5 Things Every Parent Should Know About Teen Sports Nutrition

If you have a sporty or very active tween or teen, you’ve probably realised that keeping them well-fuelled can feel like a full-time job. Long training days, eating-on-the-go (in the heat!), large appetites (or days when they insist they’re “not hungry at all”) — it’s a lot for any parent to manage. And the sports nutrition advice online? Often confusing, overwhelming, or simply not tailored to real and busy families.

My goal is simple: to make fuelling your young athlete feel more manageable, without compromising on evidence-based information.

Here are five things every parent should know to help their young athlete train well, recover better, and protect their long-term health.

1.Regularly missing nourishing meals is just as detrimental to performance as skipping training.

Would your child’s coach let them play in a match if they kept skipping training? Probably not. In the same way, when a young athlete shows up for training without having appropriately eaten, their body isn’t prepared for the physical stress of training.

When we view missed meals the same way we think about missed training sessions, it becomes obvious: consistent, balanced eating isn’t optional. It’s part of the training plan.

My motto is this: If their body isn’t fuelled, it’s not ready to train.

Food is fuel. They need regular meals made from nourishing whole foods that provide enough energy from carbohydrates, protein, and fats. This allows the body to perform, recover, or adapt.

They also need to have these meals at the right time. For example, ideally, they should have a full meal 3-4 hours before training and a top-up snack 1-2 hours before.

Underfuelling doesn’t just affect training; it also impacts:

• Growth and development

• Hormones and menstrual function

• Immune function

• Concentration and ability focus

• Mood and mental health

• Sleep

• Gut health

• Bone health

  
  

It is one of the most common issues I see in young athletes.

First of all, most of them have no idea how much the lack of nourishment is holding them back from improving, recovering, and building the skills they love working on.

Secondly, it's not always intentional. The most common reasons I see are simple: a lack of planning, a busy schedule, and limited good-quality food options at training venues. Many kids in Singapore are wonderfully independent — they move themselves from place to place — but they haven’t yet developed the skills to plan ahead or put together a meal or snack that truly fuels them. So they grab whatever is available… or whatever their friends are eating from the nearest convenience store.

Others genuinely struggle with appetite, especially early in the morning. For some kids (including many neurodivergent kids), sensory overwhelm, medication side-effects or limited preferred food make eating away from home challenging.

But before you launch into another “nutrition is important” speech, pause. Just like most things in the tween and teen years, collaboration will get you much further than correction, and that starts with listening.

Get curious about what’s actually affecting your child’s eating. Then brainstorm options together. Leave space for experimentation, for imperfect choices, and for learning what works (and doesn’t). Your role is to scaffold the planning process, not dictate what should happen or leave them to their own devices. Many young athletes still rely on an adult’s executive functioning skills to create a fuelling plan that’s realistic, achievable, and supportive.

Here is an example of how you could approach it:

"Thank you for explaining why you aren’t eating before morning swimming. Eating is a non-negotiable for you to take part in early morning sessions. So, let’s brainstorm a few things you could eat or drink beforehand that might feel manageable… and then we’ll see what works or doesn’t."

2. If your child trains for longer than an hour, water is probably not enough

Water is the ideal choice for hydration during shorter, more “recreational” sport sessions, especially for younger children or those still in the beginner stage of a sport. [Like me, who started playing tennis for the first time a few months ago, so my lessons involve a lot more picking up of balls than hitting them!]

However, once training sessions exceed an hour or when the intensity ramps up — such as with older or higher-level athletes, or during competitions — relying solely on water means missing a vital opportunity to replenish fuel and maintain performance and focus throughout.

When the body needs to sustain activity for longer than an hour, it requires not only fluids but also carbohydrates.

This can be food-based, such as a pretzel, a sports bar, dried fruit, or even classic sliced oranges. However, for many sports, especially those with continuous play, limited breaks, or no space for food, this isn’t always practical.

This is where a sports drink comes in handy – a 2-in-1 of fluid and fuel. Commercial sports drinks can work well, but many parents don’t like the artificial colours and flavours they come with.

A homemade version is just as effective, often better tolerated, and easy to make with ingredients you already have at home.

Homemade sports drink recipe (to make 1L):

• 250 ml of your child’s favourite 100% fruit juice (berry juices work particularly well)

• 750 ml water

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• ¼ teaspoon salt*

  
  

This simple mix provides everything your young athletes need for longer or high-intensity training sessions. Worried about the sugar content? Remember, these foods do not replace whole foods in your child’s diet. Your athlete receives the nutrients they need for health and well-being from meals and snacks throughout the day. These options are consumed in addition to support performance and prevent the effects of underfuelling.

But what about electrolytes during training?

Adding sodium can enhance the taste of drinks, encouraging hydration, which is beneficial for children who forget to or struggle to drink. However, it doesn’t boost performance as much as carbohydrates and fluids do, and it is often expensive.

