Is Your Athlete Underfueling? A Common Oversight

Is Your Athlete Underfueling?

Many of my posts have an underlying theme of underfueling but I realized I have not created a post specifically devoted to this topic. So, that’s what I’m going to take a few minutes to talk about today.

If you have been following along with me on Instagram lately, or in my Newsletters, then you have seen me talk about this topic. It has been the most asked for topic that coaches and athletic trainers have asked me to come speak on in this last year. And it is one of the top two reasons athletes have come to see me in clinic since the beginning of 2023 (with probably the other one being helping them navigate nutrition in their recovery, like from an ACL tear and repair).

Going into the field of sports nutrition and then, more specifically, pediatrics I didn’t think this is what I would spend the majority of time talking about. Although, it should not surprise me because for a time in my childhood I was absolutely another underfueled young athlete - even when I improved my fueling significantly, I was still underfueling. And I didn’t realize that part until I got into this field as an adult, started working with young athletes, and studying the field. So, I know how easy it is to say, “no, my fueling is good. It’s so much better than a year ago. There must be another reason for (xyz). Or, I’m doing well so my fueling must be optimal now”. 

If the young athlete is experiencing any of the signs or symptoms I’m about to mention, then they and their support team really need to take a closer look into their fueling. Improved food and energy intake can have a huge impact on performance, helping the athlete achieve the muscle gains they have been working on, it can improve endurance and speed, it can improve mental focus and, a big point, it can keep your athlete in the game and away from nutrition-related injuries that can have them out of their sport for months. From a health perspective, being well-fueled can improve the athlete’s mood, help keep anxiety down, promote heart health, metabolic health, and bone health. 

Maybe you are the athlete or have the athlete who has experienced some of the signs and symptoms below but they are still performing and practicing well. My thoughts to that are... 

“Ok, great. So you’re performing well off of minimal fuel. But, for how long? And, if you can perform well off not enough, JUST IMAGINE what you could do, how you could perform, the levels you could get to if you were fueling WELL. If you were fuleing your BEST. If you are talented and driven and scrappy enough to perform well off of too little fuel or the bare minimum, just think about what your body could do if it had all that it needed!! Imagine what it could do if it didn’t have to power down or compromise different systems so you could practice and perform?

I’m so passionate about this, clearly. And I get SO EXCITED when I see athlete’s performance improve with improved fueling. It could be small changes it could be big changes, but it makes a difference and I love to see this “click” in the young athletes I work with.

This is not just me talking about fueling and how important it is. This concept of underfueling has actually been studied and continues to be studied in great detail. From it has developed a term call Low Energy Availability, meaning the athlete does not have enough energy available at the end of the day each day to perform all of the functions demanded of it (think - exercise, studying, growth, development, breathing, eating, heartbeat, hormone cycles, etc.). Another way I like to explain this is that “if you have been underfuling consistently for a long period of time, you are likely in a state of Low Energy Availability (LEA)”. It can be intentional or it can be unintentional, but either way it means that some function of the body is very likely getting powered down or compromised (think loss of menstrual cycle in females, sluggish performance, fatigue, lowered heart rate, etc.) and can lead to decreased performance and injury.

Further research shows us that Low Energy Availability is often the root cause of a few other medical conditions now recognized in athletes.

These medical conditions stemming from LEA are:

• Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S)

• Female Athlete Triad

• Male Athlete Triad

I’m not going to go into detail about these today, but will instead devote a separate blog post to each topic. They all can lead to decreased performance, health problems or injury, none of which we want in our young athletes! In future posts I also want to talk more about potential reasons for underfueling - intentional vs unintentional. The reason the athlete is underfueling can have a big impact on how we help them get fueled and the projected timeline of return to optimal fueling (or return to sport).

So, I’ll leave you today with a handful of the signs and symptoms of underfueling. Is your athlete experiencing any of these? If so, it’s likely time to start looking into their fueling habits and create a plan. And, definitely stick around for future posts where I go a little deeper and provide insight into these medical conditions caused by underfuleing.

Signs and Symptoms of Underfueling:

• Dizziness

• Fatigue

• Weight Loss

• Hair Loss

• Growth Disturbances (athlete stops gaining in height)

• Unable to build muscle

• Lost period or not starting period by age of 16

• Heightened anxiety and/or moodiness

• Low iron levels / iron deficiency

• Low heart rate (but must distinguish between underfuling and lower heart rate that elite athletes tend to have)

Much love and a well-fueled young athlete,

Taylor

Oh, and if you’re looking for a little more direction and a place to start taking action, you are welcome to download my free Getting Started to a Well-Fueled Young Athlete!

A Key to Fueling Well in 2024

Happy New Year, Everyone!

How is your year starting off? For me, in my current season of life, it’s a time to take a breath after a very fun but very hectic December.

I sent out my first newsletter of the year last week (you can sign up here if interested) and thought I would pull my intro message from my newsletter for this first post of the year because it’s a message that I really want people to hear and I know that not everyone who follows or lands on the blog is a newsletter subscriber. So, as we kick off this new year, I share with you what I hope will be one key practice you and especially your athlete keep in mind going into and throughout this next year…..

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An excerpt from my Winter 2024 Newsletter…

… I see young athletes in my practice for a variety of reasons. Some have sustained an injury, some have recurring injuries, some are struggling with body image related to their sport and some simply want to learn about sports nutrition so they can make food and fueling decisions on their own to improve their training and performance.

As I thought about this newsletter, I wondered, “if there was one thing I wanted athlete families and athletes to remember throughout this entire year, what would it be?” I reflected on most of the clients I worked with last year and, for our winter newsletter, I quickly landed on this…

If your athlete’s training increases, whether it’s the duration of practices, intensity of practices, or number of practices a week, then his/her intake should increase as well. Let me share a little more…

So many athletes have walked into my office over the last year due to injuries like stress fractures. Many are runners. Some play soccer. Some run and play soccer. Some are dancers. Some are gymnasts.Some play lacrosse. These injuries are not exclusive. Some are new to the sport and quickly take to it and some have been playing since they were six years old. Either scenario, they have recently been ramping up their mileage or hours in the studio or the gym or decided to play for school and club. During our conversation in my initial session I ask my usual questions about training schedule and level, food allergies, recent labs and appetite, specifically if there has been a change in appetite or intake over the last year or so. It’s often a casual conversation revealing no big allergies, altered labs or changes in intake or appetite and we continue on with our discussion.

Now PAUSE for a moment, as the sports dietitian I have already seen a big red flag. Did you see it?

It was the fact that there was no change in appetite or intake over the last year or so. What I would have wanted to hear, was “yes, we’ve seen an increase in his appetite” or “yes, she’s been packing bigger snacks or been snacking more since his training has picked up”. The fact that this adolescent athlete, who already has high energy and nutrient needs for growth and development, is intensely training daily, logging lots of miles or hours in the gym or on the field but without an increase in intake tells me he/she is very likely underfueling and likely has been underfueling for quite some time. And, if you have been following my blogs and social media, you know that underfueling puts an athlete at a high risk of stress fractures (and I’ll be talking more about this on the blog this year).

I share this with you today because I think we can (1) forget to think about our fuel when life gets busier and practices and school pick up and (2) get caught up in macros and micros and “healthy” and “unhealthy”. I know I did as a young adolescent athlete. However, it doesn’t matter what ratio of macros our athlete is getting or how much magnesium, potassium, calcium, etc. our athlete consumes if at the end of each day, day after day, they are at an energy deficit. If they are chronically in an energy deficit at the end of each day then they are still at risk of injuries like stress fractures, among other health concerns or it’s going to be super hard to reach goals for those trying to build muscle / gain weight.

So, this year, let’s help our athletes first and foremost fuel enough to help prevent injury and perform their best! Only when they are fueling enough will specific fueling strategies put in place be most effective.

