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I am putting together a workshop on proper nutrition and young athletes and wanted to pick your brains a little bit! The focus will be the importance proper nutrition is to young growing athletes and how to give them a competitive edge with a solid nutritional plan. I will not be selling anything, it is an educational workshop for athletes and their parents.

 

So if you can answer any of the questions below, with regards to feeding your athlete I would greatly appreciate the feedback!

 

What is the hardest part about your kids schedule?

 

How does nutrition factor into your kids routine?

 

Do you feel confident that you are giving your kid the right fuel?

 

Do you worry about how much sleep or down time is enough for your kid?

 

What is your biggest worry with your young athlete?

 

Any and all thoughts are welcome! Thank you :-)

 

Edited to add....what questions would you want to ask a nutritional expert in regards to youth athletics?

 

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I am putting together a workshop on proper nutrition and young athletes and wanted to pick your brains a little bit! The focus will be the importance proper nutrition is to young growing athletes and how to give them a competitive edge with a solid nutritional plan. I will not be selling anything, it is an educational workshop for athletes and their parents.

 

So if you can answer any of the questions below, with regards to feeding your athlete I would greatly appreciate the feedback!

 

What is the hardest part about your kids schedule?

 

The hardest part is finding the time to prepare and sit down for proper meals.  

 

How does nutrition factor into your kids routine?

 

Not sure what type of an answer you are looking for here.  I get the best, healthiest foods into them that I can given the schedule we keep.

 

Do you feel confident that you are giving your kid the right fuel?

 

80% of the time I feel confident I am giving them the right fuel.  20% of the time we are grabbing takeout and while I try to make better choices (panera or chipotle vs McDonalds or similar) it can still be hard to find healthy options.

 

Do you worry about how much sleep or down time is enough for your kid?

 

I often worry about sleep and downtime.  Practices are too late, too early and too often for elementary school kids (6th grade and under) in my opinion.  Unfortunately my kids have chosen activities (swimming primarily) with heavy schedules.  

 

What is your biggest worry with your young athlete?

 

My biggest worry is that the activities they love know will become ones they dread because of the pressure they get (not at home but from others/coaches) to continue increasing their commitment at a young age.

 

Any and all thoughts are welcome! Thank you :-)

 

 

 

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What is the hardest part about your kids schedule?  Odd mealtimes


 


How does nutrition factor into your kids routine?  It's huge.  Protein within 1/2 hour of practice or competition.  2 nights before a competition we have a dinner loaded with protein and carbs.  Morning of competition she has a hearty breakfast of oatmeal and fruit or eggs and peanut butter toast.  A routine that we're used to, but are always conscious of.  


 


Do you feel confident that you are giving your kid the right fuel?  Yes.


 


Do you worry about how much sleep or down time is enough for your kid?  No.  She (almost) always gets at least 8 hours of sleep.  


 


What is your biggest worry with your young athlete?  That she'll know that it's okay to be done when she's tired or loses her passion.  


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I am putting together a workshop on proper nutrition and young athletes and wanted to pick your brains a little bit! The focus will be the importance proper nutrition is to young growing athletes and how to give them a competitive edge with a solid nutritional plan. I will not be selling anything, it is an educational workshop for athletes and their parents.

 

So if you can answer any of the questions below, with regards to feeding your athlete I would greatly appreciate the feedback!

 

What is the hardest part about your kids schedule?

 

How does nutrition factor into your kids routine?

 

Do you feel confident that you are giving your kid the right fuel?

 

Do you worry about how much sleep or down time is enough for your kid?

 

What is your biggest worry with your young athlete?

 

Any and all thoughts are welcome! Thank you :-)

 

1. Fitting in proper meals!

2. We do our best.  She has recently really stepped up her training, so we're paying more attention and making energy bites and post-workout protein shakes.

3. Sort of.  It can be difficult with the odd meal times.

4. A little bit, but homeschooling really helps her be able to get in enough sleep and downtime. If she wasn't homeschooled, this would be a huge concern.

5. Injury.  She's been extremely healthy so far, but with gymnastics, it's really just a matter of time.

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Hardest part?

Practice is scheduled during dinner time.  Including travel, we're out from 4:45 to 7:30. We don't really like to eat that late.

 

Nutrition is especially important for us because on top of the energy needs we have some sensitive digestive systems.  I try to feed them what they need to perform well and can tolerate, but we don't end up with much variety.

