NUTRITION and ATHLETES

FOOD STRATEGY

    All young athletes need to base their diets on a variety of nutritious foods. The Food Guide Pyramid is an excellent guide for young athletes to use because it

• helps you to select a variety of nutritious foods,
• emphasizes the starchy foods like breads, cereals, pastas, and vegetables you need to build glycogen stores,
• guides your selection of a lower fat diet, and
• offers you a variety of foods within each food group so that meals can be built around the foods you like.

    In no instance should you eat less than the minimum servings for any food group. You need the minimum servings to supply a base level of essential nutrients and calories required for good health. Consuming the minimum servings listed in the Food Guide Pyramid will supply about 1,600 calories, which is the minimum a teen girl should take in. Teen boys need at least 2,000 calories a day and thus need more than the minimums given.

    Athletes need plenty of starchy foods because, along with proper training, these foods cause muscle and liver cells to store glycogen. Glycogen is a vital energy source for most sports. When muscle cells run out of glycogen, muscle fatigue sets in and performance suffers. Along with a proper exercise program, eating a normal, varied diet from the Food Guide Pyramid with emphasis on starchy foods will result in enough stored glycogen to carry you through 90 minutes of vigorous activity. And that's enough for most high-school activities.

    Unfortunately, many girl athletes think of starchy foods as "fattening" and cut out breads, cereals, and starchy vegetables. The results are predictable: low glycogen, low energy, and poor performance. The girl athlete who wants top performance must eat starchy food so that she goes into an event with glycogen reserves. Starchy foods are not fattening in themselves. Eating more than you need of any food puts on pounds. The girl athlete who is training properly shouldn't worry about extra weight from starchy foods.

    Teenage girls often have an incorrect perception of body image. Pounds that are added as a result of normal growth and development should not be confused with obesity. The percentage body fat should be monitored along with body weight. Most experts think that a teenage girl's body fat should not go below 12 to 14 percent.

You should eat a nutritious, varied diet containing plenty of starchy foods every day. Give starches particular emphasis two days before the event. Also, cut back on workouts a day or two before the event to increase glycogen stores. Most high-school coaches hold lighter workouts the day before a competition. This gives glycogen levels a chance to build up.

Here are some tips to help you keep your glycogen reserves up--particularly for a major competition.

• Start each day with a good breakfast. Cold cereal, milk, toast, fruit, and/or fruit juice make an easy-to-fix, quick meal that provides plenty of starch.
• Select meals that contain foods from all five food groups. Our bodies use nutrients more efficiently when they are consumed together.
• Use snacks as another opportunity to power up with starch--and don't forget that snack at bedtime. Cold cereal with milk serves as a quick snack at any time. It can be more than the "breakfast" of champions! And you don't have to stop at one bowlful.
• Give starchy foods particular emphasis the days right before the event by building the main meal around a high-starch entree like spaghetti and meatballs. Make sure the other food groups are also represented.
• Decrease physical activity the day before and the day of the event. Practices directed by your coach are enough. The day before or the day of the event is not the time to organize a pickup game with your friends. Rest up!
• Drink plenty of fluids--even at mealtimes--to guard against dehydration.

After the meet or practice session, much of the glycogen in your muscle and liver tissue has been used up, and synthesis, or creation, of new muscle protein slows. To promote glycogen recovery, consume nutritious foods and drinks that are high in carbohydrates. When you eat the right foods, your body can replace lost glycogen rapidly, and normal synthesis of new proteins can resume.

Whole foods like cereals, breads, and pastas with a glass of milk are better for total recovery than pure carbohydrate supplements. A mix of whole foods contains proteins, minerals, and vitamins in addition to carbohydrates. You need these other nutrients along with high levels of carbohydrates for a complete, rapid recovery.

To insure that you get enough carbohydrates, take in one gram of carbohydrates for each kilogram (2.2 pounds) of body weight. For example, a 110 pound athlete should consume about 50 grams of carbohydrates for maximum glycogen replacement after an event. A 156-pound athlete would need about 70 grams of carbohydrates. One ounce of breakfast cereal contains about 20 grams of carbohydrates, and one slice of bread has about 12 grams. Remember, whole foods, such as breads and cereals, when eaten with beverages like milk promote more rapid recovery than pure carbohydrates alone.

To assist in total, rapid recovery, you should consume nutritious foods and drinks as soon as you can tolerate them after a meet or workout. Ideally, you should eat food within two hours afterward. However, if you can't tolerate eating that soon, choose what's comfortable for you.

Remember to drink plenty of fluids, even if you aren't thirsty. Keep your fluid levels up!