This is what I intend to help you with this year. Over the next few months I plan to shed some light on underfueling. I saw this a lot in 2023. I saw injuries that could have been prevented if the athlete was optimally fueling. And the thing is, so much of it was unintentional. A lack of awareness of how food needed to change along with the athletes training and involvement in sport. I saw girls get their periods back, I saw runners reach new PR’s, I saw football and soccer players reach weight goals and I saw anxiety and moods improved as athletes learned nutrition fundamentals and built off of this foundational knowledge to improve their fueling. I’m even more passionate about this topic going into 2024 than going into 2023 (and I thought I was pretty passionate about it then). So, I share this with you today and shed a little light on what to expect in the months to come.

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Follow along my newsletter (sign up HERE), on my blog, on Instagram (@taylormorrisonRD) or on Facebook (Taylored Nutrition, LLC) where I will continue to share content with you and hopefully create more ease and understanding when it comes to fueling the young athlete. I know fueling can be really hard in different seasons for a variety of different reasons. My goal here at Taylored Nutrition is to guide you and your athlete through some of those difficult scenarios and give you both facts and resources so that your athlete can feel more confident in fueling enough and fueling well through those tough situations and perform his/her best.

There are other big topics I want Taylored Nutrition to cover this year such as: factors around recovery after injury, supplement use in YAs, energy drinks and more. But as we get started, this topic of underfueling (unintentional and intentional) is where I want to start.

Stick with me and I’ll talk to you again soon!

Much love and a well fueled athlete,

Taylor

P.s. -

If you’re looking for direction on where to start when it comes to helping make sure your athlete is fueling well, you can download my FREE Getting Started Guide HERE!

If you’re looking for a little more help and okay spending a bit of money ($30) to start off the new year, I’m excited to announce that I’m hosting our first parent chat of 2024! Our Winter Parent Group Chat will be held virtually on Thursday January 25th at 7:15pm CST! This is a great chance to discuss some basic nutrition info to know for fueling the young athlete with a registered sports dietitian (me) and other parents of young athletes. You can learn more about these by reading this blog here or reading more here. It’s only $30 per person and space is limited to allow for good discussion. If you would like to join us this month to kick of the year, you can REGISTER HERE!

Please don’t hesitate to reach out via email (taylor@taylored-nutrition.com) or send me a DM on Instagram (@taylormorrisonRD). I would love to hear from you!

When Your Young Male Athlete Wants to Make Body Composition Changes

Hi everyone!

How is it going? My family and I just got back from celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with our family at the ranch and I always feel so refreshed and ready for the Christmas season (and more mentally equipped for the Dallas holiday hustle & bustle) when I return. As my children are getting older it has become such a source of joy to see the holidays and the celebration of family traditions through their eyes. This time is a mix of fun and excitement and I do my best to prevent it from creeping over into overwhelming.

Coming back from the Thanksgiving break, I wanted to make this week’s topic about a scenario I have been working with more often this past year. My post today will speak to a narrower audience, but I think that even if this isn’t 100% you / your athlete, you will still find it informative, helpful and maybe get your mind thinking. I have seen young male athletes (typically between ages 12 and 17 years old) with this request numerous times over the course of this past year. They have been in all different sports, which has been interesting and a fun challenge for me to work with, some have sustained an injury and are working through their recovery and others are healthy and well but going about changes in not the best way. However, despite these differences, they have one thing in common and that is the main reason they have come to see me is because they want to increase or maintain muscle but decrease body fat.

I’ve talked about weight gain a bunch on the blog, male athletes wanting to gain weight and build lots of bulk for their sport. Today I’m going to share information and my thoughts on something slightly different though. These young male athletes that I’m talking about today specifically want to build or just maintain muscle and lose fat or at least not increase their body fat percent. We have to remember, however, that young athletes are not just little adults. With this specific scenario there is a lot to consider and, I think, a lot to unpack so I want to outline that for you today. Todays’ post is not a how-to on getting a young male athlete to achieve body composition goals, but more of a “what to think about first” to (1) determine if he is ready for this goal and (2) to set him up for long-term success. Here are my thoughts when it comes to body composition change goals in young male athletes.

What To Consider for the Preadolescent Male Athlete Wanting to Build Muscle and Alter Body Fat

• First, how old is this athlete AND what stage of development is the athlete in? Remember that boys can begin puberty at different ages. It is not the exact same for each athlete. 

• Second, is this an appropriate goal for this athlete? Does this athlete already show signs or have risk factors for disordered eating or an eating disorder?

• I ask this because making weight changes, going on any type of restrictive diet and being focused on one’s physique can be triggering for some individuals and turn into more serious underfueling and, if not monitored and confronted, can develop into a very serious clinical eating disorder.

• The above could sound extreme, but I know and have seen the damage and hurt and pain that eating disorders cause, not only on the athlete, but also on the family, the friends and all involved. We want to avoid these AT ALL COSTS. To me, this means even if it looks like changes take longer or the athlete competes in a different weight class than he may like.

• Third, let’s talk about the developing male adolescent body…

• We know from the scientific literature that as males go through puberty their hormone shifts involve an increase in the production of testosterone (I am, of course, wildly oversimplifying their hormonal cycles here but this is the main thing I want to point out today). As they go through puberty and reach adulthood, their bodies start to naturally build more muscle and their body fat decreases (different from females whose hormonal shifts wire their bodies to store more fat). 

• We also know through recent research on the Male Athlete Triad and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) that underfueling, ie not providing the body enough daily calories (and therefore under consuming micro and macronutrients, like carbs and fats), can set a young male athlete up for many complications including, but not limited to: compromised bone health, illness, GI complications, altered cardiovascular functioning, and endocrine dysfunction, including altered hormone production.

• That said, as a young male athlete, you really want to be careful with any extreme body composition change attempts. Puberty could actually work in your favor if you let it. In general (there are always exceptions and everyone is unique), children will have phases of childhood where they may have more fat on their bodies and that is ok! Their bodies need everything to allow them to have their growth spurts and to start puberty. If you get nervous about body fat at a young age and start to take measures to decrease that, there is a chance that you could mess with hormones, delaying puberty and delaying those hormonal changes that could actually help you reach your goals.

So then, if a young male athlete has body composition goals for his sport, what are some good nutrition guidelines?

• Make sure lean protein is a fixture in each meal and snack (although likely doesn’t need more than about 20 or so grams per meal for muscle maintenance)

• Make sure the protein in the meals and snacks are complemented by quality carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains

• Include fat as an accompaniment to the meals and to snacks, as desired

• Remember in past blog posts and in my new Getting Started Guide, we talk about how children actually tend to be more efficient at using fat as fuel and that it’s not until they get through puberty that they start to utilize carbs for fuel like adults do. This doesn’t mean we need to load their plates up with high fat foods, but it does give an extra point to why our children need fat (ideally making a majority of it the healthier fats as they will let us) and balance in their meals each day.

Ok, I hope this information I provided today has been helpful for any young male athletes already wanting to make body composition changes for sport. Don’t rush it. Be patient and work with your body as you get older. The best results that can support best performance for the long-run do not happen overnight. It takes time, patience, dedication and accurate information and understanding.

If you feel like this is you / your athlete and you would like to work together to figure out the best fueling strategy for your athlete, remember you can reach out to me here to chat more and see if working together would be a good next step. I am taking new clients in the new year and would love to make a spot for you if we feel it’s the right thing for your athlete.

Wishing you much love and a well-fueled athlete!

Taylor

When Your Athlete is Losing Weight

Good morning! Well, on a personal note, our kids have started waking up very early in our household. Our 3 year old who has always been the best sleeper and slept easily until 7 or 8am is now coming in our room at 6am and takes five tries to get to bed at night. With that said, time to work has been limited and so this blog will be short.  However, I really wanted to get some content out to you that I feel is important as many athletes are well into their season. And that content is around weight loss. I work with and hear from many of you who are struggling to keep your athletes well fueled now that sports have really ramped up and school is in full-swing and maybe your athlete is involved in additional activities outside of their main sport. 

