Whether it's training for a soccer game or playing a backyard game of catch, children's athletic performance, development, and growth depend largely on eating the right foods.
Unfortunately, most children (and adults) forget just how important nutrition is to good health and athletic performance. Many children, especially in the years before puberty, have poor eating habits (skipping breakfast [1], eating the same foods day after day, consuming too many energy drinks [2]). As a result, their diets are missing nutrients and their growth and athletic performance may be impaired.
It is important to recognize that children are not miniature adults; they have special nutritional needs. It is especially important to meet their nutritional needs as they enter puberty, when they experience rapid growth as they undergo hormonal changes marking the beginning of adolescence.
The most appropriate diet for the youth athlete is one that:
high in nutrient-dense complex carbohydrates [3]
moderate amounts of protein [4], salt [5], sugars, and sodium
low in fat [6], saturated fat, and cholesterol; and
sufficient calories
Such a diet can be achieved by planning intake to include a variety of foods from each of the five major food groups in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) My Plate [7]. Especially for children, My Plate serves as a visual guide for choosing foods and planning healthful meals.
There are three key principles for a high-performance diet:
Variety. Because no single food or supplement [8] contains all the nutrients your child needs for optimum health, growth and performance, eating foods from each of the five food groups daily, as well as different foods from within each group, is essential.
Moderation. Your child should not eat too little or too much of any one food or nutrient.
To improve your child's diet:
Buy more healthy foods
Make your child's favorite foods more nutritionally dense [3] or substitute similar foods that are, such as by:
Serving fortified cereals instead of sugary ones
Offering peanut butter cookies instead of chocolate cream cookies
Make gradual changes in diet while encouraging your child to eat more nutrient dense food [3].
Provide nutritious snacks [13] and fluids [15] for before and after practice and competitions, so your child does not have to rely on vending machines filled with sugary or high-fat snacks, energy drinks [2], and soft drinks.
Variety and balance in the family menu will underscore the importance of eating different foods to provide the range of nutrients needed for growth and development. Ideally, this is achieved by regularly scheduled meals at home plus nutritious snacks [13].
Providing nutritious meals around hectic practice schedules and away from home [16] is a particular challenge. Workouts may disrupt your child's meal schedule, resulting in a greater reliance on convenient fast food or the child eating alone at home before or after the family eats. As a result, it is very important to help your child make nutritious choices wherever he eats, whether it is at a fast food [17], family-style or ethnic restaurant [18], a grocery or convenience store [19], or on an airplane, or while competing in a foreign country. [20]
Parents should educate children about basic facts about the different food groups and how different foods help or hurt athletic performance. Attempts to teach children nutritional concepts and information should take into account their age and developmental level (for example, by explaining to a 7 year old that foods containing carbohydrates, like bread and pasta, provide energy for their muscles, and that dairy foods like milk help build strong bones).
Because children have special fluid needs [21], fluids play a critical role in maintaining health and performance of the child athlete. Heatstroke [22] ranks second among reported causes of death in high school athletes.
As a parent, you should:Prevent dehydration [23] by helping your child follow fluid guidelines [15] and by taking other precautions [22] which can significantly reduce the risk of heat illness; and
Know the signs of dehydration [23] or heat illness [24] and their treatment.
Links:
[1] https://momsteam.com/node/1053
[2] https://momsteam.com/node/2572
[3] https://momsteam.com/node/249
[4] https://momsteam.com/node/3068
[5] https://momsteam.com/node/3001
[6] https://momsteam.com/node/2610
[7] https://momsteam.com/node/3478
[8] https://momsteam.com/node/266
[9] https://momsteam.com/node/245
[10] https://momsteam.com/node/265
[11] https://momsteam.com/node/258
[12] https://momsteam.com/node/244
[13] https://momsteam.com/node/250
[14] https://momsteam.com/node/256
[15] https://momsteam.com/node/864
[16] https://momsteam.com/node/267
[17] https://momsteam.com/node/269
[18] https://momsteam.com/node/268
[19] https://momsteam.com/node/271
[20] https://momsteam.com/node/272
[21] https://momsteam.com/node/863
[22] https://momsteam.com/node/281
[23] https://momsteam.com/node/867
[24] https://momsteam.com/node/866
[25] https://momsteam.com/nutrition/survey-shows-parent-confusion-on-nutrition
[26] https://momsteam.com/nutrition/sports-nutrition-basics/nutritional-needs-guidelines/top-ten-nutrition-tips-for-active-chi
[27] https://momsteam.com/nutrition/sports-nutrition-basics/nutritional-needs-guidelines/overview-of-youth-sports-nutrition
[28] https://momsteam.com/nutrition/sports-nutrition-basics/nutritional-needs-guidelines/debunking-some-nutrition-myths-about-