Sports Nutrition for Kids and Teens with Food Restrictions | Gluten Free, Dairy Free, IBS, and More

When I was in seventh grade, my friend Amy talked me into joining the cross country team.

At the time it sounded like a great idea

it was an opportunity to stick around after school

get some exercise and be with my friends. It didn't even matter that I was terrible.

We would have races and I would be last

or second to last, but I was having a good time.

I did keep with running - I'm still a runner, I love to run -

but some things happened as I got older that helped me improve my running.

I realized in high school that I didn't have to be last if I made some

adjustments to my training and to my eating.

First thing I discovered was even though I wasn't overweight

I wasn't necessarily thin. I lost a few pounds,

my times got faster, next thing II realized was

drinking water makes a big difference in fatigue. I started drinking before I

exercised, drinking during exercise, and I started

drinking some water after exercise. And I found my endurance was much better.

I continued to learn things about sports and nutrition, about carbohydrates and

about protein. And every new thing I learned improved

my performance. I'm Betsy Hlelmgren with Feed to Succeed.

Today we're talking about sports nutrition.

When kids get into middle school or high school, the demands of their sport start

to increase. The more serious they get about their

sport, the more diet can have an impact on their performance.

When I see kids and teen athletes who have dietary restrictions,

sports nutrition gets more complicated. Today we're going to talk a little bit

about what you can do to help your kids and your teens who are athletes to get

the nutrition they need both for performance but also for

optimal health and growth.

Nutrition influences everything for an athlete

from illness and injury prevention to building strength

and endurance there's a lot that goes into it. In fact, nutrition has such

a big impact on athletes that most professionals

and olympians work directly with a dietitian to figure out how to eat to

maximize their performance. Becoming a well-trained athlete is

probably the ultimate in becoming a healthy eater.

Let's take a look at what dedicated athletes need to stay at the top of their game.

First, complex carbs. Carbohydrate is a rich source of energy for brain and muscle

tissue athletes use a lot of energy especially

in their muscles they need extra carbohydrates before

they exercise to fill their muscle stores, they need

carbohydrates during exercise to keep them going, and

they need carbohydrates after they exercise to replenish the used up stores.

Most athletes get complex carbohydrates from whole grains.

Whole wheat breads, whole wheat bagels, and things like that.

Other sources of complex carbs include potatoes,

cereal, pasta, and rice, to name a few.

Protein is also essential for athletes in order to build muscle and help repair tissue.

Protein sources include animal proteins like meat, chicken,

fish, eggs, also includes dairy products milk, yogurt, and cheese.

And plant proteins like nuts, legumes, even some vegetables like spinach.

Athletes need other things too. They need to be hydrated, such as water

they need electrolytes which is salt but it can come in the

form of supplements or other foods. Athletes need fruits and

vegetables for tissue repair and healing and injury prevention.

And additionally there's lots of supplements on the market.

Some of them are good, some of them are bad.

But those are things that athletes may be using and navigating as well to

contribute to their training program.

As you can see, athletes have specific

and demanding nutritional needs.

But people with dietary challenges can't

always meet these needs in traditional ways.

In my practice I work with many kids and teenagers who have specific diagnoses

so then we're looking at other dietary factors that need to be put into place

to help the child or the teenager get well. When you throw in the needs of

an athlete on top of that it can get really complicated.

Some of the more common things I see in my office

are athletes who are underweight or athletes who have ibs.

Another thing I often see is gluten intolerance and celiac disease.

Athletes who have celiac disease or gluten intolerance

are cutting gluten out of their diet which eliminates a lot of our options

for complex carbohydrate foods.

Additionally when we eliminate some of

those foods we're also eliminating some of the nutrients that would naturally be

there such as some of the B vitamins. B vitamins are essential for energy

metabolism and a number of other bodily functions

They can be replaced and athletes on a gluten-free diet can do great

but sometimes they need some guidance.

While there are many gluten-free food options on the market

many of them are pretty refined, not as much whole grains and whole food.

Additionally people on a gluten-free diet or in any kind of diet restriction

have to be very careful about reading labels

and avoiding certain ingredients.

A dairy allergy would be hard for me personally as an athlete

because I use so many dairy products for post-workout fuels,

like yogurts, chocolate milk, and cheese. Dairy products provide athletes not only

with protein carbs but with calcium. Calcium is very important for bone

mineralization and athletes can be at increased risk

for stress fractures it's important to address calcium needs

and make sure calcium is being replaced on a dairy free diet.

For my patient athletes with IBS, we're looking to control a lot of things

sometimes their symptoms are interfering with their practicing.

We also may be doing dietary modifications to help control symptoms

such as in the case of when we put an athlete with IBS on a low fodmaps diet.

For my underweight athletes often

they're not getting enough calories in. This is leaving them in an energy

deficit and can impact their performance they need to

learn how to make sure they're getting enough calories for their sport.

This all may seem very complicated but with a little education and support

all young athletes can thrive.

Take for example the high school

cross country runner I worked with last fall.

Spring of sophomore year, she was doing great having great times on the track.

But, when fall came around something was going on with her health.

She kept getting lightheaded, her times were slow,

she was collapsing at the end of races.

After meeting with her doctor and a specialist, she was diagnosed with celiac disease.

She hadn't been absorbing nutrition well. Her weight was down,

her iron stores were low, and all of this was causing difficulty with her ability to run.

When we first met we were focused on

getting her on a gluten-free diet so she could start to recover.

But in subsequent visits we started focusing on sports nutrition

and replacing vitamins and iron and other things that were going to help her

get strong again and get fast.

After a few months of good nutrition,

vitamins, protein, and a gluten-free diet,

she was strong and her times were back on track.

On the Feed to Succeed website, you can search for sports nutrition.

You'll find blogs, articles, and podcasts that will help you get more information.

If you're interested in teen sports nutrition, check out our podcast with

Alyssa Hjelmgren, teen athlete on YouTube.

and remember you can reach out to us at

Feed to Succeed for individual consultation and guidance.