Today I am going to share a post that I actually wrote a year ago on this topic. I think it is super applicable to what many of you / your athletes are facing right now. We know that weight loss is a sign of underfueling (often unintentionally for this busy athlete population) which can lead to consequences in health and performance and so we want to try and reverse the trend as quickly as we can.  I hope this post gives you some guidance and initial steps to take with your athlete if they are facing the frustrating situation of weight loss during his/her season. 

Also, I got to speak on the topic of underfueling yesterday with a sports medicine center that I work closely with. If you are interested to learn more about the signs and symptoms of underfueling, I would highly recommend watching the recording. I plan to link to it in my last newsletter of the year.

If your athlete is struggling with weight loss this season, please give this post a read….

Help! My Athlete is Losing Weight

Initital steps to take to stop the weight loss and get your athlete well-fueled for their season

I hope this post is helpful for you and your athlete as he / she works to stay fueled for the remainder of this season.

If you work through the tips here and still are needing more, I am always happy to chat about working together. You can reach out to me here to schedule a free 15-minute call to chat about your athlete’s needs / goals and see if working together is the best fit.

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

We have a Newsletter! (and 3 reasons you should subscribe!)

Did you know there is a Taylored Nutrition newsletter?! Yes, there is! I created it as a way to stay in touch with my clients, followers and those I have spoken with at various speaking events. It’s a way I can continue to provide content in a casual way straight to your inbox. Today I wanted to use this space to share a little bit more about the newsletter, why it can be a valuable resource, and give you the opportunity to subscribe if this is something you think would be helpful for you.

So, with that said, what is the Taylored Nutrition newsletter and how could it benefit you? The newsletter is three things that I think we could ALL use right now….

Three facts about the

taylored nutrition newsletter

1. It is a TIMESAVER

   Life is busy and I know many of you don’t have the time to follow me daily and keep up with every time I post something new. Maybe you don’t even really love social media or Instagram (where I hang out on social the most) that much! My newsletter will give you a recap of all the website’s most recent content as well as any new resources that we have recently released! This way you can wait and scroll through our newest content all at once, choosing to spend time only on the articles / recipes / info that best serves you and your athlete!

2. It is a TRUSTED RESOURCE

   There is so much nutrition content out there! I know from talking with past clients that it can be hard to know what you should listen to and who you should follow. Honestly, I have never loved social media that much. However, I’ve seen what (false or harmful) info is out there and how much it can confuse parents, teens and children and so I choose to show up in the social space anyway to be one of the ones who provides valuable and trustworthy content. I’m committed to providing reputable science-based content because of my love and passion for this field and profession and because of my history as a young competitive athlete (figure skater & cross country runner) who also found herself looking for reliable sports nutrition info. And, in case you still have hesitancy, I also have professional credentialing and state licensure that demands I meet a code of ethics in all the ways I practice.

3. It is a source of INSPIRATION

   Meal planning and grocery shopping for our kids, not to mention our child / teen athletes, can become monotonous, tedious and exhausting! My newsletter strives to provide inspiration for you as you work to support your young athlete, whether that is through providing recipes, reliable information & resources your young athlete can use or conversation tips to have with your young athlete when it comes to all things food, eating and nutrition.

Some FAQ’s About Our Newsletter

How so I sign up?

You can sign up 3 ways:

1. Go to our Connect page on the website and click the, “Yes, please send!” button.

2. Find me on Instagram (@taylormorrisonRD) and send me a DM, saying, “Newsletter, please!” with your preferred email address.

3. Email us at taylor@taylored-nutrition.com and ask to be signed up for the newsletter with your preferred eamil address.

How often will I get the newsletter?

We send our sports nutrition newsletter our quarterly

Can I unsubcribe?

Yes, you may unsubcribe at any time (and, of course, re-subscriber if you find it valuable later)

What if I have questions about any of the content?

If you ever have a question about an article, recipe or resource, you can email us at taylor@taylored-nutrition.com OR you can find me on Instagram (@taylormorrisonRD) and send me a DM!

I hope this gives you a good picture of our quarterly newsletter and answers any questions you might have. We would love to see you join and stay connected so that we can best serve you as you support your young athlete.

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

The Building Blocks of "Optimal Nutrition"?

I recently got to speak with a high school cross country team to help prepare them for fueling well during their season this fall. I loved talking with this group. I was a runner myself growing up who struggled to fuel well. In fact running cross country is, partially, what lead me to study nutrition and become a sports dietitian. Nutrition plays such a big role in the performance and health of an adolescent runner. It also, I have realized as I see lots of injured runners in the sports medicine nutrition clinic that I’m a part of, plays a big role in injury prevention in this group of athletes.

In putting my talking points together for this group, I knew I wanted two main outcomes: (1) understand the VALUE of optimal nutrition for performance and injury prevention and (2) Understand basic nutrition fundamentals so that they can put together great meals and snacks throughout the day each day that support not only performance and injury prevention but also growth and development.

As I started putting my thoughts together I realized that what I really needed to define before I dove into any other sport nutrition principles was this term “Optimal Fueling” or '“Optimal Nutrition”. I mean, to me, it sounds pretty “buzz wordy”, right? Sounds kind of fancy, but what the heck does it mean? So, I decided to spend a chunk of my talk defining these terms and then decided that I really think this deserves a post of its own here on the blog.

So many athletes are starting school this week or next week or they started last week. And don’t we all want to make sure our athletes are optimally fueling? We tell our athletes we want to see them incorporate good fueling strategies, but what does this mean? What is the priority? Where should our athletes start? So, sit tight as I try my best to briefly and succinctly explain and put context to this term, “Optimal Nutrition” or “Optimal Fueling” from my clinical experience.

The 4 Building Blocks of “Optimal Nutrition”

1. ENOUGH food/calories/energy in at the end of each day

   This is the foundation of a good fueling plan for young athletes. If young athletes are not getting enough total food at the end of each day every day, they are (1) definitely not going to perform at their best and (2) putting themselves at big risk of injury.

   An athlete can be intentional about getting carbs and protein and fat at each meal but, at the end of each day, if enough food/calories are not consumed to support activity + growth & development, the athlete is setting himself up for injury.

   Injuries, like stress fractures, are serious and can take an athlete out of sport for months. These are typically caused by a number of factors, with one of the big factors being not consuming enough calories at the end of each day to support the basic needs of growth, development and daily life + the needs for sport and training. Getting enough calories at the end of each day is a big first step in the prevention of this particular injury.

2. Adequate macronutrients

   After focusing on getting ENOUGH total food each day, young athletes can think about the form in which they are consuming and meeting those energy needs. Are they including carbs, protein and fat? An athlete deficient in carbs is likely going to be a super lethargic athlete. The athlete could also experience moodiness, muscle cramps or hitting a wall during practices and meets. An athlete needs protein spaced throughout the day to aid in things like muscle recovery, building and repair of any little tissue wear and tear that naturally occurs after workouts, or preventing illness. Remember to space the protein in moderate amounts vs trying to get a ton at one meal.

3. Adequate micronutrients

   Next athletes can focus on those smaller but still very important nutrients. I typically focus on calcium, vitamin D and iron in the beginning because research and clinical practice has shown that these aid in performance and bone health in young athletes.

   One reason I tell my athletes to focus on whole foods vs supplements is because if we focus on the protein powders, the shakes, the bars, etc. we could be falling short on these super important micronutrients found in whole foods that keep our bones strong and energy levels up!

4. Timing of meals & snacks

   This top part of the pyramid, in my opinion, is like the icing on the cake. It’s really performance-focused. Once young athletes shows me they understand and can implement the first three tiers, then we get to focus on timing.

   This is where real strategy comes into play and we talk about how to build the meals and snacks and where to put them based on timing of practices, warm-ups, games, meets and performances.

