We all know that nutrition impacts the way we feel, look and perform, yet most of us struggle to consistently make quality food choices. Busy schedules cause us to skip meals and eat fast food on the run. It takes all our will power just to make it to the gym, leaving us unmotivated to improve our diets. So instead of adding another commitment to your busy life, try playing a game. Taking advantage of the fact that we all love to play, the Basketball Nutrition Game turns eating healthy food into something to look forward to. Players love to compete, especially when the results are looking and feeling better. Here’s a simple and effective nutrition game to get you and your team excited about improving the way you eat:
RULES OF THE NUTRITION GAME
1. Earn points by eating approved foods.
2. Report the previous day’s points on a tracking sheet
3. The highest point total for the week wins
Here’s a PDF version of the Tracking Sheet along with the Nutrition Game Rules:
B4B Nutrition Game
BREAKFAST
15 pts – Eat any breakfast
10 pts – Eat a vegetable
5 pts – Eat fruit
5 pts – Eat an approved protein source
Max of 35 points possible at breakfast
LUNCH 5 pts – Eat any lunch
10 pts – Eat a vegetable
5 pts – Eat fruit
5 pts – Eat an approved protein source
Max of 25 points possible at lunch DINNER
5 pts – Eat any dinner
10 pts – Eat a vegetable
5 pts – Eat fruit
5 pts – Eat an approved protein source
Max of 25 points possible at dinner SNACKS
5 pts – Eat a snack
5 pts – Eat a 2nd snack
Max of 10 points possible for snacks WATER
5 pts – Drink only water for the day
Max of 5 points possible for water
100 points possible for the day
3 VERSIONS OF THE NUTRITION GAME
Here are three ways to keep the Basketball Nutrition Game fresh and new:
PLAYER VS PLAYER
The player that earns the most points gets to choose conditioning for the day, gets bragging rights, etc.
TEAM CHALLENGE
If the teams earns enough points for the week, they get to choose conditioning, etc.
COACHES VS PLAYERS
Average the total points for the coaches and compare it to the average total points for the players.
Try out the Basketball Nutrition Game and let me know how it goes. I’d love to hear your successes and challenges. Good luck!