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Overview
It’s hard keeping up with the nutritional needs for kids, and even harder getting them to actually eat many of these foods. Learn how to get your athlete on the right track.
With athletic kids, there’s even more to pay attention to! Most young athletes are not eating properly to compete--too many convenient but empty calories that are doing them more harm than good. As a result, these young athletes are losing energy when they should be increasing it, feeling deterred when they should be motivated, and decreasing muscle mass when they need it more than ever.
Fortunately, with the right nutrition, young athletes can increase their energy, bolster their motivation, gain muscle mass, overcome fatigue, and improve their performance. Registered dietitian and childhood nutrition expert Jill Castle has written this must-read resource for every parent of active kids ages eight through eighteen.
In Eat Like a Champion, parents will find help in:
- Tailoring diets for training, competition, and even off-season
- Finding the best food options, whether at home or on the go
- Addressing counterproductive or unhealthy patterns
- Understanding where supplements, sports drinks, and performance-enhancing substances do--and don’t--fit in
Complete with charts, recipes, and practical meal and snack ideas that can help athletic youngsters eat to win, Eat Like a Champion just may be the difference-maker in your athlete’s next game!
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780814436233 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AMACOM |
| Publication date: | 07/08/2015 |
| Sold by: | HarperCollins Publishing |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 240 |
| File size: | 629 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Eat Like a Champion
Performance Nutrition for Your Young Athlete
By Jill Castle
AMACOM
Copyright © 2015 Jill CastleAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8144-3623-3
CHAPTER 1
The Growing Athlete: Body and Brain
What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.
—Napoleon Hill, personal success author
Linda was the mom of twin girls who were volleyball players. At 14, they were playing on a new club team with other girls aged 15, 16, and 17. When Linda looked at the 10 members of the team lined up side by side, she noticed how thin her girls appeared. "My girls look like sticks compared to the other girls on the team!" she said. "I'm going to sign them up for some personal training so they'll beef up."
Whoa. Wait a minute. Linda didn't understand how varied body shapes and sizes are during puberty. In fact, if you lined up 10 girls or boys in this age range, you would see what Linda saw: a wide variety of body shapes and sizes. Puberty is the period of life when growth is rapid and individuality is the name of the game. Linda's girls hadn't filled out yet, though they were as tall as most of their teammates. I knew they were going to grow more and gain weight over the next couple of years simply because of their age. And no amount of personal training would accelerate this process.
From the ages of 8 to 18, children change dramatically. Children of ages 6 to 12 years are often sticklike figures, with barely any muscles, who gradually develop into busty, hippy girls and muscle-popping, hairy, almost-men boys through adolescence (13 to 18 years) and the process of puberty. It's during this 10-year phase that the most apparent physical changes in young athletes occur, markedly altering their physical presence and abilities. Naturally, this growth period, especially puberty, has a steep energy demand—hence the voracious appetite that often develops during this time.
Adding sports to the mix increases the overall calorie cost for the growing athlete. Depending on the nature of the sport, that cost will vary. For example, a rower will burn more calories in an hour than will a baseball player. It's important to know how many calories the various sports burn as you begin to understand your athlete's appetite and shape his or her approach to eating.
There's also a lot going on inside a young person's mind—hopes, fears, desires, and social pressures. Paying attention to your athlete's social-emotional development, or what's happening below the surface, will help you understand the motivations behind the food choices and eating behaviors you see.
In this chapter, I will explain critical aspects of a typical young athlete's overall body growth—in particular the muscles and bones—as well as how social and emotional developmental changes affect nutrition and eating. Let's get started so you have a basis and understanding for meeting the energy needs of your athlete.
Growing for the Gold
Parents of sports-playing kids are often caught up in the moment, carting them to and from practices and games and watching them play. Many parents juggle meals and snacks along with the demands of their jobs, carpooling, and running the house, and meet the demands of hunger on the fly.
I've heard countless complaints from parents about their child's poor eating habits. I've seen many a young athlete eat Skittles during a competition, load up on donuts before a tournament, and recover from an intensive workout with pizza, dessert, and other unhealthy options.
