1. Teaming Foods and Fluids for Teen Athletes
Not all teens are alike! Nutritional needs for sports vary according to age, sex, weight, height, metabolic rate, sport, and the environmental conditions.
It makes little sense to advocate one way of eating for all athletes. Each one has needs that must be considered. This presentation will then focus on what you, the student, your child, or your athletes need to successfully compete to the best of their abilities.

2. High School Hot Spots Not eating enough Don’t know how much to eat
Don’t eat enough calories
Don’t make good food choices
Don’t know a lot about nutrition
Don’t eat enough calories for competition and growth!
Teens are all different but do have a few “hot spots” that are in common for many of them. These “hot spots” often affect their choices for foods to eat on a daily basis, and, in turn, may affect how well they train and perform.

3. Zoning in on the Diet for YOU! How Much More Do Teens Need?
Type of activity
Intensity of the workout
Frequency of the activity
Teens often know little about how many calories they need to stay healthy while in training. The teen years are not the right years to engage in severe weight loss programs because of the need for energy to cover growth requirements. It is also assumed that we all need the same percentages, weight the same, participate in the same sports, and have identical lifestyles and training programs!
Teenage boys may needs as much as 6,000 kcal per day! But how much CHO, fats, or protein are needed?

4. Carbohydrates Simple “carbs” Complex “carbs” sugars starches
whole grains
fruits
vegetables
high “fiber” foods
Have you ever heard of the “glycemic index”? This carb classification depends on how fast a certain food raises your blood sugar levels.
In athletes, it is important to get the right amount of carbs in the diet to support whatever the athletic event is. Both high glycemic and low glycemic foods provide energy for high intensity workouts.

5. The Power in Carbs Energy for exercise from carbs
Body uses muscle glycogen stores - the major source of fuel in the first 1/2 hour of activity
After minutes, energy fueled from blood glucose stores
Both simple and complex CHO are broken down in the digestive system into glucose which circulates into the blood in the form of blood glucose.
Blood glucose is the preferred source of energy for the body to use in most tissues. It is stored in the muscles and in the liver as glycogen.
Muscle glycogen is the main source of energy during high intensity exercise.
Blood glucose becomes important as fuel during prolonged endurance exercise after muscle glycogen stores have become low.

6. Why Do We Need Carbohydrates?
Energy source
Moderate workouts need less carbs than high workouts
Available source of energy to stop “hitting the wall”
Moderate workouts would be drills, sprints, weight lifting, or skill training.
High workouts would be running, biking, swimming, skiing, climbing, rowing, or any other aerobic activity for more than 60 minutes on most days.

7. Fat - How Low Do You Go? NEED TO DECREASE FAT NEED TO INCREASE FAT
Does anyone in your family have a history of heart disease or have high blood pressure?
Do you need to lose body fat?
Do you eat a high fat diet?
Do you train or compete aerobically more than 60 minutes per day?
NEED TO INCREASE FAT
Do you have trouble keeping weight on and eat a low fat diet?
Do you eat less than 30 grams of fat per day?
Do you feel hungry but eat a lot?
Do you not eat a lot of foods because they have too much fat?
You may have different diet needs, based on your health history or if you already eat a very high fat diet. If you do a lot of aerobic activity, you may have to decrease your fat intake and increase your carbohydrate intake to have more efficient fuel for your body.
If you have trouble keeping weight up, you may need to increase your fat intake for extra calories. It doesn’t have to be a lot!
Not enough fat can be bad, too. Keep your diet balanced for peak performance!

8. Fats - Fuel for Fitness
“The more you restrict a food or food group in your diet, the greater the chance is that an important nutrient is lacking”
All food fuels are important!
It takes anywhere from minutes from the start of exercising before the fat in your body is used as an energy source. Carbs are used first.
When more fat is burned, less muscle glycogen is used - and the stores are not depleted. Glycogen stores are limited and fat stores are almost endless - fat is a valuable energy source for athletes involved in endurance events like crew-rowing, cross-country skiing, distance running, triathlons, soccer, and tournament tennis.

9. Packing in Protein?
Protein is needed daily to build, replace and repair muscles and body tissue cells in our body. It also makes hemoglobin which carries oxygen to the cells. Protein only supplies energy when necessary.
Amino Acids are absorbed from the protein foods that we eat and used to form muscle, hemoglobin, enzymes, and hormones. Those that are not used are either used as an energy source or stored as fat.

