What you eat and drink plays such a huge role over time in how you develop as an athlete it cannot be overstated.
Yet in each brief moment when we decide what to eat, it can be hard to realize the long-term implications of our nutrition choices.
For athletes who struggle to eat healthier, even when they know they should, maybe it would help to see daily nutrition decisions in the context of their long-term goals.
- What if making healthier food choices was the difference between you having a great season, or a poor one?
- What if it was the difference between getting lots of playing time next season, or sitting on the bench?
- What if it was the difference between you sustaining a major injury, or avoiding one?
- What if it was the difference between you getting offered a scholarship to play the game you love in college at the school of your choice, or having having to settle for a lesser outcome?
The reality is in many cases, it is.
Maybe if you see each daily decision in light of those outcomes, it would make it easier to understand:
- Why eating a healthy, protein-based breakfast is smarter than eating a sugary one.
- Why regularly drinking water is so important.
- Why you should take a leap of faith and start eating vegetables more often, even if they don't taste amazing to you at first.
- Why consuming healthy fats and slow burning carbs are so important to staying energetic and illness-free.
Breaking bad habits is always easier when you have a clear picture of what you will gain by doing it.
For those with big dreams, understand that when you are equally successful at younger ages in your sport as another kid, you will be totally different athletically in 5-10 years if one of you regularly makes healthy food choices while the other does not.
Your nutrition choices are that important.
The good thing is these choices are entirely within your control. You don't have to curse your genetics, bad luck, referees, coaches, or any other easy scapegoat.
You can do something today to greatly increase your chances of a better future.
