Food For Athletic Kids: 3 Essential Guidelines For Young Athletes

Many kids like to play sports and other physical activities and games. Exercise and proper rest are necessary, but these are not enough to maximize your child's abilities while playing sports. Parents should also provide the best food for athletic kids in order to optimize their strength and energy to help them perform better in their physical activities.

Kids Health shared some of the best kinds of food for athletic kids. These food guidelines can help your athletic child perform better, faster, stronger and sharper while playing sports.

Vitamins And Minerals

The best kinds of food for athletic kids are those that contain plenty of vitamins and minerals such as calcium and iron. "Calcium helps build strong bones to resist breaking and stress fractures," Kids Health shares.

Food that are rich in calcium include milk, cheese, yogurt and leafy green vegetables. "Iron helps carry oxygen to all the different body parts that need it," Kids Health explains. Food that are rich in iron include meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dried fruits, whole grains and leafy green veggies.

Protein

Another great food content for athletic kids is protein. This can be found in fish, meat, poultry, eggs, dairy products, beans, nuts and soy. Protein helps in building and repairing muscles which are essential for physically active people.

Carbohydrates

The most effective kinds of food for athletic kids are those that provide the body with plenty of carbohydrates. The best sources of carbohydrates include pasta, brown rice, whole-grain bread, whole-grain cereals, fruits and vegetables.

"When it comes to athletes and performance and their in-training fuel, once again, carbohydrates remain vitally important just as they do in everyday meals and snacks," Training Peaks shared. "In order to maximize and optimize performance and recovery, athletes need to continually load and reload muscle glycogen stores."