Nutrient-Dense Foods For High-Performance Sports Diet

Here are some recommendations on helping your child eat nutrient-dense, healthy foods:

• Bring boundaries to meals - watch portions of meals and snacks
• Remember that nonfat does not mean calorie free!
• Choose nutrient-dense, high-fiber, whole-grain cereals. Top with bananas, strawberries, peaches, or blueberries.
• Make oatmeal with nonfat milk rather than water. Top with low-fat yogurt or fruit.
• Have your child eat a piece of fruit instead of filling up on fruit juices between or with meals.
• Make low-fat milkshakes or fruit smoothies for meals or snacks.
• Choose hearty, dense breads such as sprouted wheat, oat bran, and honey bran.
• Use thick slices for sandwiches and toast. Stuff with low-fat tuna salad, chicken salad, or veggies and low fat cream cheese.
• Choose hearty soups such as minestrone, chicken and vegetable, black bean, or lentil.
• Bake, broil or grill chicken, beef, or fish. Avoid frying with lard or butter, cream sauces or gravy.
• Include lower calorie vegetables in your child's salad, as a snack, or with meals such as tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, green and red peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach or kale.
• Try stir-frying chicken, lean beef, fish, or tofu with vegetables. Make hearty low-fat chili. Serve with brown or white rice.
• Use low-fat fajitas or wraps and add a combination of the following: veggies, chicken, non-fat re-fried beans, shrimp, low-fat cheese, nonfat sour cream, salsa.
• Add low-fat cheese, low-fat cottage cheese, garbanzo beans (chick peas), kidney beans, chopped eggs, and low-fat dressing to mixed-green salads.
• Give your child nutrient-dense snacks such as oatmeal raisin cookies; low-fat fig bars, puddings, frozen yogurt, fruit breads, crackers, and granola bars, and fruit.