Feeding the Young Athlete

Cynthia Lair

Description

Eat to win! Practice is only part of a winning sports strategy. Whole foods have to be part of the playbook to increase energy, endurance, and focus, both on and off the field. What to eat and when to eat, pre-game, during and afterwards? How much fluid do you need to be hydrated? What to eat when you’re on the road? These are critical answers to have for young athletes, competing on a demanding schedule and eating on the run.

In Feeding the Young Athlete: Sports Nutrition Made Easy for Players, Parents and Coaches, simple nutritional lessons are organized into 10 Essential Eating Guidelines and recipes for cooking healthy meals and snacks with whole grains and vegetables. These recipes and eating tips offer a gateway for young players, parents, and coaches to improve performance and establish lifelong eating habits.

Cynthia Lair, former nutrition professor and culinary arts program director at Bastyr University--as well as a soccer mom--along with dietitian and triathlete, Scott Murdoch, PhD, bring you this essential reading for today’s young athlete to make or choose great foods and drinks that nourish and replenish, at home, at school, or on the road.

From the Introduction: 

Striving for optimal performance applies on and off the field! Preparing for a difficult exam requires the same attention to hydration and eating as any other type of marathon. When we skip breakfast, or choose a sugar-laden breakfast, mental functioning is the first to go. So whether students and players want to apply critical thinking to a multiple-choice test or navigate a tricky maneuver on the field, pre-event food choices play a critical role.

Choosing the right food is only half of the formula. While most middle and high school players can’t hire a personal chef, they can (and should) learn to cook a handful of simple dishes. Cooking helps young people not only invest in their present performance goals, but teaches them how to care for themselves in the future. Start with learning how to hard boil an egg, bake a potato or make salad dressing.  Parents, caretakers, and even more importantly, coaches, need to help young athletes forge better dietary choices.

Introduction 

PART 1 HOW TO FEED YOUNG ATHLETES

1. Ten Essential Eating Guidelines for Superb Performances 

2. Five Undermining Eating Habits

PART 2:  WHAT TO FEED YOUNG ATHLETES

3. Top Ten Foods for Your Game Plan

4. Homemade Sports Drinks

5. Breakaway Breakfast Recipes 

6. Pack-n-Go Snacks to Make in yYour Kitchen

7.  Pack-n-Go Snacks to Buy at the Store

8. Winning Pre-Game Meals

9. Food on the Road

10.Team Meals 

Q&A 

Index 

Resources 

Biography 

Sujets

• Cuisine
• Cuisine par plats
• Santé et bien-être
• Diététique
• diététique
• Nutrition
• Fitness
• Survêtement
• Health
• Diet
• Organic
• Training
• Coach
• Wellness
• Dieta
• Energy Drink
• Diets

Informations

• Publié par: Readers to Eaters
• Date de parution: 20 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780998047744
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

The information in this book has been prepared thoughtfully and carefully.
It is not intended to be diagnostic or prescriptive. Any athlete, young or old, should have
regular physical examinations by his or her health-care practitioner.

Text copyright © 2017 by Cynthia Lair and Scott Murdoch
Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Richard Mia on cover and pages 5 , 8 , 14 , 49 , 50 , 58 , 64 , 72 , 86 , 100 , 104 , 124 , 130 , 142 .
All other images copyright © Shutterstock.com .

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Dedications

Here’s to the Barracudas, the Crunch, the Momentum, the Braves, the Fusion
and the Scots. These strong young women turned me into an avid soccer fan
and magnified my education about how food works. —C. L.

To Pat and our two wondrous boys, who continually inspire me to spend my
time and energy mindfully on those pursuits that matter most. —S. M.
Contents

TABLE OF

Introduction
9

PART
ONE

How to Feed Young Athletes 13

1 Ten Essential Eating Guidelines
for Superb Performance 15

2 Five Undermining Eating Habits 51

PART
TWO

What to Feed Young Athletes 57

3 Top Ten Foods for Your Game Plan 59
4 Homemade Sports Drinks 65
5 Breakaway Breakfast Recipes 73
6 Pack-n-Go Snacks to Make in Your Kitchen 87
7 Pack-n-Go Snacks to Buy at the Store 101
8 Winning Pre-Game Meals 105
9 Food on the Road 125
10 Team Meals 131

Q & A 134

Index 139

Resources
142

Biography 144
8

INTRODUCTION

Eat Like the Pros!

I
first wrote Feeding the Young Athlete not only because I taught
family nutrition and whole foods cooking at Bastyr University,
I was also a mother to a girl playing competitive soccer. Again
and again, I watched the players eat nutrition-poor and often
sugary foods before and after games. Pre-game doughnuts! Post-game
pizzas! Knowing the kids could attain a higher level of play with better
food, I teamed up with my colleague, Scott Murdoch Ph.D., RD, to write
this guide. He supplied the scientific research, and I translated it into
practical tips and recipes for young athletes.

In the five years since the last edition, I’ve seen the interest in sports
nutrition grow tremendously, especially among professional athletes.
Soccer teams get it. Mona Nemmer was first hired to help plan and cater
meals for Germany’s national youth soccer teams. Word of her success
with food and performance spread, and Nemmer became chef and
nutritionist for Bayern Football Club. Later, Liverpool FC, one of the most
celebrated teams in England, snagged her as head of nutrition. What are
these premier league soccer players eating? “It is all local and seasonal,”

9
Nemmer says. “We have a focus on real food, to keep natural nutrition
as high as possible.” Homemade foods are preferred to commercially
prepared and packaged foods. She, and other sports nutritionists, know
that players who eat and drink well have an edge over the competition,
especially in the second half of the game, the second game of the day
or the second half of the season.

