Questions: How important is nutrition to teenage athletes, and how can they maximize their body’s potential throughout the day? What types of foods are the most effective before and after workouts, practices or games? What is the most common mistake young athletes make when it comes to nutrition? Nutrition is extremely important for teenage athletes, and there is certainly no shortage of good information readily available in books, journals, magazines and on the internet on the subject. As the athletic trainer for the high school, I try to gather and disseminate as much of the most recent nutritional guidelines to our athletes whenever I can. It is getting teenage athletes to “buy into” the guidelines and follow through that is the challenge. 
Pat Dioguardo is the athletic trainer at Mainland Regional High School. He has a degree in athletic training from West Chester University and a master’s degree from Temple University and has been the trainer at Mainland since 1989. Athletes need to eat more calories and the right combination of foods than less active students to provide the energy they need to meet the demands of their workouts and games. They need to try to follow those guidelines of trying to eat smaller meals/snacks throughout the day as opposed to eating the standard three meals per day, which is very hard to do at the high school level. For example, here at Mainland, everyone has lunch at the same time, about 11 to 11:50 a.m. Not a big concern for most students, unless you have a practice or game after school at 3 or 4 p.m. Where and when do you get your meal or snack before then? Parents really have to plan out and pack some good food choices if they do not want their athlete “running on zero” during practices and games. Ideally an athlete should eat 45 minutes to an hour before practices and games and, just as important, eat a well-balanced meal with in 30 to 45 minutes after practice at the latest. The other crucial factor to consider is getting the right mix of carbohydrates, protein and fats into each meal and snack. As a general rule, athletes should try to eat 40 to 50 percent carbs, 30 to 40 percent protein, and 10 to 20 percent fats in each meal or snack. Not easy to do. Timing of meals and nutritional makeup are the two most important factors when trying to get the proper nutritional needs met for teenage athletes. One of the most common mistakes I see athletes make (other than eating junk food) is not getting enough calories per day. As I stated before, athletes burn a tremendous amount of calories and if they don’t replenish and get enough in, they start running at a constant deficit. Performance inevitably will drop as a result. High school athletes, unlike many college athletes, do not have a team or school nutritionist to help plan meals, assess dietary needs and give healthy food choices. Therefore, most of what gets passed along to the athletes comes from parents, coaches and the athletic trainer. High school athletes still will go for the junk food route many times because it’s the easiest and most convenient. While I do still see many athletes still eating chips, candy, peanut butter or cheese crackers, pretzels, and other junk foods before games and practices, I do see more and more athletes selecting healthier choices. They eat snacks such as whole grain bagels, trail mix, apples, bananas, nuts, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apple sauce, raw veggies and some of the better choices available at convenience stores such as Wawa. Many times the protein bars, power bars, Cliff bars and other energy/carb bars help bridge the gap and even some of the protein/carb combination drinks and shakes help bridge the gap both before and after practices and games. I also see much less use of the energy drinks than I saw in precious years. That was a big concern a few years back, but the trend has seemed to tail off. Hopefully because athletes realize the inevitable crash they get afterward and now know better! Another positive trend I observe at Mainland, as well as many other schools, is that the cafeteria is taking a proactive role in providing more choices for the students. At one point a few years ago, the head of the cafeteria and I even collaborated on the possibility of forming a separate line and section specifically for student-athletes. Although that idea never took hold, the healthy options for athletes are there in most schools. Hopefully, through careful planning at home, better choices in the school cafeteria and some healthier choices while on the go, more and more athletes are getting closer to hitting the mark when it comes to getting enough of the right foods for competitions and training. Have a question for “Ask the trainer”? Email Glory Days Magazine publisher Dave O’Sullivan at sully@acglorydays.com.
Ask the Trainer: Nutrition is key to performance for teenage athletes
