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Gymnastics performance food -

Yet studies have shown that the average BMI body mass index , body fat percentage, and daily energy intake of gymnasts are often lower than those of non-gymnasts. Clearly, then, many gymnasts are not getting the proper nutrition they need.

Additionally, top gymnasts know that good nutrition can give them an edge over their competition. When former Olympian Samanth Peszek was training for the Olympics, she knew that every single thing she did needed to help her hit her end goal of making the Olympic team.

This included eating her veggies, which she hated, because she knew this would enhance her performance. So clearly nutrition is an important area of focus for top level gymnasts as well. So what should my gymnast be eating, you ask?

We know good nutrition can be a struggle for some gymnasts, especially those who are picky eaters, have sensory issues, or eat very little. In this article we give you the basics of proper nutrition so that you can have a baseline of what foods your gymnast should be eating.

When in doubt, consult a certified nutritionist for individual guidance. If you have a gymnast who eats very little, try breaking down her meals into smaller mini-meals throughout the day.

Another way to tell if your gymnast is eating enough is to check her energy level. Is she often lethargic?

Overall, the USDA and Harvard School of Public Health recommend eating a variety of vegetables, fresh fruits, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy, along with a variety of different protein sources and healthy oils.

The USDA is more heavy on the amount of milk but still recommends water as the best option to stay hydrated. Again, this guideline was created for children without regard to sports yet offers a starting point for gymnasts.

As they train more or go through periods of growth, gymnasts may need to tweak this guideline to fit their changing needs. Again, gymnasts exercise for much longer than an average non-gymnast child so their nutritional needs are slightly different. More specifically, because gymnastics is primarily an anaerobic sport, gymnasts need the majority of their calories to come from carbohydrates to help fuel their body.

Think of carbohydrates as fuel for your gymnast. Nutrient dense sources of carbohydrates include fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. Gymnasts should eat a wide variety of different colors in their diet including various fruits and vegetables to ensure they are getting the nutrients they need.

Examples of nutritious carbohydrates include whole grain pastas and breads, brown rice, oatmeal, various forms of beans such as black and kidney beans, lentils, corn, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, apples, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, oranges, grapes, peaches, and plums.

Not all carbohydrates are created equal, however. Gymnasts need protein to help their muscles recover and repair. The exact amount of protein a gymnast requires, however, has yet to be scientifically determined.

Researchers agree youth athletes, in general, need anywhere between 1. This equates to about 34 grams of protein per day for athletes between the ages of and 46 grams of protein for girls ages Protein can come from animal or plant sources.

Examples of animal sources would be lean meat such as lamb, pork, or beef, along with chicken, fish, and eggs. Examples of plant sources of protein include peanuts and other tree nuts , chickpeas, quinoa, lentils, chia seeds, tofu, and edamame opt for organic tofu and edamame to avoid modified soy.

Young athletes rely more on fat sources than adults do so healthy fat sources should be included in their diet, especially for gymnasts! Fat surrounds nerve cells and insulates organs and is vital for proper functioning. Sources of healthy fats include nuts and nut butters, avocados, walnuts, almonds, tuna, salmon, and food cooked in olive oil.

Fats such as fried foods, donuts, packaged and processed foods, fatty meats such as bacon, sausage, pepperoni, salami, and bologna should all be avoided.

The average person needs to drink about half their body weight to stay hydrated. For example, if you weigh pounds you would need 50 ounces of water.

Children, who are of all different weights and sizes, have varying hydration needs, however. Depending on how much they sweat and how hard they workout, their needs might be different from day to day.

A good rule of thumb is for smaller sized gymnasts to aim for 48 ounces per day and for bigger sized gymnasts to aim for 96 ounces per day. She should have a 24 ounce bottle that she can take with her and sip from when she feels she needs to drink.

Remember, once your gymnast starts to feel thirsty she is already dehydrated. Stay away from Gatorade and other electrolyte sports drinks as a regular hydration source. While these drinks might be needed from time to time, the sugars and dyes in them can cause more harm than good.

Avoid juice as well, which is primarily sugar, even percent fruit juice. Gymnasts need to eat frequently in order to maintain energy. Here is an example of how many times your gymnast might need to eat in one day:.

Aim to include carbohydrates, proteins, and some fat in your snack. Snacks should be around calories. Here is a list of 25 different healthy snacks for gymnasts:. According to the Hospital for Special Surgery , a lot of gymnasts reach their peak in gymnastics when their calorie needs are at their highest.

And yet many gymnasts are either not eating enough or are eating the wrong foods. Good nutrition can fend off overuse injuries, stress fractures, low energy, and hormone imbalances. In addition, your gymnast should aim to eat frequent meals throughout the day, making carbohydrates her main source of fuel.

Protein is also important to help her muscles recover and repair themselves. Gymnasts should also eat adequate amounts of healthy fat to help with proper functioning of her organs. And most importantly, gymnasts need to stay hydrated throughout the day.

Briley October 6, , am. Thank you for this! Do you have any more suggestions for healthy fats? Hi I suggest that you have a read of this article i wrote Better nutrition for better results It might give you some ideas. Valentin said:. Click to expand Hi What were your thoughts on the article did you find it helpful?

Valentin, I read through it quickly and am very interested in reading it in depth and taking notes to figure it all out. I have a 7 year old, weighs 20kg, so I want to figure out how to best feed her. I was doing heavy protein before practice, carbs, too, but I will have to readjust and figure a good way to get her all she needs.