   It’s difficult to talk about timing, though, when you don’t have a strong foundation and understanding of the first three tiers. And, when looking at overall big-picture performance and injury prevention for the child or teen athlete, timing is irrelevant if the athlete is not eating enough each day and therefore deficient in macro or micronutrients.

   Adequate nutrition timing will make the biggest impact in a well fueled athlete!

I hope you find this helpful as your athlete heads into a new school year and another season of sports. As always, please reach out to me with any questions or if you would like to schedule a call to chat about working together.

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

Young Athletes: Not Just Little Adults

In today’s post I want to point out some of the differences between adult and child athletes. I’m pretty excited to write about this today because, if you know me or have worked with me, you know that I am super passionate about pediatric nutrition (nutrition for kids and teens) and love to educate on all things pediatric nutrition. I have loved it since the day I started my dietetic internship in Memphis to my first job at a children’s hospital to volunteering to write a kids’ nutrition and fitness curriculum for the Junior League to working with athletes today. I love navigating the extra level of complication that surrounds children and adolescents when it comes to nutrition. I love that you have to take more into consideration when treating and making recommendations for children and teens because the body and brain are still in such rapid phases of growth and development. I love understanding how the bodies of child and teen athletes are different from those of adults and, therefore, cannot be treated and guided as such.

Today I’m going to share with you four factors that I think are important to know that make the needs and recommendations of child and adolescent athletes different than those of adults. I hope you find this helpful as you continue to fuel your young athletes.

4 Ways Child & Adolescent athlete nutrition needs

Differ From Adult athlete needs:

1. Children are more efficient at using fat for energy. It is not until going through puberty that they become more efficient at using carbs like adults. 

• Putting into practice … Young athletes don’t need to do all of that carb-loading before big cross country meets or tournament days. Those pre-race carb-loading dinners are more for camaraderie than actual help with fueling. Keep enjoying the dinners if you love them (I loved these as a cross country runner in middle school & high school) but just know it’s more for fun than for optimizing fueling or giving a performance advantage. Of course, carbs are still a young athlete’s best friend, but the need for “loading” has not been proven to benefit this population of athletes. It does not mean you have to load up on fats either, but it does mean that foods with fat should certainly be present in their meals or snacks.

2. Children / teens do not cool their bodies like adults do. Children/teens predominantly cool their bodies via radiative and conductive cooling (dry heat dissipation) while adults rely on evaporative cooling (sweating). During training, young athletes’ bodies get more efficient at peripheral vasodilation while adults’ bodies alter their sweat rates. All of this means that kids and adolescents do not sweat as much as adults to cool themselves and, therefore, do not lose as many electrolytes as adults do with exercise.

   • Putting into practice … Keep this in mind before buying expensive electrolyte supplements or sports drinks for your athlete.

3. Children & adolescent athletes are going through growth spurts at different times and different seasons. It’s important not to alter food choices or restrict intake too much at the risk of stunting growth, delaying puberty or decreasing performance. What could seem like a harmless small reduction in calories or a shift in food choices to a young athlete could mean a period of unintentional underfueling that decreases performance, puts the athlete at risk of injury, or, if long-term, delays growth and development.

   • Putting into practice … It’s important to encourage all meals and snacks and all forms of carbs, proteins and fats with our young athletes. I like to encourage athletes to listen to their body (unless they are already chronically underfueled but that is a separate post for another day). They may be extremely hungry one week or one month and need a little or a lot more food. Then the following week or month their appetite is lower. That’s ok! They’ve got to allow themselves to fuel through those growth spurts, giving the body what it needs, not only for the growth & development, but also for their sport and class load.

4. Supplement benefits may not apply.  What I mean here is that most supplements related to performance (not talking about vitamins & minerals here) that have been found to be effective are tested on adults, not children and teens. Even if the supplement is third party tested, that does not mean it is proven to be effective or recommended for use in kids and teens.

   • Putting into practice … Always keep this in mind when thinking about protein or other supplements for the young athlete.

Working as a pediatric sports dietitian merges the specialty of pediatrics and the specialty of sports. I know it can be confusing to sort through all of the nutrition information and product recommendations out there, which are mostly geared towards adult athletes. If your athlete needs help with their fueling strategy and you’re not sure where to start or where to go next, reach out to me! I would love to schedule a call and chat to see if working together would be a good next step.  

That’s all for today. Happy Fueling!

Taylor

Do You Really Need All of Those Protein Bars and Shakes?

Lately I have been working with athletes to help build meals and snacks that support their intense summer training schedules. I find that while the issue during the school year is maintaining sufficient intake with a busy school and sports schedule, the issue during the summer is maintaining sufficient intake or increasing intake to support the higher volume and intensity of training that occurs for many sports. Athletes that may have higher intensity summer training include distance runners (longer mileage in the summer in preparation for the fall season), dancers (with summer intensives), figure skaters (I went to camp for 6 weeks in the summer growing up and trained off and on ice for about 7 hours a day, whew!), football players with two-a-days in preparation for the fall, and many other club sport athletes that play year-round.

In working with these athletes and assessing intakes, it got me thinking about protein. I realized that, while I have written posts about how to meet protein needs or increase protein to meet needs, I have not written any posts talking about why you may be just fine and why you many NOT need to worry about your protein intake! I think it’s important to talk on this because the reality is that most teen athletes, if they are eating enough to support growth, training and activities of daily life are probably getting enough protein. Why? Well, because as I stated above, teen athletes need a lot of calories, especially during the height of their training! And in order to meet that increased need in a way that fills and satisfies the body, protein is usually increased as a byproduct. It’s hard to increase intake that much (I’m talking 3500 to 4000 calories a day here) and not use any protein-containing foods, especially when part of the goal with the increase is to help the athlete feel satisfied so he / she isn’t hungry ALL. DAY. LONG. Even our carbohydrate sources, like whole grain bread, pasta, milk and yogurt contain protein. And there is 7 grams of protein in just one ounce of meat! I rarely come across a male teen athlete who says he only eats two ounces of meat with his dinner…

So, what’s my point? My point is that many athletes (and many people in general) are consuming more protein than they think, especially when trying to increase their intake. It seems like society is soooo focused on protein these days and getting more protein. I actually had a hard time finding a non-Greek dairy yogurt at the store yesterday. Yes, protein is important and there are many athletes who have trouble meeting there needs but, before going out and buying all of the high protein bars, yogurts, milks, cereals and shakes out there, I would first challenge you to take a look at how much protein you are currently getting in a day . If you love non-Greek yogurts or regular granola bars vs protein bars, great! Chances are those “average products” contain some protein anyway all contributing to your needs at the end of the day.

Want to see an example of what I’m talking about? Let’s take a look!

Let’s say you’re a high school athlete that weights 121 pounds (55 kg) and your sports dietitian says you should be getting about 1.4 grams protein / kg / day, which is appropriate for some young athletes (but I don’t know you so please don’t take this as medical advise or a personal recommendation of what you should be getting in a day). The diagram below is what that would look like. And, y’all, that’s it! That’s all you need! The thing is, you are going to need way more calories (and other nutrients) than what the below chart shows and so my point is, you’re probably getting enough protein to meet your needs. What you should now be focusing on is increasing those carbs to fuel your brain and muscles, getting healthy fat to promote satiety, decrease inflammation and absorb other nutrients and micronutrients like calcium and vitamin D to protect your bones.

So, again, if you worry about your protein intake, I challenge you to take a closer look at what you are eating and drinking. Compare it to my example here and my list of protein-containing foods. If you still worry about your intake, I encourage you to reach out to a sports RD in your area. If you’re interested in working with me, I would love to work with you! You can reach out to me through the link here.