 

Yes, I do feel confident that I'm giving the right fuel.

 

Yes, I do worry about enough sleep and down time.  My oldest has gone to a charter school this year.  They have a long school day and 2-5 hours of homework each night, add practice and game schedules and she does NOT get enough rest.  She's constantly exhausted.

 

I have two big worries.  Overuse injuries and burnout.

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My dd16 is in public high school.  She is involved in competitive sports most of the year.  She also has an early morning religious education class.  She leaves home by 5:40am and is lucky to be home by 6pm.  A couple days a week she doesn't get home until around 9pm.


 


What is the hardest part about your kids schedule?  There's not enough time in the day for her to do everything she needs to do.


 


How does nutrition factor into your kids routine?  I'm not sure that she thinks about it as part of her routine, but I worry about her nutrition and am careful to make a real breakfast for her each morning - eggs, sausage, toast, etc. (at 5:15am I would prefer to just toast a bagel or set out a box of cereal.) I also pack a large lunch with a good mix of protein and whole grain carbs.  She is a very picky eater, so lunch packing is something that I worry about.  I keep apples and peanut butter and chicken breasts, and wraps, and yogurt and fruit in the fridge at all times.  I also send an after school snack.  She will not eat bars, I wish she would, it would help.


 


Do you feel confident that you are giving your kid the right fuel? no


 


Do you worry about how much sleep or down time is enough for your kid?  Yes, I worry that she is not getting enough sleep.  She gets up at 4:45am.  She is good about going to bed by 10pm, but occasionally has homework that keeps her up later.  She sleeps a lot on the weekends.


 


What is your biggest worry with your young athlete?  My worries for her are more social.  We moved about 8 months ago, and I feel like she is still a little lonely.  Being so busy with a sport makes it hard for her to get together with others.  It also makes it hard for her to attend the midweek church youth group.  She is an awesome kid, though, and I am impressed with all she does.


 


Any and all thoughts are welcome! Thank you :-)


 


Edited to add....what questions would you want to ask a nutritional expert in regards to youth athletics?  I would love a list of do's and don'ts for youth athletes and food.  


 


For my ds11 my worries about nutrition are different.  He is involved in sports in the spring and fall.  I worry about making sure he has enough food to provide for his workout needs AND for growth.  He is growing like crazy.  For my dd16, she is not getting any taller, and though she works out hard every day, she worries about gaining weight. So, different needs.  His scheduling difficulties are different, as I have to drive him and stay at his practices (dd16 drives to her own activities), which tends to ruin any hope of family dinner.  His big meal is his after school snack, and then he has a late dinner.  I feel more confident in helping ds11 with his nutritional needs than dd16.  I'm not sure why.


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My biggest worry is over the timing of meals...how long before, how late is too late? DD is at the gym four days a week for 3.5 hrs that straddle meal times. DD is also a picky eater so food group balance is a challenge (she's a carb-loving gymmie). I can get in meat/protein, fruit and grain. Veggie is tough. I don't worry about sleep now that we homeschool. She gets to sleep late most days since we don't start school until 9:30 or 10a.

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I am putting together a workshop on proper nutrition and young athletes and wanted to pick your brains a little bit! The focus will be the importance proper nutrition is to young growing athletes and how to give them a competitive edge with a solid nutritional plan. I will not be selling anything, it is an educational workshop for athletes and their parents.

 

So if you can answer any of the questions below, with regards to feeding your athlete I would greatly appreciate the feedback!

 

What is the hardest part about your kids schedule?

 

How does nutrition factor into your kids routine?

 

Do you feel confident that you are giving your kid the right fuel?

 

Do you worry about how much sleep or down time is enough for your kid?

 

What is your biggest worry with your young athlete?

 

Any and all thoughts are welcome! Thank you :-)

 

Edited to add....what questions would you want to ask a nutritional expert in regards to youth athletics?

1. Since we homeschool, we don't have any scheduling conflicts. We build sports into our routine. We are very active as a family and try to participate in as many of his sports as we can (ie: he ski races, and we all enjoy skiing together as well).

 

2. It doesn't. He is very interested in nutrition and the entire family eats well, regardless of activities.

 

3. Yes. See above.

 

4. No. He gets 10-11 hours of sleep a night and plenty of downtime. If he were in school, then yes, I can imagine this would look quite different.