10. Losing the Battle with Protein?
Vegetarians eating no animal protein
Low calorie intake
Growing taller
Adolescents can be at risk for not eating enough protein for a variety of reasons. Some are due to diet preferences - such as a vegetarian diet, or to a self-imposed low calorie intake. Growth needs also increase the amount of protein needed for youth - and may not be increased when the youth is growing AND competing - making the body compete for the protein it needs.

11. Protein Muscle Myths
True or False - “Teen athletes need high protein diets to build muscle mass”
FALSE! Teen athletes need enough protein to meet growth and training needs!
With teens, we need to remember growth and training needs. It is not difficult to get enough protein through foods. The protein content of a diet generally increases when energy needs increase.

12. Protein/Muscle Partnership
Provides building blocks for body tissues
Athletes require a little bit more than average
Additional protein and amino acid intake DOES NOT build larger muscles or increase muscle tissue growth during training
Need to develop muscles to their maximum by training and hard work
More does NOT mean better! Too much protein may be stored as fat and is also a very expensive source of nutrients.
Excess excretion of nitrogen can tax the kidneys and increases your potential for dehydration.

13. Max Your Muscles Stronger muscles can improve performance.
Stronger muscles can increase speed when running, force when throwing or endurance in any athletic event.
In contact sports like wrestling and football, only the strong can survive. But stronger muscles can improve your performance in any sport.

14. Twitch Talk Fast-Twitch Fibers work rapidly but tire quickly.
Slow-Twitch Fibers don’t work as fast, but they have greater endurance.
Intermediate-Twitch Fibers produce more power than slow-twitch but can be trained to have high aerobic capacity.
Athletes with more fast-twitch fibers than slow tend to be better sprinters. Those with more slow-twitch fibers than fast are better at marathons. There is nothing you can do to change this - but you can increase the size and strength of the muscle fibers you’ve inherited. But not with extra protein - try extra exercise and specific workouts.

15. Breathing Basics Aerobic Exercise Anaerobic Exercise Muscle Uses
What is the relationship between oxygen, athletes, and the uses during exercise?

16. Anaerobic Exercise Football Baseball
Short Distance Track & Field Events
Anaerobic exercise is a high intensity form of short duration, like the 50 yard dash. Football and baseball are also anaerobic because the athlete has to use quick bursts of energy for a short period of time many times. This is too intense for the respiratory and circulatory system to supply the oxygen needed for working muscles, called anaerobic - w/out oxygen.
Athletes use muscle glycogen for these events - but if it is used up too quickly - like playing both offense and defense - you can significantly reduce muscle stores. The body can only store about 2 hours worth - when you run out of this, it is referred to as “hitting the wall”.

17. Aerobic Exercise Cross Country Marathons Long Distance Swimming
Aerobic exercise, which means it uses oxygen, is low and moderate in density and of a long duration, like running cross country. 70% of the fuel comes from glycogen and 30% from fat.

18. Uses of Muscles During Exercise
Uses all types of twitch muscles
Each can store glycogen but they can’t share it
Exhausted muscles can be restored with a high CHO diet within 24 hours
Choose complex CHO to restore muscle
Each type of muscle does store it’s own glycogen, but it cannot move between fiber types. For example, lets say that a high school athlete has been working out for over an hour and his slow -twitch muscle glycogen stores are almost gone. But the fast twitch bucket is still full. Now, the fast twitch can be recruited to finish the exercise, but they get tired easily and can’t finish it. Once the athlete has used up all the slow twitch muscles stores, they must be replaced by eating foods rich in CHO and resting. Replace CHO stores from complex CHO sources. Too much simple CHO can increase the insulin in the blood and drop blood sugars - leading to weakness, dizziness, and disorientation.