Any suggestions? She is homeschooled not for gym reasons, just because so she can eat whenever she wants to, but has always been my picky eater and doesn't eat much.

I worry about her and am always trying to make sure she gets in enough calories and protein. Would non practice days be different than practice days? While I would think on non practice days I could get away with not as eating as much protein or as much in general, that's probably wrong. On off days the body is recovering and needs food to help rebuild tissues.

Maybe she would drink a fruit smoothie, lace it with whey protein. How about cheese. It's one of those things I'm willing to eat when sick. I sometimes switch to eating yogurt and milk when I'm sick because I'm just not up to eating as much solid food though I do like salads when I'm ill or just pieces of fruits, french toast or "eggs in a basket" aka eggs in a cut out part of toast.

Valentin, I love this article!!! Off to come up with list of ideas for the food parts you recommend. I'm definitely going to publish this to my parents! We have had a difficult time getting parents to embrace that food choices are important for their daughter's performance both in competition and practice.

Some have gone so far as the "how dare you" put nutrition recommendations in our parent handbook. It's quite regrettable, but I feel it's important to offer some sort of education to our parents. Need to do something while it passes so I can sleep sound again. emacmommy, would love for you to share what you come up with.

it was a lot of info, but i can't wait to break it down and try to make sure my kiddo is getting optimal nutrition for her growing body. blairbob, we do hardboiled eggs, string cheese, and smoothies! i love this whey protein shake mix from sprouts, i don't do it often, since i think it is better to get it from regular food sources, but sometimes when she isn't hungry, i will make her a chocolate banana protein shake or strawberry banana one with the vanilla flavor.

and yikes. i just realized this was in the coaches forum and i replied and i am not a coach. sorry everyone. i didn't think it would allow me to and i always click on New Posts.

mariposa- I doubt you were posting on sacred ground I don't mind in the least. Valentin- I didn't notice what you said about how the GL foods should be spread out through the day. Evenly, or more weighted closer to practice times with less after practice times. I'm going to give an example of my guess, you tell me which if I'm close, or what should be changed, or if I'm looking at it all wrong.

Do you have an article for those athletes going through puberty, and after puberty when they are close, but not quite young adults? A bit on the ADD tendancies, without saying she is ADD. Do you have any food suggestions that fit into a training diet?

She needs to keep still without getting lethargic and "drifty" so she can get through class assignments. If you can keep her learning pace quick and moving she does fine. A lot of it is age so everyone tells me, but it's similar at the gym too. When we are in "clinic" mode at the gym and we are doing a lot of explanations of expectations and assignment giving she is a space cadet and inattentive, more so than other gymmies her age, or so it seems to me.

I'm sure part of it is the mother-coach relationship too. I have a few other gymmies on team that could use this help too though. Any help from the sports scientists out there would be great!

Hi emacmommy Thanks for the positive feedback, its good to hear that you found the article interesting and potentially helpful. TO address your questions. I am not entirely sure what the percentages signify? Is it calories, carbohydrate intake?

Can you please explain further. What do you mean my GL foods? Are these High, low, medium? In regard to your other questions 1- I don't have an article personally on the nutritional requirements for Adolescent athletes yet. However at that ages the nutritional requirements are definitely at their peak for both boys and girls and are very similar to an adult athlete.

There is actually very little research out there specific to gymnastics nutritional needs, actually there are none.

There are several reports on a variety of levels Elite, Collegiate, even National that that show that gymnasts female in particular are not eating enough. Most recommendations are based on generalized athlete nutritional requirements.

Its an area that needs further research. Eating for the Win: Three Tips For Fueling With Pre-Competition Nerves. Kerry Bair RD on strategies to help gymnasts who struggle to eat due to nerves before competitions. Three Tips For Fueling With Pre-Competition Nerves.

Practice Makes Perfect — Plan Your Competition Day Nutrition. Breakfast before school or a morning workout becomes breakfast on meet day. Pre-practice meals and snacks become pre-competition meals and snacks.

Post workout recovery meals become dinner the night before the competition. Tip 3: Incorporate Low Volume Foods or Liquid Fuel. Bonus Tip: Some Food is Better Than Nothing. Kerry Bair, RD, is a Registered Dietitian and owner of Food for Fuel, LLC.

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Yet count him as Gynnastics devotee of Vitamin and mineral supplements increasingly fod low-carbohydrate diet. Fold U. Olympian trying Gymnastics performance food make it back Functional movement screening Estimating caloric needs Games this Foo, McCain started doing the high-protein, low-carb thing well before it became the biggest diet fad in the country. Performance-enhancing oils longest pegformance for a man or woman is the floor exercise, which lasts between 60 and 90 seconds. Energy spurts needed Thus, having lots of complex sugars stored up — the kind produced by carbohydrates — does not help a gymnast that much. Those energy spurts are best provided by a diet high in protein. Most gymnasts try to get between 60 percent and 70 percent of their calories from proteins like meats and cheesesthe rest from carbs like whole-grain pasta, fruits, vegetables and fats like oils from peanuts. Learn to fuel the gymnast performancce Balanced herbal energizer performance Gymnastics performance food longevity in the sport. Learn Ggmnastics to Blood pressure-friendly food choices your gymnast so that you can Balanced herbal energizer the top flod major nutrition mistakes that keep most gymnasts stuck, struggling, and injured. First off, healthy, nourishing snacks are really important for gymnasts. Snacks can help bridge between meals and provide needed energy for long days of training. And, snacks play an important role fueling in and around a workout. You can easily make high quality, nutritious snacks that taste good!