Sports Nutrition Tips to Boost Performance For High School Athletes

High school athletes know that training hard is essential to playing their best, but hard work is only part of the formula for sports performance. During the teenage years, athletes are

balancing demanding practice schedules, school, and social lives, all while expecting to perform at a high level. Without the right nutrition to fuel growth and development, build strength and speed, and support brain function, it’s common for student athletes to experience low energy levels, inconsistent performance, slow recovery, or injuries.

Despite how important good nutrition is, it’s hard to know how to fuel properly with so much

conflicting information online. The good news is that sports nutrition for high school athletes

doesn’t have to be complicated, and small changes can make a big difference in how you feel on and off the field or court. Supporting your body and mind with intentional fueling and hydration will help you feel stronger, perform better, and enjoy your sport for years to come.

Why Nutrition is Especially Important During the High School Years

Unlike active adults, high school athletes are still growing and developing while competing, even if you can’t see it. A human’s bones and brain continue to develop until somewhere between 18-25 years of age, with males often falling at the older end of this range. Although height growth may have slowed by the mid-teen years, bones continue to get stronger and more resilient for up to 10 more years, if you nourish them well.

The brain continues to develop until your early 20’s, and combined with the need to support

mood, rest, and energy levels, it isn’t surprising that a teenage brain requires a high amount of energy, or calories, to function at its best.

Between these growth and development demands and the demands of their sports, high school athletes have significantly higher nutrient and energy needs compared to most adults. For parents, this stage can be challenging to manage. The overwhelming amount of negative messaging around food, body weight and composition, and chronic disease risk combined with their child experiencing large shifts in appetite and sometimes seasonal changes in body composition can feel uncomfortable. But variations in body size, shape, and appetite are often normal and necessary to support a growing athlete’s development and training.

How Nutrition Supports Athletic Performance

Food and fluids fuel growth and development, brain function, strength, immune and hormone function, and many more important aspects of health and performance. When nutrient intake matches an athlete’s needs, they are more likely to:

● Have stable energy levels throughout the day

● Focus more easily in school and in sports

● See greater improvements in strength, speed and endurance

● Experience lower risk of injury and illness

When fueling is inadequate or inconsistent, the opposite effects are typically seen. Athletes

need a balance of nutrients like carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals and fluid to feel and perform their best, as each of these serve unique functions within the body.

How To Eat Like an Athlete

To simplify sports nutrition and know where to start to fuel like an athlete, consider these four pillars of performance nutrition and aim to meet them daily:

1. Eat Consistently

2. Balance Meals & Snacks

3. Get a Variety of Foods Each Day

4. Eat Flexibly

Eat Consistently

This means having three meals per day, no matter how busy you are. Teen athletes should

avoid going longer than 4-5 hours without eating during the day, and with school lunch

schedules being variable, most will require at least two, if not three or more, snacks throughout the day. Planning ahead and packing meals and snacks for school and extracurriculars is essential for fueling consistently with a busy schedule. Consistent fuel is the most important factor in meeting an athlete’s daily energy needs.

Eat Balanced Meals & Snacks

To achieve balance, the key is to include multiple food groups. For meals, the goal is to eat four types of foods each time:

● Carbohydrate from grains, starchy vegetables, and fruit

● Protein from meat, dairy, beans, and nuts

● Fat from oils, nuts and seeds

● Colorful vegetables and fruits

Snacks should include at least two food groups. For student athletes, it’s recommended to

prioritize some combination of carbohydrates and protein. Some examples of balanced snacks include:

● Yogurt (protein) + granola (carbohydrate)

● Cheese stick (protein) + crackers (carbohydrate)

● Nuts (protein) + fruit (carbohydrate)

Balanced meals and snacks ensure that athletes get their energy from the right combination of protein, carbohydrates and fat, which each play a different role in supporting health and

performance.

Eat a Varied Diet

Each food provides a unique set of nutrients which all work together to support the body. Variety can sound daunting, but it doesn’t mean you have to eat a different breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day. To keep it simple, try rotating one item at each meal when possible. For example, if you usually eat cereal and milk with a banana for breakfast, try swapping out the cereal for whole grain toast some days and the banana for berries other days. Each food contains at least one nutrient that the others don’t, so you’ll support performance and health by including a wide range of foods in your diet.

Flexibility is Key

You’ve likely heard or read statements like:

“____ is bad for you”

“Eat this food, not that one”

“Never eat ___”

“Eat ___ every day”

These generalizations miss the mark for adolescent athletes. Food is meant to be enjoyed, not restricted. For example, while it’s true that eating ice cream every day would not be a healthy choice, enjoying ice cream on occasion, especially with friends or family, is perfectly healthy and encouraged.

Sports Nutrition Takeaways for Athletes and Parents

Nutrition is a powerful performance-boosting tool that helps student athletes feel their best, and it doesn’t have to be complicated or restrictive.

Remember:

• Teen athletes have high nutritional needs due to growth and training

• Fluctuations in body shape, size, and appetite are normal and expected

• Fueling for performance can help you get more out of your training, avoid injury and

• illnesses, and support stable energy and mood

• Eating consistent, balanced meals, including a variety of foods, and being flexible with

• your food choices is the best way to make sure you’re supporting health and performance

Prioritizing nutrition along with training is a game-changer for high school athletes who want to feel and perform their best for life. If you're a student athlete (or a parent of one) and are ready to lock in your fueling to step up your game, let's get to work!

Join our student athlete membership to receive consistent support from a registered dietitian who specializes in sports nutrition for growing athletes, and access to our Student Athlete Resource Library.

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