Courtesy of AthleticFoodieTM, a sports performance company that helps athletes unlock their potential
Written by Garrett Weber-Gale
Most athletes are “starving” when they finish school. Think about what it’s like to finish school and be headed straight to swim practice for three hours…sound familiar?! You can be sure, getting to swim practice on an empty stomach is miserable.
Many schools have early lunches and don’t allow afternoon snacks. Some students eat lunch as early as 10:45am! While you probably can’t change the time kids eat lunch, you can provide them with healthy options for after school snacks, which will fuel them for their upcoming workout.
Most athletes are tired from all of their activities, and want something quick and easy to eat. Athletes don’t want to spend time preparing their own snacks, so having foods on hand that are quick and easy will help kids make proper choices. For athletes who are on their own after school, it is even more important to have snacks prepared for them, so that they don’t automatically go for the unhealthy choices, like cookies, chips, candy, soda etc.
By preparing and pre-planning after school snacks, you can help ensure that your child is getting optimal nutrition that will help them perform at practice.
- The following after-school snacks are AthleticFoodie approved:
- Lowfat graham crackers with peanut butter
- Greek yogurt with AthleticFoodieTM pre-workout granola
- Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich
- Ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins)
- Whole grain crackers and low fat cheese slices
- AthleticFoodieTM post-workout trail mix
- Vegetables with low fat dressing
- Fruit and yogurt smoothies
- Pita and hummus, with cucumbers
- Air popped popcorn
- Applesauce
- Nuts
- String cheese
Athletes should not go to workout on an empty stomach. An athlete’s body is a high performance machine that requires premium fuel, for top performance. Order your box of AthleticFoodieTM snacks, today, and you’ll receive a set of sports specific snacks that were designed specifically to help athletes go best times.
AthleticFoodieTM is a sports performance company, founded by Olympic Gold Medalist Garrett Weber-Gale, which makes snacks that are specifically designed to help athletes perform. Please visit www.athleticfoodie.com for more information about ordering AthleticFoodie snacks, and getting fuel that will help you swim fast.
About Garrett Weber-Gale, Founder of AthleticFoodieTM
In 2005, Garrett was diagnosed with dangerously high blood pressure, and was almost forced to give up his Olympic dream. Luckily, a small dose of medication, and a total revamp in his diet saved his dream and put the Olympics back in sight. Garrett began to see the direct connection between what he put into his body, and what he could get out of it.
After his diagnosis with high blood pressure, Garrett made it his mission to learn how to make healthy food taste great. He’s traveled the world working in famous restaurant kitchens in Italy, France, Copenhagen, Spain, and New York City. Garrett has taken his knowledge and experience from all over the world, and shared it with others through speeches at the White House, to schools, sports teams, TEDx, universities, TV and radio appearance, cooking classes, authored articles and AthleticFoodie Events.
AthleticFoodieTM is a SwimSwam content partner.
Hey
Thank you for this article, but, I agree…
We need to get away from the processed food and get back to wholesome natural foods.
No more low fat junk. If you are interested in learning about what’s in these foods there is a great foundation called the Westin Price foundation. Their website has great information about nutrition and health.
The majority of these ideas are great and will provide the appropriate fuel prior to practice. However, the consumption of low-fat foods should be avoided. Fat is an important component of food and provides texture, flavor, ‘mouth-feel’ and is an important nutrient our bodies need. In low-fat items the fat is often replaced with sugar, another type of sweetener or a combination of different additives to make the product taste and feel as much like the full-fat version as possible.
Fat often gets a bad name and is often associated with weight gain and obesity. In reality, sugar is the real culprit. There are several different types of fats: saturated fats, trans fats, monounsaturated fats (MUFA’s) and polyunsaturated fats… Read more »
Thank you for the nutritious snack ideas, my 13 year old swimmer is constantly hungry.
Ok, I’m cringing at the “low fat” suggestions. Any time you see “low fat” on processed food, it means “chemical **** storm” and should be avoided.
Low fat cheese and any dairy product: animal milk, just like human milk, has fat in it. And fat = flavor. It also provides for better texture with the finished product. Take away the fat and chemists need to come in and figure out a way to make the “cheese” “product” taste ok, so they add things. Likewise with texture. Without fat, the “cheese” tastes like cardboard. So chemists come in to make the “product” less cardboard-like.
You really should avoid eating processed foods as much as possible. When you eat “low fat” garbage,… Read more »
Well said. Even “full fat” milk only has 4% fat. A processed food can be marketed as low fat if it has 3% fat or less so not much lower than this natural product. Also athletes do not necessarily need to keep clear of the fat (within reason). Athletes eat and train, they don’t diet and exercise.
I eat at 10:05 and don’t finish practice until 6:30 ! Thanks for the great ideas.