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

A Sample Menu for Injury Recovery

In my last post I talked all about nutrients needed for recovery after injury. I gave you guys some sample meals and sample snacks. Now I want to give you a little more detailed picture of what it looks like to get these nutrients in meals and snacks each day. What does it look like to get leucine every 3 hours? What does it look like to get whey protein before bed? How do you fit this in while also squeezing in the other nutrients to promote the best recovery possible? Below I have outlined a sample day for you. I didn’t get super detailed with portions except for the foods with leucine because every athlete will have different calorie, protein, carbohydrate needs, etc. This, however, is a great place to start and you can tailor portions to what works for you in your sport or phase of recovery. Let me know if you have any questions!

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

LEUCINE CONTENT OF DIFFERENT FOODS

Some recommend about 2.5 grams of leucine per meal for adults

• 1 can of white tuna: 3.3 grams

• 3 ounce chicken breast: 1.8 grams

• 1 scoop whey protein isolate: 2.5 grams

• 3 eggs: 1.5 grams

• 1 Greek yogurt: 1.5 grams

• 8 ounces of chocolate milk: 0.8 grams
  

Ten Important Nutrients For Injury Recovery

I work with a lot of injured athletes. I see athletes with torn ACL’s, history of concussion and a handful of other issues, but I most often see athletes with some type of fracture, typically one or more stress fractures. While rest and physical therapy are essential to optimal recovery, so is the athlete’s nutrition. Unfortunately, nutrition can sometimes get forgotten during the recovery stage but but I’m here to say, “Don’t let it!” What you eat during this period can really speed up your recovery or it can hold you back. If used with purpose, what you eat can decrease inflammation, help rebuild the tissue you have injured, prevent loss of lean muscle and help maintain your strength. These all seem like good reasons to focus on nutrition to me! And, like I say with most of my other tips and ideas, you don’t have to make your nutrition recovery complicated! I’m here to give you the facts and then help you most easily incorporate those facts into something doable each day.

If you are an injured athlete or the parent, coach or caregiver of an injured athlete, I hope you can take some of these ideas below and put them to use for the best recovery possible.

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

Why Should Nutrition Be Part of Your Recovery Plan?

1. Support the continued creation of muscle proteins.

   • Muscle protein synthesis (creation of muscle protein in the body) decreases after injury when activity declines and especially when a limb has to be immobilized (like getting a cast on a leg, arm, etc.)

2. Preserve the lean muscle mass you already have.

   • Nutrition becomes even more important to maintain your muscle mass since you cannot use exercise & your typical workouts to help.

3. Maintain appropriate energy balance.

   • While, yes, your energy needs may decrease some during your recovery phase, it’s important to realize that they may not decrease THAT much. This is especially true if you are on crutches, which require 2 to 3 times more energy than walking! If you decrease calories too much, you can slow down recovery due to the decrease muscle protein synthesis, increased muscle loss and impaired wound healing that this will cause.

4. Decrease Inflammation (not necessarily right after injury and surgery but starting a few days after, as inflammation right after an injury is important to the healing process)

   • Just as anti-inflammatory foods and antioxidants were important for recovery after games and practices, they are also important now as the body is working even harder to heal. Continue to include those foods high in antioxidants and those anti-inflammatory foods.

Ten Nutrients to Include in Your Recovery Plan

1. PROTEIN

   • Focus on foods high in the amino acid leucine, which stimulates the creation of protein.

     • Sources: lean chicken, beef and pork, fish, nuts & seeds, cheese, tempeh, milk, yogurt

   • Include a quality source of protein (ideally with leucine) about every 3 hours, after therapy sessions and before bed.

   • Include a quality source of whey protein before bed. Whey protein is released and digested more slowly so your body can work on maintaining and rebuilding muscle during the fasting state of sleep.

     • Sources: yogurt, milk, and cottage cheese

2. CARBOHYDRATE

   • Your body still needs carbohydrates for energy so it can use the protein you give it for muscle repair and building. You may need less carbohydrate than when you were training and competing but don’t cut them way back or out completely!

   • Focus on complex carbohydrates that take longer to digest. This will keep you fuller longer and prevent spikes and dips in your blood sugar.

     • Sources: whole grain bread, pasta, cereal, & crackers, fruit, yogurt, starchy veggies

3. HEALTHY FAT

   • Make sure to include sources of omega-3’s and some monounsaturated fats to help fight the inflammation and support your immune system.

     • Sources: nuts, seeds, avocado, oily fish (salmon & tuna), flax oil, extra virgin olive oil, nut and seed butter.

4. VITAMIN C

   • An important antioxidant that aids in wound healing , tissue repair, and a healthy immune system.

     • Sources: citrus fruits, bell peppers, tomatoes, cantaloup, potatoes

5. VITAMIN A

   • An important antioxidant that aids in cell growth and development and immune function.

     • Sources: sweet potatoes, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, cantaloupe

6. VITAMIN D

   • Aids in calcium absorption and supports bone health.

   • Sources: sunlight, fatty fish, many dairy products (check the label), fortified foods, egg yolks

7. CALCIUM

   • Important for strong bones.

     • Sources: dairy products, broccoli, kale, chia seeds, almonds, fortified orange juice

8. MAGNESIUM

   • Important for making proteins in the body and aids in the absorption & metabolism of calcium and vitamin D.

     • Sources: almonds, sesame and sunflower seeds, cashews, peanuts, bananas, beans

9. ZINC

   • Aids in wound healing, creation of protein and immune function.

     • Sources: lean beef, crabmeat, chicken, cashews, fortified cereals, beans
       

10. COPPER

    • Helps form red blood cells, helps build a strong immune system and strong bones.

      • Sources: sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, cashews and shiitake mushrooms

My Up & At ‘Em Egg Cups are packed with protein, vitamin D, as well as some vitamin C and calcium, all promoting recovery after injury!

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE:

Sample Injury Recovery Meals

• Grilled salmon with seasoned brown rice, roasted broccoli, a baked potato and glass of milk

• Peanut butter & banana sandwich on wheat bread + 8 oz milk + 1 cup diced cantaloupe

• Homemade lean ground beef cheeseburger + whole wheat bun + lettuce, tomato, mustard + homemade oven baked potato fries + kale salad

• Baked chicken + baked sweet potato + oven roasted broccoli + glass of milk

Salmon is an excellent source of omega 3’s. Try my Miso Ginger Glazed Salmon for a tasty twist on your average salmon dinner!

PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE:

Sample Injury Recovery Snacks

• Greek yogurt + fresh or frozen mixed berries

• Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal + dry roasted almonds

• Slice of whole grain toast spread with almond butter and sliced bananas

• Cottage cheese + diced cantaloupe

• Hardboiled egg + whole grain granola bar

• Protein bar (like 88 Acres protein, Larabar protein, etc.) + glass of milk

Basic rolled or steel cut oats from the bulk bin at your local grocery store provide great fiber, carbohydrates, some protein (because it’s a whole grain), magnesium, and more. Top with a healthy fat like SunButter or almond butter and some fruit for a balance recovery-enhancing breakfast or snack.

10 Early Morning Fuel Ideas for the "Non Breakfast Eater" & Why It’s Important

“I just don’t eat breakfast”. “Eating upsets my stomach”. “I don’t like breakfast foods”.

These are just a few statements I get from the young athletes I work with after asking them about their morning pre-training fuel. For some athletes, depending on their sport and type of training session, skipping the morning meal may be just fine, but for many of the athletes who come to work with me, those in high intensity and endurance sports, skipping this chance for nutrition can really set the athlete back.

If you are a student athlete or the support team of a student athlete and this sounds familiar, I ask you to consider starting a new breakfast routine and, in doing do, consider these 3 things:

1. The pre-training meal does not have to be big

2. The pre-training meal does not have to be breakfast food

3. If you think you are performing fine as you are (with empty fuel stores), think of what you could do if your brain and muscles were well-stocked with fuel!

