What fuels Sacha Bond for her world record attempt?

What fuels our Kiwi sheep shearer hero? 

There’s no denying that sport and exercise are extremely beneficial for health. Eating the right types of foods, in the right quantities, can help any sportsperson or avid exerciser at any age or stage achieve their goals.  

For Sacha Bond, world champion New Zealand shearer, ensuring she eats well when competing is essential.  We talk to Sacha about her nutrition preparation for her upcoming women’s solo 9-hour strong wool ewe shearing world record attempt. 

What have you learned when it comes to the role of nutrition when competing in an event like this? 

“What I eat before I start shearing is important, and what I’m fuelling myself with during the day and afterwards.  Eating enough of the right kinds of foods helps to replenish my energy stores and with recovery.  My focus is ensuring that I eat enough to get me through the day.” 

 What types of foods are you eating to help fuel you? 

“I’m focusing on high-quality healthy foods, with lean beef and lamb being part of this, three to four times each week. 

I start each day early (at 3am) and head to the gym, so eating first thing is hard. When I get home from the gym, I have my first meal.  Across the day I aim to have five meals and a snack.  This helps ensure that my meals are complete and have good sources of protein, carbohydrates, fruits, and vegetables in them.  It’s also easier to ensure I eat enough protein if I eat like this across the day. 

Day-to-day, I do tend to eat more protein and my ‘plate’ often looks like a third of each of the key food groups.  For the work I am doing on farm, I make sure I am getting enough overall calories in, so I have the fuel to keep going.  I feel it when I don’t eat enough.” 

In the days leading up to an event like this, how does your nutrition change? 

“I change things up and I carbohydrate load.  For me, this means having three main meals each day that contain half a plate of carbohydrates, three snacks that are also high in carbs (like scones), liquid-based carbs (like orange juice) and a drink that is high in sodium to help with hydration and overall absorption of nutrients.”  

What are you going to eat on the day of the event itself? 

“My aim on the day is to feel comfortable with what I am eating, so I have been working with Conrad Goodhew, Accredited Sports Dietitian, to tweak what I do rather than aim for ‘perfection’ as such.   

The first session starts at 5am so I’ll be up early to fuel and hydrate about up to two hours beforehand.  Across the day, there are five sessions of one-to-two-hour duration. During the breaks, this is when I work to reduce my heart rate and ensure I have time to digest the foods I eat.  I am aiming for 50g carbohydrates an hour, so I eat meals containing oats, bananas, sweet potato and pasta with protein.  At the end of the day, I plan to have a protein-based smoothie within 30 minutes of finishing the event and a meal soon after.” 

Lastly, from a beef and lamb perspective, what does including red meat in your diet mean for you? 

“Beef and lamb provide me with a good quality source of protein, but they also contain iron, zinc and vitamin B12; it definitely helps with my energy levels.  For me, as a female shearer, events like this are considered endurance events.  If I don’t get the right fuel on-board from the start not only will I not have the energy I need and my recovery will be harder, I may also become depleted in other nutrients.  Lean beef and lamb are therefore part of my weekly fuel and something that I enjoy.” 

Looking for recipes to help fuel exercise and ensure you’re at peak performance? Check out www.recipes.co.nz for more details!