Check with your doctor to assure yourself that you are doing what is necessary to properly hydrate yourself.

Should teen athletes try to reduce their weight to make special weight categories ? Moderate weight reduction over an extended period of time, together with a balanced diet to ensure sufficient protein, vitamins, and minerals, may be necessary for some athletes to lose excess fat, which has been shown to limit performance.  However, severe weight reduction or restriction of normal weight gain is not recommended. Glycogen and water are usually the first materials to be lost by the athlete on a quick weight loss plan. Losing glycogen or water can be disastrous to performance and health. When you lose glycogen, you lose energy to power muscles. Losing water lessens you body’s ability to cool itself, and endurance decreases. Repeated episodes of starvation and dehydration during growth slows muscle development. Scientific studies show that when athletes who are in shape lose more than three percent of their body weight within a short period of time, they don’t perform as well. Muscle is lost and strength is reduced. Even more importantly, weight reduction may permanently stunt growth and muscle development. Lost muscle growth will not be restored later. So losing weight rapidly or restricting normal weight gain is not for you. 

Eating, practice every day !  The training period, the time between seasons, offers you an excellent opportunity to establish sound eating practices that will benefit you on the playing field as well as give you a measure of well being throughout life. 

Make snacks count !  Choose snacks that contain more than just calories. When you eat out with friends, choose something nutritionally sound, like a cheeseburger with a slice of tomato and lettuce. Forget the fries!!! Forget the caffeine loaded drinks!!!!

 Look for extra food energy !  Teenage athletes burn up more calories than non-athletic teens. You can fill this requirement by eating more food from all food groups. Carbohydrates are the most efficient fuel for your body during strenuous exercise. Get most of your extra energy from foods like starchy vegetables and wholegrain or enriched bread, cereal, rice, or pasta instead of from fatty foods. For example, on an athlete’s plate, a baked potato should get the nod over French fries. 

Eat regularly !  Breakfast is especially important because you need food to start the day. Your body begins the day in a low-energy, fasted condition. Teens who eat breakfast score higher on physical fitness tests. Breakfasts can be made up of any combination of nutritious foods that you enjoy eating. Spaghetti and meatballs, together with an orange and a glass of milk, is a nutritionally sound meal for any time of the day — even breakfast!! 

Check your diet frequently !  Spot check your daily diet at least once a week. Are you eating at least the minimum number of servings from each food group each day? How can you use the food guide as a tool for improvement?

Here Is Some Information About The Food Groups That Can Help You Improve Your Diet 

Food Group — Milk, Yogurt and Cheese Group   Included Foods — Milk, Yogurt and all types of cheese.  Nutrients Supplied — Calcium. Also contains protein, vitamin A, vitamin B_12. Recommended Amounts for Teenagers — 3 or more servings a day. 1 serving is; an 8 ounce glass of milk, 8 ounces of yogurt, 1 1/2   ounces of unprocessed cheese. 

Food Group — Meat, Poultry, fish, Dry Beans, Eggs and Nuts.  Included Foods — Beef, Pork, Lamb, Poultry, Fish, Eggs, Dry Beans, Peanuts, Peanut Butter. Nutrients Supplied — Good source of Protein. These foods also contain Thiamin (B₁), Riboflavin (B₂), Niacin, Iron and zinc. Recommended Amounts for Teenagers — 2 or 3 servings daily. 1 serving is either; 3 ounces of lean cooked meat, 2 eggs, 1 cup of cooked dry beans, peas or lentils. 4 tablespoons of peanut butter. 

Food Group — Vegetables.. Included Foods — All vegetables (including dark green, deep yellow, and starchy vegetables) and their juices. Nutrients Supplied — Provides vitamins and minerals that complement other food sources. Good sources of vitamin C include tomatoes, broccoli, and brussel sprouts. Good sources of vitamin A include carrots, broccoli, spinach, greens, pumpkin and sweet potatoes. Recommended Amounts for Teenagers — 3—5 servings daily. 1 serving is; 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables, ½ cup of chopped raw vegetables, 1 cup of leafy raw vegetables such as lettuce or spinach, ¾ cup of juice. 

Food Group — Fruits. Included Foods — All fruits and their juices. Nutrients Supplied — Good source of many vitamins and minerals. Good sources of vitamin C include citrus fruits and their juices, melons, and strawberries. Apricots are a good source of vitamin A. Recommended Amounts for Teenagers — 2—4 servings daily. 1 serving is; 1 whole fruit such as a medium apple, banana, or orange. ½ grapefruit, ¾ cup of juice, ½ cup of berries, ½ cup of cooked or canned fruit, ¼ cup of dried fruit. 

