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Nutrition For Young Athletes: Proper Nutrition For Athletes

Healthy Diet For Athletes

Nutrition for young athletes is important for endurance and performance. Knowing which foods will give the athlete the best possible stamina level is crucial to their sport of choice. Athletes burn a lot of energy and need the right foods to maintain energy reserves for longer periods of time.



Competitors will show better performance and have a lot more endurance if they eat four whole-wheat pancakes topped with fresh fruit and honey, rather than four refined flour pancakes topped with sugary syrup.

Nutrition For Young Athletes: Keeping The Body Fueled

Eating organic food is important to stay healthy because organic is the freshest possible food on the market. But also important for the young athlete is keeping the body fueled up during a game or competition.

An athlete needs about 3,400 to 4,000 calories a day to perform well and maintain endurance level, while a sedentary person only needs about half that.

Eating five smaller but nutritional packed meals a day is best suited for the athlete because it keeps glucose levels from spiking, therefore helping them keep a steadier level of energy. Whole grain carbohydrates work better for endurance levels than refined flour foods do.

The food an athlete eats is crucial to his or her game. Whole grains such as brown rice, stone ground wheat, and oatmeal are all excellent choices for the athlete. So are a variety of nuts, seeds, and good fats like olive oil and avocados.

A typical athletic menu might look something like the following. This menu consists of six meals, but three of them are quite small.

  • Breakfast 7:00 am: 2 bananas, a bowl of oatmeal with raisins, glass of milk, glass of freshly squeezed juice and two pieces of whole-wheat toast or two eggs.
  • Snack 9:00 am: A cup or two of muesli mix or granola with milk.
  • Lunch 12:00 am: Turkey sliced from the bone on whole wheat with a side green salad with an avocado, and a glass of milk.
  • Snack 3:00 pm: Protein shake or fruit smoothie with sunflower seeds.
  • Dinner 6:00 pm: Half a roast chicken, side of brown rice and steamed vegetables, and a dark leafy green salad.
  • Snack 9:00 pm: Two pieces of fruit of your choice or dried fruit and nut mix.
The athlete would have a lot of energy eating meals like those above. Fruits and vegetables and lots of whole grain carbohydrates are what the athlete needs for top performance.

Nutrition For Young Athletes: Staying Fit

Obesity is on the rise only because of poor food choices. The athlete can’t afford to gain unnecessary weight—it will cause him or her to slow down. The young competitor needs to stay healthy to stay on top of his or her game.

Athletic injuries are something the competing athlete always has to watch out for. Sprains, breaks, tendon and bone injuries occur more readily when diet is poor for a consistent period of time.

Several health conditions seem to afflict the athlete, from jock itch to hemerhoids. One reason for hemerhoids is the rush-rush eating habits of the hurried athlete.

The wrong foods for energy will cause constipation, which is the main cause for hemerhoids and weight gain in the young athlete. Eating right is the most important part of staying healthy and fit, especially for the active person.

Source: Eating For Good Health – Reader’s Digest



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