Best Nutrition Guides for Basketball Players: Fuel Your Performance
Whether you’re a young athlete, a seasoned pro, or a coach looking to improve your team’s diet, the right nutrition guide can make a significant difference. This list of nutrition guides for basketball players is perfect for you.
The following list covers our favorite nutrition guides for basketball players and our recommendations for you. The guides on this list will cover various dietary needs, meal plans, and performance tips. We are confident that you will find what you are looking for in our list of the best nutrition guides for basketball players.
From one basketball enthusiast to another, enjoy!
Top 10 Nutrition Guides for Basketball Players List:
1. “Fueling Young Athletes” by Heather Mangieri
Recommended For: Young Athletes
Price: $18
About This Guide: In this practical guide, Heather Mangieri, a sports dietitian and mother of three active kids, explores the nutritional needs of young athletes, drawing on the latest research. The book helps you evaluate current eating habits and identify areas for improvement. It demonstrates how healthier meals and snacks can boost performance while remaining convenient and tasty.
Fueling Young Athletes tackles common challenges faced by families, such as late-night practices, busy school schedules, and demanding tournament travel. Additionally, it offers a collection of simple recipes for smoothies and sports drinks, using everyday ingredients and including nutritional information.
2. “Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes” by Monique Ryan
Recommended For: Endurance
Price: $27
About This Guide: Ryan provides clear answers to essential questions in endurance sports nutrition—what to eat, how much, and when—drawing from her 30 years of experience advising elite and amateur athletes, as well as professional sports teams.
She shares strategies for optimizing training, racing, recovery, weight loss, and strength-to-weight ratio. By referencing rigorous studies, Ryan debunks myths about ergogenic aids and supplements, offering practical insights. Additionally, she addresses misconceptions surrounding practices like fat loading and glycogen-depleted workouts, grounding her advice in solid research.
3. “The Performance Paleo Cookbook” by Stephanie Gaudreau
Recommended For: Paleo Diet Enthusiasts
Price: $30
About This Guide: This book provides meal strategies tailored to your workout routine, offering combinations that deliver a powerful nutrient boost. You’ll find recipes that nourish you throughout the day, from pre-workout snacks to post-workout meals, along with dozens of carb-rich, nutrient-dense options to keep you performing at your best.
With 100 delicious recipes like Mocha-Rubbed Slow Cooker Pot Roast, Honey Garlic Lemon Chicken Wings, Baked Cinnamon Carrots, Savory Salt & Vinegar Coconut Chips, and Banana Fudgesicles, eating healthy has never tasted so good.
Whether you’re pushing your body to new limits or maintaining your current regimen, The Performance Paleo Cookbook provides tasty, energizing food to help you train harder, recover faster, and perform better.
4. “Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life” by Brendan Brazier
Recommended For: Vegan Athletes
Price: $24
About This Guide: “Thrive” provides an in-depth guide tailored for vegan athletes, making it an essential resource for basketball players committed to a plant-based diet. This book offers valuable insights and practical advice on how to maintain peak performance while adhering to vegan nutrition.
It stands out as one of the best nutrition guides for those looking to fuel their game with plant-based foods. Whether you’re new to veganism or a seasoned athlete, “Thrive” helps ensure you stay energized and strong on the court.
5. “Nutrient Timing: The Future of Sports Nutrition” by John Ivy and Robert Portman
Recommended For: Timing and Performance
Price: $22
About This Guide: “Nutrient Timing” leverages the latest research from top sports science laboratories to debunk common myths about optimal nutrition for athletes. The book demonstrates how delivering the right nutrients at the right time can significantly enhance muscle strength, endurance, and lean muscle mass.
By timing your nutrition correctly, you can activate your body’s muscle-building processes more effectively. This guide is essential for athletes looking to maximize their performance and achieve their fitness goals.
6. “The Athlete’s Guide to Sports Supplements” by Kimberly Mueller and Josh Hingst
Recommended For: Supplement Guidance
Price: $28
About This Guide: “The Athlete’s Guide to Sports Supplements” offers clear and reliable information, helping readers separate fact from fiction about popular supplements. Nutrition experts Kimberly Mueller and Josh Hingst provide detailed descriptions of 120 widely used supplements, covering what they are, how they work, their potential benefits, research findings, dosage recommendations, and possible health concerns.
The guide also includes specific advice for master athletes, those competing in extreme conditions, and individuals with special dietary needs like food allergies, diabetes, or vegetarian diets. This comprehensive resource is ideal for athletes looking to make informed decisions about supplement use.
7. “Sports Nutrition Handbook” by Justyna Mizera and Krzysztof Mizera
Recommended For: General Sports Nutrition
Price: $25
About This Guide: The Sports Nutrition Handbook simplifies essential sports nutrition concepts into everyday language, making it accessible for athletes of all levels. It provides clear explanations on the hows and whys of proper fueling and daily diet, with no need for a science background.
This handbook is easy to reference and offers detailed insights for those who want to dive deeper. It answers common questions in a straightforward manner, such as how HIIT workouts aid in weight loss, whether eating carbs before bedtime is beneficial, and why early morning workouts feel different from those after breakfast. It also explores why marathoners often hit “the wall.”
8. “Eat Like a Champion” by Jill Castle
Recommended For: Young Athletes
Price: $20
About This Guide: When it comes to athletic kids, proper nutrition is even more crucial. Many young athletes consume too many convenient but empty calories, which can drain their energy, decrease motivation, and reduce muscle mass.
However, with the right nutrition, they can boost their energy levels, stay motivated, build muscle, overcome fatigue, and enhance their performance. Registered dietitian and childhood nutrition expert Jill Castle has crafted this essential guide for every parent of active kids aged eight to eighteen.
9. “The Plant-Based Sports Nutrition Guide” by D. Enette Larson-Meyer and Matt Ruscigno
Recommended For: Plant-Based Diets
Price: $30
About This Guide: In Plant-Based Sports Nutrition, registered dietitians Enette Larson-Meyer and Matt Ruscigno draw on decades of evidence-based research and personal experience with vegan and vegetarian athletes to provide a comprehensive guide on optimizing nutrition.
They explain how, when, and why to plan your nutrient intake to achieve the best results. This book will help you make informed decisions on fueling your body properly, ensuring you have the energy and stamina to enhance your training and excel in competition.
10. “The New Power Eating” by Susan Kleiner
Recommended For: Strength and Power
Price: $28
About This Guide: In The New Power Eating, Kleiner combines the latest scientific research on nutrition with practical advice on how to tailor your eating plan to your body’s specific energy needs.
The book covers what to eat, as well as when and how to adjust your diet based on whether you’re in peak season or off-season, or on heavy or light training days. You’ll learn how to safely and effectively reach your physique and performance goals, all while adhering to legal guidelines
Best Nutrition Guides for Basketball Players: Honorable Mentions
This list had to cap at some point, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t more than 10 great nutrition guides for basketball players out there. So, if there is a guide that you think others would appreciate, we would love to hear about it in the comments below. Also, here are some other nutrition guides for basketball players that deserve an honorable mention for this list and are excellent choices.
All of these resources will allow you to make your health and wellness a top priority. Because the more you put into your health and nutrition, the more energy you will have to train and compete on the court. So whether you are working on different basketball drills or playing in a game, you will have the energy that you need!
Honorable Mentions
