As more emphasis is placed on encouraging kids to be more physically active and participate in sports that are becoming more competitive, nutrition of the active child becomes a priority. All children’s dietary needs are different of those from adults, but the active child has certain specific needs. As your child grows You need to be careful about how you look at your young athlete.  While you may know the importance of body composition, amount of muscle mass and body fat, in adults, children are different.  Children grow in rapid, somewhat unpredictable spurts and you cannot use ordinary methods for measuring body composition in children.  Children’s body chemistry, bone density and proportion of body water all differ significantly from those of mature athletes, even if their physical performance seems well beyond their years.

At puberty, children undergo hormonal changes that mark the beginning of adolescence.  Both boys and girls gain body fat prior to their growth spurt. By storing extra fat, the body has enough calories to fuel the rapid change in height.  You should explain this in advance to your child so they do not hurt their bodies or stunt their growth by trying to imitate the dieting behavior of adults. Body fat measurements should never be used to manipulate any child’s weight for sports or to set guidelines for managing his/her weight.  A child’s normal growth and development must always be the primary concern. A formal staging methodology called Tanner staging can be performed by a physician to estimate the child’s level of sexual maturity.  Between Tanner stages 2 and 3 (usually ages 11 to 12 in the United States), girls undergo their peak growth spurt, with an average gain of 3.25 inches in height.  Once a girl begins menstruating, she has completed her rapid growth spurt. Boys grow faster between Tanner stages 3 and 4 (usually between ages 13 and 14). Boys can expect to grow 8 inches during this phase. The growth spurt lasts much longer in boys than in girls and after the growth spurt, boys continue to grow at a slow pace until approximately age 20. FOOD FOR THOUGHT Before exercising, the time athletes eat is just as important as what they eat.  Foods eaten routinely affect health and sports performance more than anything eaten the day of the event.  Child athletes should learn early on the healthful and scientific way to improve performance through diet.  This early education is important in preventing the development of superstitions and potentially harmfully eating routines later on in their development.  As with the daily diet, the emphasis in the athlete’s game day should be carbohydrate (especially complex carbohydrate) foods prior to and after training and competing.  You may think that a quick snack just before game time should give them an extra boost, when it may actually slow them down. If the athlete is sensitive to swings in blood sugar, it may be counter –productive and lead to rebound hypoglycemia part way through the game. A general rule of thumb to follow is to allow three to four hours for a large meal to digest, two to three hours for a small meal, one to two hours for a liquid meal, and less than one hour for a small snack, if the individual can tolerate it. Pre-event Reminders

Pre-event Meals

There are two main purposes of the pre-event meal; to prevent athletes from feeling hungry before or during the event, and second, to help supply fuel to the muscles during training and competition.  Most of the energy needed for any sports event is provided by whatever the athlete has eaten during the prior week. The best plan for the pre-event meal is to provide foods that contain lots of carbohydrate, low to moderate amounts of protein, and even less fat. Keep in mind:

¨                  High fat and high protein foods take longer to digest than carbohydrate foods.  If an athlete eats high fat or high protein foods a few hours before exercise, they risk having indigestion, nausea, and vomiting during exercise.

¨                  To have a relatively empty stomach while exercising, the child should eat no sooner than 1 to 3 hours before practice or competition.

¨                  Eating sugary foods such as candy and honey right before exercise does not provide quick energy. The energy for exercise comes from foods eaten several hours and days prior to the start of the event. 

All Day Events

During all day competition and training, carbohydrate foods and drinks may delay the onset of fatigue. However, if eating at concessions stands, these choices may be difficult to find.   Bringing foods from home is a good alternative to the snack bar.  Listed below are “good” and “bad” foods for competition.  “Bad foods will say in the stomach longer and impair performance.  Drinking plenty of water and fluids is VERY IMPORTANT.  

After the Game

As soon as the kids stop exercising, give them water to replace body fluids.  Also give them complex carbohydrate sources to replenish their glycogen stores. The body is most efficient at absorbing and storing energy (glycogen) during the first 4 to 5 hours after exercise.  The after game meal is probably most important than the pre-event meal because it determines how much energy the athlete will have for the next game or training session.  Immediately after training or competing, consider having the young athlete choose from the following suggestions:

¨                  Medium bagel (50 grams carbohydrate)

¨                  Pretzels (23 grams carbohydrate per one ounce)

¨                  Fruit yogurt (40 grams carbohydrate per 8 ounces)

¨                  Large banana (40 grams carbohydrate)

¨                  Cranberry-apple juice (43 grams carbohydrate per 8 ounces)

¨                  Orange juice (28 grams carbohydrate per 8 ounces

About 2 hours after exercising, kid athletes should eat a meal that contains mostly carbohydrate: yogurt and fruit, cheese and bagel, vegetable pizza, or spaghetti and meat sauce.  You can follow the guidelines given for pre-event meals and include more protein and fat.  

