I live in a city with tons of Asian take-outs so that's what I usually prefer when I need something cheap. I suppose Chinese/Japanese noodles will count as pasta then? Can you be more specific as in terms of fat when applied to eating pasta? So minimize my sugar intake as much as possible? If that's the case, am I hurting my performance when drinking powerade instead of water while playing? Cuz it seems like I feel and perform better drinking powerade instead of water. If I need something superfast, would you advise that I eat french fries or avoid it since it's oily and fatty?
Chinese/Japanese noodles are either pasta or rice (pasta referring to wheat-based noodles). What I meant with the fat is that around here, cheap noodles are often covered in oil. While that's better than eating nothing, you should try to reduce the fat intake (especially before sports). If you can, have noodles without a lot of fat, i.e. not covered in oil, without a fatty sauce (depending on where you live, there might be Italian food vendors - there, you should stay away from cream-based sauce like carbonara. With Asian noodles, the sauce is usually oil-based, which isn't too great either, but hard to avoid afaik.) During sports, you can take aboard sugar. The time to avoid it is in the 4 hours before and in the evening/after training. Before training, the raised insulin level will reduce the amount of carbohydrates you have available, in the evening, the raised insulin level will stop you from burning fat while you sleep. If you drink some sugar during training, that's okay. Of course you'd need to stop that when trying to lose weight, but normally it's a good way of getting in some energy, and since fluids are digested more easily and thus faster than solid food, you'll actually benefit from it during training (eating a sandwich wouldn't be so helpful). French fries are a last resort - they're fatty and salty and altogether pretty much worthless. Still, they'll provide you with some energy, and that's better than trying to play on an empty stomach. Also, you're very likely not a professional athlete so you don't need to watch your diet that closely
Haha, I definitely don't have to, but I want to maximize my performance by eating as well as I can prior to playing badminton!
Pasta/rice/noodles are excellent carbs but are not digested in a few hours. For that, I find something like sweet potatoes, bagels, pastry buns (not too sweet or fat). These can be digested and absorbed faster.
Tbh I don't really notice much of a difference. As long as I didn't starve before and it's really 2 hours (or more) before training those things are fine for me. Banana, bagels, rolls are my last resort if I had no time to eat and it's 90-60min before training
My plan is 1. Eat with my usual meal at least 2 hours before the session, don't be faster than that (can't eat 1 hour before) 2. Eat with my usual meal at least 2 hours after training, don;t be long than that (can't eat 3 hours after) 3. Drink during the breaks when playing My usual meal consist of carbo, vegetable or fruit and meat. The carbo is anything, I don't mind rice, bread, or even singkong (cassava). Actually Singkong is pretty good. It actually doesn't have that "no energy" effect after eating it. If it's too near the game, I just eat a little. If it's too late to eat after the game, than I just eat normally. problem is if I eat too near the game, my stomach hurts and I don't have power, while if I delay my meal too long after tha game, my muscles scream and will have pain 1-2 days after.