 

5. I don't have any. He is very competitive with himself but also very balanced. He is also involved in many different sports that work different muscles and challenge his body in new ways. I would be concerned if he was only interested in one high intensity activity, however. As it is, sports and competition are only positive for him.

 

6. I don't ave any questions, but I'm sure it could be a great service.

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What is the hardest part about your kids schedule?

Fitting in a decent dinner! He leaves for fencing between 4:30 and 5:00 and usually gets home around 9:00-9:30, but it can be as late as 10:00 — and I never know how late it will be until it's time to pick him up. That makes it really difficult to plan and cook meals. I am trying to shift our "main meal" to be a big late lunch, around 3:30 or so, but the problem is that most of us just aren't that hungry then.

 

How does nutrition factor into your kids routine?

Lots of protein, especially eggs. Since dinners are difficult to plan, I try to provide a big cooked breakfast of 3-4 eggs, bacon or ham, whole grain toast or muffins. Lots of smoothies, too. Except for breakfasts he prefers to snack and graze, so I try to have healthy options for that, like apple & peanut butter, greek yogurt, cheese sticks, etc. But his picky eating habits make it hard to provide a wide variety. That's where smoothies can really help.

 

Do you feel confident that you are giving your kid the right fuel?

I'm confident about the quality of the food, and the amount of protein, but I think he doesn't get enough calories overall. It would be a lot easier if he wasn't such a picky eater!

 

Do you worry about how much sleep or down time is enough for your kid?

Sleep is a big issue. Getting home from the club at 10:00, eating dinner, taking a shower, washing his gear for the next day, then wanting to chill out and unwind for a while means bedtimes around midnight or later. Then he's up between 7:30 and 8:00, depending on the day. As a fast-growing (6'6") teen and competitive athlete, he needs a LOT of sleep and is not getting enough.

 

What is your biggest worry with your young athlete?

Not enough sleep. Too much invested emotionally in competitions.

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This is for an 11 yr old tennis player and a 13 yr old ballet dancer. Both practice 6 days/week.

 

What is the hardest part about your kids schedule?

Not being able to eat dinner together. Not as much free time as I think they should have.

 

How does nutrition factor into your kids routine?

I'm constantly trying to make sure people in the family are fed, but everyone seems to be on a different schedule these days.

 

Do you feel confident that you are giving your kid the right fuel?

Yes -- at mealtimes, but they often turn down healthy snacks and head for the simple carbs to throw in their gym bags or eat on the way to a lesson.

 

Do you worry about how much sleep or down time is enough for your kid?

Yes, I suspect my older daughter stays awake quite late. She's still getting 8-9 hours of sleep, but her ballet teacher has complained that she sometimes appears to zone out and stop focusing.

 

What is your biggest worry with your young athlete?

My biggest worry is that they have devoted their lives to tennis and ballet with the dreams of professional careers and I worry that they will become disheartened when they learn the unlikelihood of making a living from it. I don't want to dash dreams, but I want to be realistic. I'm hopeful they won't regret the sacrifices they've made and won't have trouble refiguring their lives at the point they no longer continue with it. Tennis isn't a big deal to scale back with, but ballet is all-or-nothing. You can't take just one or two classes a week and hope to progress or continue on pointe or be cast is a performance.

 

Any and all thoughts are welcome! Thank you :-)

 

Edited to add....what questions would you want to ask a nutritional expert in regards to youth athletics?

My tennis player loves to eat. If she's exercising a lot, should I just let her eat as much as she wants? We've always had to out a stop on it as she's been known to consume pounds of blueberries or clementines or bowls of pasta. Or more disturbingly, I found her eating pieces of tossed-out leftover birthday cake out of the trash can. What is more damaging: overeating or being made aware of your excessive eating and being told to stop?

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This is not something I'm dealing with right now, but when my dd was thirteen through seventeen she was very competitive with Taekwon-do and she had to make her weight class or would be disqualified in competition.  It meant that she had to stay the same weight from age 15 to almost 17.  Worlds are every two years and athletes build up seeding points which place them into different categories of competition at nationals.  To move weight classes would have meant forfeiting her seeding points and starting over again at square 1.  

 

She would often have to drop ten pounds for a competition and watching her do it was not pretty.  She had a system, but it certainly wasn't healthy.  However, she did train hard and she made it to worlds, so to her, the whole thing was worth it.

 

My boys haven't been terribly competitive with Taekwon-do, but my 14 year old is getting more interested and will be testing for his black belt soon so we could potentially be dealing with the same thing.  And with boys it's even more important that they get into the smallest weight class possible (especially my boys, who are short).  