In some specific cases, it can be a helpful addition. However, it’s best to seek personalised advice from a sports dietitian regarding your child’s sodium and electrolyte needs during training.

Electrolytes matter more once training is over, when your child needs to replace what they’ve lost. So let’s talk about what effective recovery looks like — and how to make the most of that golden window after training.

3. Having something to eat straight after training is non-negotiable

An hour of intense training depletes your child’s fuel reserves (i.e. muscle and liver glycogen stores). If their next training session is a couple of days away, regular meals and rest might be enough to replenish what they have used.

But for a tween or teen who trains most days or sometimes even multiple times a day, recovery nutrition immediately after training becomes essential. Using the “golden window” after exercise helps their bodies rebuild, adapt, and become stronger.

Delaying recovery nutrition can lead to slower recovery, increased fatigue, and a higher risk of injury or illness.

The golden window:

Aim for recovery nutrition within 30–60 minutes after training.

What they need:

• Carbohydrates

• Some protein

• Fluids

• and ideally some electrolytes (salt)

Simple, effective options include:

• Smoothie (fruit, yoghurt/milk, nut butter)

• Chocolate milk (for older kids, look out for those with higher protein content) and a granola bar (oats and nuts)

• Tuna or cheese sandwich or wrap

• Tofu, egg and noodle bowl

• Onigiri (with fish or chicken) or fish & rice sushi (add edamame beans if you can!)

• Dried fruit & nuts (trail mix) or biltong with a ready-to-drink box of soy or cow’s milk

  
  

Post-training fuel doesn’t have to be complicated with fancy powders and supplements. A balanced meal, like dinner, in the right window can also tick all the boxes. Additionally, when we use real food for recovery, we naturally restore electrolytes.

Remember: protein on its own isn’t enough for recovery. Carbohydrates are the priority — they restock the fuel your child’s muscles have burned through. Protein then plays a supportive role by helping repair and rebuild.

4. Tracking food, calories, macros, and movement can be a red flag for disordered behaviours

Tracking can look “disciplined” from the outside, and it often begins innocently — a coach suggestion, a school assignment, a new watch with a step counter or a teen wanting to “improve their nutrition.” I even see articles such as “best calorie tracking apps for your teen”. And with the rise of AI, methods to track are emerging rapidly.

But for many young people, especially those who are more vulnerable, tracking food or movement can quickly shift from a tool to a source of anxiety, guilt, and rigid food and exercise rules.

It’s important to be clear: tracking does not automatically cause an eating disorder.

However, it can activate or intensify risk in certain young people. And not just girls - I see it often in male athletes! In my experience, I see this unfold in two main ways.

First, certain personality traits, such as perfectionism, obsessive-compulsiveness, high achievement orientation, and sensation-seeking, make some people attracted to tracking, and it can feel rewarding at first. These traits are strongly associated with eating disorders, which is why teens who have them are more likely to be drawn to apps or features that turn food and movement into numbers.

Second, once tracking begins, it can easily spiral out of control. For some teens, it leads to distress around eating, rigid rules, avoidance of social events, or the belief that food and movement need to be perfectly “balanced out”.

Research supports this: mainstream diet and fitness apps tend to intensify disordered thoughts by pushing constant measurement, comparison, and goal-chasing — all of which feed perfectionistic thinking.

It’s also worth remembering that the most popular diet and fitness apps were never designed for children or teens. Many have age ratings of 16 or 18+. They don’t account for growth, puberty, hormones, neurodevelopment, or the fluctuating nutritional needs of young athletes. And they are often riddled with errors.

Another concern with mainstream health, fitness, and calorie-tracking apps is privacy and advertising. Because they are designed for adults, they often contain targeted ads — including those related to dieting, weight loss, supplements, alcohol, and other content inappropriate for younger users. Despite laws intended to protect children online, research has shown that apps frequently collect and share personal data without age verification or parental consent. This means a tween or teen may be exposed to persuasive marketing or have their health information sold or used for profiling. For young people who are already vulnerable to comparison, body image worries, or perfectionism, these advertising and privacy risks can add an extra layer of harm.

For most children and adolescents, the risks of tracking far outweigh any perceived benefits. Tracking can become obsessive, restrict eating, increase anxiety, and disconnect teens from their own hunger and fullness cues. Growing bodies need flexibility and consistency — not numbers, tallies, or algorithms.

If an app is needed at all, it’s usually one that supports routines, not restrictions. Apps that remind teenagers to eat, drink, engage in self-care or take breaks (such as EatWise Meal Reminder, Finch or Tiimo) are far more appropriate than those that monitor or grade their eating.

5. Protein supplements are rarely needed

Most young athletes don’t need protein powders — they need enough food. A balanced diet with regular meals and snacks easily provides all the protein they require for training, growth, and recovery.