However, as much as kids and teens would like to use Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps's approach to eating—endless amounts of high-calorie food such as hamburgers, pizza, and sweets—the truth is they really can't. Most young athletes have nowhere near Phelps's athletic abilities and training schedule, and therefore cannot burn off the vast number of calories that go along with his eating patterns.
Physical growth is a progressive endeavor. Until young athletes reach their adult size, shape, and weight, they will be growing and changing, affecting their energy and nutrient needs.
Before puberty sets in, boys and girls grow at a steady rate and are similar in their body composition (muscle and body fat balance) and nutritional requirements. As puberty begins, around age 10 to 11 years for girls and 2 years later for boys, the energy requirements for normal growth and development escalate. If athletes eat poorly, they may experience nutritional deficiencies that can impact not only their athletic performance, but also their overall growth and physical development, as well as their abilities to succeed academically. Chronic under-eating may lead to short stature, delayed puberty, irregular menstrual periods for girls, poor bone health, and a higher risk of injuries.
Table 1-1 details the annual growth expectations for kids and teens aged 8 to 18 along with their energy needs, expressed in numbers of calories, when they engage in varying levels of physical activity.
As mentioned above, up to about age 10, kids grow at a steady pace, with occasional spurts and lags in growth. Using the body mass index (BMI) chart, a growth chart that details overall weight and height progression, will help you evaluate your athlete's growth. You can calculate the BMI at http://nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/Calculator.aspx, or simply check in with your doctor. You'll want to see steady and consistent increments in overall growth year after year; any significant change—up or down—on the growth and BMI curves should be cause for further investigation with your pediatrician.
The BMI compares an absolute weight status in relation to an individual's height. Once calculated, BMI values are classified as normal, overweight, obese, or underweight. In athletes, BMI is a tricky tool to use, as it may reflect a high muscle mass when measuring total body weight. Since athletes tend to have more muscle, especially teens, and muscle weighs more than fat, the athlete may be incorrectly identified as overweight or obese. A good example of this is the husky football player—if his BMI were measured, it may be on the higher side, even indicating overweight or obesity, yet he could be sporting minimal body fat, and lots of muscle. It's important to keep this in mind when using weight measures. The ideal use of the BMI is as a tracking tool, so you can note any deviations from your athlete's normal growth pattern.
It's normal to see peaks and valleys in appetite, as this relates to what's happening with growth. You may see more hunger during growth spurts and low or normal appetite during slowed growth. It's also completely normal for an athlete to be extra hungry after a sports practice and not as hungry during days off.
Table 1-1 lays out the expectations and general population averages of appropriate height and weight gains for kids between the ages of 8 and 18. These averages should be used as reference points for deciding what is normal, and what isn't, when it comes to your athlete's growth. That growth will reflect children's genetic makeup, the quantity and quality of the food they eat, and the balance between their nutritional intake and the demands of both physical development and the exercise they undertake.
Also critical to normal growth and development is sleep—the time when the body restores and heals itself following the activities of the day. According to the National Sleep Foundation, your younger child should be getting about 9 to 11 hours of sleep per night and your teen at least 8 hours. Getting teenagers to catch that many zzz's is a challenge, as their circadian biological clock makes them alert later at night, making it difficult for them to fall asleep before 11 p.m.
What does this all mean? It means you can do a lot to optimize growth, like feeding your athlete healthy food most of the time and making sure he or she is getting enough sleep. However, you can't change what nature intended. Your naturally short-statured son isn't likely to experience a surge in height and become the center on the basketball team, and your slight-bodied track athlete daughter may struggle with being thin. And no matter how hard you try to get your older athlete to sleep, you just might have to settle for weekends of sleeping in.
Appetite
For most athletes, their natural appetite will drive food intake and growth. Letting appetite take charge is the best bet for getting an accurate sense of how many calories they need. As the internal regulator of food intake, an athlete's appetite relies on hormones like ghrelin, which triggers hunger, and leptin, which shuts it off. However, the regulation of appetite isn't a simple matter because hormones are complicated, and they aren't the only things that influence appetite. Other factors—including, of course, the appearance and taste of food—can make young athletes want to eat even when they're not physically hungry.
