health

=**__Healthy Diet__**= A healthy, balanced diet is very important to your fitness and overall health and leads to better performances not only on the pitch but in the classroom too!

If you take your football seriously, find out from the Football Association's exercise scientist Dawn Scott, everything you need to know about what you should be eating and the importance of keeping hydrated. There's also advice about how to keep fit and some food and drink tips for when you're travelling with your team

Click on the link below to find out more about **Food and Football**:

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=__Football and food__=

As the England team know, fuel is a vital component of your training because if you haven't got enough energy in your body, you won't be able to complete your training at a high intensity. And therefore you won't experience any improvements in your fitness.

The key nutrients from your diet that give you energy are fat, protein and carbohydrate. Carbohydrate is the main fuel you will use during training and matches, and you need to try to have a high amount of this in your diet.

Foods containing large amounts of carbohydrate include bread, potatoes, pasta, rice and cereals. Carbohydrate is stored in your muscles and liver as glycogen, and in your blood as glucose.

However, your body only has a limited store of carbohydrate so it's vital you replace this following every training session and match.

=__Looking After Your Body After Training and Matches__= = =

Within one hour of a training session or match your muscles are still active and the energy you've used during training or matches will be replaced and stored more quickly in your body.

During this time, you should aim to drink 1 litre of water and eat at least **one** of the following carbohydrate foods:
 * 2 slices of toast
 * bowl of cereal with semi-skimmed milk [[image:http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/multimedia/images/thumbnails/tnsandw4.jpg align="right" caption="Tuna Sandwich"]]
 * bananas
 * cereal bar

As soon as possible after this you should have a high carbohydrate meal (containing pasta, rice or potatoes) to replace the remaining energy and nutrients that your body has lost.

Here are two example menu plans that you should try to follow during a typical training day and match day.

The timings given are just a guide, you will need to adjust these to suit your own timetable, but remember to eat your carbohydrate snack and a pint of fluid within an hour of finishing your training. And have a recommended meal like pasta and vegetables 3 hours before kick-off on a match day.

or 1 slice of toast Glass of Orange juice Apple/Orange on the way to school || Pint of water || Pasta with Vegetables or Tuna sandwich Pint of water || Low-fat yoghurt Pint of fruit juice or dliuted No Added Sugar squash || Glass of water ||
 * ~ Typical Training Day ||
 * Breakfast || Bowl of high fibre breakfast cereal (Start, Cheerios, Fruit N Fibre)
 * Break || Banana or piece of toast
 * Lunch || Jacket potato with Cheese or
 * 3pm || Training ||
 * Dinner || Pasta or rice with chicken or fish, with vegetables
 * 8pm || Bowl of breakfast cereal or banana and a packet of raisins
 * 10pm || Glass of milk ||
 * 10.30/11pm || You should be in bed by now! ||

Cereal and an apple/orange on the way to school || Pint of water || Banana || Banana or cereal bar || Bananas and custard with no sugar! Pint of diluted fruit juice or fruit squash || Pint of diluted fruit juice or 'No Added Sugar' squash ||
 * ~ Typical match Day (3pm kick-off) ||
 * Breakfast || Glass of orange juice
 * Break || 2 slices of toast
 * Lunch || Pasta with vegetables or Tuna sandwich or Jacket potato with cheese
 * Up to match || Sports drink like Lucozade Sport ||
 * Half-time || Sports drink ||
 * After match || Sports drink
 * Dinner || Chicken or fish, pasta or rice, vegetables
 * 8pm || Low-fat yogurt

=__What About When We Actually Do Get Takeaway Or Eat Out?__=


 * If you're eating out, you can still eat healthily by making the right menu choices. See the table below:**
 * ~ Type of Restaurant ||~ Good choices ||~ Unhealthy choices ||
 * **Pizzeria** || Tomato, vegetable, ham, spicy chicken or seafood pizza toppings || Salami, mince, beef, pepperoni, extra cheese toppings ||
 * **Burger** || Plain or grilled burger. Flame-grilled chicken. Fruit || Large burgers. Chicken nuggets. Fries. Doughnuts, apple pies. Salad with high-fat dressings. Milk shakes ||
 * **Indian** || Chicken tikka. Tandoori chicken. Dahl. Channa dahl. Rice. Chapatti || Meat curries, meat dansak/korma/ madras. Samosa, bhajis. Puri, paratha ||
 * **Chinese** || Chicken, vegetable or prawn chop suey. Stir-fried vegetables, seafood or chicken. Boiled rice, boiled noodles. || Duck. Sweet and sour balls. Fried rice, fried noodles. Prawn crackers. Egg foo yung ||
 * **Mexican** || Bean burrito, tortillas or tostadas with beans/vegetable chilli. Fajitas with vegetables/chicken || Tortilla chips. Potato skins. Beef chilli. Tortillas or burritos with beef. Chimichangas. Sour cream, onion and garlic dip ||
 * **Italian** || Ciabatta. Pasta with tomato or vegetable or seafood sauces (e.g. neopolitan, primavera, spinach). Risotto. Gnocchi. Grilled chicken or fish. Pasta filled with spinach and ricotta || Pasta with creamy/buttery or meat-based sauce (e.g. carbonara, alfredo, bolognaise). Lasagne. Cannelloni. Garlic bread ||
 * **Steak House** || Grilled steak. Salads. Jacket potatoes. Fruit || Fried or battered fish. Garlic mushrooms. Garlic bread. Scampi. Steak with creamy sauces. Creamy salad dressings or dips. Puddings ||

=**__So....Have You Got Any Final Tips?__**=


 * To sum up, here are a list of do's and don'ts to stay healthy and in the best possible shape:

__The Do's:__**


 * Keep hydrated - get a water bottle from your form tutor or see Mr Barton to collect one and keep it filled with water or 'No Added Sugar' squash!
 * Always eat a sensible breakfast as shown in the diet plan above!
 * Choose a healthy lunch and rotate - Tuna Sandwich/Pasta and vegetables/Jacket Potato
 * Eat pasta or rice on a regular basis
 * Eat lots of fruit and vegetables
 * Eat more chicken which is high in protein - and we're NOT talking KFC here!
 * Eat more fish - and NOT cod from the chip shop! - we are talking tuna, mackerel etc


 * __The Don'ts__**:
 * Don't eat lots of biscuits and cakes - once a week as a treat is fine!
 * Don't put sugar on your cereal or in your tea
 * Don't eat lots of pastry - so Greggs is out
 * Don't eat lots of sausages and bacon - anything where you can see the white fat is bad for you!
 * Don't skip breakfast - always make time!
 * Don't get tempted to go to the chip shop after school - stick to the plan!