Teen lifestyle: Help your student athlete find the right balance
Does your son or daughter participate in youth athletics? About 30 million kids in the United States do. Teens play sports to have fun, learn new skills and spend time with their friends. But they aren't small adults. You'll need to help them get the right balance of academics, sports and rest, and teach them to make healthy choices.
Help them get the right balance of healthy foods
Carbohydrates are the cornerstone of an athlete's diet. If your teen tells you about having trouble maintaining intensity during a workout or game, it may be because he or she ran out of the quick energy carbohydrates provide.
The exact energy needs of young athletes haven't been determined, but calorie needs can be much higher than usual depending on the type, intensity, frequency and duration of physical activity. The following table shows the estimated calorie needs of active teens.
Estimated calorie range for active and very active teens*
Age Boys Girls
13 2,600 to 3,000 2,300 to 2,800
14 2,800 to 3,300 2,350 to 2,850
15 3,000 to 3,500 2,400 to 2,900
16 3,200 to 3,500 2,400 to 2,900
17 3,250 to 3,700 2,350 to 2,850
18 3,300 to 3,800 2,350 to 2,850
*These are only estimates. Calorie needs vary depending on the type, intensity, frequency and duration of physical activity.
Protein is important for your teen's body, but it's often over-emphasized. The Institute of Medicine recommends that teens, ages 13 to 18, get 10 percent to 30 percent of their daily calorie intake from protein. Obviously, this yields a broad range of protein needs.
To calculate the low end of the range of protein needs for your teen, multiply his or her calorie needs by 10 percent, and then divide by 4 (the number of calories in a gram of protein). Perform the same calculation using 30 percent to get the high end of the range.
So if your teen aims for 2,800 calories each day, the range for protein intake would be 70 to 210 grams of protein each day. For example:
Low-end calculation. 2,800 multiplied by 0.10, then divided by 4, is equal to 70 grams of protein.
High-end calculation. 2,800 multiplied by 0.30, then divided by 4, is equal to 210 grams of protein.
As stated above, this gives a wide range of intake, and more is not necessarily better. Talk with your pediatrician or a registered dietitian about your teen's specific protein requirements.
What you need to know about protein supplements
Teens who play power sports such as football, bodybuilding and powerlifting try to improve their strength by building muscle mass. These teens may be encouraged by coaches and parents to take protein supplements as a way of ensuring that that they're getting enough protein.
Your teen may ask you to purchase protein shakes or supplements. They may also purchase them without you. But to avoid the high price charged at the store, try making them at home using the following recipes:
It's generally not hard for a young person to get enough protein from regular meals. For example, if your teen eats one 4-ounce chicken breast, a peanut butter sandwich, a cup of cereal, a baked potato, a cup of cooked vegetables and three glasses of milk in one day, he or she will consume about 85 grams of protein. It's possible that teens involved in rigorous athletic programs may require more protein than those in less intense programs, but research on this is unclear.
You may wonder if protein supplements are safe. If your teen has altered kidney function, protein supplements could potentially create a problem. In people with normal kidney function, protein supplements should not cause concern unless they're consumed in very large quantities. However, most studies have focused on adults, so it's not really known how much is too much for young people.
Teens with diabetes should avoid taking protein supplements. The American Diabetes Association recommends that people with diabetes consume no more than the recommended daily allowance of protein because they're prone to kidney disorders, and excess protein can stress the kidneys. It doesn't matter whether the excess protein comes from food or supplements.
Hydration also makes a difference in how your body handles protein supplements. Your body needs water to break down the products of protein digestion. If you aren't adequately hydrated, taking too much protein will worsen the effects of dehydration.
When protein supplements are used, the potential exists for developing a supplement mentality. Whether or not these compounds help your child with sports, your child may come to think that he or she won't play as well without them. Your child may also think it's not as important to eat healthy because the supplement will make up for any dietary deficiencies. This is not true.
High-calorie, high-protein smoothie
High-calorie, high-protein smoothie (lactose-free)
Teen athletes and performance-enhancing substances: What parents can do
Performance-enhancing drugs: Dangerous, damaging and potentially deadly
What you need to know about energy bars and drinks
At one time, most of the energy bars and drinks on the market were filled with carbohydrates — substances formed from various kinds of sugars. In the past, energy bars were only available at health food stores. Today, they're available at the grocery store, and many are now low in carbohydrates and higher in protein and fat.
