Episode 40: Fueling Sporty Kids

Episode 40: Fueling Sporty Kids

I know how challenging it can be to ensure our active children get the right nutrients to fuel their busy lives. We'll explore the essential components of a balanced diet that supports their energy needs, performance, and overall health. From understanding the role of carbohydrates and proteins to the importance of hydration and the potential use of supplements, we'll cover it all. Plus, I'll share practical tips and delicious recipes to make meal planning easier and more effective.

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Links
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
https://nourishwithkarina.com/3-week-feeding-kids-reset

Highlights:

Introduction (00:00.00)
Podcast Episode on Feeding Sporty Kids (00:29.358)
Nutritional Guide for Sports Athletes and Teenagers (02:47.086)
Carbohydrate Consumption and Its Impact on Children (05:05.336)
Nutrition for Sporty Kids (07:27.276)
Protein Refueling for Children (09:50.636)
Sports Nutrition for Children (12:08.146)
Sports Diet and Athletes (14:23.234)
Athlete Nutrition and Fluid Requirements (16:40.962)
Hydration Importance in Sports (18:56.51)
Sports Drink Guidelines for Children (21:11.192)
Encouraging Daily Fluid Intake in Childre (23:18.786)
Foot Strike Anemia in Athletes (25:32.11)
Adolescent Calcium and Vitamin D Recommendations (27:43.128)
Sports Nutrition and Supplements Overview (30:03.282)
Junior Athlete Nutrition Guidelines (32:24.064)
Sports Nutrition for Children (34:44.353)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

Discussion Points:

1. Carbohydrates: The Energy Powerhouse

- Learn why carbohydrates are crucial for active kids and discover the best sources to keep their energy levels stable.

2. Protein for Growth and Recovery

- Understand the role of protein in muscle repair and growth, with tips on incorporating both animal and plant-based proteins into their diet.

3. Fruits and Vegetables: Nature’s Boosters

- Explore the benefits of a colourful variety of fruits and veggies to provide essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

4. Hydration: Staying Energised and Focused

- Get practical advice on keeping your kids hydrated and the role of water and sports drinks in maintaining their performance.

5. Supplements: When and If Needed

- Discuss the need (or lack thereof) for supplements and when they might be appropriate for young athletes.

Links and Resources:

- Check out Nourish with Karina Kids Recipes for nutritious and tasty meal ideas.

- Visit Sports Dietitians Australia for comprehensive information on sports nutrition.

- Learn more about the Nourishing Kids Membership for tailored recipes and meal plans.

Join me as we navigate the world of nutrition for sporty kids and ensure they have the fuel they need to succeed!

Introduction (00:00.878)
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast, episode number 40, Nutrition for Sporty Kids. Hi there, I'm Karina Savage and with over 20 years experience feeding children, including my own, I've learnt all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed Podcast.

Podcast Episode on Feeding Sporty Kids (00:29.358)
Hi guys, I hope you're really well. Thanks for listening into another episode. Today we are talking about feeding our sporty little kids. So this podcast episode is applicable for children of, you know, eight to 10 year olds and also for teens, because kids can get pretty competitive with their sports now from quite a young age. And we need to be thinking about how we can best

fuel our little ones, especially when they are doing a lot of exercise and or a lot of sport. Same, same really. Kids these days can be doing organised sport or some form of activity every single night or most nights of the week. And when you back this up after a long school day, perhaps before school care, kids can get tired and kids can run low on fuel.

And so it's really important that we are choosing good snack and meal options for our kids, or we are giving them those options, a couple of healthy options, so that they are adequately fueled throughout the day, so that they're able to get that energy, not only for the school day, so they're getting, you know, having good concentration throughout the day.

But to be able to continue this on through sports and some kids even have multiple sporting commitments after school. So they go from one training to another. So we need our children to get through the day with good energy levels without being too tired and grumpy. And it's for that reason that we need to talk about nutrition, especially for those that are super sporty. Another reason we need to talk about it is because sometimes the stakes are high and kids are

trying out at really elite levels, trying to get into teams. And sports nutrition is important at that point. how well you're fueled, how much muscle glycogen you have on board to sprint down the field, how many times you can back up repeated sprints if it's, you know, in athletics. Those things count. It was not only the athletics, it's beat tests in different sports. So those things really count at that elite level. So these sports nutrition principles applied to your

Nutritional Guide for Sports Athletes and Teenagers (02:47.086)
you know, eight to 10 year old that is doing a lot of sport, but also your teenagers that are really competing at a high level. So let's dive in. We're going to cover carbohydrates. We're going to cover protein. We're going to cover fruits and veg. We're going to cover fluid and sports drinks. We're going to cover nutrients such as iron, calcium, and we're also going to touch on supplements. So let's dive into carbohydrates to start with. Look.

