Pre-Game

To help on-the-go sports parents, here are four important sports nutrition points to remember and some tips on how to plan ahead for the hustle and bustle of the fall sports seasons: drink up, load up, refuel, and replenish

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is the world's largest organization of sports medicine and exercise science professionals. At ACSM's 2011 annual meeting in Denver, over 6,000 exercise scientists, sports dietitians, physicians and other health professionals gathered to share their research. Here are a few of the nutrition highlights.

If your child has an early morning practice, it is important to eat a nutritious meal the night before, a bedtime snack, and a small snack/mini-breakfast that morning for peak performance.

Here are some pre-game meal ideas for breakfast, lunch and dinner before your child's big game.

If your child goes to a game or scrimmage without having eaten, he or she will not have the energy to play at his/her full potential.  A  meal 2 to 3 hours before the game made up mostly of carbohydrate-rich foods provides the fuel for sports.

When you eat a starchy food, like a banana, the carbohydrates are changed into blood sugar or glucose, which muscles burn for energy.  Any glucose that's not immediately used gets stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen- which can be used for energy later.  Glycogen is the preferred fuel for muscles.

What should your child eat before training and competition? Here's some advice on what to eat and not eat, drink and not drink, and when, before sports.

Training for and competing in endurance events like cross-country running and skiing, triathlons and bicycle racing significantly lowers muscle and liver glycogen stores. Muscle glycogen depletion is a well-recognized limitation to endurance performance. Athletes who train exhaustively on successive days must consume adequate carbohydrate and calories to prevent the cumulative depletion of muscle glycogen. Here are some nutritional recommendations for endurance athletes.

A variety of sports require intense exertion for periods of 4 to 10 minutes or longer. The 1,500 meter run, wrestling matches, middle-distance swimming events, and rowing contests all demand maximum effort without rest. Here are some tips on what your child should eat and drink in the days leading up to the event.