By Kieron Coleman |Staff Writer|

“Without an adequate amount of carbohydrates and fats in your diet, your muscles will not get the energy they need to perform at optimal levels,” according to livestrong.com.

Athletes need more calories a day than a regular student to keep energy levels high throughout the educational part of the day and while performing on the field.

Eating every couple of hours a day or an equivalent to four or five meals a day is recommended for most athletes when competing in season.

This allows the body to meet its requirements that allow it to perform at its highest potential.

By doing this, it also allows you to consume the proper amount of nutrients your body needs while keeping your metabolism high throughout the day.

One thing that’s important for athletes is to keep their blood sugar levels maintained.

“When in season, I try to consume the right amount of good sugars and stay away from soda’s and heavy sugar meals,” said defender/midfielder Richard Caine.

Athletes who have high endurance training and activity in season should consider removing all soda from their diet.

Breakfast is an area where athletes are highly recommended to take in a lot of carbohydrates and protein, after a well-rested night.

“I look before a match, to consume some fruit, oatmeal and eggs to start my day in good preparation,” said center back Ross McGuigan

A breakfast like that will give you a sufficient amount of energy to pass through to the next snack around two hours later.

Breakfast is a critical meal because it influences practically every dimension of our being during the course of the day, including how we perform physically and mentally.

According to easacademy.org, “Breakfast immediately raises the body’s energy level and restores the blood glucose level to normal after an overnight fast.”

When it comes to lunch as an athlete, you are supposed to eat a low-calorie meal for lunch, for example, a light pasta dish with vegetables.

“At lunch time in season, I would tend to eat a Caesar salad with some kind of meat, it allows me to get a good mix of the food groups,” said defender Megan Todd.

The lunch meal should contain a certain number of nutrients without going too overboard on the calories.

By doing this, athletes will still be able to have a small meal just before their dinner to keep them ticking, for example, a protein shake as a supplement.

Your dinner should be a couple hours before you go to bed to allow it to digest fully. The final meal should consist of a well-balanced spread of all the different food groups.

As an athlete, it is important to have a healthy balanced diet, but you need to also be able to treat yourself every so often, so one cheat day would not hurt.