Size of the Pre-training Meal

I never recommend going from nothing to a full all-inclusive breakfast. For those just beginning to incorporate pre-training fuel, it’s important to start small no matter what and slowly increase portion or change type of fuel. It’s all about training the gut and, while it may seem impossible, it actually can be done! It’s something I work with athletes on all the time. Just don’t get overwhelmed and think this meal has to be big or 3 courses. It’s final composition is up to the athlete, what he/she tolerates, and what feels right. In fact, I often refer to this early morning pre-training meal it as “Breakfast 1”. The athlete should think about what he/she would have for breakfast and then pull out the carbohydrate portion to enjoy first. “Breakfast 1” can be as small or big as the athlete tolerates. “Breakfast 2” is the recovery fuel and follows after the training session is complete.

Composition of the Pre-training Meal

This pre-training meal does not have to be breakfast food but it does need to be a source of easily digested carbohydrates. Remember that carbohydrates are the best source of fuel for the brain and muscles. I always work with my athletes to determine what carbohydrate sources they will be able to tolerate as tolerance is key here.

Potential of the pre-training meal

Yes, I know many athletes that say “My practices are great and I never eat before practices”. However, I still challenge them to at least try a little something before they train. If it doesn’t work, then ok, but most of the time I hear them tell me that they have more energy, feel better during practice, don’t get so hungry during practice and don’t feel ravenous after. If you think you’re doing great now, imagine what you could do if you were actually running on fuel! If you’re an athlete reading this, I challenge you to take your off-season to try adding in an early morning pre-training meal. If you’re a parent, coach, AT or other member of the support team with early morning practices, I challenge you to challenge your athletes to find at least one food or meal that they can enjoy and tolerate pre-training.

Now that I’ve talked about the importance of including a little pre-training fuel, I want to transform that into food. What I’m sharing today are the simplest ideas. If the athlete tolerates these all well and feels he/she can start including more, then portions can be increased or small items can be added. But for now, we’ll stick with simple. If you want to work on improving your pre-training fuel or have an athlete that you think would benefit from this, I encourage you to work with a sports dietitian to create a plan and find what works for you or your athlete!

Early Morning Pre-Training Fuel Ideas for the “Non Breakfast Eater”

1. Sports drink

2. Dry cereal (ex: Cheerios, Chex, other low fiber, low protein & low fat cereals)

3. Plain Bagel or toast topped with jam or honey

4. Simple granola bar (ex: Quaker chewy, KIND Healthy Grain, NutriGrain, MadeGood)

5. Fruit bars (Fig Newton, Nature’s Bakery)

6. Diced fresh fruit

7. 1 small to medium banana

8. Snack size bag of pretzels (remember that breakfast does not have to mean breakfast food!)

9. Small fruit smoothie (made with fresh / frozen fruit, water, juice)

10. Remember to think about the night before. If you are not a big breakfast eater but have a difficult training session or long run the next morning, use dinner the night before to help get you ready. Include a mix of lean protein, quality carbohydrates and a little healthy fat. If dinner is really early and you go to bed late, add in an evening snack with quality carbohydrates like:

    • A bowl of cereal with milk,

    • Yogurt (Greek or regular)

    • Whole grain toast or waffle with peanut butter

    • Whole Grain granola bar with peanut butter or yogurt

    • Cheese & Crackers

      Including this evening snack and making dinner count will make you less dependent on your early morning fuel to carry you through your workout. You can instead think of your breakfast as “topping of the tank” or replenishing what may have been used while sleeping.

For more information and examples of early morning and late evening pre and post-exercise fuel give this previous blog post a read.

Hope this gets you started and makes you feel more energized and ready for those early morning practices to come!

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

Navigating the Young Athlete's Early Morning & Evening Practices

One of the most common questions I get from parents and athletes is how to eat around early morning before-school practices and those tricky 6PM and 7PM games and practices. What should you eat before that won’t interfere with the athlete’s event? Should they eat something before? What about after? What do you do about these games and practices that are smack in the middle of meal time?

My answer to this question, whether it is breakfast or dinner is to divide the meal into Meal 1 and Meal 2 and include the more easily digested items in Meal 1 (think quality carbohydrates) and those less-easily digested items in Meal 2 (think more protein, fiber and healthy fats). In this post I’m going to try to simplify and break it down for you to get a better picture of what this would look like and why….

Meal #1 (the pre-event meal)

• The focus of this Meal #1 is to provide energy to the athlete. To make sure energy stores are full and ready for play and practice. If an athlete heads out to practice with an empty tank or depleted energy stores (from running around at school all day and not having eaten since school lunch) they will not be able to play or practice at their best and could even run a higher risk of injury.

• This meal should consist of quality carbohydrates because these are more easily digested in the body, which means they can act as a quicker source of energy that will not lead to digestive problems mid-event.

• Examples of these quality carbohydrate meal components might be: pasta, rice, fruit, baked potatoes or sweet potatoes, whole or half of a PB&J or turkey sandwich, chicken noodle soup, crackers with some hummus or peanut butter (careful with too much of peanut butter or hummus because they do contain fat and, if eaten too close to events, could cause stomach problems during the event), dry cereal, waffle(s), slice or two of toast with jam, simple granola bar.

Meal #2 (the post-event meal)

• The focus of Meal #2 is to replenish used up energy stores, to provide protein and other nutrients to the muscles so that they can repair and rebuild, to provide some healthy fats which can aid in recovery and decreased inflammation, and to overall satisfy and fill up the athlete.

• This meal is especially important if the athlete has another game or practice the following morning or later that day.

• Examples of these meal components might be:

  • Protein: chicken, turkey, lean ground beef, fish, beans, nuts, seeds, tofu, milk, yogurt, cheese

  • Healthy fats: salmon, tuna, avocado, flaxseed, chia seeds, nuts and seeds, nut and seed butters, olive oil (can be in salad dressings, etc.), tahini

  • Quality Carbohydrate: use the examples listed for Meal #1 ideas

A SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT EARLY MORNING PRACTICE NUTRITION

Sometimes the athlete really cannot eat in the mornings before an early morning before-school practice (I see this a lot with runners, sometimes gymnasts, and I struggled with it as a figure skater growing up). In these cases it could be good to try:

1. Have a liquid form of nutrition or something very basic for breakfast. Examples include: fruit juice, fresh or dried fruit, a shake, a little bit of a sports drink.

2. If an early morning bite or drink is absolutely not doable, move over to focusing on dinner the night before. If dinner was early, incorporate a before-bed snack like a bowl of cereal, yogurt, granola bar with some peanut butter, something that can carry over so that the athlete’s fuel tank is not completely depleted when they wake up in the morning and head to practice.

3. In these cases, make sure the athlete is getting something substantial as his or her post-event Breakfast #2. This could look like anything from a Greek yogurt with granola and a banana, to a granola bar, a milk carton and grapes, to 2 hard boiled eggs + fruit, to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a carton of milk.

Those odd-hour events can be tricky, but with a plan and simple meal or food ideas, keeping your young athlete fueled can be done! As I sign off, I’m leaving you with one last list of ideas to take with you this month.

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

Early Morning Practice Meal Ideas for the Young Athlete

BREAKFAST 1

• Glass of juice

• Medium banana or other fruit

• Dry cereal (ex: Cheerios, Quaker Oatmeal Squares, Chex, etc.)

• Dried fruit

• Fruit smoothie (made with fruit and water or some juice)

• Breakfast shake like Carnation Instant Breakfast (tolerance may depend on athlete and on sport being played)

• Slice(s) of toast with jam or honey

• Simple granola bar (ex: Quaker chewy or soft Nutrigrain) or fig bar (low in fiber & protein)

• Low-fat yogurt

BREAKFAST 2

I LOVE these easy Egg Cups!

• Hardboiled egg(s) + cheese stick + grapes

• Peanut butter and jelly or honey sandwich

• Greek yogurt + granola + sliced strawberries

• Pre-made egg sandwich (egg(s) on a whole wheat English muffin with cheese) + fruit

• Chocolate milk + whole grain granola bar

• Turkey & cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread (remember that Breakfast doesn’t have to mean only breakfast foods!)

