What Should Children Eat Before Training or Competition?

Kids Exercise Food

Energy needed Most for exercise is provided by whatever children have eaten several hours or even days before. Carbohydrate in their food will have been converted into glycogen and stored in their muscles and liver. If they have eaten the right amount of carbohydrate, they will have high levels of glycogen in their muscles, ready to fuel their activity.
If they have failed to eat enough carbohydrate, they will have low stocks of glycogen, putting them at risk of early fatigue during exercise. So Be Care Full
What they eat just before exercise will not affect their muscle glycogen levels. Rather, it will boost their blood-glucose levels, giving them just a little more energy for their activity and possibly postponing fatigue.
Food eaten just before exercise needs to

• prevent children from feeling hungry during training
• be high in carbohydrate
• provide long-lasting energy
• be easily digested

Foods with a moderate or low GI  are best because they provide sustained energy and will help children keep going longer during exercise. Don’t let them eat lots of sugary foods such as sweets and soft
drinks just before exercising. Doing so may cause a quick surge of blood glucose, followed by a sharp fall, which will leave them lacking in energy and unable to keep going at a good pace.

Carbohydrate Food

Avoid high-fat foods as well, because they empty from the stomach too slowly. A high-fat snack could make children feel uncomfortable and sick during practice or an event. Fats eaten before exercise do not raise blood glucose levels, so they will not benefit performance. So what is best? Either a low-GI carbohydrate food (e.g., fresh fruit or pasta), or a protein combined with a high-GI carbohydrate food (e.g., breakfast cereal with milk) will produce sustained energy. The boxes below give some ideas for suitable pre-exercise snacks and meals. It takes a certain amount of trial and error to find out which foods suit an individual child best and exactly how much to eat. Use the box as a guide to the right kinds of foods. Adjust the quantities
according to kids’ appetite, how they feel, and what they like. It’s important that they feel comfortable with the types and amounts of foods they’re eating. Don’t offer anything new before a competition, as it may not agree with them. Drinking is, of course, very important before exercise, so make sure children have a glass of water or diluted fruit juice fifteen to thirty minutes before training or competing.

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