The wrestler’s diet has a profound impact on overall performance. Wrestling is a very physically demanding sport. Proper nutrition helps a wrestler feel strong both physically and mentally. But, the wrong diet can leave a wrestler feeling weak, dehydrated, and cramped up.

Many wrestlers do not receive the proper nutrition that is required to compete in this physically demanding sport. This is generally due to a wrestler’s “low priority approach” to his nutritional needs and/or misinformation.

Successful wrestlers know that good nutrition is an essential component of their daily training ritual. They realize that good eating habits help them compete at a much higher level.

Here is some good nutritional advice for wrestler’s of all ages:

Stay Hydrated

Water is a very important part of your daily diet and is necessary for optimal performance. Try to consume one liter of water for every thousand calories of food consumed per day. Sport drinks are also a great way to replenish nutrients lost from practices and competition. It is not a good idea to totally deprive your body of water when trying to make weight. It is best to consume a few ounces of water every two to three hours while you are in the process of drying out.

Eat Frequent Meals In Small Portions

This is recommended especially if you are trying to drop down to a lower weight class. By eating smaller portions, your metabolism speeds up and more calories are burned off. This method will also help to stabilize blood sugar levels and provide a more steady supply of nutrition throughout the day. It is recommended that you eat from several different food groups so that you receive a large variety of nutrients.

Eating frequent meals in smaller portions is a much better way for a wrestler to lose weight as compared to just starving yourself. While the starvation method does work, it will also leave you feeling weak or run down.

Eat Vegetables

It is important for wrestlers to eat a steady supply of vegetables every day. Vegetables contain several important vitamins and minerals that are necessary for good health. They are also generally free of fat and high in fiber. Eating vegetables is a good way for you to fill up, but not feel fat. They also contain antioxidants which help the body fight off disease and illnesses.

Complex Carbohydrates

Complex carbohydrates are a great source of energy. They are found in healthy foods such as fruit, whole grains, and vegetables. It generally takes longer for your body to digest complex carbohydrates than simple carbohydrates such as refined or processed foods. Since it takes longer to digest complex carbohydrates, you feel fuller longer and do not need to eat as much. Complex carbohydrates supply a steady stream of energy with a limited amount of fat. Some other examples of complex carbohydrates are oatmeal, brown rice, baked potatoes, and whole grain cereals.

Protein Is A Must

Protein is essential for the formation of healthy muscles, bones, blood, and skin cells. Unfortunately, it is not stored in the body. So it is necessary to get a steady dose of protein every day. Some of the best sources of dietary protein are fish, whole grains, beans, nuts, lean poultry, and red meat. It is important to remember that plant foods such as legumes or soy supply as much protein as meats.

Drink Fruit Juices And Skim Milk – Not Soda !

Let’s all face the fact that pop has absolutely no nutritional value! It is much better to stick with fat free 100% fruit juices. They provide vitamins C, D, and calcium. Fruit juices also contain phytonutrients that are known to help fight off disease.

Drinking skim milk helps to lower your caloric and fat intake considerably. While at the same time you are still receiving the same amount of calcium that you would normally get from from drinking a glass of 1% or 2% milk.

Forbidden Foods

It is important to remember that a wrestler’s diet should consist of eating healthy foods that provide good nutritional value. Foods such as soda, potato chips, candy, and McDonald’s have no place in a wrestler’s diet during wrestling season.

To get ourselves started, let’s start with a simple reassurance: there are some excellent drugs on the market that will treat even the most serious outbreak of heartburn. They are called proton pump inhibitors and they work by reducing the amount of stomach acid your body produces. The good news is there’s less acid to leak out of your stomach and cause the pain. The bad news is that, with less acid in your stomach, it takes longer to process the food. So put the drugs to one side for a moment and think about the problem. When food passes into the mouth and, after chewing, falls down towards the stomach, your body gets ready to break the food down into its chemical ingredients. The good stuff gets syphoned into the blood stream and sent off to where its going to do the most good. All the rest gets expelled from the body. The $64,000 question is how the stomach does the processing. It all starts with the acid, but mixed into it are a series of different enzymes to help break down the different types of food. Your body is a very clever machine and, left to its own devices, it produces just enough acid and enzymes to clear the stomach quickly.

