Fueling Teens

Raise your hand if...... your teenage athlete could use some nutrition guidance!

We find ourselves in conversations about teenage nutrition quite often and there are a few different themes. The common perception is that teens are just loading up on pizza and Chick-Fil-a sandwiches and while these are definitely faves among our active teenage clients, we also see another pretty common theme... INADEQUACY.

Another "Raise Your Hand"..... Raise your hand if you are familiar with "Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport" (RED-S).

Believe it or not, while many teenage and young adult athletes may have a preference for pizza and fast food, many of them are still functioning at a high level with "Low Energy Availability" (LEA). They are asking their bodies to show up and to excel in school and practice and extra conditioning and a wide variety of other commitments and they are chronically under fueled. Regardless of body size and athletic ability, it is common for active teens to be eating less than what their body actually needs to support all that they are trying to do. This can result in fatigue, a decrease in performance and even injury. Under fueling can also negatively affect digestion, heart health, hormones, bone health, metabolic rate, immune function, mental health and mood.

Inadequate intake can happen unintentionally. At the base of the Performance Nutrition Pyramid is Adequacy, Balance and Consistency. These can be challenging to accomplish with such busy schedules without some guidance, planning, and encouragement. In other scenarios the inadequacy may be more intentional with restrictive eating habits and unnecessarily rigid food rules or excessive training. Regardless of the cause, we know that inadequate energy intake over time can lead to a whole host of challenges that the athlete and the parent may not even attribute to low energy availability.

We encourage our clients to check in with themselves and we encourage parents to check in as well. Excess fatigue, a decrease in performance, a change in mood or motivation, loss of period (for females), frequent sickness, digestive problems and overuse injuries are all scenarios to pay attention to and consider following up with your physician or dietitian.

We always say "Athletes don't diet and exercise. They FUEL and TRAIN." Looking for more? We got you....here