A Discussion on Educating our Youth on the Importance of Nutrition, and why it's a larger discussion than simply achieving "peak" athletic performance.
As a youth sports coach, I frequently incur questions regarding athlete nutrition. Parents and athletes are interested in how nutrition can aid in peak performance during training and competition. This is a very good question with a multi-faceted answer, so I’m going to do the best I can to address the varying issues encountered when delving into this topic.
"It's not safe to assume that developing sound fitness habits is good enough to keep our children healthy."
I think an important distinction needs to be made when discussing nutrition in youth sports. We are dealing with kids who are growing and changing rapidly, and usually NOT mature, elite athletes in rigorous training whose agenda for their diets will be geared toward body composition, complementing their training cycles, and reaching “peak” performance at the highest level of competition. While this sounds exciting, let's remember that with all things youth sports related, it's best to focus on the fundamentals before we delve into the subtle nuances of what the elite are doing.
Young athletes should be concerned with developing proper eating habits and incorporating a well-balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and minimally processed foods. And while using diet to achieve peak performance should be a secondary goal for a young athlete, it is notable that a well-fueled child who partakes in a highly nutritious diet will be set up to perform well in training and competition.
In every avenue of youth sports, it’s important to take the long view, with nutrition being no exception. A poor diet as a child lends itself to a poor diet as an adult, and leads to an elongated list of physical problems, increased chance for developing depression or anxiety disorders, reduced mental functioning, a myriad of other preventable diseases, and lower quality of life. If we instill healthy eating habits in our children, we can drastically alter the future of their lives, increasing both the quality and longevity of adulthood. And while swimming and exercising are lifelong tools, fitness and health are not bound existentially together. It’s not safe to assume that only the development of sound fitness habits is good enough to keep our children healthy.
Before we go any further, I’m going to present to you a few statistics that highlight the obesity epidemic in the US:
Almost 70 percent of the American population is classified as overweight or obese (close to 40 percent are in the “obese” category).
By the time most Americans reach middle age, 90 percent will struggle with hypertension and 40 percent will suffer from metabolic syndrome, which is a combination of high blood pressure, high blood sugars, excess body fat around the belly, and abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels.
By 2050, the World Health Organization predicts one-third of the worldwide population will either have pre-diabetes or diabetes. These health conditions are affiliated with almost all chronic lifestyle diseases, which are now killing more people worldwide than infectious diseases.
Heart disease is currently the number one cause of death in the US, accounting for 41 percent of fatalities.
These staggering statistics offer insight as to why obesity has been labeled an epidemic and disease by the World Health Organization (WHO). And while the problem is only worsening; WHO believes they have discovered the root cause of it. WHO, along with most health experts and researchers, point to the significant consumption of ultra-processed foods by Americans and other highly wealthy western societies as the leading factor in the epidemic. According to both WHO and the World Cancer Research Fund, sugary drinks, energy-dense snacks and ‘fast food’ are key drivers of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and some cancers; and are associated with an increase in adult body mass index (BMI) at all levels of consumption.
Carlos Monteiro, Professor of Nutrition and Public Health for the University of Sao Paolo, Brazil, is one of many researchers who has linked the global uptick in obesity and chronic disease to harmful practices in food production. They maintain that classifying foods into two groups of unprocessed and processed foods is useless, because most foods are now consumed as processed in some way. They developed a classification system that categorizes food into four categories based on the extent to which it is processed. The table below displays the classification system, called NOVA, that was developed by Monteiro and colleagues in 2009, and is now used widely by most major food and health organizations:
USADA recommends that no more than 10 percent of our daily intake of food should be ultra-processed, while studies show that more than 50 percent of food bought by American households is classified as ultra-processed. The issue is perpetuated by the systematic, concentrated advertising and marketing campaigns of industrial food companies, as well as the rapid nature of daily life and the ease at which ultra-processed food can be procured and prepared.
Although it would take an extravagant level of effort and commitment to eliminate ultra-processed food completely from our diets, I believe we can limit it by how we plan and prepare our meals, as well as the level to which we involve our kids in the process. Here are a few tips and guidelines to consider as you figure out what works best for you:
When grocery shopping, look for foods that have three or fewer ingredients; are preserved naturally; and are as close to their natural state as possible (i.e. orange versus orange juice, apple versus apple juice).
Avoid soda completely, limit packaged goods and candies, and save the ready made dinners for when you absolutely need them.
Plan breakfasts, lunches, and dinners in advance so you can shop according to the plan; and you'll be less likely to be scrambling at meal time.
For breakfast, consider oatmeal with dried fruit, cinnamon, and honey; homemade granola bars, eggs or omelets, whole-grain or gluten free pancakes, french toast, or waffles.
For lunch, consider veggies with dip, crackers with hummus, hard-boiled eggs, non-artificially sweetened yogurt with fruit, whole-grain or gluten free sandwiches or wraps with canned tuna, chicken, avocado, etc.
For dinner, consider dishes made with organic or all-natural fish, chicken, grass fed beef; with potatoes, yams, quinoa, or rice; as well as lentils and beans. Look into Greek and Mediterranean dishes that might be fun to try.
For snacks, look to fresh fruit, veggies, homemade granola bars, and smoothies. Dipping certain fruits in peanut butter (apples and bananas are my go-to), or veggies in yogurt based dressing, is a way to add substance to the snack.
There are a ton of resources available on Google and Pinterest with recipes and meal plans for minimally processed diets.
Minimizing ultra-processed foods will take some planning and effort; and potentially some agonizing convincing of your children. And it will be totally worth it because it's one of the single best things you can do for yourself and for them. Involve your kids in the process - show them the statistics, have them research it on their own - ask them for their feedback and opinion about how to implement a more nutritious, healthy diet - have them look up recipes and foods and see what they think would be fun to make or to try. Involve them in the baking and making of things such as homemade granola bars, bread, and fresh squeezed juices or smoothie concoctions. There are ways to do it so it's not a burden - it can be fun, it will be productive, and it will change your lives for the better - it could even save your life.