Sports Nutrition Book
Feeding active, growing kids just got easier
The comprehensive ‘go-to’ book for any parent who wants to improve their child’s sporting and academic success.
The comprehensive ‘go-to’ book for any parent who wants to improve their child’s sporting and academic success.
Learn about the different nutrients and energy needs of a child as they grow. Find clear guidelines for amounts of food and fluids at different ages, serving sizes, menus, and practical solutions to feeding problems.
Find out how to gear up a child’s nutrition in order to fill the gap in energy and nutrients needs created during times of training and competition, without slowing growth or endangering their health.
Learn how to establish eating habits which can last a lifetime and help not only children but adults too, to reduce and prevent injury, improve health, mental and physical performance lifelong.
Working with growing children and their families, I see many getting tired, their food intake out of sync with their needs for growth, development and activity.
I was concerned about the lack of nutrition education in schools and sports; that children were dropping out of sport and no longer having fun, many with injuries and health problems.
Children need to eat similar food to their parents but the serving sizes and consistency will vary depending on their age and development. Physically children are not ‘mini adults’, their body’s work quite differently from birth to adolescence particularly when they are exercising.
There is a real need for parents, coaches and teachers to work together, to have a better understanding of children’s daily nutrition needs; how to vary food intake to match goals for training and performance, and also how to help build a healthy sporting environment.
With reliance on Google and social media there is a lot of confusion around the advice given on health issues often advocated by unqualified celebrities which is why I included a whole section on wellness.
This book is aimed at improving everyone’s understanding of nutrition. The good news is that our bodies are constantly regenerating cells and it is never too late to make healthier decisions to use the power of food to fuel, grow, adapt and repair us.
‘How to Grow an Athlete’ is a must-read for parents, teachers, personal trainers, coaches, doctors, dietitians nutritionists, team managers and anyone working to help active children grow, develop and perform.
“More than a book for coaches and parents, the information in ‘How to Grow an Athlete’ supports the role of team managers and those organising sporting events for young athletes. A must read for high performance athletic directors, wellness and life advisors and sports science personnel as well as GPs and medical directors supporting young athletes.”
“If you're looking for a go-to guide on sports nutrition for developing athletes then, ‘How to Grow an Athlete’ by Lea Stening is a must-read. The book is packed with practical advice backed by science and is an indispensable resource for anyone involved in children’s physical training and well being.”
“The students find “How to Grow an Athlete” informative and useful. They especially like how Lea discusses the role parents and society play in their sporting endeavours, as this is what the NCEA standard requires of them to discuss. We could not be happier with the advice and guidance given to these athletes.”
“Sports can be an incredible opportunity to build lifelong health especially if accompanied by great eating habits. Luckily, eating for performance equates to eating for lifelong health as Lea demonstrates brilliantly in this book.”
“There is enough science to satisfy the fussiest researcher. Even better is the healthy dose of common sense and clarity of advice. I not only recommend this book, I expect to use it on a daily basis.”
“I have found your book immensely helpful in fuelling my 15 year old son in his second season of rowing. Have recommended it to several others.”
In six concise sections I’ve combined nutrition background with sporting needs. The tables and action points makes this is an easy book to navigate and the information practical to apply.
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The importance of play and nutrition to a child’s development and well-being. Kids are not mini adults. How to monitor their growth and what are the physiological (functional and metabolic) differences between adults and children? How do children’s bodies adapt to physical stress and increased performance?
What makes a healthy, basic meal plan? How much food is required at different ages? Shopping wisely, reading labels, shopping apps and food claims. How to make changes to the things children eat, while still having fun with food.
Eating well for growth and performance. How to measure a child’s need for Energy, Protein, Carbohydrate, Dietary Fibre, Fat, Vitamins, Minerals and Fluids. The role of these nutrients to growth and development and how these need increases with physical activity.
Timing is everything. How far does the energy from food drive us each day? What to eat when. How to build sustainable energy for the Pre-event, During and Post- exercise recovery stages of physical performance for training or the competition of a major event or tournament. Healthy snacks, meals and takeaways when children are competing at home or are on tour with a team.
How to navigate some of the health issues that come up when children exercise? E.g. Managing weight gain or loss; Diabetes Mellitus; Vegetarian and Vegan diets; Gut Health and The Gut-Brain Axis; Menstruation; Energy Deficiency (RED-S); Mental Health, Eating Disorders; Sleep; Sports Supplements; Self-care; First-Aid Nutrition; Trauma and Injury.
Creating a supportive team environment is important to a child’s feelings of security, their development and enjoyment of sport. Here are some nutrition team-building exercises that coaches, parents, and sports dietitians can use to do this. E.g. A nutrition quiz; Supermarket tours; Sweat loss testing; Hydration monitoring; Recipes for cooking sessions to release the master chef in all of us.
Alongside the day-to-day nutrition needs for growth, development and exercise athletes often want to try new dietary regimes or change their body composition or suffer illness or trauma that can increase their nutrition needs.
Here are two examples...
Sophie is 11 years of age and a gymnast that wants to embark on a vegan diet.
It is possible to be a vegan or vegetarian and to maintain a good growth rate and high performance. However, this does require extra nutritional knowledge and care.
What are some of the issues she will need to consider in order to remain healthy and competitive?
Luke is 15 years of age, keen to play rugby but is smaller in height and body weight than other boys in his team.
Luke wants to bulk up so is working out at lunchtimes in the school gym and wants to buy protein supplements off the internet because they are cheaper. Luke is also eating more takeaways and meat hoping to ‘bulk up’ quicker.
What should he do?
Kids just want to have fun and loving sport can help kids to love life too. By nourishing them well on this journey we all contribute to enabling them to live their best lives into adulthood. It’s never too late to start.
Physical book order
248 page paperback book.
Free postage New Zealand wide or available at leading book stores in New Zealand.
We can also ship internationally.
Digital audiobook
Also available via Kobo, Downpour, Book-a-million, Chirp, Barnes and Noble, Audiobooks.com, Libro.FM, Google Play, Storytell and Audiobooks.now.
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