• Peanut butter crackers + glass of white or chocolate milk

• To-go oatmeal cup (just add milk or water) + banana

• Cottage cheese + fresh fruit + whole grain crackers

• Pre-baked egg cups + fruit or a granola bar or whole grain crackers

Evening Event Meal Ideas for the Young Athlete

DINNER 1

• Baked white or baked sweet potato

• Pasta with marinara sauce

• Turkey sandwich

• Pasta salad

• Bowl of cereal (just like breakfast doesn’t have to mean “breakfast food”, dinner doesn’t always have to mean “dinner food”!)

• Mini pizzas (on flatbread or English muffins with marinara, a sprinkle of cheese and any veggie toppings your athlete would like)

DINNER 2

I’m such of fan of this simple mayo-free chicken salad!

And these hearty flavor-packed 7-ingredient tuna burgers!

• Baked chicken + veggies + whole grain roll

• Grilled salmon + salad + glass of milk

• Spaghetti with meatballs

• Tuna or chicken salad

• Omelet with veggies and cheese + slice of whole wheat bread

• Glass of milk / chocolate milk

• Greek yogurt with fruit

• Avocado toast topped with a scrambled egg(s)

• Chicken sandwich + veggies

• Lean ground hamburger + veggies

• Tuna Burgers - just the patty or with the bun - whatever your athlete needs!

Farewell to Lunchtime Chicken Fingers: Mastering the Pre-Game Meal

Yesssss.  It was chicken tender & french fry day at school.  My favorite.  For whatever reason, french fry day was a huge deal at our school.  Not sure why but once a week they were served.  And something about those chicken tenders... mmmm mmmmm.  Mouth watering just thinking about them.

Right... mouth - watering until we fast-forward to about 4:00 that afternoon in the middle of cross country practice when I wanted to fall out on the Tuckahoe pavement (the street our practice runs often included), thinking maybe the SMS golf cart would appear like a knight in shining armor and cruise me back to the school (wishful thinking).  I realized in that moment that chicken tenders and fries may not be my body's fuel of choice and this was the way it decided to get my attention.

Cross country practice began at 3:30 and that particular day was a long run day.  Typically I would run at a pretty nice clip.  I'm mentally competitive with myself more than anyone else and would refuse to stop until I had reached the end.  Well, clearly this day was different.  I made it about 8 minutes and it all fell apart.  Nausea, stomach cramping, fatigue, you name it.  After deciding that lying down in the middle of the street waiting for a golf cart to come pick me up was probably not going to end in my favor, I walked the majority of the route back and finally finished with not only my worst time, but also feeling the worst I had ever felt after a run.  Now, I don't know if my lunchtime choice was the only culprit, but that was the only factor different than any other day.  I decided then and there that future lunches would be different.  Fried food clearly did nothing for me and if I was going to go to practice, I wanted it to be beneficial.

The next day and all of the days following were new days.  Of course I still enjoyed my chicken tenders and fries, but certainly not as my pre-run meal.  I started experimenting with different foods and different food combinations and took notice of how I practiced and how I felt at afternoon practices.  I found my ideal fueling lunch to include complex carbohydrates (fruits, whole grain crackers, whole-wheat pita, and / or low fat yogurts), a source of protein (peanut butter, string cheese, tuna, turkey, or chicken) and some healthy fats here and there (peanut butter, almonds, hummus, avocado, and olive oil).  I never had a practice like that again and, as I started to be more thoughtful with my school lunches and meal and snack timing, I saw myself get stronger and faster, both in my running and in my skating, as the weeks went on.  

Now, with this post I'm not saying no more fried food ever again.  I'm simply saying that if you want better performances and better practices, it's time to move the fried foods (or any other foods that can be harder to digest or leave you tired during events) over to make room for the more nutrient-dense foods that fuel those hard-working muscles and brain and propel you towards the finish line (especially when planning your pre-event meal!!).

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

10 simple ideas for the Young Athlete’s pre-game meal

(This meal is typically consumed 3 to 4 hours before the event. you may also need a pre-event snack, which you can find ideas for in my previous post here.)

• Turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato and dijon mustard. Cheese, if tolerated. I love my Turkey Melt that I posted a while back!

• Stuffed Sweet Potato (I love my 9-Ingredient Stuffed Sweet Potato as a vegetarian option!)

• Breakfast Sandwich like my 5-Ingredient Breakfast Sandwich!

• A yogurt parfait or overnight oats (my go-to’s are these and these)

• Peanut Butter and Jelly or Honey Sandwich with an apple and / or glass of milk

• Pasta salad with chicken + yogurt or glass of milk and fruit

• Chicken & Vegetable Soup + a whole grain roll or whole grain crackers (I love Kashi, Mary’s Gone Crackers and Crunchmaster) + mixed fruit

• Low-fat cottage cheese + fruit + whole grain crackers and hummus

• Tuna salad (made without mayo) sandwich or on crackers + an apple + yogurt

• Homemade pizzas (ex: thick English muffins, marinara sauce, some veggies of choice, sliced chicken and a sprinkle of cheese) + fruit.

My Story: How Growing Up a Young Athlete Fueled My Passion for Sports Nutrition & Wellness

Hi and Happy New Year!  While perusing through my different posts and articles over the Christmas holiday, I realized that I have not devoted one solid post to MY story and WHY I actually went into nutrition and dietetics.  I tell my story in the beginning of every new talk or presentation I give and, while I’ve provided a small blip of my story in my “About” page of this site, I realized I have not shared my story in detail with you, my readers.  So, today’s post is not a new yummy recipe or fact on sports nutrition. It is a post dedicated to helping you get to know me and the story behind what fuels my passion for sports nutrition and wellness. Every dietitian has his or her own story of why he or she decided to study nutrition.  Maybe it was a culinary interest or a sick family member that needed a feeding tube or a desire for research or being a collegiate athlete.  The potential reasons are numerous.  My story, however started back in high school.  

As most of you who follow along with me regularly know by now, I was an athlete growing up.  My mom took me ice skating at about 6 years old and I completely fell in love with the sport.  I can still remember a few days in the first grade waiting for school to be over because mom was picking me up and we were going ice skating that afternoon.  I can feel the excitement that I felt at the age of six and seven like it was yesterday.  Ha!  I also remember how badly I wanted my first pair of ice skates.  Every night I would wish that there would be a pair of ice skates at the end of my bed when I woke up the next morning.  I know, I was quite the optimist.  I tell you this to give you a clearer idea of my enthusiasm for this sport.  As I got older I (a) finally did get my own pair of skates and then (b) started training consistently before and after school and on Saturday mornings.  In the 8th grade I began going away to training camps in the summer.  For six summers I packed my suitcases and headed to Indianapolis where I trained for about six weeks, each almost 7-hour day filled with freestyles, jump and spin classes, off ice conditioning, on ice conditioning, ballet, choreography and more.  

In the 7th grade I decided I wanted to participate in a school sport which led me to join our cross country team. Cross country being the only school sport that I could do that would work with my skating.  I joined the cross country team to be with friends but I quickly started to love running as well.  As the years went on and I got into high school, I found myself competitively participating in, not only figure skating, but running as well.

