Spend the next two weeks getting your game and body back in shape, so you can enjoy the summer season and maximize your performance.

Golf requires coordination, concentration, and a lot physical effort to play your best, so what you eat and when you eat it can be the difference between winning your club championship or member/guest and getting placed in the 4th flight. Your golf nutrition should supply you with a short-term boost, as well as with continued nutrients, to optimize and sustain your performance through a complete round of golf.

Optimizing your body’s energy and nutrient demand is crucial before for your round of golf.

Day 2-Eat Breakfast

The importance of breakfast is a principle of nutrition taught to children. If you want to perform well in school you need a good breakfast, and children who skip breakfast often have low energy, poor attention, and reduced performance because of low blood sugar. You wouldn’t send your child to off to school without eating breakfast, so why, as adults, do we not take our own advice? But don’t just grab any old thing to put in your stomach before you play golf or start your day.  Studies show that your breakfast should contain at least 30 grams of protein.

Sugary cereals, bagels or pancakes for breakfast are full of carbohydrates that may give you a quick burst of energy, but they also lead to a big insulin response that causes a drop in blood sugar in about two hours. This drop in blood sugar saps your energy and leads to snacking and the rest of the day you will be craving sugary and fattening foods.

We know now that the best way to stabilize blood sugar for children and adults is to eat fewer carbs and eat more protein.

When you wake up, it’s likely you have been without food for about 12 hours. Your body is burning fat – which is great – but also breaking down your lean tissues including muscle and bone. What you eat at the first meal determines how your body burns fat and protects itself for the rest of the day.

Breakfast determines your metabolic pattern. If the first meal is high in carbs and low in protein, the rush of insulin shifts your body from burning fats to storing fat and even converting the carbs you eat into new fat. Lack of adequate protein at breakfast also leaves your body breaking down lean tissues. The ideal breakfast contains mostly protein and a balance of carbohydrates and fat.

To assure we get the adequate amount of protein for breakfast, my husband, Dan Jansen and I use a protein shake call Qivana that combines the correct amount of protein and carbs for a complete meal. Getting breakfast right will energize your metabolism for the day and help you play better.

But don’t take my word for it.  Learn what the “Father of Metabolism”, Dr. Donald Layman, Professor Emeritus of Nutrition in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois, has to say about it.  For more information visit kpjgolf.myqivana.com.