19. Making Muscle Mass Follow a good training program Get enough sleep
Follow a good nutrition program
Have good eating habits
Muscle growth results from a specific safe training program and correct lifting techniques - make sure you have guidance before starting a training programs.
Muscles tend to “grow” during rest - and especially during sleep! A hormone that spurs muscle growth (growth hormone) is highest while you sleep - although getting enough sleep as a teen isn’t easy! Needs vary from person to person but work towards nine hours on weeknights and more on the weekend, if possible. A sign you are getting enough sleep is that you fall asleep easily on your own and wake up without an alarm clock.
You need to eat enough to promote muscle growth. To build a pound of muscle in a week, most athletes need extra calories per day. Gaining 1/2 to 1 pound per week is just about right - any more and you are probably eating too much fat.
Protein is important, but remember so are carbs. After an intense training, eating carbs to replenish muscle stores may help you recover faster and train harder. Try to eat 5 times a day. This takes a little planning, but have some snacks and bottled drinks in your glove compartment, locker, or backpack. Eat many different types - it’s easy to get burned out on just one type of snack. Make sure you eat something for breakfast!

20. How Do You Build Muscle? Pounds of Meat? Dozens of Eggs?
Gallons of Whole Milk?
Packets of Protein Powder?
Athletes used to try to build muscle by eating LOTS - several pounds of meat and dozens of raw eggs daily! We now know that a high protein, high fat diet does promote lean tissue and muscle growth. You still need a lot of calories - they just need to come from other sources.

21. Weighing In… Both a sports and social issue
Too many restrictions can slow growth and development during teen years

22. The Growing Rate for Girls
Fastest between
10” taller
40-50# heavier
Slows after
Weight added all over!

23. The Growing Rate for Guys
Fastest between
12” taller
# heavier
Shoulders broaden
Muscles grow and strengthen
Fat deposits decrease and muscle increases

24. Does Cutting Back Cut Out Too Much?
Loss of muscle
Lower BMR
Can’t maintain body weight
Body temperature changes
Low blood and plasma volumes
Reduction in cardiac output
Loss of electrolytes
Decreased renal blood flow
Depletion of liver glycogen stores
Decrease in work performance
Decrease in muscular strength
Health professional have been largely ignored because many young athletes do not believe these physiological changes affect performance or long term health.

25. Health Concerns for High Risks Sports
Wrestlers
Gymnasts
Dancers
Swimmers
Divers
Athletes striving for the leanest body composition, such as wrestlers, gymnasts, dancers, and swimmers are at the greatest risk for nutritional deficiencies. These sports require wearing a leotard, singlet, swim suit, or shorts and teens are concerned about their appearance! These athletes often restrict their intakes severely, but often do not have enough nutrition knowledge to plan their food intakes and meet their nutrition requirements.

26. Disordered Eating Disasters
Discourage unnecessary weigh-ins
Look for warning signs of eating disorders
“Forgot” to eat
Weight loss
Avoiding food activities
Critical
Diuretics/laxatives
Withdrawal/low self esteem
Declining performance
Unnecessary weigh-ins can keep a growing athlete from eating high-carbohydrate and nutritious snacks needed for muscle glycogen. Some expecting to be weighed skip meals and have low energy levels for morning practice and after school.
Watch for those who are in too much control - this can be a sign of disordered eating:
Those who forget to eat but feel in control when they are empty
Females who stop menstruating
Athletes that lose large amounts of weight in a short period of time
Avoiding food related activities, like team banquets and meals, post-exercise snacks, and parents may say the child does not eat with the family any more.
Being too critical of their body
Using diuretics and laxatives
Withdrawing and showing low self-esteem
Declining performance and practice levels
Limiting categories of foods to eat - restrictive vegetarians, etc.

27. Lethal Weight Loss for Wrestlers
3 collegiate wrestlers die from rapid weight loss programs to qualify for competition
Common weight loss tactics used:
dehydration
hyperthermia
restricted food and fluid intakes
vapor-impermeable suits
exercising in hot environments
One of these three young men attempted to lose 15# in 12 hours - Preseason weight in Aug was 233, lost 23 pounds during next 10 weeks, then wanted to try to lose more to compete in the 195# bracket. Another 22 y.o. wanted to lose 4# in 4 hours to compete at 153#. preseason 178#, then lost 21# in 10 wks. - 8 lost between Nov A 21 y.o. tried to lose 6# in 3 hours to Preseason wt was lost 21 pounds, but most was during Dec 6-8.
First report to I.d. deaths associated with rapid weight loss in interscholastic or collegiate wrestling. These practices affect cardiovascular function, electrical activity, thermal regulation, renal function, electrolyte balance, body composition, and muscular endurance and strength.
The three wrestlers used vapor impermeable suits which increased their body temps to the danger point.
Exercise - 97% Diet 94%
Plastic Suit - 81% Sweating - 74%
Vomiting 23% Laxative 17%
Diuretic - 11%

