Sport Nutrition: Basic Tips For Parents

The link between good nutrition and improved sports performance is undisputed, meaning your role as the parent of a school-age athlete is an important one.

As it's you who organises the weekly food shop and decides what goes on that list, it's you who determines the nutritional quality of your athlete’s diet.

By understanding the nutrition: performance link, you can become more aware of the contribution specific foods make and better able to decide what goes in that trolley and, just as importantly, what stays on the shelf!

Key Fact: The food shop is one of the easiest areas where parents can help children improve their sports performances.

Impact on the Family 

But we're not just catering for the athlete in the house. There's also the rest of the family to consider.

For any parent, preparing different meals for different family members adds stress and complications and is something to avoid if at all possible. By far, the best approach is to find meals you all like and then think of ways to make them healthier by replacing the less helpful ingredients with healthier alternatives.

Yes, we get it: inflicting ‘healthy’ foods on the entire family may be met with resistance, especially from siblings, who'll be the first to kick off if their normal food options are suddenly changed because of their brother/sister’s sports requirements. Does this sound like your household?

5 Practical Tips

1. First and foremost, it's probably better to avoid calling a food ‘healthy’… even the word can result in resistance!
   
   

2. Gradually introduce new, healthier options. A sudden and total change will almost certainly result in a mass uprising… subtle additions are your best tactic.
   
   

3. Gradually reduce the not-so-healthy options… without saying you have…
   
   

4. Simply adding a good variety of side vegetables can significantly increase a meal’s nutritional benefits.
   
   

5. The subtle or discrete approach can also be deployed by sneaking healthy ingredients into meals your family is already used to.
   
   

In our opinion, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of deception!! Joe had no idea the spaghetti bolognese he loved contained lentils (rammed with protein) or that he was consuming the spinach and kale that he apparently 'hated' smuggled into other recipes!! 

Making Changes

Most of us tend to eat the exact same small handful of meals week in and week out, the tried and tested, cook-on-autopilot ones that we know everyone likes. So, the thought of having to make changes to this now-habitual food-buying and cooking habits can feel like a pretty major hurdle. Life's complicated enough as it is without adding yet more challenges, eh?

We know this can seem like a real effort, and yes, we get it, but here's the thing: what your athlete needs for good sports performances is precisely the same food that you and the rest of the family need:

• For good health
  
  
• For a good immune system
  
  
• For a healthy body weight. 

In other words, going to this 'effort' will be a win-win situation for everyone, with a better diet improving your athlete's chances of success AND your family's health! 

For more information about:

• Pre-training, post-training and game-day nutrition
  
  
• the link between protein and muscle repair
  
  
• what happens when athletes don't eat enough
  
  
• And much more...

...our nutrition module on The Athlete Parent Place has all you need to know. 

To go the extra mile to help your child achieve their sporting dreams, check out our

Ultimate Guide To Athlete Parenting

Featuring expert advice and elite athlete insights on nutrition, sleep, psychology, and much more.

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