I would say that I was a dedicated athlete. I wanted to get better, learn new techniques, improve my times and be the best that I could be. So, I showed up to practice, I did what my coaches asked, and made the grades in school, and, for a while that worked… until the day that it didn’t.  I reached a point in the beginning of high school where I felt like I stopped improving.  I practiced my hardest but my times were not improving in running and I wasn’t mastering more difficult elements in my skating.  I tried to figure out what I needed to do to get over the hurdle and, as I started to focus on this, two things happened that made me realize my missing link…

The first event was a skating competition where I competed around 12:30 pm.  I had an early morning practice and so breakfast was easy, but as my skate time approached, breakfast was a distant memory and I couldn’t figure out how to navigate the lunch meal.  I had morning competitions down.  I knew what to have for dinner the night before and what to eat for breakfast that morning to support a short but intense 3 to 4 minute program.  What I did not have a clear understanding of, however, was fueling for a 12:30 skate.  I wasn’t sure where to place lunch and so I came to the conclusion that it was either (a) go ahead and eat lunch and risk it not being digested before I performed or (b) skip it all together and eat a late lunch after my skate.  I chose (b) skipping lunch, but as soon as I went into my first jump of the performance I knew I had made the wrong decision.  That was the longest program ever.  I couldn’t keep my feet under me to save my life!  I fell everywhere.  Nerves seemed to magnify my low blood sugar and as soon as I got off the ice I promised myself I would always eat something before I performed. I’m not saying every performance was perfect after that, but if I did have a bad skate, it was not because of my low blood sugar.

The second big “Aha” moment was in my running.  There was a day where I ate the chicken fingers and fries for lunch and then went to cross country practice about 2 and a half hours later.  I am super competitive by nature and so even practices were 100% for me.  I really never walked unless that was what we were supposed to be doing.  I always ran my hardest.  However, this particular day I did not.  The chicken fingers and fries caught up with me and, feeling extremely nauseated, I walked what felt like the entire course.  After that practice I vowed, “no more fried food at lunch before runs”.  

I also realized during this time that, for the most part, even though I ate fried food and sweets and pretty much all foods, I was eating too little. At many times, I think I worried about eating too much. I was in two aesthetic sports that valued leanness and often times I think I was educated more so on what not to eat than I was educated on what to eat for strong bones, muscles, practices and performances. I don’t recall ever being educated on the dangers of eating too little. Although, my parents did always make me eat something or drink a little breakfast shake before my 5:45 morning practices. That was always non-negotiable.

All of these discoveries combined along with finally landing my double axel in high school made me realize that my missing link was my nutrition. I realized the value of showing up to practices with strength, energy and power and the necessity of food to give me that strength, energy and power.  I didn’t have a dietitian to turn to.  I didn’t even know what a dietitian was.  So, I started playing around with my meals and snacks on my own.  I brought different things for lunch and tried different snacks at different times of day.  I finally figured out what meals and snacks worked best for me to be energized and fueled but not full or weighed down for my early morning and afternoon runs and skates.  

It was eye opening for me to see the difference in my skating and running when I ate consistently and ate certain foods throughout the day.  Previously I had done whatever I wanted and most often, as I mentioned earlier, probably had not eaten enough.  As I paid attention to and changed up my food and nutrition my skating got stronger, I started landing harder jumps and my running times got faster.  Seeing and feeling the impact of food on my athletic performance is what peaked my interest for nutrition and led me to study nutrition in college and grad school, eventually making it my career.  I was certainly faced with opposition as people told me being a sports dietitian was a one in a million chance and that I shouldn’t choose that path if sports is what I wanted to do.  However, I’m so glad I chose it anyway.  While I certainly enjoy my work in wellness, at the heart of it all, I picked the nutrition field so that I could help young athletes understand food and nutrition, build a healthy relationship with food and nutrition and understand how to use it to be stronger, sharper, more competitive, and injury - free athletes. Actually, being an athlete is probably what most shaped my relationship with food and later spurred my interest in and enthusiasm for wellness.  I think about what I might have accomplished in my running and especially my skating had I figured the whole food thing out sooner.  

There is more to my story woven throughout here that further inspired and continues to inspire me to work with athletes, but those stories are for another time and another post.  This one is long enough :)  My goal in my practice, my programs, my presentations and my blog posts are to help athletes, both adult athletes and young athletes, understand and build a healthy relationship with food in relation to their sport.  I learned so much about food by being an athlete. Being an athlete helped me view food in a positive light, as the best source of fuel for the body, and it is what has shaped my overall food and wellness philosophy that I practice today. 

I hope that I can help athletes and even non-athletes understand food as well and see it in just as positive of a light. My goal this year is to not only help you understand nutrition, but also help you see how to put these nutrition principles into easy tangible practice, by showing you easy meal planning techniques, simple recipes and versatile meals idea.  Stay tuned in posts to come!

Happy Fueling!

Taylor

Summer Sports Camp Fuel

Just because it's summer doesn't mean the madness stops.  It seems to simply shift to a different routine of crazy as you juggle your own regular work schedule plus your athlete's morning practices, two-a-days, sports camps, and other summer activities, all while making sure you and your young athlete are fueled enough to get you both through the day.  Special attention is needed for young athletes who, depending on their sport, may have gone from a one to two-hour practice before school and / or a 2 to 3 hour practice after school to all-day sports camps consisting of breaks here and there throughout the day, but not much time for rest and recovery and often times out in the heat of the day.

So, let's talk SPORTS CAMP FUEL.  The goal here is to energize and to hydrate.  To provide quick fuel and also provide sustained energy.  "Quick", "totable", "simple" are the criteria for these meals and snacks - items that can be made before bed or assembled quickly in the morning before heading out for the day.

To hopefully make life a bit easier, below, I have compiled a list of snack ideas for camp with a little explanation of why they make great sports snacks.  For more ideas keep up with the blog, which will be featuring healthy fueling snacks throughout the months to come!

QUICK ENERGY WHEN YOUR CAMPER HAS A COOLER

• Water

• Smoothies (fluid, antioxidants, and carbohydrate from fruits and water / ice)

• Fresh fruits (such as: grapes, tangerines, pineapple, watermelon, apple slices)

• Mini bottles of a sports drink (like Gatorade)

QUICK ENERGY WITHOUT A COOLER

• Water

• Pretzels or other salty crackers (quick carbohydrates + salt to replace sodium lost in sweat and help retain fluid)

• Dried fruit (quick carbohydrate + antioxidants + some iron, depending on the dried fruit)

• Whole grain cereal (low in fat and fiber)

• Fresh fruit

• Granola bars (low in fat and fiber)

• Jam Sandwich on white bread (very quick carbohydrate)

 LONG-TERM ENERGY WHEN YOU OR YOUR CAMPER HAS A COOLER

• String Cheese

• Turkey & Cheese Pita

• Turkey & Hummus Wrap

• Bowl of whole grain cereal with low-fat milk

• Nonfat Greek yogurt topped with fruit and a little low-fat granola

• DIY Blackberry Burst yogurt (a Taylored Recipe)

• Hummus & whole grain crackers (healthy fat, protein, fiber + a little iron)

• Low-fat milk or chocolate milk (carbohydrate, potassium & protein - great snack to refuel)

• Smoothies made with milk / yogurt

• Fig & Cheddar Turkey Sandwich (a Taylored Recipe)

• Sliced tomato or pineapple & cottage cheese

• Pasta salad with sliced cucumbers, tomatoes and Italian dressing

• Quinoa / rice bowl with bell peppers, avocado, chopped grilled chicken & salsa

SUSTAINED ENERGY WITHOUT A COOLER

• Peanut butter and banana sandwich

• Graham crackers with peanut butter topped with strawberry or banana slice

• homemade trail mix (nuts, whole grain cereal & dried fruit)

• Hearty whole grain granola bars with at least 6 grams of protein

• Peanut Butter Banana Oat Bites

• Popcorn

• Pre-packaged oatmeal packets (if a microwave will be available)

• Carrot sticks, sliced cucumbers, bell peppers, baby tomatoes (as a side)

SNACKS THAT HYDRATE

• Water

• Nonfat yogurts

• Nonfat or low-fat cottage cheese

• Smoothies

• Fresh or frozen fruit

• Fresh vegetable slices (such as: carrots, celery, bell peppers, cucumber)

• Sports drinks

• Apple sauce

• Chocolate milk (great recovery drink after a long intense practice)

• Vegetable juice (such as V8 or tomato juice)

Feel free to comment below with any questions or suggestions of things you do that work for you and your young athlete!

Happy Fueling! 

Taylor