Tuesday night at Sporti Pediatric Sport and Dance Medicine in Cool Springs, Dr. Leon Scott and nutrition specialist Trish Marzella Mathisen, who runs Nutrisha, held a seminar on what comprises a healthy diet for young athletes.
After talking about the nutrition needs of growing young adults and answering questions, Mathisen cooked each of the attendants a lunch for the next day, from a recipe sheet she handed out.
“They are not little adults, they are growing,” said Mathisen, explaining how adolescents have different nutrition needs than adults. “This is when they are growing the most, and need many more calories than we do.”
Mathisen and Dr. Scott explained that a young girl can need anywhere from 1400 to 2400 calories per day and a young man anywhere from 2000 to 3800. And that things like hydration and minerals are more important than with adults, because of undeveloped sweat glands and growing bones.
They recommended that the greatest nutrients needed are:
Protein—5 ounces per day, from lean meats like skinless, boneless chicken.
Iron—8-15 milligrams per day, from perhaps turkey, lean beef, tuna, oatmeal or spinach.
Calcium—1300 milligrams per day, from Kale, yogurt, cheese, milk or salmon.
Zinc—8-11 milligrams per day, from pork, yogurt, cashews or hummus.
Folate—200-400 milligrams per day, from spinach, rice, asparagus, or avocados.
Vitamin D—500 IU per day, from salmon, tuna, milk or eggs.
Also, Mathisen talked about how preparing before and after strenuous activity snacks is important.
Before activities, complex carbohydrates are good and after activities, Mathisen suggests drinking a carb beverage and eating small amounts of protein.
The seminar also went over the difference between healthy unsaturated fats, like from fish, nuts, avocados and even kiwis, to saturated fats, like in meat, butter and lard.
Especially, look out for labels like “partially hydrogenated,” which means that the product has been changed from a healthy vegetable fat to a saturated fat, Mathisen said.
You can find some great recipes and information about Nutrisha at Nutrisha.com. Or visit Sporti’s Web site at GoSporti.com.
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