Recently I have been having a lot of athletes on my schedule (which I love!) and it always astonishes me how under fueled so many young athletes are. Between busy schedule and not know what/when/how much to eat many times these student athletes are not getting the right amount of nutrition to support their sport.
Quinn has been playing year round club soccer for the past year and it’s also become challenging at times to figure out her feeding schedule with games and practices. I thought it might be helpful for parents out there with young athletes to receive education around how to fuel their child for their sport and busy schedule.
A lot of attention can often get placed on proper nutrition on the day of an event/game. However, the day to day nutritional intake is much more important than one specific meal being perfect. Inadequate and poorly balanced eating can result in nutrient deficiencies which can negatively impact energy, concentration and performance. Nutrient deficiencies can not be resolved with one good meal. Therefore, it’s important to pay attention to your athlete’s intake on a day to day basis.
Young athletes need a lot of carbohydrates for energy/fuel, adequate protein for growth and development, fat for satiety, and fiber for digestion and vitamins/nutrients.
This starts with breakfast of course. The mornings can be hectic for many families and getting in a well balanced breakfast can be a challenge.
Breakfast isn’t optional, it’s essential fueling for an athlete. Even if your child is not a big breakfast eater, something is better than nothing to break the fasting state and get some fuel. Ideally, there is a balance of carbohydrates, protein and fats. Examples: eggs + toast/bagel/frozen waffle + cream cheese or peanut butter and hopefully a whole piece of fruit. Other options could include yogurt + granola + fruit, overnight oats, smoothie, cereal + milk + fruit.
If your athlete has a really early morning practice, focus on the meal having adequate carbohydrate the night before so they have some glycogens stores in the morning. Focus on hydrating first thing in the morning and having something small like an easily digestable carbohydrate before practice. Examples: fruit, mini bagel, piece of toast, or liquid nutrition if easier to tolerate.
Lunch: either a school bought lunch or packing a lunch from home. Make sure they are getting a balance of nutrients as explained before. For my older athletes who claim to be too busy with school work at lunch time, once again this meal is not optional. This is likely your closest meal to practice time, so it’s important to get in a complete meal.
Dinner # 1 (or mini meal pre practice): Heather does a good job of this with her boys in feeding them a meal right when they get home from school before practice. Kids come home STARVING from school and it’s so much better if they eat a meal at this time instead of endless snacking.
Dinner #2 (after practice): Quinn eats dinner before practice and always comes home from practice around 7:45 pm starving again. She worked her butt off at practice and needs more than a little snack before bed. I will often have leftovers from dinner ready for her or make her another mini meal like a quesadilla with milk.
Snacks: An ideal snack combines at least 2 food groups. Simply giving your athlete pretzels for a snack won’t cut it. Try combining it with a protein like peanut butter or a cheese stick to give them a more balanced snack. Ideally you’re combing a carbohydrate (grain or fruit) with a protein/fat (cheese, nuts/nut butter, jerky, deli meat, hard boil egg, yogurt, etc). Here is a list of 20 snack ideas for kids I created.
Have your athlete bring cooler like this one to keep in backpack or sports bag to keep protein snacks/sandwiches cool to give more options (cheese sticks, yogurt, turkey sandwich, etc.). It’s totally fine to rely heavily on pre packaged snacks and bars, but having a cooler gives more options and variety.
Lastly, if you’re feeling overwhelmed with meal planning all of this have your child help with the meal planning. Have them write up 4-5 breakfast, lunch and dinner ideas. Bring them to the grocery store to pick out things they will eat. Ask them what their teammates pack that look good. It helps you come up with ideas about what to make and getting them involved motivates them to actually eat the food.
I absolutely love working with athletes of all ages, so let me know if you have any questions!
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