GAMSAT Performance Nutrition

Just like a marathon runner would prepare for their run, it would also be in your best interest as an individual sitting the GAMSAT to not let nutrition become the limiting factor on an exam that may affect your career. The following nutrition advice is based off common athletic techniques.

Glucose is the main energy source for our brain, if we can provide ourselves with an abundant supply of carbohydrates during the exam we are less likely to fatigue. Just like a marathon runner would, I would recommend you avoid fats leading up to the exam and have proteins and carbohydrates as your energy sources. It has been shown in experiments that high fat diets causes an athlete to fatigue faster than high carbohydrate diets.

The food you eat the day before the "big race" is juts as important as it is on the day. A general rule of thumb is to eat your biggest meal at breakfast (by biggest I don't mean larger than normal) followed by lunch than a carbohydrate based, low GI dinner. Make sure you're well hydrated, you should be drinking lots of water during the week but today is the most important. Refrain from caffeine (just for today) and alcohol.

On exam day you want to eat a good breakfast, one similar and as big as the day before. Since you can only eat during the break you can to make sure that your breakfast is high GI and can last you till lunch. Drink lots of water at breakfast, we want to control this during the day and take your coffee if you're a normal coffee drinker. Before you begin the exam, while you're waiting in line, have a light snack. Obviously "light" depends on person to person, I like to have a piece of fruit and a sandwich. Whatever your snack is make sure its high-mid GI, we want this energy straight away. At lunch you want to each as early as you can and time it so the energy from your low GI food peaks towards the end and your high GI foods carry you through the first half of S3. Re-hydrate early during the lunch break so you can go to the toilet towards the end.

You should always practice these as well, you don't want big changes on "game day". You've already got nerves and possibly performance anxiety and nutrition is something you can keep constant. Eating healthy is also a great habit and your body and mind will thank you for it.