5 Tips to Help Your Child Athlete Fuel Up for Exercise


 Posted by Susan Bowerman, M.S., RD, CSSD, CSOWM, FAND – Senior Director, Worldwide Nutrition Education and Training  0 Comment

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Active children need regular hydration.

Getting fueled up for activity is really no different for kids than it is for adults. Be sure their getting the right pre-sport meals, staying hydrated and refueling after their sporting event.

Active children can burn through a lot of calories—so much so, that it often seems there’s no way to satisfy their appetites. Children who participate in sports may have intensive practices and games several times a week, burning through calories like there’s no tomorrow.

When their appetites are out-of-control, it’s tempting to let active children eat what they want, thinking that they’ll just burn it off. But even when calorie needs are high, kids and their parents need to understand that it doesn’t give them license to eat foods with little nutritional value.

Getting fueled up for activity is really no different for kids than it is for adults. They need the right pre-sport meals, to stay hydrated and refuel after the event, which are the biggest concerns. The only wrinkle is that kids are often more picky about what they’ll eat than adults are, so it can be a bit more challenging to meet the nutritional needs of a child athlete.

Kids who are serious about sports are often more receptive than others to trying new foods. When children understand that a healthy diet can help them with performance, it’s often a lot easier to encourage them to take in more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans—and less fat and sugar.

Energy Food for the Child Athlete

Children need to understand that their body is like an engine, one that needs the right fuel to run properly. Healthy carbohydrates from fruits, vegetables and grains (like whole grain breads, crackers, cereals or pasta) are the body’s preferred source of fuel. They help to not only sustain exercise, but are needed afterwards to help replenish body stores.

The body also needs healthy lean proteins from foods like lean meats, poultry, fish, milk, yogurt, eggs and soybeans. These help build and repair muscles after exercising. And small amounts of healthy fats from foods like avocados or nuts help meet calorie needs.

  • Before games or practice, kids need to ‘top off the tank’ with some carbohydrates to provide energy. Give them something easy to digest like a smoothie, a carton of yogurt or a small bowl of cereal and milk. Keep meals low in fat so they’ll be easy to digest.
  • During exercise, keeping kids hydrated is vital. Water is fine, but a hydration drink is great for extended exercise or when the weather is particularly hot or humid.
  • After exercise, it’s important to refuel muscles with some beneficial carbohydrates and protein. Chocolate milk is an all-time favorite recovery food, since it provides fluid, potassium, carbohydrates and protein—all of which the body craves after activity. Other great post-exercise foods are sandwiches, fruits, yogurt and smoothies.
  • Kids need fiber, but it’s best to offer high-fiber foods after exercise to avoid stomach upset. Save the whole grain breads and pastas for after the game.
  • For those kids with high calorie needs, you can offer higher calorie foods that are also nutrient-rich like nuts, 100% fruit juices, dried fruits, peanut butter and trail mix.
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Susan is the Senior Director of Worldwide Nutrition Education and Training at Herbalife, where she is responsible for the development of nutrition education and training materials, and is one of the primary authors of the Herbalife-sponsored blog, www.discovergoodnutrition.com. She is a Registered Dietitian and holds two Board Certifications from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics as a Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics, and a Certified Specialist in Obesity and Weight Management. Susan is also a Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Susan graduated with distinction in biology from the University of Colorado, and received her master’s degree in Food Science and Nutrition from Colorado State University. She then completed her dietetic internship at the University of Kansas. Susan has taught extensively and developed educational programs targeted to individuals, groups and industry in her areas of expertise, including health promotion, weight management and sports nutrition. Prior to her role at Herbalife, she was the assistant director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, and has held appointments as adjunct professor in nutrition at Pepperdine University and as lecturer in nutrition in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Susan was a consultant to the (then) Los Angeles Raiders for six seasons, and was a contributing columnist for the Los Angeles Times Health Section for two years. She is a co-author of 23 research papers, 14 book chapters, and was a co-author of two books for the public: “What Color is Your Diet?” and “The L.A. Shape Diet” by Dr. David Heber, published by Harper Collins in 2001 and 2004, respectively.