Vital Living

Educating parents key to healthier food choices for young athletes
A recent University of Minnesota study found that the food and beverages available at youth sports is often unhealthy:  
• Most snacks available at sporting events are ‘junk’ food.
• Because junk food sales helped youth sports organization raise money, parents expressed concern that moving to healthier foods would negatively impact their bottom line.
• Parents were confused about sports (energy) bars and sports drinks.
• Many parents felt that, simply because their child was playing sports, they were healthier than most kids, so they didn’t worry as much about all the junk food they were often consuming during and after sports.
The study suggested three main reasons the food young athletes consume is so unhealthy:
1. Lack of education. Parents don’t know what is and is not healthy for their kids to eat, and, more importantly, why.  Without knowing why certain foods and drinks are unhealthy, no amount of education on the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods is going to matter.
2. Advertising and marketing.  It should come as no surprise to any parent that the companies that sell less-than-healthy products full of sugar and salt to families/kids/schools is to somehow convince them they aren’t so bad so that kids try them and end up developing a craving for – you guessed it – the sugary and salty foods they are selling!   
3. Parents are too busy to cook.  Very busy lives don’t leave parents much if any time to prepare wholesome, healthy, home cooked meals to sit down and eat together, which studies show are critically important to kids and families.
Education is key
Of the three, I believe education is the most important:
• If we expect parents to replace their kids, sports drink beverages with healthier alternatives that do not contain food coloring and sugar or artificial sweeteners, we need to tell them what they can drink instead to replace the electrolytes lost during sports.
• If parents are to tell the difference between the ‘sports’ or ‘energy’ bars that are no more than thinly-disguised candy bars and ones that offer protein and dietary fiber but with a lower sugar and fat content, parents need to know what to look for on a nutrition label that will help them quickly distinguish between the two.  If identifying healthier substitutes takes too much time and energy – something that the research shows are in short supply in many families – parents are going to choose the one with a brand name they recognize, which, unfortunately, is often the least healthy choice.
• If we want parents to take the time needed to plan out a week’s meals, including those on days their kids play sports (which, these days, seems to be just about every day of the week!), they need to give them strategies, recipes and meal-preparation tips so they won’t leave everything to the last minute, because, chances are, if that happens, they will end up viewing going to a fast-food restaurant as a decent option, which it seldom is. Parents can find the time, if they are motivated to make eating more healthy foods a priority.  Perhaps take an hour on Saturday to plan menus and snacks for the week and take an hour or so on Sunday to go to the store. When you arrive home, have your kids help wash lettuce, chop veggies, etc. We all have to plan for our good health and the health of our families; it doesn’t happen on its own!
Partnering for better nutrition
Junk food will continue to be offered at concession stands and at schools until parents and kids, working together, decide it’s time for a change. Ask a company that sells healthier foods to help your school or team. Promote them and purchase their products.
Both parents and kids need to understand that a proper diet is just as necessary as exercise for a child’s good health, not only now but also when they are adults. Simply put, it is a myth that it is okay to eat junk food at youth sports events because all of those unhealthy calories, fats, and sugars are somehow cancelled out by exercise.
All this takes effort, but I think we’ll all agree our kids are worth it!
Homemade granola bar recipe
To get you started on the road to replacing high sugar, high fat snacks with healthier alternatives, try the recipe for home made granola bars. Make a double recipe and keep in individual plastic bags to grab on the way to your child’s next game.
Patty James M.S., C.N.C.
DirectionFive Health
Founder and Director
www.directionfive.org
707-888-1103
Nutritionist/Chef/Writer
Co-author of “More Vegetables, Please!”
www.pattyjames.com
Founder of the nation’s first certified
organic cooking school.