Carbohydrates, as I've always said, my history is as a sports dietician, I'm an accredited sports dietician in my, not in my past life, but yeah, I used to do a lot more in the sports world and I've worked with many elite athletes over the years and a lot of elite teenagers over the years and given many, many talks in this field as well.

And I always say that carbohydrates are the primary fuel source. So they are like the petrol for the car. It's carbohydrates that your body is using as the primary fuel source when you are sprinting down that track, when you are sprinting down that basketball court, when you are sprinting down that football or soccer field. sorry, I shouldn't call it soccer. I should call it AFL or football or rugby. depends on what country you're in. But really carbohydrates are the primary fuel source.

Now, most of the time our children do get a good amount of carbohydrates throughout the day, just because that's their preferential food of choice. Often it's the pasta, it's the bread, it's the crackers, it might be the fruit. So carbohydrates are rich in all those foods. so often our children do get good amounts of carbohydrate, but sometimes it's the types of carbohydrates that can cause issues because the very fast release carbohydrates, those high GI carbohydrates,

don't hang around in their bloodstream for very long. And so they can give you a very quick, short hit of energy of sugar, but then they disappear out of the bloodstream pretty quickly. So they don't provide that sustained release of energy that often kids, sporty kids need to get them through the training session or multiple training sessions or to get them through the day and then sport after school. So when we talk about carbohydrates, we talk about the quantity and then we talk about the spread.

Carbohydrate Consumption and Its Impact on Children (05:05.336)
Do they get bits of carbohydrate throughout the day or good amounts of carbohydrate throughout the day? And then we talk about the type of carbohydrate, the fast release, the high GI carbohydrates versus the slow release, the low GI carbohydrates. Because ultimately the more slow release carbohydrates, low GI options, they're better because then we're going to have more sustained control blood sugar levels for our child throughout the school day and also throughout sporting.

commitments in the evenings and that's going to make them feel much more stable and energetic than having really significant blood sugar level swings up and down, up and down like a shark tooth. Because that not only makes them feel yuck, it can make them feel energetic, but then very sluggish and then energetic and then very sluggish. And that can also affect mood and behaviour and concentration as well.

So the low GI carbohydrates or the slow release carbohydrates that we want to be putting into our children are whole grains such as grainy bread. It might be a bowl of porridge or weebies or Vita Brits. It might be a bowl of muesli. It might be eggs on grainy bread or avocado on toast or nut butter on toast that's grainy and that's low GI. It might be a big smoothie that's got fruit and milk and you can even throw avocado or nut butters into those or oats.

Again, those types of foods are going to be slow release, low GI. might be baked beans on toast. You might be leftover spaghetti bolognese. So those types of carbohydrates are slow release and they are a good option to start the day with, especially if you know they're going to have a big, sporty, active day. Especially if they've also got PE at school, right? Because they're also running around during the school recess or morning tea or first lunch, whatever it is called, and lunch.

Second lunch, twice a day they're also running around, let alone having PE lesson, a sports lesson, and then perhaps after school activities. Carbohydrates are important, that we are giving them carbohydrates throughout the day so that they sustain their energy. And those slow release carbohydrates. So we've talked about some slow release carbohydrates for breakfast, but slow release carbohydrates for lunch as well, including grainy bread, grainy crackers. It might be...