Food Group — Bread, Cereal, Rice and Pasta.  Included Foods — All whole-grain and enriched breads and cereals, such as cooked or ready-to-eat cereals, bread, macaroni, grits, spaghetti, crackers, noodles, and rice.  Nutrients Supplied — contributes complex carbohydrates (starch and fiber) and significant amounts of protein, B vitamins and iron.  Recommended Amounts for Teenagers — 6—11 servings daily. 1 serving is; 1 slice of bread, ½ hamburger bun of English muffin, 1 small roll, biscuit, or muffin, 3 to 4 small or 2 large crackers, ½ cup cooked cereal, rice or pasta, 1 ounce ready-to-eat breakfast cereal. 

To meet increased energy needs, most teen athletes require more than the minimum number of servings listed. In some cases, a teen athlete may need more than the recommended number of servings. For most athletes, the increased energy should come from the vegetable group and the bread group. Foods in these two groups contain a lot of starch, which is an excellent source of food energy. Athletes who participate in very high levels of physical activity and/or who have the larger body stature will require the highest intake of food energy. Food that occupy the smallest area at the top of the food guide pyramid, such as butter, margarine, sweets and jellies, should be used sparingly. These foods do provide energy and some nutrients, However, go easy on these foods and get you energy from foods that are more nutritious. Your body needs the additional vitamins and minerals to help it use energy. Make this food guide pyramid system the basis of your training table. 

KEEPING ENERGY LEVELS 

Keeping your energy levels up for peak performance isn’t easy. It doesn’t just happen. High energy levels are the result of good eating and exercise habits. If you don’t pay attention to either of these factors, your performance can suffer. Keeping energy levels up will help you plan a diet for a winning performance. One of the least recognized nutrition problems of the young athlete is simply not eating enough. Extracurricular activities may make life so busy that you simply don’t take the time to eat. After school practice sessions may be so exhausting that you fill too tired to eat. But you must take the time to eat the right foods. Don’t let fourth quarter fatigue caused by poor eating hurt your performance. Another problem of the young athlete is not eating the right kinds of foods—particularly foods high in starch. Eating a balanced diet that has plenty of starch keeps muscle energy up. Many young athletes eat more foods high in protein instead, and that’s a mistake. A normal diet contains enough protein to support the added muscle growth and development of a young athlete. Food Energy Needs Increase — Participating in sports can drastically increase your food energy needs. Increased physical activity calls for more food calories. Also, when you train, you increase muscle tissue relative to fat tissue, and muscle tissue requires more calories than fat tissue. Going out for sports can easily increase the daily calorie needs of a teen athlete by 2,000 or more. A teenage boy out for a sport like football or basketball may consume 5,000 or more calories daily.  The amounts of food you need depends on your age, sex, weight, and activity level. A larger athlete requires more calories than a smaller one because more energy is needed to move more mass over the same distance. You usually burn more calories in a practice session than in actual competition because more total work is usually done during practice. However, the rate at which calories are burned for short periods of time may be greater from short bursts of intense activity during competition. Activity levels vary among sports as well as with the position played in a sport. Obviously, it takes more energy to play basketball than baseball, and more energy to run 1,500 meters than the 110 meter dash. If an athlete who is in shape loses body weight during a competitive season, it’s a good indication that he or she isn’t eating enough energy providing food. Young athletes should be weighed once a week throughout the season to guard against unhealthy weight loss caused by inadequate food intake. 

YOUR FOOD STRATEGY

All young athletes need to base their diets on a variety of nutritious foods. The Food Guide Pyramid is an excellent guide for young athletes to use because it Ø      Helps you select a variety of nutritious foods,Ø      Emphasized the starchy foods like breads, cereals, pastas and vegetables you need to build glycogen stores,Ø      Guides your selection of a lower fat diet, andØ      Offers you a variety of foods within each food group so that meals can be built around the foods you like. Because of their rapid growth and development and higher levels of physical activity, many teen athletes should eat the higher levels of servings recommended from each food group — especially from the bread, cereal, rice, and pasta group and the vegetable group. A 180 pound right end could easily eat eleven servings of breads/cereals and five servings of vegetables daily. This athlete may even need more than the maximum servings recommended. Eating the maximum number of servings recommended from all five food groups provides about 3,000 calories. That’s why large male athletes involved in a vigorous sport, like football or soccer will have to eat more than the upper end of the recommended serving levels. In no instance should you eat less than the minimum servings for any food group. You need the minimum servings to supply a base level of essential nutrients and calories required for good health. Consuming the minimum servings listed in The Food Guide Pyramid will supply about 1,600 calories, which is the minimum a teen girl should take in. Teen boys need at least 2,000 calories a day and thus need more than the minimum given. 

EMPHASIZE STARCHY FOODS