Understand that it takes a lot to make me cry.

It was a Saturday morning and we were chatting during the warm up of our 9 AM class.   

I asked a simple question. 

“So, what did you guys have for breakfast today?”

About half the group said they ate nothing, which was concerning in itself but not surprising.

Then we got to the eaters in the group.

“A bagel with cream cheese.”

“Waffles with syrup.”

“Doughnuts…and soda!”

“2 Baby Ruths!”

It was at this moment where I felt the tears well up.    

How could it be that all of these active, fit, hard working athletes could be fueling themselves with such garbage?

Don’t they realize what an important role proper nutrition plays in their athletic performance?    

Of course, I was no better at that age.   And you probably weren’t either.   

We’re all little sugar monsters in our early years.   Leave out a bowl of M&M’s around hungry kids and watch how long it lasts if you don’t believe me.

What we didn’t realize back then, as most young athletes today don’t either, is that food is fuel.

It powers our activities, allowing us to either achieve more or less, depending on the type of fuel we use.

Today there’s a million voices and opinions when it comes to sports nutrition, making it harder than ever to understand how to eat healthy.  

Some truly have your best interest at heart.

Others are pushing their products on you.  

The worst ones are trying to trick you into choosing something you think is healthy, but is really junk.

Yet despite all the noise, there are still a handful of timeless truths that form the foundation of a healthy diet for anyone, especially those in athletics.

Here are four critical sports nutrition guidelines that, if turned from a weakness to a strength, can noticeably boost your future athletic performance.

Tip #1 - Go Easy On The Sugar & Refined Flours

Many kids function on a sugar-burning metabolism.    You can survive and stay active this way, but there’s a handful of reasons why it’s not ideal.

For starters, your energy level, not to mention your mood, wavers up and down every couple hours if you don’t perfectly time your food intake.

It will gradually make it harder to burn body fat for fuel, so you tend to gain bad weight any time you’re not as active.

Sugary & processed foods are almost always low in protein, a critical nutrient which we’ll dig into next.

Those with a sweet tooth also tend to avoid vegetables and plain water because they don’t match the flavors they enjoy.

And if all that wasn’t enough these foods are usually low in vitamins and minerals, weakening your immune system.

Tip #2 - Eat The Right Amounts of Protein & Vegetables

Proteins are the building blocks to build muscle, bone, tendons and more.   

You need enough of these building materials to recover and adapt from your training and sport activities.   

Roughly 0.8 grams of protein for every pound of body weight is about right, maybe 0.9g per pound if you’re trying to gain muscle.

That’s 80 grams per day if you weigh 100 lbs, 160 grams if you weigh 200 lbs.

For reference, 7 ounces of steak or chicken breast contains roughly 40-50 grams of protein..

Dairy products, eggs, and vegetarian protein sources like nuts and seeds are all high in protein as well.

Your body can only digest about 40 or so grams of protein at a time, and it cannot store it for long, so it is best to split your intake up over 3-4 meals per day.

As far as vegetable intake goes, I know this is a tough battle for many parents.   

Vegetables are catalysts for energy output and in defense of illness.  They are a key piece of the nutrition puzzle that can’t be replaced by anything else.

If you aren’t doing so already, 2 servings per day on a consistent basis will work wonders.

Tip #3 - Hydrate Wisely

Any time you combine hours of exercise with hot weather, which happens in summer tournaments quite often, you’re at high risk for dehydration.

What’s your best defense?

Like most things in life, it’s to develop good habits.

Rushing hydration before games is like planting crops in the fall.   It takes time to cultivate.

Drink a glass of plain water at each meal.

Sip water during exercise and in long gaps between meals.

For daily totals, take your bodyweight and cut it in half.  That’s how many ounces of water you need daily. (ex. 100 lb person needs 50 oz.)

Just do that on a regular basis, and your hydration will be fine in all but the most extreme conditions.

Tip #4 - Eat Breakfast

My gripe with our kids that morning is that their “meals” missed the two essentials of any good breakfast - protein and rehydration.

Protein can’t be stored, so you must replenish it as early in the day as possible.

We wake up dehydrated because we all breathe out water vapor in our sleep, yet a single glass of water fixes that.   

Without these two key components, you won’t get maximum impact from the most important meal of the day.

There’s plenty of finer points we could discuss regarding proper sports nutrition, but you’ll never stray too far off the mark if you regularly hit on these four guidelines.