Pre-event Meals

The standard is to load up your athlete (especially in weight-making sports like boxing,wrestling and MMA) with carbohydrates--usually some kind of pasta smothered in tomato sauce.

Timing of meals is another issue since nerves can play an important role, often slowing down or impairning digestion.

We like to do things a bit differently, not, however, just for the sake of being different. Timing should be 3 to 4 hours before the event. We prefer black beans and brown rice with a dollop of extra-virgin olive oil. Some grilled fish or chicken and a small serving of veggies can be added. The emphasis here should be on small.

Remember, food in the stomach pulls blood from the muscles to aid in digestion, not a good thing for muscles that will soon be demanding an increase of blood to perform well.

Breakfast on the day of the event also presents some interesting choices. Oatmeal is a good staple, but for those who dislike the stuff we prefer baked beans and scrambled eggs on a piece of whole wheat toast with some fruit, mellon, apples, berries or orange juice. No bananas.

For a quick pre-event drink, we eschew all those expensive, over-rated sports drinks,including the less expensives ones like Gator and Powerade. We prefer sipping a small 6 oz. glass of choclate skim milk 45 minutes before showtime. The athlete doesn't have to consume the entire amount to get the maximum benefits. Reseach in fact shows that just swirling the drink around in the mouth for several seconds and spitting it out provides the same effect as actually drinking the contents.

Truth, as they say, can be stranger than fiction; and this is one of those times. The recommended swirling time is 5 seconds, but we've found that there's no magic in the number five, just long enough for the brain-mouth connection to kick in. So 5 to 10 seconds max should suffice.

Researchers tended to use a carbohydrate load with the commonly used sugar in the supplement business, maltodextrin. We use non-fat chocolate milk. We told you we're different.
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Water for your horses

Drink an 8 ounce glass of water a day before each meal to cut down your hunger pangs. It'll also rev up your metabolic horses to help you lose weight.