If your body “likes” the food, it sends a pleasure message to the brain. This encourages you to remember what the body likes and to eat or drink more of it. Unfortunately, the body likes the food that puts on the unwanted pounds. That’s why you get a buzz when you eat or drink something sweet or savory. When food with a high-fat content arrives in the stomach, you feel good and the body orders more stomach acid to break it down. If there was only a small amount of food, it would quickly fall down the esophagus and the extra acid would stay in the stomach. But if you are eating a lot, the sphincter separating the esophagus from the stomach is kept open to keep the food on the move. The food pushes the acid out of the stomach. Worse, if you don’t sit up straight, the acid can also run into the esophagus. Either way, that burning pain starts. Lying down immediately after a big meal is asking for pain.

So eat less and avoid food with a high-fat content. Indeed, all processed food is potentially bad news. Read through all the diet advice from reliable sources like the Mayo Clinic. It’s actually very simple. Keep with lean meat like chicken and turkey. Fish is equally good. Add plenty of vegetables and fresh fruit. Whole grains and low-fat diary products complete the package. It’s even better if you do a little exercise. You will feel better in yourself and your stomach’s performance will improve. Heartburn will be a forgotten problem without you having to buy and rely on Nexium. This is not to deny the excellence of the drug. It’s consistently been shown the best of the proton pump inhibitors. But, no matter how good Nexium, it’s always better to solve a medical problem the natural way – particularly if it also saves the cost of having to buy the drugs.

Although the latest employment statistics show a drop in the number of people claiming benefit, there’s little real improvement in the availability of work. It’s still tough to find and keep a job. Curiously, both the GOP and the Democrats see the need to encourage small business, believing new entrepreneurs will lead us out of the recession. The problem with this view is we are less entrepreneurial than we used to be. Many other countries have a higher percentage of people prepared to risk their capital in starting new businesses. The majority of our younger adults are just sitting back waiting for jobs to come along. That said, the Government is encouraging small business with tax breaks. All of which brings us to the Affordable Care Act.

Ignoring the usual politics and second-guessing what the Supreme Court will rule in 2012, let’s focus on what will happen between now and 2014 when the whole Act’s program is supposed to be in force. If you are a one-person business, you will be caught by the mandate just like any other individual. That means you buy cover or pay a penalty. For the record, the penalty is $695 or 2.5% of your income whichever is the greater unless the actual cost of the premium will be more than 8% of your income. You do the math to weigh up where you interests lie.

There’s no mandate for businesses, but there are penalties for failing to put a plan in place. If you have up to 25 employees, there’s a tax break to set off against half the cost of group cover. But you only get the maximum benefit if you are really small, i.e. you do not have the equivalent of 10 full-time employees and the average of their pay is less than $25,000. Your right to the tax break reduces as your size and the average pay increases. If you are small but your employees earn an average of $50,000 or more you lose the tax credit. In 2014 every state should have a Small Business Exchange in operation and, if you decide to buy through your local exchange, the tax credit will increase. However, these tax credits are only to prime the pump. Once you have a plan for your business, the credit will phase out over five years and only for two years after the exchanges are running.

The penalties can be quite significant and you cannot avoid them simply by buying really cheap health insurance. Whatever group plan you buy has to offer a minimum set of benefits. If this persuades you to spend too much you could get caught by an “affordability” test. The premium rate charged to an employee cannot exceed 9.5% of the family’s income. So when you are looking for group health insurance plans for your employees or reviewing the current plan, remember the tax breaks now available and, more importantly, remember how the penalties will be calculated come 2014. Indeed, if you run a small business, you could find it beneficial to talk through all these issues with your accountant and health insurance agent. If the Affordable Care Act survives the Supreme Court challenge, you will have to deal with the threat of penalties.