Nutrition for Sporty Kids (07:27.276)
some pasta that you've popped into thermos. They're all good options. In terms of snacks, we want to be going for perhaps homemade muffins if you can, or cookies using wholemeal flour and oats that are going to be slower in release of carbohydrates, lower in GI. You can't take nut bars to school, but fruit, yogurt, even another grainy bread sandwich as recess or first lunch is a great option because it's giving them

extra good quality fuel. It might be a tin of baked beans or it might be a bliss ball that you've made with wheat bicks. And I've got great recipes for those that are perfect for sporty kids. So carbohydrates is definitely something that you want to be considering with your sporty child. And this needs to be considered not only for the game day, the weekend or whenever their actual competition is, but for every day during the week when they are going through the school day active. And then also

moving into after school sport or training, they're going to be needing to put, where they're going to be running around more. In terms of protein, look, protein is something that children often get enough of in terms of their gram per kilogram requirement per day. But often, I mean, I talk about this a lot in terms of fussy eaters, often they get most of their protein from dairy, which is low in iron and

Not that, you know, and this can contribute to iron deficiency, but in terms of sports nutrition, dairy products, if they're having good amounts of dairy products, they contribute to muscle protein synthesis and help with the repair and recovery of muscles. Having said that, if your child is dairy free, then you can absolutely get all the protein that you need from other protein sources, non -dairy options or nuts or seeds.

If they eat meat, get protein in meat, there's protein in eggs, zucchini slices, protein in things like legumes, baked beans, chickpeas, fava beans. So, you know, can get protein in a lot of different foods, but as a recovery food, it is important. So theoretically, you don't really need protein before exercise, but protein is beneficial after exercise to help repair and recovery of the muscles.

Protein Refueling for Children (09:50.636)
Which is why you'll see footballers, for example, will have protein recovery drinks after a game because that's when they're needing to refuel their muscles with not only protein, but also carbohydrates. So there's a combination of those two in those protein recovery drinks. Now I'm not saying your child needs those. Absolutely not. They just need real food in the form of main meals and snacks that contain a combination of protein, carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables.

And that's where I would just make sure that in breakfast, in lunch, in dinner, there is some good quality protein in their snacks, try and add protein to their snacks as well as the carbohydrates that they often love so much. So for example, if you're serving crackers, perhaps serve them with crackers and hummus or crackers and cheese, or maybe make a black bean brownie. I've got a great recipe for that, which is a great source of protein. It's made with a tin of black beans and three eggs. So it's a brilliant protein slash carbohydrate.

snack that kids can have at any time of the day is nut free and dairy free, can go to school. It's so versatile. Bliss balls as I said are another great option and you can make them nut free. So bliss balls tend to be higher in carbohydrates, but if you could make them for home, then you can add almond meal, which brings in some more protein. protein is something that generally kids do get enough of. just about making sure that it's spread out throughout the day. And if your child was like a 14 year old elite,

athlete, I would definitely be making sure that they do have protein after their training session. And whether that's a yogurt or a chocolate milk or whether that's a tin of baked beans or as I said, my black bean brownie or a bowl of nuts or whether you come home and literally have spaghetti bolognese, it's just making sure that they get protein after their heavy training sessions. But I wouldn't worry about

increasing the amount of protein significantly. Cause as I said, kids generally meet their daily protein requirements. It's more just about making sure that the protein is spread out throughout the day and is definitely included as a recovery meal or snack. Something like a sausage in sport can also be useful to pop in a sports bag and have as a recovery drink in between perhaps games. If you've got a carnival or a tournament,

Sports Nutrition for Children (12:08.146)
And that's also where something like a chocolate milk drink can also come in really handy. And even if it's not dairy, if it's a soy based one or an oat based one, it's still going to have carbohydrates. It's still going to have some protein. Although the soy one would be the best option from a protein perspective there if you're going dairy free, because soy tends to have a higher protein composition compared to oat milk or almond milk. There may be some of you listening that think, yeah, but

My child's a little bit on the heavy side, so do they really need that amount of carbohydrates? And my comment to that would be, look, it's very variable. Some kids, for example, endurance runners that are just pumping out the keg almost every single day are going to have higher energy requirements than perhaps somebody doing gymnastics.

Having said that, gymnastics is very physically demanding still. So we still need to make sure they're getting enough energy and enough carbohydrate, enough fuel, but the output in terms of carbohydrate requirements may be different. Or if you've got a child that's doing fencing, for example, look, I'm sure fencing is physically demanding, but it's going to be different. So when you're looking at higher level sport, then absolutely we would tailor

the carbohydrate requirements and the protein requirements specific to that sport and those requirements for that individual based on their age and stage of development. So there's huge variability in terms of specificity of tailoring a sports nutrition plan. So there's huge variability in specific requirements for protein and carbohydrate.

