Gamer Nutrition - Vegetables and Salad

Nutrition and eating habits

Gamers need fuel. The human body consumes calories even while at rest. So if you are sitting for an all-night gaming session, you still need good food to fuel your body. The fuel of choice for many gamers happens to be junk food. How often have you heard your friends talking about a late night run for soda and tortilla chips? While there is nothing wrong with having junk food on occasion, fueling your body with junk constantly is a very bad habit to have.

Poor eating habits lead to poor nutrition. You must have the proper amount of vitamins and nutrients supplied to your body in order for it to function. While this might sound like something your grade school physical education teacher said, it's true. To put this in perspective: good nutrition can help your gaming performance. The right balance of nutrients will improve your eye/hand co-ordination, increase reaction speed, and help you make complex decisions.

In other words, eat well if you want to beat that boss.

Balanced Diet and Benefits of Healthy Eating

A balanced diet is what helps you get the good nutrition we just talked about. It isn't about how many pizza slices you can balance on your plate, either. Diets that are balanced have the right amount of each type of food needed to supply different nutrients.

A good rule of thumb when trying to create a balanced diet is to 'eat a rainbow'. Hey, wait, put down that bag of Skittles! What we mean is to eat fruits and vegetables that are richly colored. Rich, deep colors indicate different benefits when it comes to essential vitamins.

• Red - Fruits and vegetables that are red colored are a source of lycopene. This antioxidant performs important tasks by helping to prevent or repair cell damage in the body.
  
  
• Yellow/Orange - Chock-full of Vitamin A. This vitamin also helps fight against cell damage. Yellow/orange foods also help with eye disorders and improve vision.
  
  
• Purple/blue - Another powerhouse of antioxidants. Eating foods that are blue or purple improve memory and other brain functions.
  
  
• Green - Leafy green vegetables have B vitamins and some contain lutein. Again, more vitamins and nutrients to help the eyes. B vitamins are known to increase energy.
  
  
• White - Certain white vegetables and fruits contain the chemical allicin. This chemical helps reduce blood pressure which is important for people that may experience 'Gamer Rage'.

Eat Less Red Meat

Eating too much red meat can lead to high cholesterol levels which in turn put one at higher risk for heart attack and stroke. Red meat isn't bad if consumed in lesser quantities than other meats. A 20 year study conducted by Harvard Univeristy found that people who eat less red meat live longer than people who eat a lot of red meat. Just cutting your consumption of red meat (like beef) to once a week or less can add years to your life. That adds up to extra gaming years!

Try replacing the red meat you consume with another meat you enjoy - fish, chicken, and pork work well. Remember to limit your intake of pork, it has a high salt content. As with all meats - less is more. Other high protein foods can be substituted. Try beans, nuts, and tofu. You might think tofu is gross, but try marinating it before cooking. Tofu takes on the favor of the marinade or the food it is cooked with.

Eat Fish (Omega 3 and health benefits)

While cutting red meat consumption, replace the meat with a fish of your choice. Fish, especially wild ocean fish, are full of Omega 3 fatty acids. This fat is hard to find from other foods, and is hard to absorb from certain non-manufactured sources. For example, some grains contain Omega 3s, but to gain access to the fatty acids you must grind them at home or the Omega 3s will lose potency.

Omega 3 fatty acids have documented health benefits. Joint health, eye health, brain function, and even lowering cholesterol have all been proven by scientific studies. In fact, fish oil and Omega 3s are so good for your health supplements have been created from ultra-concentrated fish oil!