This is part 3 of the series "What every cricketer ought to know about nutrition". To go to part 1 click here.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with food. Where do you start if you want to eat right for cricket? Low carb? Low GI? Beverly Hills? Cabbage Soup?

The secret is a lot simpler than weighing out your baked beans and obsessively checking the labels on everything. I'll come to that in a moment, but first a little bit of background.

There are 6 types of food grouped by their nutritional value:

1. Carbohydrates. Carbs are your bodys fuel source. If your stores are depleted your fuel tank is empty and you cant perform at your best. Good sources of carbs are foods like pasta, rice and potatoes.
2. Fats. Fats are essential to healthy body function and provide a secondary energy store. A certain level of fat is vital but too much in your diet slows you down as you put on weight.
3. Proteins. Protein (such as that found in meat) is the basic building block of muscle. It allows your body to grown and repair tissue. But your body only needs a small amount and eating more protein does not lead to increased strength on its own.
4. Minerals. These are needed for good health and body function. Different foods contain different minerals. There is no sport benefit to mineral supplements.
5. Vitamins. Similar to minerals, you need vitamins to be healthy. A balanced diet with plenty of fruit and veg will supply all the vitamins you need and supplementation has no benefit to cricketers.
6. Fluids. Around half of your body is water so you must make sure you are getting enough fluid to avoid dehydration.

So how can we use this knowledge? Well, thats the secret I was coming to:

Nutrition for cricket is about balancing these 6 types correctly to do the job.

No special diets, no clever milkshakes, just sensible eating.

Click here to go to the next part in this series.