28. Weight Woes It’s expensive to buy enough food… I don’t like to cook…
There is no food around when I want to eat…
I don’t like eating breakfast
I don’t have time to eat between going to class, working, studying, training, and competing…
I feel sick after I eat
I eat a lot, but I am still losing weight
I don’t know!
It does cost money to eat a high calorie diet - if this is a problem, you may have to sacrifice convenience - bring your own water instead of buying a bottle of it! It is also cheaper to eat at home than to eat out all the time.
If you don’t like to cook, don’t! There are plenty of easy ways to eat including cold cereal with milk and juice, microwave meals and snacks, ice cream shakes, sandwiches, and canned foods.
If there is no food around, make sure there is! Stock your locker or back pack so it is there when you need it!
You don’t have to eat a traditional breakfast - just eat something! Calories don’t care if they come from cold pizza or oatmeal. If you don’t like feeling full so early in the morning, have some juice or something to drink - they empty out of your stomach faster. It might take some time to get used to eating breakfast - increase gradually if needed. Take a few extra minutes in the morning - it’s worth it all day.
You may feel nauseous if you are dehydrated. Make sure you are drinking enough water during practice - for each pound of sweat lost, you need to drink 2 cups of water or other beverages.
Add more calories to foods you already eat to boost weight instead of adding more food, if you feel too full. See if the foods are low or fat free and change to regular fat content foods. Try variety - we eat more with a variety! Don’t get food fatigue. Keep a food diary, if needed.

29. Weight Loss Winners Choose the best foods within calorie limits
Choose nutrient dense and readily available foods
Multi-vitamin/mineral supplement with % of RDA recommended
Remember - the energy recommended for the RDA’s for adolescent males and females does NOT take into account for extra calories needed for training and competition. This is only calculated for growth and energy requirements.
Coaches and health care professionals need to encourage weight loss before the season begins and promote a slow, steady weight loss during the season. The goal during the competitive season should be weight maintenance, not weight loss.

30. Fill’er Up With Fluids! Sweating it out Thinking of thirst
Body language for more liquids
What’s the big deal - it’s just water, right? WRONG! If you can’t stay hydrated, just forget about every other thing you are doing to keep in shape. Drinking enough water can make a good performance a great performance.
You are mostly water! If you took all the water out of a 180# person, there would only be about 55 pounds left! Your muscles, brains, blood, and sweat are mostly water. If you do not have enough, you don’t work right! You don’t think right, you lose strength, and your heart works harder.
Water must sweat out of your body to remove the heat made by your muscles. Dehydration makes sweating stop - which means your body overheats. This can lead to fatigue, weakness, dizziness, collapse, and even worse. Recent football fatalities have had internal body temps of 108 degrees.
You need a plan to replace the lost fluid. Your body does not always tell you when you are thirsty, so you have to know ahead of time when the activity you are doing requires replacing fluids.
Weight yourself before and after practice - for every pound lost, you need to drink another 2 cups of water. Do not practice again until your weight is up to normal. If you can’t weigh yourself, pay attention to your body - your mouth should not be dry and your urine should not be dark. More than one episode of dark urine means you don’t have much left in reserves - and dehydration may occur quickly.
Say no to salt tablets - they can make your stomach upset, and one tablet increases your fluid needs by one pint!, which can actually make you more dehydrated.

31. When to Water? Drink before, during, and after your workout!
Water comes in all shapes and sizes
Drinking a pint of liquid a few hours before your workout will help make sure you have enough to get started. Keep you water bottle full and close by so you remember to drink it.
Keep drinking during exercise. If you are sweating, your body needs a constant source of water to refill. Feeling sick and crampy is often blamed on the water, when in fact it is a sign of dehydration.
Athletes working in the heat can lose up to 10 pounds - that’s more than a gallon of water! Remember to drink after your workout, too. A mouthful of water is about an ounce - so 4 big gulps from the water fountain may be as much as 1/2 a cup.
There are many good sources of water, depending on how fast your body needs it. Milk is 90% water, pop 89%, sports drinks 94%, and pizza is even 50% water. They all count. But if you need to get rehydrated in a hurry, choose water. It is absorbed the quickest and able to get to your body the fastest. Too much extra sugar slows down absorption time. Your body can only absorb about a cup of water every 20 minutes.

