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What are the best foods to fuel a 16-year-old athlete's body? My son lifts weights and bikes 5 miles/day. |
His first priority sports-wise is football, but he plays baseball and runs track as well, to "stay in shape during the off season". During the school year he also takes a conditioning class in school, and does passing drills in the am. He has asked us about protein supplements, but he is a good eater, and I'd like to have the right foods in the house for him. I'd like to be able to have an intelligent and legitimate arguement for convincing him that a chocolate muffin from Costco for breakfast and skipping lunch is not going to help him reach his goals on the field. He is a natural athlete and is very motivated by success and measurable physical gains. What should he be eating for breakfast on a regular basis? Are there any types of foods that would be better before a game? How can he skip lunch? Teenage athletes constantly eat. A lot of different cereals and waffles in the morning and every few hours, all day long...meals after meals. It's like they have two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners with snacks in between the numerous meals, like bananas...and the proteins supplements. Thank you cailano, moakleyman and John S for your informative and thorough answers! We are off to a good start for football camp. :) Your son should be eating six times a day in order to protect his lean muscle mass. Every meal should include protein, especially since he is still growing. He should probably be shooting for at least one gram of lean protein per pound of body weight, every single day. I'm just guessing, but if he is 175 pounds and wants to put on weight for football, he should be taking in about 4000 calories per day. That kind of eating takes effort. He should chop it into four 660 calorie meals and four 330 calorie snacks. He should never skip breakfast, eat about an hour before practice, and then immediately after weights or practice. Protein shakes are fine, make that the after workout meal. Lean protein sources: chicken and poultry, eggs, fish, beans, nuts, milk good fats: nuts, avocados, peanut butter, fish, fish oil good carbs whole grains, fruits, veggies Here's more on an athlete's diet: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnu... Good luck to you and your son! Hmmm.. good question. Some people find it hard to eat breakfast... I usually tell active people to get something in their system to get the juices flowing and help maintain an appetite; BUT, that's not what you are asking... You want a logical arguing point. So here goes.... A muffin may be preferred, but a good bowl of cereal, a peice of toast, and a glass of juice would sustain his energy level much better because of the way in which energy is released in each of them. Eggs, toast, and juice is a good breakfast for a hardworking day, because it provides the body with a boost of protein that will help to battle catabolism. Your arguement here is a little protein in the body before the body needs it is better than the body having to scavange it from itself. I don't see any problem with suplementaion of protein in the form of a nutritious shake, but they shouldn't be substitutes for meals. Another thing, if you are woorying about food the morning before a game, your a day too late. The type of food you should be looking at would come the day/night before that big game and small enforcements on that plan would be at breakfast; so that he doesn't feel too sluggish... Try looking at high glycemic foods and complex carbohydrates the day and night before a big contest. then just allow him to follow what his body is telling him and do some "healthy" snacking the day of the big game (I assumed the game is early in the morning). I have been a weight-lifter, body-builded, football player, and I've run track. Honestly, It all depends how far you want your athlete to go. I can give you a strict dietary plan that I personally follow with great success. It's less of a routine and more of a lifestyle. I'm a super big fan of the Paleo Diet, google it. It's also called the caveman diet because it looks at what a human's diet consisted of before the first advancements of technology. It consists of lots of meat, eggs, fats and veggies. A chogolate muffiin, jesus. He will get fat his senior year unless he tightens up his diet and conditioning program. He sounds like he's very serious about his training. He has to understand that his body's performance and ability to grow and perform at higher levels is directly related to the type of training, sleep and NUTRITION that the body is subjected to. The type of diet I do, as I described before isn't easy to pull off. Especialy for people who grew up eating carbs. You do eat carbs, but from vegtables other than potatoes, beans and grains. I avoid those foods like the plague because of the anti-nutrients they contain. Also there is a several week adjustment period where your body will feel weak and tired. This is what you want to buy him: Optimum Nutrition ON-Whey Protein Flax Seed Oil caplets Multi Vitamin Chicken breast Red meat Lots of fish Eggs Minimal dairy Minimal starches Lots of veggies, especially ROOT vegtables!!! (carots etc) Keep the sugar to a minimum, and I mean.. minimum lol. Anyways thats a good start, like I said google the paleo diet for some good info. |
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