What are some fueling options for a youth athlete who competes in the morning hours but is not hungry for a full breakfast?

Question

Lisa Spencer, EdD, FNTP · Answer

All right, so the question is, what are some fueling options for a youth athlete, who competes in the morning hours but is not hungry for a full breakfast. That is a common concern. And the answer really is all about whatever feels comfortable for you. Start with anything that you feel comfortable eating because it is so important to get a little something in to top off your glycogen stores before you go off for your competition. And a lot of athletes like to start with a banana. Maybe even you're just starting with a half, a banana start with that simple carbohydrate. So that you are getting the glycogen in giving your body what it needs. Then we can start looking to add maybe a little bit of protein and fats into the mix. So if a bananas fine, maybe you could add toast and peanut butter or you could look at maybe one hard-boiled egg before you roll out the door. Those are still tough. You can even if a bananas hard, maybe chop some melon in the evening before and you can have a couple bites of melon while you're getting ready in the morning. If it's tough to get some food because your competition is so early, you need to leave. So early and your kind of racing in the morning, prepare something for the car some athletes do really well once they're prepared, they're in the car. The anxiety settles down a little bit and Maybe you can have some kind of smoothie yogurt and Berry or a yogurt and banana smoothies. A great idea for on your way to the competition. If you're staying away from dairy, you could even do, maybe sort of a higher protein, milk alternative like Ripple made into a smoothie with some fruit. Those are all great ideas. Also know that you can train your body to be able to fuel a little bit better in the morning. So start small and then Maybe, during practice time, you can train your body to eat a little bit more, as you move through your season. So, thanks for asking that and Good Luck Jessie.

Bob Seebohar, MS, RD, CSSD · Answer

Jesse great question. What are some fueling options for a youth athlete? Who competes in the morning hours but is not hungry for a full breakfast while. I work with quite a few young athletes and I do appreciate this as a huge challenge, those very early morning workouts competitions. Like you said, the key to this to remember is obviously one young athletes are still growing so they need nourishment number two. Everybody after an overnight fast, our carbohydrate tanks are a little bit lower. We're dehydrated when we wake up so one of The best things we can introduce for young athletes in the morning is something like a smoothie. So a fruit-based smoothie, maybe a little bit of milk, low-fat milk, some fruits kind of depends on their sport depends on their digestive challenges. If they can digest things or not at the very least. Maybe like a glass of pure 100% juice and a little bit of Greek yogurt or maybe just a couple scoops of nut butter on half a bagel or a banana. So there are ways around that early morning snack. Fufu of trying to get some calories in, but in the end, we really need to kind of look at what will work for that young athletes digestive system. Hope that helps

Mandy Tyler, M.Ed, RD, CSSD · Answer

So the question is, what are some fueling options for a youth athlete who competes in the morning hours but is not hungry for a full breakfast? And I do find this common with athletes is that once they're done working out, they're hot, they're tired, they're just not interested in eating a full meal. But although oftentimes they don't want to eat, they are willing to drink. So a fruit smoothie may be a great option for this athlete. So fruit provides the body with a good source of carbohydrates as well as vitamins and minerals. And then you can add protein to that smoothie with the use of Greek yogurt or high protein milk. And you can really build a nutrition powerhouse smoothie that can get that athlete on the way to meeting their recovering nutrition needs. So I would start with that and see if that's an option for the athlete. And then if the athlete is willing to do that, you know, once the athlete gets hungry, they can follow up that fruit smoothie with a nutritious meal.

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"What are some fueling options for a youth athlete who competes in the morning hours but is not hungry for a full breakfast?"