Kids and teens don't always eat based on a good sense of their appetite. We only have to look to the obesity statistics to see that there is a problem. One in three children and teens is overweight or obese. Part of this problem is due to what and how much they eat. Twenty-percent of kids' daily calories come from snacks, and 34 teaspoons (136 g) of sugar are consumed by typical teens each day. Eating hefty snacks and excessive sugar often translates to overeating. Additionally, some kids eat without thinking, not paying attention to or caring about what or how much they've eaten. They may eat mindlessly or with an "absence of hunger," a term coined by researchers in the obesity field that means eating for reasons other than hunger—like boredom, celebration, or sadness—which has been linked to overeating and weight gain. Other kids eat because something looks yummy or tastes good, with little thought of what the food contains. This, by itself, isn't necessarily a problem, but kids and teens do it far too often.
It's important that your athlete recognize physical hunger. If he is out of touch with this, he may not know when to eat, when to stop, or how much to eat. As a result, he may fail to tame what I call "head hunger"—other reasons for eating that aren't related to nourishment. You can help your athlete differentiate head hunger ("That looks so good, I want to eat it" or "I just want some crunchy, fatty, salty, sweet junk food") from physical hunger (tummy growling, headache, moodiness, and other symptoms of low blood sugar) by offering an apple or a sandwich when he says he's hungry. If he'd rather have ice cream, he's probably got head hunger. Appetite isn't the only thing that drives eating and growth, other factors play a role.
Puberty
Everything you thought you knew about kids and nutrition changes once puberty begins. As mentioned earlier, most girls enter puberty between the ages of 10 and 11; boys begin the process about 2 years later, between the ages of 12 and 13. During puberty, lots of changes happen, including height growth, weight gain, bone lengthening, muscle growth, and, for girls, menstruation.
When the puberty hormones estrogen (for girls) and testosterone (for boys) start to rev up in the body, physical changes begin. The little fat roll that forms around girls' bellies at ages 10 and 11 (or even a little bit earlier) is a normal part of getting ready for menstruation. These fat stores produce estrogen, the hormone responsible for regular periods. Girls who form this belly early will be more likely to start their periods earlier than girls who develop this pudginess later. Girls' bellies will gradually disappear as their breasts develop and their hips widen.
Too much exercise, or under-eating, can disrupt or delay the start of menstruation, especially in girls who are at the elite level of their sport. The intensity and duration of exercise—and the calorie burn—can lead to low body-fat stores and thus a suppression of estrogen. Studies have detailed this effect in gymnasts, dancers, swimmers, runners, and participants in other high-calorie-burning, appearance-focused sports. However, young girls or teens who exercise less than 15 hours per week do not tend to show disruption in menstruation or delays in sexual maturation.
The menstrual cycle increases the need for iron in all girls. Unfortunately, some aren't getting enough iron in their diets, which contributes to iron deficiency, or anemia, which is problematic for any girl, but especially for the serious athlete. A nonathlete who is iron deficient or anemic may experience symptoms such as pale skin, weakness, shortness of breath, fatigue, frequent illnesses or infections, and dizziness. Any young athlete with an iron deficiency will likely experience the same symptoms, but additionally see negative effects on athletic performance such as early fatigue and reduced stamina. Be sure to read Chapter 3 for more details on iron deficiency and the foods that are good sources of iron.
The key hormone for boys is testosterone, a natural steroid hormone (meaning it is produced by the body). It is often referred to as the "sex hormone," and promotes muscle growth during puberty. When levels of testosterone peak (around 14 to 16 years of age), muscles start to bulk up. The precise timing of the testosterone peak varies from individual to individual and is mostly related to heredity. The other signs of puberty in boys include stinky armpits; pimples; hair growth on the face, armpits, and other areas; and voice changes. While not bulky yet, muscles for both girls and boys get stronger with exercise, which is something to celebrate and watch for in athletic performance.
Muscles
Muscles develop, in part, based on hormone concentrations of testosterone in both males and females. Males have higher circulating levels of testosterone; their muscles eventually get bigger and bulkier than female's muscles. And, no, you cannot do anything (safely or legally) to make them pop out earlier. Although muscles start to become defined in the early teens, fat-free mass (muscle and bone) typically reaches maturity around age 19 or 20 in males; in young female athletes, it's earlier, between 15 and 16. Eventually males will have more muscle—and, in turn, more strength and speed—than girls, who carry more fat.
