Balancing Nutrition for Young Athletes: Quality vs. Quantity
Every Monday, we revisit one of the listener questions we’ve answered in a previous episode. It’s been edited for clarity & brevity here, but if you want to get the full version, links to the full episode are below the text.
Patrick:
Here’s a question in the Eat category:
I have an almost 13-year-old daughter. She plays competitive volleyball and has been doing CrossFit for just over a year. Her goal is to compete in CrossFit. I'm curious about what you'd recommend for nutrition. I count macros, so she's expressed interest in that, but I believe she's too young. I want her to have a healthy relationship with food.
Ben:
I love the sensitivity to the age and the healthy relationship with food, but also the wanting her to be able to succeed and all the rest.
So macros is the quantity game. It's eating within certain parameters. I’ll come back to that in a second.
First, let’s talk about the quality game.
The first place I’d focus on with her is how much quality nutrition she can get in, and I’d lead by reminding her that she’s an athlete, she’s a machine, and she needs to fuel the machine.
I’d talk about making sure she’s putting enough in the gas tank - the quantity side - but more so that we’re putting in as many nutrient-dense foods as we can, so all the systems in her body can run as efficiently and effectively as possible.
So, I’d really lean into the quality side of food, making sure she’s getting fruits and vegetables instead of the packaged snack foods.
I’d triple down on that.
But, since she’s already expressed interest in counting macros, I wouldn’t wholesale say, “No.”
I’d obviously need to know her personally to know for sure, but if it did make sense, I wouldn’t start her with a specific number and have her walk away with the expectation that she needs to stay within a few grams of it. There’s too high a chance that could lead to an unhealthy relationship with food.
Instead, I’d go higher level. For example, I’d say: We want to make sure we’re getting in about 100g of protein every day.
I’d make sure she understands that she can do that easily by having three full meals a day, with about 30g of protein at each meal. I’d make sure she understood what that looks like on a plate - that each serving is going to be about the size of her fist or her palm.
I wouldn’t pull out the food scale. She can get almost all the way there by understanding that if she has a protein shake, a piece of chicken, a burger, or a filet of fish, she’s getting about 30g of protein.
From there, I’d talk about carbohydrates because, if we’re eating clean, we’re going to need to eat a lot of carbs. So maybe we focus on adding a bit of rice or some oatmeal in the morning alongide a banana or another piece of fruit.
Again, focusing on the concepts not the specifics.
Patrick:
What you’re saying that I really like is just teaching her the importance of knowing what a meal looks like. It sounds crazy, but we’re never really taught that. We’re never taught to see a plate and know that there should be this much protein, this many fruits or vegetables, this much starch.
It’s strange - we go from not thinking about nutrition at all right into thinking about nutrition as a very specific number we’re supposed to hit. But to your point, and a point that E.C. makes all the time, there’s so much value in getting “close enough.” There’s so much value in living between those two poles.
Ben:
I think it’s a really useful and effective way to bridge the gap between having no intention and no plan and going full-on macros.
I think everyone should understand these concepts - even if you’re 13.
Original Episode: