Fueling as a Family: Tips for Supporting Your Young Athlete

Your young athlete is heading out the door for school at 8 a.m., and you’re not going to see them until maybe 8 p.m. or later. They have a full day of classes followed by a sport activity that runs through dinner time. They need fuel, not just to stay sharp in the classroom, but for their workout and to jump-start recovery afterward. As a busy parent trying to balance it all, navigating the needs of your growing athlete can feel overwhelming.

Adolescence is a time of rapid growth and development, and our kids have increased energy needs to support hormone balance, bone health, muscle development, and brain and cognitive function. We add on sports and extracurricular activities, and their energy demands become much greater. It is important to focus on supporting this growth and development, understanding that it can affect their overall health and well-being into adulthood.

Look at each of their meals as a building block, one building off the other, ensuring they have a steady supply of energy throughout the day and to help them recover and sleep at night. If your young athlete is not fueling well in the morning, they are starting the day depleted, which can create a cascading effect that doesn’t allow them to be ready for practice or recovery.

Additionally, making food choices is complex for adolescents—with influences from family, friends, and coaches. Studies show that adolescence is a critical time for them to start gaining autonomy over what they eat. Give them some guidance by developing a routine that works with your family dynamic, involves your young athlete, and creates an environment of teamwork to meet everyone’s needs.

Here are some ideas from which you can start fine-tuning strategies for your home. The goal is not perfection, but creating a routine that is sustainable and allows consistency in maintaining healthy habits.

Meal Plan Together: Schedule time each week to choose meals that align with your young athletes’ training needs and personal preferences. You can pre-select recipes that you know they like to help streamline the planning.

Make Grocery Shopping a Shared Task: Invite your young athlete to help you make the shopping list and, if possible, help you shop. Consider using a shared app to create shopping lists and share between your devices.

Share Meal Prep Duties: While finding time for everyone to sit down together can be difficult, there are still ways to create a sense of togetherness. Consider reframing how this collective time together looks—meal preparation can be a great way to connect!

Encourage your young athlete to help with cooking, packing snacks, or prepping meals for the week. Again, giving them a role adds to building autonomy in fueling and making progress in creating consistent, healthy habits.

Purchase meal prep containers that can be labeled and put in the refrigerator and freezer so that if your young athlete gets home late, there are balanced meals to choose from.

If all this feels overwhelming, start small. Start by planning one meal a week and then build up from there. It’s never too late to start a healthy habit!

Education is power. With influences from peers and coaches, better nutrition principles will settle in if more consistent messaging is happening within their circles.

Involve Teammates and Families: Encourage team contribution for food brought to events. Coaches, parents, or teammates can coordinate bringing snack options for the team. Focus on providing well-rounded snacks and drinks like extra water and electrolytes, milk, orange slices, apple slices, pretzels, graham crackers, or white bread (white bread for a simpler carbohydrate and easier digestion around workouts) with nut butter and jam.

Find a sample meal plan and 2 (of the more than 50) recipes included in The Young Runner’s Guide to Nutrition to help you get started!

This energy bar can be used as a pre-run snack, to refuel immediately after a workout, or even a quick bite between a run and strength session. It’s easily digestible and is rich in iron, magnesium, and phosphorus. You can substitute peanut butter for almond butter. To make it gluten free, use gluten-free certified oats.

Ingredients
• 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup crispy rice cereal
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup honey
• 3/4 cup creamy all-natural / no-sugar-added almond butter
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Instructions
1. Set aside a 9″ x 13″ baking dish.
2. Mix the oats, cereal, flaxseed, coconut, cranberries, and chocolate chips in a large bowl.
3. Add the honey, almond butter, and salt to a small bowl and stir until the mixture has a smooth and creamy texture. Pour over the oat mixture and use a spatula to combine, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to fully combine.
4. Spoon the mixture into the baking dish.
5. Put the dish into the freezer for 30 minutes to set. Once set, remove from the freezer and cut into 18 – 2″ x 2″ bars.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Yield: 18 bars

Nutrition Information Per Bar:
Calories: 216; 28g Carbohydrate, 5g Protein, 11g Fat

This chicken salad provides a good mix of protein, healthy fats, and fiber. The shredded chicken offers lean protein, essential for muscle repair, and maintenance. The apples and celery contribute dietary fiber, supporting digestion. Chopped almonds supply healthy fats, while the Greek yogurt adds probiotics—which are beneficial for gut health. You can use a store-bought rotisserie chicken for ease on a busy day.

Ingredients
• 3 cups cooked shredded chicken
• 1 medium apple cut into small cubes (about 3/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 2 stalks celery, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds
• 3 green onions, white and light green parts only, chopped (about 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
1. Add the chicken, apple, raisins, celery, almonds, green onions, mayonnaise, yogurt, mustard, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Stir until well combined.
2. Serve alongside crackers, cheese, and vegetable sticks or as a sandwich on whole grain bread with fresh lettuce.

For meal prep: divide chicken salad into individual airtight containers and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Store accompaniments separately.
Yield: 4 servings

Nutrition Information Per Serving:
Calories: 569; 27g Carbohydrate, 40g Protein, 34g Fat