Common sense suggests, and research proves, that more muscle translates to positive performance outcomes, while too much body fat negatively impacts performance, especially in movement sports like running, vaulting, and jumping. Many elements go into muscle development and performance, but the playing field is not level when it comes to body composition. It's a good thing boys compete against boys, and girls against girls.
According to a 2010 report published in Pediatrics, the ability of young people to gain muscular strength increases with age and maturity. Yet children can benefit at any age from strength training, which conditions the nervous system and muscles to interact more efficiently, resulting in increased strength. Researchers believe the best time to start strength training is between 7 and 12 years of age because at that point the nervous system is very plastic and receptive. Consistency in repeated sessions yields the most strength.
This is music to many parents' and coaches' ears, but remember that kids participating in resistance training need supervision to prevent injuries. According to the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital, young people 13 to 24 years of age sustained the highest rate of weight-training–related injuries, and 90% of the injuries were related to the use of free weights. Instead of using free weights, your athlete should use his or her own body weight—it's readily available and less likely to cause injury.
Resistance training (pull-ups, push-ups, planks, sit-ups, and even carrying the groceries and shoveling snow) helps young muscles get stronger, which may improve athleticism. Teen athletes have to work their muscles if they want them to become bigger, bulkier, and more defined. Food alone, or loading up on protein supplements, won't bulk up muscles. If athletes don't exercise their muscles and keep their bodies in caloric balance, that extra protein can turn into extra calories and take the form of body fat, which can slow any athlete down. I'll cover this in more detail in Chapter 2.
Bones
I want to stress the importance of bone growth during childhood. As one of the most obvious changes during the growing years, bones get longer (hence the amazing increases in height) and thicken until the early 20s, when they finish growing. Adequate amounts of dietary calcium and other nutrients like vitamin D are essential not only for building bones during childhood, but also for retaining bone density into late adulthood. Exercise and resistance training help this growth process by producing denser bone tissue and thus stronger bones, which can mean fewer bone problems, like osteoporosis (porous, weak bones with higher fracture risk), later in life.
Certain sports—gymnastics, hurdling, judo, karate, volleyball, and other jumping sports—increase bone mineral density. High-intensity sports, like sprint running, have also been shown to have a positive effect on bone. Nonimpact sports like swimming, cycling, and sailing are not associated with improvements in bone structure. Swimmers tend to have lower bone density in their legs, partly due to the low impact involved in swimming. If your athlete plays a nonimpact sport, you might want to add a component of resistance training or a high-impact or high-intensity sport to his or her training profile to promote bone health.
Exercise and growth—both important factors in achieving success in any sports activity—require calories. When overall calories are insufficient, your athlete may experience problems with growth, including short stature and late onset of puberty, as well as low energy and fatigue. I'll get picky about which foods are the best calorie sources in Chapter 5, because the foods athletes eat do matter, despite what you may see them eating in ads on TV or in magazines.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Eat Like a Champion by Jill Castle. Copyright © 2015 Jill Castle. Excerpted by permission of AMACOM.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments, ix,Introduction, 1,
PART I NUTRITION RULES AND REGULATIONS,
1 The Growing Athlete: Body and Brain, 17,
2 The Starting Lineup: Major Nutrients, 39,
3 The Second String: Vitamins and Minerals, 64,
4 The Relief Pitcher: Fluids and Hydration, 84,
PART II PLAY-BY-PLAY EATING,
5 Game Plan—One, Two, Three Meals!, 113,
6 Take a Time Out—Top Off with Snacks, 132,
7 Foul Play—Supplements and Performance Aids, 150,
PART III CLEARING THE HURDLES,
8 Getting Off the Bench—Healing the Body with Food, 177,
9 The Special Diet Dilemma, 202,
10 Changing the Youth Sports Nutrition Landscape, 219,
Resources, 235,
Index, 237,
About the Author, 247,
Free Sample Chapter from Home for Dinner: Mixing Food, Fun, and Conversation for a Happier Family and Healthier Kids by Anne K. Fishel, Ph.D., 248,