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Linu Thankachan
Linu Thanachan is a regular Article Contributor to Many Article Directory.
Your kids have been racing up and down the field for a few hours. They're tired, they're thirsty and pretty soon they're going to be downright cranky on you.
What do you give them to boost their energy level and keep their mind and bodies in the game? Too many youth athletes don't realize just how important it is to eat a healthy and balanced diet in order to stay healthy as well as to optimize their performance on the field.
Provide a variety of healthy snacks that are nutritionally dense in order to both please your youngsters palates and fuel up their bodies in an optimal manner. Here are some suggestions to replace those doughnuts and ice cream bars at half time.
Go for the crunch! Everyone enjoys something crunchy in their mouth and it doesn't have to be greasy chips. Here are some suggestions for crunchy and healthful snacks to give your youth athletes:
• Apples
• Baby carrots
• Celery sticks
• Cereal bars
• Granola bars
• Trail mix
• Pretzels
• Air popped pop corn
• Graham crackers
• Baked chips
• Rice crackers
If your youth would prefer something a bit more smooth or creamy, you can always give them applesauce cups, cheese sticks or cubes, pudding cups, peanut butter (high in protein) or bananas.
Some kids go for the chewy, so offer them raisins, bagels, rice krispie treats (a HUGE favorite) or chewy granola bars.
In order to incorporate these healthy snacks in to your sports program, it's a good idea to send home a flyer to the parents outlining what is and what is not acceptable as a team snack. Make sure that everyone is signed up to bring a snack on practice dates and game days.
We all know that people forget things, its human nature. It would be an excellent idea for you to keep an emergency snack box in your trunk for those days when the team member in charge of snacks doesn't show up or does show up but has forgotten to bring along the food.
Food is fuel, and just as your high performance vehicle will sputter and die out when you need it most, so too will your star players stumble and lose steam at a critical moment in the game. Make a plan to have healthy, high energy snacks for your youth athletes and you'll see a big difference in their performance.
Published by Linu Thankachan on April 10, 2008 10:21 AM
