Follow Workouts With a Nice Hot Meal

Nothing stokes a young athlete’s appetite like a long, tough practice or game. These days, you can find every diet fad or supplement on all kinds of sports websites. But those are things you should generally try to avoid, especially with kids. Nothing can replace good home cooking, especially when it involves the nutritional value that kids need after a few hours of exercise.

Every good coach knows to recommend that his or her athletes avoid junk food, trans fats and empty calories. For the most part, carbs and proteins are great to follow up a workout, preferably from natural sources like pasta, meat or beans. But it can be difficult to guarantee that they get these necessary morsels. So here are a few ways to encourage good nutritional habits in your youth athletes:

• Embrace the team dinner.
  Not only are team gatherings a great way to build chemistry, they also ensure your athletes get in a good meal before the big game or race. Spaghetti dinners are an easy, tasty way to accommodate a large team with varied preferences. Couple that with a salad, bread and some meatballs and you will have a relaxed, happy, well-fed team ready to take on the next day’s effort.
• Surprise them with a post-workout cookout.
  Or a simple lunch outing will do the trick. It might not be reasonable to offer this after every single morning or afternoon practice or game, but once in awhile it will be a nice break in routine and a great way to give your youngsters a big meal as a reward for a job well done.
• Provide snacks for after practice and games.
  Athletes need replenishment as soon as they can get it following a hard effort. The faster they replace lost nutrients, the better their bodies will recover. Sometimes it can be difficult for a team to get timely meals during away games with long rides home, so you might consider bringing boxes of granola bars, fruit, crackers or other snacks for your kids to munch on before they get home. It won’t ruin their suppers and it will get them on the way to recovery immediately.

While every athlete is different and everyone has his or her own preferences, one thing athletes share is the need for a meal after a workout. You can use your sports team website to find out about any allergies your team might have and to post news of team dinners and outings.