But in general terms, if we're looking more broadly for children from sort of eight to 15, 16, we do need to be making sure that they're getting enough carbohydrate. We do need to make sure that protein intake is spread throughout the day. We do need to make sure that their iron and vitamin D and calcium requirements are all met. We do need to make sure that they're drinking enough fluid. So these are more general sports nutrition principles, but for very elite sport and for

Sports Diet and Athletes (14:23.234)
you know, unique situations, then it does need to be tailored. And that's when you do want to seek the advice of a sports dietician such as myself, where we can go through the real nitty gritties and tweak individual daily. Sometimes we can change daily requirements or daily intakes based on training demands. But that's at that really, really nitty gritty level. This is not.

specific or not appropriate, I should say, for a podcast on this topic. So I just wanted to bring your attention to the general things we need to think about today. But of course there's going to be nuances and there's going to be specific requirements for various sports and also various ages and training demands. Okay. Now let's talk about fruits and vegetables. When we were doing some training at the Australian Institute of Sport as a sports dietician, I think it was a conference actually we were there for.

And we got to stay on site at the AIS and we got to eat in the dining hall with the athletes. It was very eye -opening. And I distinctly remember the huge bain maries of fresh berries and fresh fruits and fresh vegetables that were served en masse to the athletes. And it's really important to remember, I mean, we all know that fruits and vegetables are good for all of us, but especially for athletes because

When you are physically exerting yourself, your body is producing extra, what we call free radicals. So you do get a bit of damage to the body by that physical exertion. It's also very beneficial for you. Exercise is hugely beneficial for you. You mop up your blood, it cleans up your blood. It's been shown that exercise reduces the cancer causing cells in the blood. Exercise is amazing for you, but at high ongoing levels of exercise, the body can produce some extra.

we call free radicals and what we want to do is have good amounts of fruit and veg because that helps mop them up as well. Their antioxidants help mop up all those free radicals that are caused by the exercise. So fruits and vegetables are hugely important for athletes from an immune perspective to keep their immune systems in tip -top condition to mop up those free radicals.

Athlete Nutrition and Fluid Requirements (16:40.962)
to keep their bowel health really good to feed their bowel really important fiber, which as I said previously helps the immune system. So fruits and vegetables are really important for athletes for many reasons. So mopping up free radicals, keeping the gut health good, supporting immune health. mean, it's all interrelated. It's all connected up some sort of same thing in three different ways. So they're so important on so many levels that, yeah, as I said, when we went

there and spend time with the athletes. just remember they would serve up huge amounts of berries on their cereal in the morning and lots and lots of different fruits and vegetables were available. And the athletes, their snacks were pretty much fruit and yogurt and maybe healthy muesli bars and whatnot. So fruit and vegetables are really important, not only for all of us, but definitely for sporty kids. If we move now onto fluid. Now fluid is a really interesting one because

Whilst there are general guidelines on fluid requirements, fluid requirements vary significantly between individuals. Some people are big, heavy sweaters. Some people sweat very minimally. Got that word out right? Minimally, it's a tricky one. So some people are very small sweaters. Some people are big sweaters and some people are very salty sweaters. And as a sports dietician, we used to do sweat testing where

We would test how salty the sweat was of athletes because salty sweaters needed more sodium replacement to help with their hydration. So some people are really salty sweaters, other people aren't. Some people have that real crystal, like, you know, edge to their hairline because they are salty sweaters. So everyone has a very different fluid need based on how much they sweat.

how salty their sweat is. But at the end of the day, the important thing is that we are all drinking to what we need. We are drinking to make sure that our wee stays light yellow, that is not too concentrated and smelly, because that's a really clear sign that an athlete is dehydrated when their wee is more of an orange colour. Gatorade actually has like this really cool

Hydration Importance in Sports (18:56.51)
We chart, which has been in all the club rooms looking at the different colours basically, and the pale yellow is the hydrated versus the darker orange is very dehydrated. And so we want athletes and we want kids, any child we need to be hydrated. Because again, if you're not hydrated, it can affect your concentration, it can affect your mood, can affect your intake as well, because you eat when you're actually thirsty and then it can affect constipation.

