My Plate, My Rules: Discovering My Food Wisdom Through (Lots of) Trial and Error

There are anywhere between 5,000-20,000 professional female volleyball players around the world. Out of those, about 500 are elite. If you are one of those 500, still 499 other women are your competition. How do you stand out? How do you outperform and outlast them?

There is the saying, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”. And what enables you work hard is your body. How well you fuel it and how well you let it recover (more on the later topic in another post). Armed with this logic, I set onto course of treating my body like a Ferrari and I looked for ways to fuel it in the best way possible. This was almost 15 years ago.

I have tried all possible diets. Raw, Paleo, Keto, Vegan, you name it. I would read a book or watch some documentary on food habits, and immediately think THIS was the right way to do it. THIS is what would allow me to perform at my best, be healthy aaaand live for 100 years. I dove in headfirst, fully hard-core disciplined in whatever way I believed was right at that moment. I would not touch anything not considered “healthy” by that particular diet.

But…

Each time, my newly found key to success and long life had something missing. I would be left too hungry, had too low energy, gained weight, lost too much weight, had unbearable cravings. I simply had no balance. Turns out, too much of anything is not good. Everything in moderation is a much better approach. Everything in balance. This is what 15 years of self-experimentation thought me.

With this in mind, the proper diet for volleyball is actually quite simple:

• Protein: 1.6 g/kg of body weight daily, with 20-25g of high-quality protein post-exercise to enhance recovery

• Fats: are important for long-term energy, nutrient absorption, and proper hormonal function. Intake should be limited to less than 30% of total calories, with best sources being nuts, seeds, avocados, and fish oils

• Carbs: are the primary energy source for volleyball players, crucial for maintaining muscle glycogen levels during training and matches. Depending on training intensity:

  • 3–5 g/kg of body weight on light training and off days.

  • 5–7 g/kg on moderate training days.

  • 6–10 g/kg on heavy training or match days

  A carbohydrate-rich meal should be consumed 1-4 hours before a match to ensure optimal glycogen stores to have enough energy throughout.

To put these numbers into perspective, here is a simple daily menu:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal (oats + almond milk) topped with berries and a scoop of nut butter

• Snack: A protein smoothie

• Lunch: Grilled tempeh with mixed greens, falafel, quinoa, avocado, and olive oil

• Snack: Whole grain toast with peanut butter and a banana

• Dinner: Baked salmon with sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli

• Evening Snack: Hummus with carrots

Voilà, easy balanced menu. One that makes me happy just looking at it and imagining the taste. Food must look good to taste good. And it must make us happy to eat. I follow the guidelines described above but then the actual choice of meals is all about what I would like to see on my plate. What would make me happy to eat that day. And if I do have the occasional craving for something sweet or “bad”, then I go for it. In balance.