 

I guess my question would be is there any way to drop weight in a healthy way?  

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This is for an 11 yr old tennis player and a 13 yr old ballet dancer. Both practice 6 days/week.

 

What is the hardest part about your kids schedule?

Not being able to eat dinner together. Not as much free time as I think they should have.

 

How does nutrition factor into your kids routine?

I'm constantly trying to make sure people in the family are fed, but everyone seems to be on a different schedule these days.

 

Do you feel confident that you are giving your kid the right fuel?

Yes -- at mealtimes, but they often turn down healthy snacks and head for the simple carbs to throw in their gym bags or eat on the way to a lesson.

 

Do you worry about how much sleep or down time is enough for your kid?

Yes, I suspect my older daughter stays awake quite late. She's still getting 8-9 hours of sleep, but her ballet teacher has complained that she sometimes appears to zone out and stop focusing.

 

What is your biggest worry with your young athlete?

My biggest worry is that they have devoted their lives to tennis and ballet with the dreams of professional careers and I worry that they will become disheartened when they learn the unlikelihood of making a living from it. I don't want to dash dreams, but I want to be realistic. I'm hopeful they won't regret the sacrifices they've made and won't have trouble refiguring their lives at the point they no longer continue with it. Tennis isn't a big deal to scale back with, but ballet is all-or-nothing. You can't take just one or two classes a week and hope to progress or continue on pointe or be cast is a performance.

 

Any and all thoughts are welcome! Thank you :-)

 

Edited to add....what questions would you want to ask a nutritional expert in regards to youth athletics?

My tennis player loves to eat. If she's exercising a lot, should I just let her eat as much as she wants? We've always had to out a stop on it as she's been known to consume pounds of blueberries or clementines or bowls of pasta. Or more disturbingly, I found her eating pieces of tossed-out leftover birthday cake out of the trash can. What is more damaging: overeating or being made aware of your excessive eating and being told to stop?

This is a great question! My initial thought would be to ask her why she would want something out of the trash, as in was that an impulse..."oh someone threw that out, I need to save it!" or did she actually consider the fact that she was taking something out of the trash to eat. 

 

On the volumes, I would point out that she may develop a stomach ache and then let her suffer the consequences if she does. Bowls of fruit are nutritious but have digestive consequences. I know my kids hate when I try to direct them, I think letting them feel the consequences of their actions is the best bet. 

I am always careful in being critical of food with girls, it is a slippery slope. At age 11 I would tend to be subtle and not directly address over eating as a potential weight thing but more as a digestive issue...your stomach can only process so much, take a break and in a hour if you are still hungry come back and get more. 

Thanks for your response!

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This is not something I'm dealing with right now, but when my dd was thirteen through seventeen she was very competitive with Taekwon-do and she had to make her weight class or would be disqualified in competition.  It meant that she had to stay the same weight from age 15 to almost 17.  Worlds are every two years and athletes build up seeding points which place them into different categories of competition at nationals.  To move weight classes would have meant forfeiting her seeding points and starting over again at square 1.  

 

She would often have to drop ten pounds for a competition and watching her do it was not pretty.  She had a system, but it certainly wasn't healthy.  However, she did train hard and she made it to worlds, so to her, the whole thing was worth it.

 

My boys haven't been terribly competitive with Taekwon-do, but my 14 year old is getting more interested and will be testing for his black belt soon so we could potentially be dealing with the same thing.  And with boys it's even more important that they get into the smallest weight class possible (especially my boys, who are short).  

 

I guess my question would be is there any way to drop weight in a healthy way?  

This I do not know, but I think it is an excellent question and pertains to several sports, wrestling and football included. I will do some research and consider adding this to my program.

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I would like ideas for good snacks that are easy to pack for long practices.

I am not sure what type of sport but the general rule of thumb on eating during a sport or activity is to keep it simple and easy to digest. 

 

In simple terms, when the body is working, digestion is turned off. The body systems are focused on suppuration the activity, pumping oxygenated blood to the muscles, supporting the increased heart rate and respiration. Digestion shuts down.

So things that are harder to digest, proteins and fats should be avoided during exercise. Simple carbs are best, fruits, pretzels, crackers. If he has a longish break during practice then you could include a small amount of protein and fat, but if it is a 10 minute break, keep it very simple!

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