Though baseball franchises have been slow to catch on to the trans-
formative power of food, many are now on board. The Baltimore Orioles
took their chef on the road during the playoffs. Other teams, such as the
Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels, have also sought a competitive
advantage through nutrition. In 2015 the Yankees hired nutritionist
Cynthia Sass to seek out the finest and healthiest food spread in baseball.
Sass has seen first-hand how certain foods can enhance skills. For example,
green vegetables can improve contrast vision, such as the ability to see
a white ball with its red laces against a night sky. What hitter would not
want that edge? Sass rightly states, “Every time you eat or drink, it’s an
opportunity to make your body stronger and healthier.”

In football, the Seattle Seahawks know food matters. The Seattle Times
reported: “Seahawks Chef Plays Key Role in Team’s Success.” There are no
sodas, junk food or deep-fried foods in the Seahawks training kitchen.

10

With this book, we hope to bring these positive trends to children and teens.
Striving for optimal performance applies on and off the field! Preparing for
a difficult exam requires the same attention to hydration and eating as any
other type of marathon. When we skip breakfast, or choose a sugar-laden
breakfast, mental functioning is the first to go. So whether students and
players want to apply critical thinking to a multiple-choice test or navigate
a tricky maneuver on the field, pre-event food choices play a critical role.

Choosing the right food is only half of the formula. While most middle
and high school players can’t hire a personal chef, they can (and should)
learn to cook a handful of simple dishes. Cooking helps young people not
only invest in their present performance goals, but teaches them how to
care for themselves in the future. Start with learning how to hard boil an
egg, bake a potato or make salad dressing. Parents, caretakers, and even
more importantly, coaches, need to help young athletes forge better
dietary choices.

With widespread support for eating better to perform better, Feeding the
Young Athlete is more relevant than ever. Young people today care about
what’s in the food they eat. This book’s focus on food, rather than powders
and pills, and its delicious, family-friendly recipes make Feeding the Young
Athlete a game changer for 21st century athletes.

—Cynthia Lair, 2017

11
PART ONE
CHAPTER

E
veryone can benefit from
understanding the basic
science behind how food
works. But when young people
involved in sports apply them,
the advantages can be surprisingly
immediate. Here are ten simple
guidelines for improving and
sustaining athletic performance.
Get down with these positive
strategies and find a new groove
to your game.

The Ten
Essential
Eating
Guidelines
for Superb
Performance

Do This

Wise up to how foods
create energy

Eat using the timetable
Sip, sip, sip

Supercharge
with whole grains

Chomp fruits
and vegetables

Put protein in its place
Sideline the sugar
Make your plate whole
Relax, recover, rebuild

Get the whole
team involved

15
WISE UP TO HOW
FOODS CREATE ENERGY

Nature designed foods
to form a team of nutrients

The main nutritional components of
foods are carbohydrates, proteins, fats,
vitamins, minerals, fiber
and water. Each nutrient
has a specific purpose in
the body.

Carbohydrates
are used to create
energy. Foods that
contain carbohydrates
work the quickest to
transform into muscle
glycogen—primary fuel for muscles.

Sources: whole grain bread, brown rice,
oatmeal, corn tortillas, quinoa

Proteins
promote cell growth and repair,
and regulate many body processes such as
water balancing, nutrient transport and
muscle contraction. Sources: eggs, fish, chicken,
turkey, beef, cheese, beans

Fats transport a variety of important
nutrients like vitamins A
and D, and are a major
component of cell walls.
Fats are also used
as a slow, secondary
energy source. Sources:
butter, olive oil, nuts and
seeds, nut butters, avocados

16

Vitamins keep body processes
working properly. They play a key
role in transforming carbohydrates
into glycogen. Sources: dark leafy
greens, sweet potatoes, strawberries,
oranges

Minerals
provide essential
materials for the athletic body.
For example, calcium and
magnesium are used for bone
development, and iron for
oxygen transport.
Sources: dark leafy
greens, sea vegetables
(like nori), dairy,
bananas

Fiber helps food
move through
the body while
promoting healthy
bacteria in the gastro-
intestinal tract.

Fiber helps bodies
feel full and satisfied
with the right amount
of calories.

Sources: whole grains, beans,
fruits, vegetables

Water constitutes the majority
of our body weight, anywhere
from 55% to 65%. Dehydration
impairs all bodily
functions, including
brains and muscles.
Sources: water, ice
chips, Homemade
Sports Drink
( page 70 )

Just as it’s more effective to play basketball with a whole team rather
than one player, nutrients work more efficiently when they are matched
up with the right teammates.

A good example is the nutrient calcium. If you take a pill that is 100%
calcium and nothing else, it’s on the field alone. But if the calcium has
the right amount of other team players like magnesium and vitamin C,
the calcium will perform at its highest level and your body will absorb
more of the nutrients. This is called bioavailability.

17
Nature creates
WHOLE foods

A food from nature doesn’t have
just one nutrient, but a group
of them. An apple has carbohy-
drates, fiber, vitamins, minerals
and water. Whole foods are
nutrient-rich, meaning they have
a whole bunch of great players
on a team. Just like players on
the field, every nutrient has its
purpose. Once you understand
what it is, you can create a
winning game plan. And if you
realize that eating whole foods
ensures the meal is full of the
nutrients your body needs
to