32. Fluid Facts Kids give off more heat during exercise
Kids can’t handle the heat as well
Heat Cramps
Heat Exhaustion
Heat Stroke
Kids take longer to get used to the heat during workouts
Kids don’t sweat as “efficiently”
Kids are not adults in smaller, younger bodies - they actually react differently to stress.
Heat Cramps - Thirst, chills, goose bumps, clammy skin, throbbing heart beat, nausea, muscle pain, and spasms,. Need cool, rapidly absorbed fluids - 1/2 cup every 15 minutes in a cool shaded area.
Heat Exhaustion - reduced sweating, SOB, dry mouth, weak, rapid pulse, headache, dizziness, extreme fatigue, but body temp is normal. Need to stop exercising, cool down. Put ice bag to head, sit on chair in cool shower. Drink 2 cups of water for every pound lost.
Heat Stroke - Call 911! Temp 106 or higher, lack of sweat, dry hot skin, deafness, vision problems, swollen tongue, nervousness, hallucinations, aggression, unsteady walking, unconsciousness, convulsions, death. Ice bag front and back of head while waiting for help. Remove clothing, use rubbing alcohol to bring down body temp.

33. Magic Vitamins and Minerals?
Competitive edge?
When do you need a supplement?
What’s important to teens?
Calcium
Iron
Zinc
Vitamin and mineral supplements do not give an edge when the athlete eats a balanced diet. They also do not provide energy - if you eat enough carbohydrates, fats, and protein, you will have the vitamins you need to help convert these nutrients to energy.
If you do need a supplement, make sure you only take the recommended dosage - additional levels can be toxic!
Some minerals are vital to growing teens.
CALCIUM -for muscle contractions, bone formation and nerve transmission.
IRON - for OXYGEN! Athletes in aerobic activities especially need to have a diet rich in iron. Iron deficiency is the most common deficiency in the U.S. and teens and females are the highest risk group. Think about the last time you were out of breath and gasping for air - think of the tissues in your body as gasping for air when you do not eat enough oxygen. When your body doesn’t have enough, you make less hemoglobin, and your body has less oxygen.
ZINC - is important for healing injuries, for oxygen, growth, and nerves, along with insulin and CO2. It is also important in metabolism.

34. Supplement Safety Not tested for safety or effectiveness
Give false sense of security and can encourage poor eating habits
There are no supplements that will make you grow “larger, stronger, or faster” by magic
Expensive!
Well-meaning adults may encourage young athletes to take supplements to promote early athletic development, improve performance, or as “health insurance”. However, how soon your mature and how well you do athletically do not depend on how soon you grow and are not helped by dietary supplements.
Supplements may give kids a false sense of security. They may assume that the morning supplement gives them all they need and that they can eat junk foods the rest of the day. Kids may also assume that any progress they make is because of the supplement, and not because of hard work and training. Megadoses of supplements do NOT make up for a lack of talent or training and can be dangerous.
Growing larger is based more on genetics than anything else. Kids will not reach there potential if they do not eat right! Restricting calories and meals may mean you don’t grow as tall or as strong as you could have if you would have eaten right.

35. How Powerful Are Protein Supplements?
98% of surveyed college students think better performance means high protein diets. 80% think that this will help increase muscle mass. 59% of all weight lifters take a protein supplement although little information supports the effect that extra protein has on muscle mass and strength.
Most supplements are supposed to help build muscle but in reality they don’t work. Some supplements, such as creatine, fluid, a& electrolyte replacers, CHO supplements and meal replacers may help SOME athletes (not all) in strength training.

36. Keys to Supplement Success?
Amino Acids
Creatine
Liquid Meal Replacers

37. Amino Acids = 200-500 mg/tablet One Ounce Meat 7000 mg per serving
Real Deal or False Hope?
Amino Acids = mg/tablet
One Ounce Meat mg per serving
Some studies reported success with amino acids but results have never been duplicated. Actually, too much amino acids may result in stomach cramps and diarrhea and may interfere with the absorption of other amino acids.
Remember - weight lifting and endurance training increase growth hormone levels - not amino acids. And, extra amino acid supplementation with exercise does not raise levels higher than with exercise alone.