Convenience foods are often chosen because of tight time schedules.  Although the amount of time available may seem to outweigh nutrition considerations, the two need not conflict.  Fast food chains are becoming more health conscious and offering a wider variety of healthier foods.  When stopping at the fast-food restaurant, remember to focus on finding low-fat, high carbohydrate foods.  Be a role model yourself!!! Providing young athletes with food guidelines will help them to pick put high-performance foods from almost any menu or food aisle.  Of course, it is also important to let kids be kids!!  An occasional ice cream cone, candy bar or bag of chips is completely acceptable.  However, they should be eaten only occasionally in addition to high-performance foods, not in place of them. The following gives some suggestions:  

Strolling down the grocery aisles

Dietary Recommendations

The US Dept of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Service publish the Dietary Guidelines that recommend healthful eating habits for Americans.  The Guidelines call for moderation and variety in the diet. 

	The basic rules are:
¨	Eat a variety of foods
¨	Maintain a healthy weight
¨	Choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.
¨	Choose a diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits and grain products
¨	Use sugars only in moderation
¨	Use salt and sodium only in moderation

Most active children (ages 6-12) will get the nutrients and energy they need if they are eating the number of servings recommended in each layer of the food guide.

Caloric level is about 2200.  The exercising child may need an additional 500-150 calories each day, depending on frequency, intensity, and duration of physical activity.

When planning your child’s diet, remember, that children look up to parents, teachers, coaches and trainers as role models.  If you set a good example by exercising and eating a nourished, balanced diet, a child athlete is more likely to “eat to “compete” and grow into a healthy adult.

Carbohydrates

Growing young athletes place extra demands on their bodies.  Proper training, combined with sound nutrition practices, can help child athletes meet these demands and learn healthy habits for the rest of their lives.  However, most children and adults neglect nutrition as a key component of good health and athletic performance.

Carbohydrate foods, or “carbs”, are the cornerstone of the athlete’s diet.  Carbohydrate is important in exercise because it provides fuel for the body, and is the fuel the body prefers. Carbohydrate comes mainly from plant foods in two forms, simple and complex.

Both simple and complex carbohydrates provide energy to working muscles.  Most carbohydrate in the diet should be obtained from complex carbohydrate food sources.

¨Simple carbohydrate or simple sugar is sweet.  It is easily digested and absorbed into the bloodstream to provide quick energy.  Simple carbohydrate is found in milk, fruits, and sugary products (candy, cookies, soda).  Simple carbohydrate, especially from foods such as candy and soft drinks, may provide energy but it lacks essential vitamins and minerals.

¨Complex carbohydrate is starchy.  Starches are found in vegetables like potatoes and corn for example. They provide energy more slowly because they take longer to be digested into sugar and to be absorbed into the bloodstream as glucose.  Complex carbohydrate is also found in breads, cereals, pasta, rice and other starchy foods.  Foods high in complex carbohydrate contain more essential nutrients such as B Vitamins, iron, dietary fiber and minerals.

The body uses carbohydrate mainly to provide energy for the muscles to do work.  After the body digests carbohydrate, it uses it to provide energy.  For immediate energy, carbohydrate is turned into glucose and circulated in the blood.  The liver and muscles can store carbohydrate as glycogen that can be used for energy later during exercise.

How much and what type of fuel, (glucose or fat) is used is dependent on how intense the activity is and how long the exercise works.

For any activity, the body prefers to use carbohydrate for energy.  However, muscles and the liver can only store a limited amount of glycogen.  Athletes must replace glycogen by eating more carbohydrate, especially after exercise.  Active children should eat 50-55 percent of their total calories in the form of carbohydrate.

Examples of foods that have high level of complex carbohydrate and are excellent sources of glucose as well include potatoes, rice, cereals, and starchy vegetables. Fruits, fruit juices, and dairy products contain natural simple sugars.

Unfortunately, many girl athletes think of starchy foods as “fattening” and cut out breads, cereals and starchy vegetables.  The results of these eating habits are low glycogen, low energy, and poor performance. The girl athlete who wants top performance must eat starchy food so she goes into an event with glycogen reserves.  Starchy foods are not fattening in themselves.  Eating more than you need of any food puts on pounds.

The following list provides suggestions of high-carbohydrate foods for suggestions to young athletes.