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Fuel Your Performance

By USAHockey.com, 12/11/14, 11:45AM MST

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Learn About Great Nutrition Choices

By Guest Contributor: Alicia Kendig (United States Olympic Committee Sport Dietitian)

Every day, I have the pleasure of working with some of our greatest athletes, helping them fuel up to be the best in the world and represent the United States in the Olympic Games.  These elite athletes use great nutrition choices to help fuel their performance.  But fueling your performance shouldn’t be limited to elite athletes.  Nutrition is a key contributor to performance. And it’s one that is often overlooked for athletes of all ages. 

The building blocks of good nutrition start with good instincts.  Starting from a young age, you probably knew not to eat certain things before a game because it might make you feel sick, or to not eat too much because it is hard to digest before the game starts.  What youth athletes might not know is that certain foods can make you feel more energetic, think more clearly, and benefit performance in training and competition.

Parents and coaches can help youth athletes incorporate sports nutrition into their pre-game plans to bring out athletes’ best performance. Think of food as your fuel for everything you do.  Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats provide the energy that your body needs for both school and athletic performance.  High quality forms of these foods are packaged with high quality nutrients, instead of bad nutrients.  Include more of the “Good” foods, and less of the “Bad” foods in meals and snacks on a daily bases, especially on training days and game days.  These high quality foods will make athletes feel better and help them perform at their best.  The Bad choices can cause indigestion, low energy, inability to focus, and can actually replace foods in your diet that your body needs for recovery and preparation for future competitions.  Examples of these two kinds of foods are:

Recently, sport nutrition products – like protein bars, protein shakes, meal replacements, and supplements - have increased in popularity amongst athletes for both convenience and perceived performance benefits.  Don’t let these products cheat your athlete out of consuming nutrient-dense meals and snacks.  Pre- and post-game meals should contain many of the “Good” foods listed, and snacks should have a foundation of these same options.  

Bad nutrition choices can hold back youth athletes from performing at their best.  Pay attention to the details, create a pre-game and post-game nutrition plan, and fuel-up with performance-oriented foods for training and game days. 

At Liberty Mutual Insurance Play Positive™ we encourage parents, coaches and youth athletes alike to educate themselves by reading helpful articles such as Nutrition For Youth Athletes, Hydration in Athletes and The Four Rs of Recovery.  For more tips and advice for youth sports including articles, videos, podcasts, and tools from the experts, visit Play Positive Resources.

Alicia Kendig, MS, RD, CSSD

USOC Sport Dietitian, Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics

Alicia Kendig joined the U.S. Olympic Committee as a registered sport dietitian in 2011. She provides nutritional services to the summer strength and power sports and winter sport athletes. She currently works with the Women’s National Ice Hockey Team and the national Figure Skating athletes on the winter side and Track and Field and Swimming athletes on the summer side.  Kendig has worked with many other National Governing Bodies in the past and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to educate athletes on various sport nutrition topics, as well as the risks and proper use of dietary supplements. She has helped athletes of all ages, levels and backgrounds achieve performance goals by focusing on fuel and performance nutrition for optimal performance.

Kendig holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and a master’s degree in public health nutrition from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

At Liberty Mutual Insurance, we constantly look for ways to celebrate the countless acts of sportsmanship and integrity shown by people every day. We created Play Positive™, powered by Positive Coaching Alliance, as part of this belief to help ensure that our kids experience the best that sports have to offer in environments that promote and display good sportsmanship. We believe kids can learn valuable life lessons when coaches and parents come together to support winning on and off the ice.

 

In an effort to benefit millions of youth athletes, parents and coaches, this article is among a series created exclusively for partners in the Liberty Mutual Insurance Play Positive™ program powered by Positive Coaching Alliance.


©2014 Liberty Mutual Insurance and Positive Coaching Alliance. All rights reserved. This material may not be distributed without express written permission. Any reproduction in whole or part by and individuals or organizations will be held liable for copyright infringement to the full extent of the law.

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