38. Creatine
Muscle Magic?
Creatine is a protein like substance and stored in the muscles. It is sold as a supplement.It is used by the body to generate energy during intense exercise. Research has shown that supplementation can increase the amount of creatine in your muscles. They aren’t sure how, but one thing is that they thing that is helps your muscles work harder and recover faster and may make your muscles grow.
Creatine is not new - gladiators in Roman times knew about it - they just consumed it as meat - a pound of raw meat has 2 grams of creatine and a pound of raw fish has 5 grams - so athletes who eat a good variety of meat, poultry, and fish are getting more creatine than those who limit their meat intake.
Creatine supplementation has been shown to show SOME improvement in repetitive sports - like rowing, sprinting, cycling, swimming, and weight lifting - but, it has also shown a decline in wrestlers when they combined creatine supplementation with rapid weight losses. It hasn’t been shown to help in distance sports. Creatine does cause weight gain - partially from extra water in the muscle. Long term is 2 -6 pounds of lean muscle mass.
How much? Beginning phase - larger doses for a week, then a maintenance phase. Levels remain high in the body for several weeks. It isn’t cheap, either. Not recommended under the age of 18 because of possible side effects and effects on the kidneys. Kids think it will work wonders because college athletes will come home all bulked up and say they are taking the supplement - and kids assume it is the supplement that beefed them up, not all the time in a college weight room.

39. Harmful Habits Steroids Caffeine Sugar
Generally, people take steroids to improve their appearance versus their performance. They can help the muscles grow and get stronger but do not improve aerobic activity. Side effects include sterility, slower growth, and a reversal of male characteristics and female characteristics. Not top mention illegal!
Caffeine was thought to be able to utilize more fat for energy, but where it does improve endurance, it does not spare glycogen. It can also cause dehydration, nausea, vomiting, muscle tremors, and headaches. It has also been declared an illegal drug in sports competition
Sugar is also used for quick energy - but this is a myth because the energy actually comes from what was stored in the muscle a few days before the event. When you eat sugar, insulin is released into the bloodstream. As you exercise, your muscles become more sensitive to insulin - so if you eat a lot of sugar within 2 hours of your activity, you may actually become more fatigued because of hypoglycemia.

40. What’s On Your Training Table?
Ask a dozen people what they eat before competition and you will get a dozen different answers! The right one is what works best for you for the activity you are involved in.
Pre-competition meals used to be “magic” because they were supposed to do something special to improve performance. We now know that what you eat every day to support your training plays a much bigger role.

41. Choosing Your Food What sport are you competing in?
Variety is the spice of life!
Good choices are great - bad choices can be disastrous!
If you are going to compete in an aerobic event like cross-country running, distance cycling, or a marathon, it might help to “top off” your energy stores with a high carb meal. Athletes who play soccer, volleyball, basketball, and hockey may also benefit from this.
For power and sprint athletes, like football players, sprinters, baseball or softball players, the primary goal is to provide enough fluids and energy to keep you comfortable during this event.
All foods can be considered for pre-event meals, not just pasta! Athletes are really different in what makes them feel comfortable - for some it might be pasta and bread, where others want the meat and potatoes. Find out what works for you, giving you the energy and fluids you need without feeling sluggish and bloated.
The pre-competition meal can’t make an average athlete superhuman, but poor planning can make that same person miserable. You want to avoid meals that you know make you crampy, nauseous, gassy, or cause diarrhea.
Remember - eat the foods you like and don’t try anything different! This is not the time to try a new recipe! If you are still not sure what works best for you, write down what you eat before some events and how you felt during them. This may help you figure out what works best for you to perform at 100%

42. Tricks for Timing? There are no rules - but know yourself!
It is recommended to eat hours before the event. This allows most of the food to leave your stomach, while not leaving you really hungry.
Finding the right timing for you is individual. Keep track of what you ate and how you felt and performed. Athletes will fall to both ends of the extreme - some who eat right before the event to those who can’t have anything in their stomachs to those right in the middle. What works for you?