So we want children to be drinking to what they need throughout the day. And a good ballpark for a toddler might be about a litre. An eight to 10 year old might be about 1 .5 litres of fluid a day. An adult female needs about 2 .1 and adult male needs about 2 .6 litres of fluid a day. you know, look, this is hugely variable according to where you live. If you live in Malaysia or Singapore or somewhere really hot and sweaty,

Your fluid requirements are going to be a lot higher as your children are. If you lived in Antarctica, your fluid requirements, well, in winter, your fluid, I guess it's cold there all the time. don't know what the temperatures like in summer in Antarctica, but you know, if you're in a cold climate, you're going to need less fluid, but you're still going to need your daily fluid needs. You're just not going to need a whole lot more. If you play a sport that's outdoors in the sun in summer for like hours and hours on end, like you're playing a three hour tennis match, your fluid needs are going to be a lot higher.

Then if you're playing a 60 minute game of ice hockey inside and it's cold, I mean, I guess then they might be wearing heavy clothing that are big sweaters and there no race car drivers too. are big sweaters. Their fluid requirements are huge and the fluid requirements are really important because dehydration affects your concentration and that's of huge importance in racing car driving, what's huge importance in.

Pretty much most sports, yeah, that's a really important one. So hydration is something to be very mindful of. Now, for most of us, children included, they just need water. Water and some fruit, if it's going to be longer than an hour, throw them a banana or a muesli bar or something like that. If they are in prolonged sports, so more than an hour and it's

Sports Drink Guidelines for Children (21:11.192)
hot, that's when sports drinks are appropriate. Now I say sports drinks that are just carbohydrate and water. So something like a basic Powerade, Gatorade, Leucusade, something like that. I'm not talking about Prime. I'm not talking about any of those energy drinks. I'm actually going to be talking about them on Eternal Seven Sunrise in the next few days, because there's some pretty damning evidence to suggest the

danger of these energy drinks. They've got caffeine, they've got taurine, they've got guarana, they've got other components that are actually life -threatening and very dangerous to your health, to your cardiac health as well. So definitely no energy drinks for children, full stop, nothing with caffeine in it. I would stay away from anything with caffeine in it. Some of the prime drinks do have caffeine.

I would stay away from the prime drinks because they have artificial sweeteners in them. They've got sucralose in them and sucralose has been linked to changing your DNA. I'd be staying away from anything that's got artificial sweeteners and I've got a whole other podcast on artificial sweetness so you can check that out. But by sports drinks, I mean basic, parod, gatorade, leukosate, or even just cordial or juice, something like that.

The only thing with corduroy and juices, it doesn't have the electrolytes, the sodium and potassium. So if they are big sweaters and they are out there all day, then that's where the sports drinks with the electrolytes can be beneficial. But if your child is literally playing a one hour game of basketball or a one hour game of netball, then they just need water. And that's all I would be giving them. The important thing is though, that they are hydrated prior to the game, especially if it's a hot day. I mean,

pretty much all of the time, not just in hot weather. We want our children to be hydrated before the training or before the game so that they're not going into a competition or a training situation already dehydrated. And then drinking to thirst throughout the day. That's the most important thing. You just want them to be sipping on water throughout the day. You don't want to send their water bottle to school in the morning and come home and they've literally taken one sip.

Encouraging Daily Fluid Intake in Childre (23:18.786)
Now it's tricky because there are bubblers at school and it's hard to ascertain their true fluid intake in that situation. But at the end of the day, we just need to be encouraging them to drink throughout the day. And you can also, you know, check to make sure that they are pooing regularly and it's soft because that's another good indication that they are getting enough fluid. Because if they're not getting enough fluid, then their poos will tend to be small hard pellets.

Okay, let's now talk about iron because iron is something that can be at risk in children who are big runners, heavy heel strikers because... Okay, let's now talk about iron because iron is a nutrient that is at risk in toddlers and it's a nutrient that I'm seeing a lot of deficiency really throughout childhood.

adolescence and adulthood, I feel like iron deficiency is becoming more and more of an issue. And iron deficiency is something that we do see in athletes, especially runners. So iron deficiency is common in all children and adults. And it's something that we just need to be mindful of because iron deficiency will significantly affect energy levels.

and cause fatigue in our children and our athletes and our junior athletes. So low iron can be caused by poor dietary intake. It can be caused by heavy menstrual losses. It can be caused by sometimes GI bleeding, but less common because generally you would observe blood in the poo and pick up on that pretty quickly.

But you can also get what we call runner's anemia, which is otherwise known as foot strike hemolysis. If your child is a long distance runner or they do a lot of running, sometimes you can actually damage the red blood cells when you're heel striking a lot. So basically the repetitive pounding of your foot on the ground can damage the red blood cells and can reduce your iron. And that's why it's called runner's anemia.

