Sticking to what you should eat will make a big difference and make you have a good and safe diving trip without any real bummers. This article can be considered like a quick guide to help you decide what to eat before scuba diving to have the best possible diving experience.

What You Should Eat Before Scuba Diving 

We can divide the list of what you should eat before scuba diving into three categories, including:

• Six to three days before scuba diving.
• Two days before scuba diving.
• A day before scuba diving.

Six to Three Days Before Scuba Diving 

Six to three days before scuba diving is the perfect time to start building your carbohydrate and water stores. Consider the order of importance.

In the last few days before scuba diving, it’s a very necessary thing to drink enough water until your urine is clear and copious, as this is a vital step to be well hydrated and can help prevent the Decompression Sickness. 

If you take excess alcohol or even local Montezuma’s Revenge, you can be dehydrated rapidly and it will take a day or two to recover from that.

Ensure to take a good portion of foods from bread-starch and fruit categories. The amount of carbohydrates (which includes pasta, whole grains, fruit, veggies, etc…) should be at least one-half to two-thirds of your intake from calories and that depends on the intensity of your diving.

For example, If you are doing repetitive dives all week, try to stay so close to two-thirds of calories from carbohydrates and ensure to eat plenty of calories. Also don’t forget to get enough protein such as beans, dairy products, soy products, fish, nuts and lean meat.

Two Days Before Scuba Diving 

Two days before scuba diving is the day in which you should make sure you have plenty of water in your body and plenty of calories. It’s here that some people have some problems on long airplane trips when they ingest too much alcohol beverages. 

The problem here is that alcohol (acts as a diuretic) causes dehydration in addition to the significant fluid loss caused by the dry atmosphere of the cabin of the airplane.

The perfect thing to do that day is to eat little more than usual and stick to high carbohydrate foods and space meals. Some people get extra calories from food while others prefer sports drinks or some milk. Getting a few good night sleep will also be good for you because you may find it difficult to sleep restfully on your plane trip to the dive site.

A Day Before Scuba Diving 

Most divers get into trouble the day before scuba diving and want to know what they should eat before scuba diving. Overeating during your trip to the dive site is considered one of the biggest nutrition problems. Make sure to avoid bad eating habits if you are going to travel to the dive.

On this day, eat a little less than usual, as that will make you lighter the next day on the dive day, so it’s prefered to drop your intake by 500 calories.

Food like pasta bash isn’t recommended in the predive time because high fat salad dressing, buttered bread and lots of oil-laced pasta can lead to vomiting. It’s too late now to compensate for your poor nutrition through the week. 

You will never like suffering from diarrhea on your dive boat, so, what you should eat before scuba diving includes, jelly, cereal, broth-based soup, fruit, low-fat budding, vegetables, sports drinks and instant breakfasts and it will be better if you drink a little extra water.