43. Keep It Simple! Eat foods you like!
Eat the same kinds of foods you eat all the time – now is not the time to try something new!
This is not the time to try something new – it should be like a pair of old shoes – familiar and comfortable. Choose foods that you like, foods that you normally eat and foods that you tolerate well, even when you are stressed. The day of the big track meet or basketball tournament is not the time to try something new! Plan ahead, even if that means packing your own cooler.
Some athletes make pre-competition meals part of the pre-game ritual. If you do not know yet what your ritual is and what foods work best for you, keep track of what you eat before competition and how well you felt and performed during that competition.
Your pre-competition meal can mean disaster for your event if you eat something that does not agree with you. It can help your event if you eat something that agrees with you and gets you ready to compete – but no matter how good your pre-competition meal is, it does not compare with the long-term nutritional and physical benefits of eating well for top performance.

44. How to Handle the Butterflies!
Adrenaline is a great performance booster, but it can also make us really uncomfortable! Stress hormones can be hard on your digestive tract. Nervous tension also affects how well we digest our food.
If you get diarrhea from being nervous, try to decrease the amount of fiber and spicy foods the day before or so the competition. If your stomach gets upset easy, a meal-replacement shake, or smoothie might help settle your stomach. Peppermints can also help a nervous tummy.

45. Watch the Mealtime Clock If You …
Play contact sports
Lose your appetite
Have a nervous digestive system
Exercise in the heat
In a high-intensity sport
You don’t want a full stomach if you may get hit in the belly.
If you get nervous, eat far enough ahead of time so your stomach doesn’t get “tight”. You need these calories for competition! Nerves can also make your system speed up and force you to make untimely trips to the bathroom.
Exercising in the heat can lead to dehydration, stomach cramps, and gas.
It is also hard to run and jump when your stomach is full.

46. Munch Your Lunch Hunger pains Get shaky or weak In an endurance event
Some people who are in all day events like to munch all day. Eat as close as 30 minutes before an event if you get uncomfortably hungry during the event and have hunger pains; get weak or shaky because of low blood sugar; or need extra carbohydrates for energy.

47. After the Final Buzzer Refill on fluids No heavy foods Crunch on carbs
Replace those lost fluids as soon as possible! This is a great time for a CHO drink, if needed. Recent studies have shown that twice as much glycogen stores were formed if CHO was eaten immediately after exercise, compared to waiting a few hours.
The importance of eating after a workout is to get your body ready for the next workout, plus refuel what you used. For most athletes, eating a light snack and lots of fluids close by - pack a lunch, if needed to refuel your muscles. Fresh fruits and veggies are also great to replace electrolytes lost during sweating. It is also important to eat a balanced meal soon to have enough fluids and nutrients for recovery.
Be careful if you are dehydrated – eating foods or fluids that are high in calories can actually make you sick instead of helping you – so replaced the fluids first and then eat.

48. We all know what this is - the Food Guide Pyramid
We all know what this is - the Food Guide Pyramid. Does your diet look like this pyramid? Or...

49. This pyramid? Chances are, if you are like many other people, your diet looks more like this one….
What are some reasons that our diets are more top-heavy?

50. Being a Champion Eater
Most of my meals contain at least three different foods…
Over the course of a week, my meals have at least 10 different foods…
I plan what I am going to eat before I get hungry…
I keep non-perishable foods with me so I am never caught without food when I am hungry…
I make sure I get at least 6 servings of breads and cereals each day…
I choose my foods based on what I have already eaten to try to get a balanced diet…
I try to get at least 3 different servings of milk, yogurt, or cheese each day…
I keep water, juice, milk, of other beverages close at hand during the day…
I make sure to eat at least 2 servings of meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, beans, eggs, or nuts each day…
I eat at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables each day…
We have less and less time each day to eat. Fast food is a reality for many athletes. It is possible to eat nutritionally on the go, but it takes some planning! Take this quiz to see if you are winning or losing the nutrition game plan.
Give yourself 5 points for every true statement.
45 – 50 points – You have mastered eating on the go!
30 – 40 points – You are avoiding major hazards
20 – 25 points – High risk for nutritional derailment
Less than 20 – Warning! Time out for a nutrition disaster!
Food choices are usually based on what is there, what we like, and how much money we have. Try to pick foods that help balance your pyramid for competition.

51. Special thanks to Linda Boeckner, PhD, RD Extension Nutrition Specialist University of Nebraska Cooperation Extension cooperating with the Counties and the U.S. Department of Agriculture