A good athlete knows that their health is the key factor of performance. How they exercise, how they improve their skills, and what they eat is essential, and truly good athletes know that investing in themselves is the thing that will lead them to victory. Why, then, should this approach not be embraced by gamers?
While gaming won’t require you to be able to run an obstacle course (though with the recent popularity of VR games and kinect controllers this is becoming disputable), it’s still a physically and mentally intensive exercise. If you want to game professionally or simply consider this to be your favourite hobby, then staying healthy is even more important.
Today we’ll talk about one portion of physical fitness that gamers often struggle with – nutrition. We’ll give you suggestions on what to eat, when to eat, and how to make this whole endeavour as easy as possible for yourself. Let’s begin.
Introduce these foods into your diet
As a gamer, you’ll most likely want to focus on brain power and heart-healthy foods. This means that you need foods such as avocado, nuts, dark chocolate, blueberries, whole grain bread, eggs, and fatty fish like salmon because it’s chock-full of omega-3.
In general, lean protein from fish, chicken, and turkey and antioxidants from berry fruit and leafy green veggies will also improve your focus and resilience. If you’re struggling with excess weight, these kinds of foods can speed up your metabolism and shed a few pounds. If you struggle with being underweight, then we recommend eating more lean protein.
Find junk food replacements
Junk food and staying sedentary for long periods of time are not a great combination for anyone, and gamers sometimes make a whole lifestyle out of it. Now look, we understand that there’s nothing more pleasant than snacking on something while you game, and we don’t think you have to give up snacking entirely.
Here’s what to do instead: replace greasy, high-calorie foods with healthier alternatives. Consider making yourself a bag of mixed nuts and cranberries for a long gaming session instead of relying on potato chips. While these mixes can still have a lot of calories, there are still more beneficial nutrients in there than in chips.
If you want to take it a step further you could try snacking on fruit, celery stalks, or even try this kale chips recipe.
Choose the right drinks and hydrate often
Drinking enough water every day is the first step. You need to stay hydrated if you want your brain to stay alert, but water is definitely not the only thing you can enjoy. Canned drinks are actually a great idea, as long as you get a quality gaming energy drink that can actually enhance your performance and deliver useful nutrients to your body.
Avoid drinking other types of fizzy drinks, but feel free to drink as much tea as you want. Coffee can also be very useful to a gamer, as long as it’s taken in moderation.
Modify your diet if you start exercising
Exercising is important for gamers. Sitting around all day can lead to a lot of back pain and heart problems, and that’s why it’s important to supplement good nutrition with regular workouts. Think of it this way: if you do start exercising you’ll be able to eat a little bit more, and you won’t have to feel guilty every single time you slip and overindulge in your favourite snack.
If you’re not sure where to start, try following an exercise program for beginners.
Try doing meal prep
If the thing that’s preventing you from eating well is that you just can’t be bothered to cook all the time, then why not reduce to cooking only once or twice a week. Instead of only making meals for one day, make larger batches and divide them into containers that can be kept in the fridge and reheated whenever you get hungry.
Having a home-cooked meal at ready is also a good way to reduce snacking on junk food because you already have a perfectly good, healthy option at your disposal.
Gamify the system
Stay true to your nature and start seeing nutrition as a big video game that you haven’t cracked yet. For each healthy meal that you eat, give yourself some XP. Once you reach a certain number or of XPs, level up and then continue working towards your goal.
You can even think of a reward system and decide what your checkpoints (dieting milestones) are going to be.
Nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated. Approach it the way you would any new video game, and you’ll crack it quickly.