During endurance exercises, such as track or swimming practice, carbohydrates help keep your blood sugar level up, making it easier to continue your activity. Energy bars and drinks that contain mostly carbohydrates can help keep your child's energy levels up. Energy bars are appealing because they're convenient — they need no refrigeration, they don't go stale, and they travel well. However, a bagel offers a similar amount of carbohydrate and typically costs much less.
Sports drinks, too, can help young athletes during practice if they contain the right things. Drinks that contain electrolytes — elements such as sodium and potassium — help replace the salts your body loses in sweat during activity. When your body loses too much of these salts, your muscles can't function as well and performance can decline. Drinks that contain only sugars — ingredients such as sucrose, fructose and high fructose corn syrup — provide energy but don't replace the salts lost in sweat.
The real keys to playing well are training, equipment and proper nutrition. A diet based on the Food Guide Pyramid, which provides adequate amounts of carbohydrate, protein and fat, is more important than products touted as performance aids.
Healthy diet basics: Using a food pyramid
Make sure your student athlete gets enough sleep
Encourage your child or teen to get adequate sleep. At first it may be difficult to convince him or her to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but the effort will be worth the trouble as your child or teenager performs better in the classroom and on the field. School-age children need 11 to 12 hours of sleep each night. A 12-year-old needs about 10 hours. Teens need a minimum of 9 hours and, depending on their exertion, may require more. Naps can interfere with a healthy, normal sleep cycle.
It may seem that your teenagers spend half their day in bed over the weekend, but don't blame them. They may be at a developmental stage in which the sleep they get is for their health.
Adolescent sleep problems: Why is your teen so tired?
Avoid tobacco products
Encourage your teen not to take up smoking or use smokeless tobacco products. Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances available, and that makes smoking dangerous for all youths, not just student athletes. Every day about 4,800 to 5,500 youths try cigarettes, and nearly 3,000 become established smokers.
The risk of lung cancer from cigarette smoking — or even secondhand smoke — is well known. Addiction to cigarettes and smokeless tobacco can occur in a very short time, perhaps just weeks. Unfortunately, teens experience the same difficulties as adults do when they try to quit.
A study conducted at the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Dependence Center, Rochester, Minn., looked at how many teens stopped using nicotine after receiving counseling. Six months after attempting to quit, only about 18 percent were not smoking, and 12 months later just 7 percent were nicotine-free.
Teach your teen that it's far easier to remain a nonsmoker by not starting in the first place. Once started, smoking will eventually affect their lungs. Why would athletes condition themselves to perform well on the court or field and then diminish their ability to breathe by smoking?
Teens usually start smoking to gain acceptance by their peers. Discuss with your teen not just the risks of smoking but also the dangers of peer pressure.
Teens and smoking: What parents can do
Teens and tobacco quiz: What do you know?
Avoid drugs and alcohol
Be sure to talk with your son or daughter about the importance of avoiding drugs. A 2000 study on teen attitudes and concerns by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University shows why. In the study, teens reported that drugs are their biggest concern. Teens who live with hands-on parents — those who monitor their children's activities, impose a curfew, eat dinner with their children each day, make it clear marijuana use is not OK and establish, and enforce, clear standards and procedures — are at one-fourth the risk of substance abuse.
Remind your teen that drugs and alcohol can affect coordination, and ask if he or she wants problems with that on the athletic field.
Work on keeping your lines of communication open. Turn off the TV, share housework, eat together, and talk about anything and everything.
Play it safe on the highway
Teens enjoy the feeling of freedom driving brings, and they particularly enjoy taking friends home after the game, practice and parties. But you need to teach them to play it safe.
In a survey of high-school students conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 37 percent reported riding with a driver who had been drinking. Even worse, 17 percent reported driving after drinking alcohol. Teens also need improvement in other vehicle-related safety areas. Just 33 percent reported wearing a seat belt every time they rode in a car, and fewer than half (45 percent) said they always wore a helmet when riding a motorcycle.
Distraction within the car can be more dangerous than distractions outside the car. Discourage your teen driver or passenger from riding in vehicles packed with kids.
Help your teen find the right balance
Your teen can certainly benefit from participating in team sports. The rewards include physical fitness, confidence, improved self-esteem and learning how to work effectively as a team. Most important, participation in youth sports can serve as a springboard to a lifetime of physical activity and physical fitness. Encourage your teen to make healthy choices and find the right balance.
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