Jérémy Scatena is accompanying us this week for a tutorial padel slightly different. We won't talk about technique or tactics padel but nutrition in the players of padel as in people who want to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Nutrition is a subject that has changed a lot in recent years. Remember nutritionists' speeches that eating more than 2 egg yolks a week actually raises cholesterol, that you have to drink a good orange juice in the morning, or that you have to eat a slice of whole-wheat bread per day.

Today we realize that orange juice is sugar, that the whole bread is sugar, and egg yolks are fats essential to cellular tissues. Be careful with eggs.

Recall

0: Organic egg

1: Outdoor hen egg

In an athlete, in 2020, and especially in the padel, it is important to eat well for performance and for better recovery.

For my part (Jérémy Scatena), whether I'm in training, tournaments or even on vacation, I start in the morning with a breakfast rich in vitamins and plenty of water for good hydration. Fruits like kiwi (vitamin C), lemon or grapefruit (hydration), protein, eggs, and wholegrain cereals like oats. Try to forget the bread, white or full.

This type of breakfast can hold the morning without dips, unlike bread and orange juice that are sugar and could cause a "cravings" to 10-11h. If you are hungry, prefer dried fruits (nuts, almonds, hazelnuts) that will give you energy and are good quality fats. It is better to cuddle a "coup de barre" with vegetable fats (dried fruits or avocado for example).

Adapt nutrition to the effort

In times of strong training or competition, you will have to eat more carbohydrates, choose your carbohydrates with preferably complete carbohydrates. For example, pasta should be cooked "al dente" to transmit energy over time. Too much cooked they will bring sugar immediately. Important to know to adapt his meals to the effort to come.

In preparation, focus more on carbohydrates, and throughout the year, fruits and vegetables to create a balance. This balance must be between the proteins you eat (eggs, meat, fish or others) that are acidic foods, and fruits / vegetables that are basic foods.

During sports efforts, your body generates acidity. For better recovery and repel fatigue, the basic elements will be essential. However, you can eat whatever you want, but your body will have to spend energy to zero the scale of food nonsense that you have created: this is the key to a better performance for the athlete.

A food that we could eat without deductions?

The vegetables. In quantity and without worries. First steamed, then why not with a little oil warmed slightly so that it does not deteriorate, but it is necessary above all to please.

Advice: In vegetables, add curry which is an anti-inflammatory, add pepper, sweet paprika, cumin, in short spices that will give color to the dishes, and that will make you want to eat them. And it's good for your health!

And the fruits then?

The fruits must be eaten. But sparingly because it's sugar. Small preference for red fruits because they are anti-oxidants.

The perfect meal by Jérémy Scatena?

  • Salad of raw vegetables with red cabbage, pepper for vitamin C, cucumbers, tomatoes, raw vegetables to counter this time of the year when our immune defenses fall. Sprinkle with chia seeds, squash or sprouts, wheat for example.
  • Chickpeas, white beans or Camargue rice combined with 2 organic eggs and carrot puree.
  • Frozen bananas frozen ready to be mixed with coconut milk. On this ice cream you can put a red fruit coulis for anti-oxidants and you have a dessert of sportsmen.

The dish more

Mix carrots, sweet potato, squash and a knob of butter. Associated with meat, it's the best.

Julien Bondia

Julien Bondia is a teacher of padel in Tenerife (Spain). Columnist and advisor, he helps you play better through his tutorials and tactical/technical articles padel.

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