From: www.childrens-mercy.org/Content/view.aspx?id=3160

Athletes and Nutrition
Eating to Improve Performance

Whether the soccer mom or the coaching dad, as a parent you do everything you can to help your young athlete be his best. But often overlooked or widely misunderstood are the nutritional needs for a child active in athletics.

In part, your child needs the same things any young healthy person needs, following the food guide pyramid, a variety and balance of fruit, whole grains, vegetables, dairy and proteins. The difference is the athlete needs more calories - from the proper sources - because they're burning more energy.

Further confusing the matter are all the nutrient bars and special energy drinks now available. For the most part, these products aren't necessary to fuel your athlete. And they certainly don't have enchanted ingredients that will help your child's abilities beyond that of a healthy diet.

Your child can't make up for a poor diet on the day of a competition, so it's important to feed him healthy meals and snacks on a consistent basis. Doing so provides the foundation for those times when activity levels do increase.

"An average 12 to 13-year-old male athlete might weigh 100 pounds, requiring 300 to 500 grams of carbohydrates a day," according to Shelly Summar, a registered dietitian and Program Coordinator for Nutrition Services. "Because carbohydrates are the most important source of fuel for the young athlete, they need to be from quality sources, including a variety of fruit, vegetables, low-fat or non-fat dairy and whole grains."

Keep in mind, the food choices you make for your athlete must serve as fuel to sustain his activities. According to Summar, specific guidelines for your child athlete on the day of competition include:

Morning of Activity
Whether the day's activity is one game or a daylong event, the morning's breakfast should be high in carbohydrates and low in fat.

One Hour Before
A typical breakfast might be a whole grain bagel with a small amount of light cream cheese and a glass of 100 percent fruit juice or low-fat milk, or a bowl of whole grain cereal such as Cheerios with low-fat milk and half a banana.

Two or More Hours Before
A small amount of protein (in addition to the items above) would be good. A whole grain bagel or whole grain bread with peanut butter and jelly and some fruit like oranges or grapes with a glass of low-fat milk would make an ideal breakfast.

In-Between Activities
If there are multiple events during the day of competition, what the athlete should have varies on the time frame between events.

One Hour or Less
With such a short amount of time, the athlete should only consume sports drinks or other carbohydrate-containing liquids such as juice or smoothies. If food is needed however, it should be mainly carbohydrates and in small portions like a small granola bar.

One to Two Hours
While there is enough time to take in some nutrients, there's not enough time to digest an entire meal. In this instance, sports drinks, fruits and grains are okay. But, because fats take longer to digest, its import to keep it all low fat. Good snacks for example would be oranges, low-fat granola bars, graham crackers and sports drinks.

While sports drinks can be helpful in daylong activities, they are not necessarily needed (or good) on a daily basis. In general, water should be the beverage of choice.

Three or More Hours
With this much time between events, the athlete can have a mini-meal, high in carbohydrates, moderate in protein but still low in fat. A turkey sandwich and pretzels with fruit and water, sports drinks and 100 percent juice for example.

After
When the games are over, the athlete can be a little more flexible. But it's still important that he replenish all the energy burned during the day. Make certain he gets plenty of carbohydrate, but now he can also have more protein and fat. A common celebratory meal eaten after an event would be pizza. That's fine, but make certain to add a side salad.

As parents, you need to remember that young athletes should be eating the same way other healthy kids are eating, but they need more substance to sustain activities. So always have an abundance of fruits, vegetables and whole-grains on hand.

What your athlete eats in-between events is more important that what he has afterwards. So if he wants the cheeseburger and fries, it would be better for him to have it at the end of the day, but with the understanding that it will soon be back to the food guide pyramid and eating a variety and balance of fruit, whole grains, vegetables, dairy and proteins.