250+ calories from sugar a day. And for active men, 250 to 300+ calories. That means an athlete could enjoy either 16-ounces of a sports drink and a gel or a few cookies—and stay within the recommended sugar-budget for the day.
Note: The sugar is ‘evil’ message is targeted to the 66% of Americans who are obese and underfit, not to soccer players.
The muscles of soccer players easily take up sugar from the bloodstream with far less insulin than needed by unfit people.
Hence, unfit people who sip on Big Slurpees all day easily consume excessive, health-erosive sugar-calories. They need to seriously think about their future and if they want to be vibrant and healthy enough to enjoy fun times.
Can you eat too healthfully? Yes.
Eating too many healthy foods can actually be bad for you. For example, fruits & veggies are healthy foods, but eating only fruits & veggies creates a bad diet. Eliminating all unhealthy foods is also needless. Enjoying birthday cake can be good for the soul!
Rather than categorize food as being “bad,” please look at your whole diet to see if it is balanced.
I differentiate between a diet filled with PopTarts for breakfast, Fluffer-nutters for lunch, candy bars for snacks, and sweet & sour chicken for dinner vs. the occasional PopTart tossed into a gym bag for a pre-exercise energy booster when traveling to a soccer tournament.
While not trendy, choosing a balanced sports diet based on moderate portions offers a sustainable, effective path that can help you eat well, perform well, and feel great.
SIDEBAR: Nutritional and medical advice changes with new discoveries and interpretations. Always check with your medical provider and/or nutritionist for what is best for you and your family. And research and read the information on nutrition!
Boston-area sports nutritionist Nancy Clark MS RD counsels both casual exercisers and competitive athletes in her private practice in Newton MA (617-795-1875).
She is the author of the best-selling Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook — now in its 6th printing and co-author with Gloria Averbuch of Food Guide for Soccer: Tips and Recipes from the Pros.