Foot Strike Anemia in Athletes (25:32.11)
Foot strike anemia, as I said, is more common in long distance athletes, but it's something to just be mindful of if your child is, so say you've got a 12 year old and your child looks like they've got dark circles under their eyes and they're lethargic and they are an endurance runner and they do a lot of running. It's just something to be mindful of. Or if you've got a 14 year old junior athlete who's a female and she's got heavy periods and just being mindful of that.

Or if you've got a nine -year -old who's super fussy and eats no iron, then that could be another contributing factor to low iron. So iron is a nutrient just to be mindful of. And it's really important just to be considering iron as a cause of lethargy when you've got a child who is super active, running through the school day, you know, then moving on to sport, multiple sports most nights.

And if they've got low iron, it's going to significantly impact their energy levels and their output and their ability to perform week in, week out. And then if the stakes are high and they've got to perform and try and get into a team and they don't, then that can be pretty devastating. So just keep an eye on iron as a contributing factor to lethargy. But then, know, carbohydrate intake is also going to cause lethargy if they're not getting enough carbohydrates throughout the day. So it's just another nutrient to consider, one of the key nutrients.

from a sports nutrition perspective. And that's a good time to move on to supplements because supplements is something that I often get asked about. And in terms of children and sports nutrition, there is no recommendation whatsoever. In fact, it's not recommended for teenage athletes or

even younger than that to have nutritional supplements. other nutrients just to be mindful of in our children who are potentially going to be little athletes is calcium and vitamin D. Now calcium and vitamin D are really important nutrients for good bone health and calcium and vitamin D are important for all children and adults and they're no different from their

Adolescent Calcium and Vitamin D Recommendations (27:43.128)
kids at school, so everybody needs the same amounts of calcium and vitamin D. But it's just important to remember that some adolescents fail to meet these recommendations and then that can increase their risk of bone breaks. And then if they're super sporty, maybe they're playing hockey and they get a hockey stick to the shin, hopefully they're wearing shin pads, but you know, can increase your risk of bone breaks or if you're falling over during sports. So calcium and vitamin D are really important.

Now, most of the vitamin D we get from exposure to the sun, very few foods do contain natural vitamin D. We have fish, we have eggs and we have mushrooms, especially those have been left in the sunlight have high vitamin D. So they are the main sources of dietary vitamin D. We do have some vitamin D fortified margarines and butters, but most vitamin D we do, as I said, get from exposure to the sun and conversion from sunlight exposure.

And usually our kids do get enough time in the sun to have adequate vitamin D, but some children that have darker skin or fully covered or spend most of their time indoors. So for example, if they're a basketball and spend all their time indoors, then they may have lower vitamin D. So just something to be mindful of. Now calcium and vitamin D are equally as important for bone health and teeth. So calcium is found in dairy products, but

also found in other foods such as sesame, tahini, it's found in the bones of salmon and sardines, it's found in almonds, it's found in non -dairy milks that are fortified such as oat milk or almond milk or soy milk that's been fortified. So calcium is found in many foods and it's important to make sure that your child is getting enough calcium and vitamin D for their bone health.

Okay, this is a good time now to move on to supplements. And by supplements, I mean things like protein powders, amino acids, creatine. And are they okay for our young junior athletes? Well, put simply, no, we don't need to be giving those to our young children. In fact, if you go to our national authority on this, Sports Dietitians Australia, I was actually on the board of Sports Dietitians Australia many years ago.

Sports Nutrition and Supplements Overview (30:03.282)
And they've got a great website with a whole lot of fantastic information on this. So if you go to www .sportstietitians .com .au, you'll find a lot of great information on sports nutrition and facts sheets on various topics for you to look up. They've got general ones on, you know, what to eat before, during and after sport. They've got one on hydration. They've got fact sheets for specific sports. So very useful website.

