How to Food Shop as a Footballer

Aug 5, 2021 | Blog

How to Food Shop as a Footballer:

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If you want to reach your highest potential as a footballer, athlete and overall human, I would highly recommend taking control of your nutrition.

There aren’t a lot of things we can control in life, but like I always remind my clients “you need to focus on what you can control and leave the things you can’t control up to the highest power.”

If you are looking to reach your ultimate genetic potential as a footballer, you need to be focused on what you put into your body.

What you put in is what you get out!

We are literally made up of the chemicals that we put into our mouth. Every organ, every cell, every muscle has been built through the things we eat and drink.

Proper nutrition comes through having a good relationship with food and your body by determining what makes you feel good and perform at your best and what makes you feel bad and perform at your worst.

Your goal in general when it comes to nutrition should be to follow the 80-20 or 90-10 Rule, depending on your goals and how strict you really want to be.

80-20 Rule:

-80% of the time you should eat food aligned with your goals.

-20% of the time, you should eat food that you love!

No “One Size Fits All” Approach:

There is no one-size fits all diet that works for everyone. That is why I always recommend finding what works for you.

When I work with clients 1-on-1, some of them expect for me to hand them a meal plan telling them when they should eat, how much they should eat and what every food should weigh, etc.

Even though I appreciate the discipline and structure they ask for, I know “a set meal plan” given to them by a coach will not last forever (because I have tried it with clients before, and it doesn’t work).

As I always talk about, we are in this fitness game for a lifetime, not just 8 or 12 weeks.

Yes, I can give you a strict meal plan for you to follow for 12 weeks to hit your goals, but then what’s the plan after?

So, instead of giving out a rigid meal plan, I work with the client to find out what works for them in regards to their schedule, goals, lifestyle, what they like, etc.

And, guess what..

That’s my advice to you! Experiment with things and create your own meal plan.

Sticking with the general rule of eating a wide variety of vegetables and fruits, lean proteins, healthy fats and good fibrous carbohydrates that will give you energy to perform your best.

The Food Shop:

This all starts with proper planning. The first step to “nailing your nutrition” is doing the “right” food shop.

In this article, I will go into the dos and don’ts of food shopping and what you might want to have on your grocery list.

Before going into the specifics, here are a couple key rules for you to have a successful food shop:

  1. Don’t Go to the Grocery Store When You are Hungry.

-If you go to the store when you’re hungry, you are more likely to buy foods that aren’t aligned with your goals.

  1. Don’t Buy Food that You Don’t “Want to Eat”:

-Everyone has trigger foods. Trigger foods are defined as foods that you eat that satisfy your taste buds, but they don’t truly fill you up.

-Have you ever eaten a lot of a food and still felt hungry afterwards, like you just couldn’t stop eating that food?

-These foods differ for everyone. For some, it’s potato chips. For others, it may be pretzels. And for others, it may be chocolate.

-So, it may sound super simple. But, if you don’t want to eat a certain food because you know it makes you feel bad or it makes you just want to keep eating, there is no need to have that food in the house.

  1. Have a Grocery List Handy Before Going into the Market:

-Going in with a plan instead of “winging” it is the ultimate “hack.”

-If you know what you want, you are more likely to buy foods aligned with your goals.

  1. Pick a Supermarket that Can Be Your Regular Supermarket:

-Routine is key in whatever we do, especially when we want to be consistent.

-If you are familiar with the supermarket, you always go to, and you know where everything is, life will be so much easier 🙂

  1. Shop on the Outside Perimeter of the Supermarket:

-When you food shop, shop on the outside of the supermarket.

-The outside of the supermarket is where your non-processed foods are: meats, dairy, vegetables and fruits.

-Generally, everything in the middle is processed crap that has been sitting on the shelf for too long.

-What does long shelf life mean? A lot of preservatives and additives to keep it sitting there. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to be putting that stuff into my body.

  1. Buy Organic, if Possible:

-If you have the money, I would highly recommend going organic.

-Organic food is generally “safer” and better for your body.

-There aren’t pesticides and chemicals sprayed on the food, and we don’t want that stuff in your body.

-Some people believe in Organic, some don’t. Everyone has different beliefs.

I believe in Organic, so I go with Organic whenever I can.

With those 6 rules set in stone, I want to give you a list of some of the best foods for you to buy in the Grocery Store as a Footballer:

Protein:

(4 Calories/Gram)

  1. Eggs
  2. Chicken Breast
  3. Lean Beef
    4. Salmon
    5. Cod
  4. Sardines
    7. Mackerel
    8. Tuna (only eat maximum twice per week)
  5. 9.Cottage Cheese
    10. Greek Yogurt

Carbohydrates:

(4 Calories/Gram)
1. Sweet Potatoes
2. Quinoa
3. Lentils
4. White Beans
5. Kidney Beans
6. Chickpeas
7. Bulgur
8. Brown Rice
9. White Rice
10. White Potatoes

Fats:

(9 Calories/Gram)

-High in Calories, so eat in moderation and watch portion sizes.

  1. Avocado
  2. 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  3. Avocado Oil
  4. Coconut Oil
  5. Almonds
  6. Macadamia Nuts
  7. Walnuts
  8. 85% (or above) Dark Chocolate
  9. 9. Flax Seeds
    10. Chia Seeds

Vegetables:

-All vegetables are very good for you. Try to eat as many greens as possible and try to buy organic.

Fruits:

-All fruits are very good for you. Berries have the highest antioxidants and are generally the best for you.

-Even though many people on social media tell you that you can’t overdo it on fruits, I highly highly disagree. Too much of anything is not good for you.

-Also, if you have any trouble with digestion, eating more than 5 servings of fruit per day may disturb you, so I would recommend taking it slowly and not increasing your intake of fruits too fast.

-And no, I am not and would never say that fruits are bad for you, but I have had some people come to me on social media telling me they ate 4-5 apples per day and wondered why they felt so bad afterwards


I hope this article helped you and gave you some more information on how to handle your nutrition as a footballer, and how to food shop as a footballer.

If you want a in-depth video, where I walk you how through how to food shop as a footballer, check out this video:

If you have any other questions, feel free to shoot me and email and I would be more than glad to help you out:

Efriedlander94@gmail.com