Youth-Focused Sports Nutrition Podcasts by Tracy Owens (MPH, RD, CSSD, LDN)

Sports beverages are marketed heavily – to adult athletes as well as youth athletes. Some athletes drink them nearly every day while other athletes won’t touch them. So what makes sports beverages good and what makes them bad? And should they be a part of your sports nutrition strategy?

Most young athletes deal with some level of dehydration before practice or competition even begins. Without proper hydration before activity, no athlete can perform at his or her peak potential. And it doesn’t stop there.

Without proper hydration during activity, your performance can drop significantly. Dehydration can bring on heat illness and decrease your strength, power, speed, and endurance.

Your body needs you to provide it with the proper nutrients to refuel and repair. If you give your body what it needs, it will reward you with increased strength, speed, and power as you continue to train and compete. You may be surprised to learn that many optimal nutrients for recovery can be found in low-fat chocolate milk!

Elite athletes fuel their bodies differently.

They know that filling their plates with the right combinations and portions of foods makes a difference – in preventing illness and injury and performing at their peak potential during training and competition.

By following guidelines established by the NCCA and the United States Olympic Center, elite athletes fill their plates based on how hard they are training and competing.

Eating for recovery is critical to replenish your energy stores and repair the muscle tissue you damaged during activity. Done correctly, “recovery eating” will help you maintain high energy levels, achieve better results from your training and practices, and build the lean muscle mass necessary to increase your strength and speed. Done incorrectly, you’ll feel tired, sluggish, and increase your risk of injury and illness.

If you don’t understand what to eat and when, it can mean the difference between delivering your BEST performance or getting sidelined with a stomach ache. A player’s worst nightmare is being stuck in the restroom midway through the big game! So what are the rules on eating before competition?