Overview
Breakfast
Lunch
Snacks
Before sports
After sports
Dinner

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Does your child eat breakfast? Many school-age children don't. The usual excuse: a lack of time. But before you let your child continue to skip breakfast, you should know that studies have shown that:

Compared to a child who skips breakfast, a child who eats breakfast has:

• A better attitude

• Gets better grades

• A greater ability to solve problems

Eating breakfast is particularly important for the youth athlete because it helps to restore carbohydrates stored as glycogen in the liver depleted during the overnight fast (remember that the word "breakfast" means breaking the fast). Thus, a high-carbohydrate breakfast helps ensure that your child has adequate energy for practices or games in the afternoon.

Here are some suggestions:

• Encourage your child to eat foods they like for breakfast. Food composition, not social custom, is the best strategy

• Let her know that eating non-traditional breakfast foods is okay, so long as they are high in carbohydrates and low in fat

• Aim for a breakfast that provides between one quarter and one third of your child's daily calorie needs

• Athletes like figure skaters and runners, who practice early in the morning before going to school, should have a small snack before sports (fruit juice and toast, oatmeal and fruit, or bagel with peanut butter and jelly) followed by additional carbohydrate rich foods and fluids after practice.

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Think that a lunch brought from home is more nutritious than one provided by your child's school? Think again.

• The federal government requires school lunches to provide approximately one-third of the recommended dietary allowances for children

• Due to recent changes in the school lunch program, popular foods like pizza, tacos, macaroni and cheese, and hamburgers have been added, fresh fruit is now available as an alternative to sugary desserts like cake and cookies, and skim milk is offered in addition to whole milk

• Studies have shown that school lunches are generally more nutritious than lunches brought from home because box lunches:
  

  • Are usually less varied

  • Only include favorite foods

  • Are limited to foods that travel well and don't require refrigeration or heating

  • May not be eaten, or end up being traded or, worst of all, thrown away

Because peers often influence your child's food choices, you should ask him if he eats lunch with his friends, what foods he eats, and why he prefers certain foods. That way, you can recommend changes in his lunch choices, if necessary.

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Snacks may be a significant component of your child's diet, so their nutritional content may go a long way in determining whether her overall dietary needs are being met.

To find out about your child's snacking patterns, ask what, when and where:

• What are your child's favorite snacks?

• When and how often does your child snack?

• Where does your child get snacks? From home, vending machine or convenience store?

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Before Sports

For most kids, athletic practices and games are held after school. Depending on your child's schedule, she may eat breakfast as late as 8:30 a.m., lunch as early as 11:30 a.m., and not have sports until 2:30 or 3 p.m., sometimes even as late as 5:30 or 6 (soccer, youth baseball). As a general rule, if the time between lunch and sports is more than 2 hours, try to make sure your child has a nutritious snack before sports. Your child also needs to remember to drink some water before sports as well.

After sports

The body is most efficient at absorbing and storing energy (glycogen) during the first 4 or 5 hours after exercise. It's important to take in carbohydrate immediately (within 30 minutes) after hard workouts that last several hours. As soon as your child finishes sports, they need to rehydrate to replace lost fluids and eat some complex carbohydrates to replenish their glycogen stores. Instead of the usual empty, high fat calories (sugary bakery products, candy, chips, carbonated soft drinks), they should eat nutritious snacks such as one of the following foods and drinks:

• Medium bagel (50 grams of carbohydrates)

• Pretzels (23 grams of carbohydrate per ounce)

• Fruit yogurt (40 grams of carbohydrates per 8 ounce container)

• Large banana (40 grams of carbohydrates)

• Cranberry-apple juice (43 grams of carbohydrates per 8 ounces)

• Orange juice (28 grams of carbohydrates per 8 ounces).

For a list of high carbohydrate foods, click here.

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A nutritious, mostly carbohydrate dinner (about 2 hours after exercising) is particularly important for athletes because, along with the post-event snack, it will determine how much energy he or she will have for the next training session or competition. Here are two suggested meals:

Meal One:

• 1 large baked potato with grated low-fat cheese and plain low-fat yogurt

• Carrot sticks

• 1 cup fruit salad

• 1 cup low fat milk

Meal Two:

• 2 cups spaghetti

• 2/3 cup meat sauce with mushrooms and peppers

• 2 pieces of French bread

• 1 cup low-fat milk

For a sample high carbohydrate menu for one day, click here.

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Article Updated Oct. 11, 2007