Kelsey HigginsonSports Nutrition Coach and Founder at Clutch Day Coaching

Rice or pasta before your game?

24 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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0:37

In this short video, the speaker advises athletes on carbohydrate choices for pre‑game meals, comparing pasta and rice. Both foods provide the needed carbs for energy, but the speaker cautions against pairing pasta with high‑fat sauces like Alfredo when eating 3–4 hours before competition, as the fat slows digestion and can cause sluggishness. Instead, a simple marinara or red sauce is recommended for pasta, keeping the meal plain to optimize digestion and performance.

Chapters

Should athletes eat pasta or rice before their game? Both pasta and rice are going to give you great energy for your game. They are both full of carbohydrates, which is what your body needs in order to not hit a wall during the game. Now, if you took pasta and threw it into a super fatty Alfredo sauce, I'd probably opt for rice because Alfredo is amazing, but it is very high in fat. And so if you're eating this meal 3 to 4 hours before you play, it's going to be hard for your body to digest that Alfredo before game time, which leads to you feeling sluggish and gross. So instead, for pasta sauce, you can just do some type of marinara or red sauce. Keep it pretty plain when it comes to pregame fueling.