And if you look at the section on do adolescents need supplements, put simply, no. The use of dietary supplements with the exclusive intention to enhance exercise performance is unwarranted and hazardous. So we need to be really careful about what we're putting into our children's bodies. And look, if it was a vitamin gummy, I think that's different. It's different to alkanamine, acid or creatine.

which is definitely not recommended for even, you know, 13, 14 year old athletes that would not be giving them those amino acids or creatine. They can get amino acids from real food, from a glass of milk, from a piece of meat, from an egg, from cheese, from nuts and seeds. They don't need to be getting protein. It's unsafe for them to be getting it from supplements. The only time I would be considering adding a

protein powder is when you have a child that is really struggling to gain weight and really underweight and they've really maxed out their carbohydrate intake and struggling to get enough nutrition for daily needs. So that's when I would say you could add just a milk powder basically. You could just go to the shop and buy milk powder and add that into a smoothie or you can get your pea protein powders or soy protein powders that you can

add to a milkshake, but that's like a whole food protein. It's like a soy or a pea or a milk based. I'm not talking about specific amino acids because often those specific amino acids may be combined with other chemicals and synthetic ingredients that we don't know about. And if you don't recognise what the name is, if it's not pea or soy or milk and it's some

Junior Athlete Nutrition Guidelines (32:24.064)
synthetic chemical, then it could be potentially dangerous and I would absolutely avoid it for your child. The only time I think a supplement is beneficial is something like a protein powder that's like a pea or a soy or a milk -based protein powder to add to food if your child is underweight. And that's when something like a sustegenspore may also be useful and you can get something like a sustegenspore in liquid form. That's a bit like an up and go really, or in powder form.

So in summary, for your junior athlete, I would make sure that they are eating three good meals a day. quality breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and then make sure that their snacks are a good combination of carbohydrates, some protein, and some fruit and veg. If they were spending all day at a tournament or a carnival, then I'd definitely be taking lots of good quality snacks.

And I would be taking things like healthy muffins, nut bars, muesli bars or granola bars, homemade cookies. You could take a sausage and sport. You could buy chocolate milk. You could take peanut butter sandwiches, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, Vegemite sandwiches on grainy bread, Vita wheats. You could take hummus and crackers. And if you're wanting more healthy recipes, whether it's main meal recipes, breakfast, lunch, dinner ideas, or healthy snacks to pop into your

little junior athletes, lunchbox or sports bag. I have all of these inside my Nourishing Kids membership. We've got a member only recipe website where you can literally head to the breakfast section or the dinner section or the snack section, bake or no bake, and find a whole lot of really good quality, slow release protein containing, also iron and zinc containing foods. I've got a real focus on making sure that they're specific to what our children need.

which is why they're inside Nourishing Kids. So if you want to know more about Nourishing Kids, then just head to my website, nourishwithkarina.com forward slash membership, and you can find all the information out there. All of those are really good quality snacks that are going to provide a combination of those slow release carbohydrates and some protein. Simply nuts, almonds and sultanas are a great combination as well, because you're getting the protein in the nuts and you're getting the carbohydrates in the sultanas or cashews and

Sports Nutrition for Children (34:44.353)
dried apricots are another great one. So it's important to make sure that we're giving them good quality main meals, but also really importantly, good quality snacks that are going to provide that combination of good quality carbohydrates and protein. And then also as we talked about before, making sure that they're getting plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Now, look, this isn't always possible and always ideal. This is, guess, gold standard, but...

As you know, and as I know, kids have their own minds and want to do their own things. And sometimes it's really hard to get them to eat actually before sport. And so if you've got a child like that, then perhaps a smoothie or worst case, if they're so nervous and they're throwing up and they can't tolerate anything, maybe just sipping on a little bit of sports drink before an event, if it's an important event, because it's important to try and have something in their body to give them some extra carbohydrate because

They're stored energy, they're stored muscle glycogen, which is that the glucose stores in your body. It only lasts so long and you need to start topping them up to keep that energy, to keep that continued source of energy flowing through the body. So really trying hard to set them up with a good breakfast, but at the end of the day, trying to get anything into them, sipping on a bit of juice or something before a game, just to try and top them up with a bit of energy.

before the game, because if they go into a game with a completely empty stomach, having nothing in their body, they're going to fade pretty quickly. So look, there's no judgment. Do what you can. Obviously, you know what the gold standard is, but at the end of the day, it's better to get something into them than nothing, just so they've got some energy to get through the game so they can concentrate. And also don't forget that important hydration, make sure they're drinking beforehand as well.

So if you've got any more questions on this, please reach out to me. love talking about this area and yeah, I'm happy to answer questions, happy to record another podcast on a specific topic of sports nutrition. But I've tried to give you a snapshot of everything while most things are today. And let me know, leave me a review. I look forward to chatting to you very soon. Have a great week. Bye for now.