Over the past 20 years, working with recreational and elite youth athletes, I have found a protein supplement helpful in only two situations.

1. When a young person cannot meet their protein needs through food for medical, sensory, religious, or practical reasons. In many of these cases, we often consider a complete liquid meal supplement rather than an isolated protein powder. But in all these cases, consulting a dietitian first is ideal, because there might be other nutrients, like iron or calcium, missing too!

2. Pure convenience: for instance, when a teenager has back-to-back sessions or genuinely has no access to food immediately after training (often when they are living in boarding schools, or training in highly-structured environments, etc.)

Ideally, protein powders should be used with food, such as adding them to oats, muffins, pancakes, or smoothies.

But even in these situations, the convenience carries several risks that parents should recognise.

1. Contamination risk

Many sports supplements — including protein powders — have been found to contain undeclared substances such as stimulants or anabolic agents. This often happens because products are manufactured in facilities that also produce performance-enhancing drugs that are banned in sport. Even trace contamination can result in a positive doping test, which can be devastating for young athletes.

Contamination isn’t limited to banned substances. Due to poor hygiene, unregulated sourcing, or inadequate quality control, protein powders have been found to contain harmful contaminants, including heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury), BPA, pesticides, and other toxins.

To reduce risk, any supplement used by a young athlete should be third-party tested, such as Informed Sport or NSF Certified for Sport.

2. Misleading labelling and unregulated manufacturing

The supplement industry is loosely regulated. Manufacturers can:

• make big claims with little scientific evidence

• alter ingredient quantity between batches (without adjusting label)

• include fillers or low-quality ingredients

• omit harmful contaminants from the label

• decide not to recall any contaminated batches or dangerous products that are brought to their attention

  
  

There is no routine, independent testing unless a product is voluntarily certified. Which means you can think you are ingesting 20g of protein, but you might very well not be.

3. Nutrition displacement

A protein shake is not a proper meal. When protein powders replace food, teenagers miss out on the carbohydrates, fibre, iron, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that whole foods provide — all of which are vital for growth, immunity, mood, and performance.

A teen who meets their protein needs through food naturally fulfils many other nutrient requirements as well. A teen who relies on powders for protein often does not.

4. The gateway effect

Some research suggests that supplement use in adolescents can act as a gateway to later performance-enhancing substance use. There are a few reasons why this might happen.

For some teens, the attraction to supplements is part of a broader “quick-fix” mindset — powders and pills can start to feel like shortcuts to “better performance.” And because most safe, legal supplements offer only modest (if any) performance benefits, young athletes may find themselves searching for the next thing that promises a bigger boost.

That search can lead them down a path toward riskier, unsafe substances.

This is one reason why I always emphasise focusing on the foundations first: food, fuelling patterns, sleep, recovery, coaching, and supportive training environments. Supplements should be considered only on a case-by-case basis, ideally under the guidance of a healthcare professional specialising in youth sports.

Closing Thoughts

Supporting a young athlete’s sporting career isn’t just about the training they do — it’s about the foundation we build around them. Regular meals, smart hydration, consistent recovery fuel, a healthy relationship with food, and a cautious approach to supplements all play a role in helping them grow, thrive, and enjoy their sport for the long term.

And while many of the habits in youth sport today feel normal — skipping meals, training on empty, obsessively tracking food, relying on powders — they don’t always mean healthy. Or safe.

The reality is that most teens are doing their best, but they’re navigating busy schedules, changing bodies, academic pressures, and mixed messages from coaches, friends, and social media.

And as a parent myself, I know you, the parent or caregiver, are also doing your best, often juggling a hundred moving parts while trying to keep everyone well-fed, well-rested, and emotionally supported.

If reading this has left you wondering whether your child is fuelling enough, recovering well, or edging toward unhelpful patterns around food or training, you’re not alone — and you don’t have to figure it out on your own.

If you’d like personalised, practical guidance that fits your child’s needs, their training load, and your family’s reality, I invite you to book a free 15-minute Discovery Call.

It’s a quick, low-pressure way for us to explore whether support might be helpful.

You know your child best. I’m here to help you translate that into fuelling strategies that help them feel strong, confident, and capable — in sport and beyond.

References:

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2. Mountjoy M, Ackerman KE, Bailey DM, et al 2023 International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) consensus statement on Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) British Journal of Sports Medicine 2023;57:1073-1098.

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6. Hurst, P. (2023). Are Dietary Supplements a Gateway to Doping? A Retrospective Survey of Athletes’ Substance Use. Substance Use & Misuse, 58(3), 365–370. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2022.2161320

7. Eikey EV. Effects of diet and fitness apps on eating disorder behaviours: qualitative study. BJPsych Open. 2021 Sep 24;7(5):e176. doi: 10.1192/bjo.2021.1011. PMCID: PMC8485346.

8. Honary M, Bell BT, Clinch S, Wild SE, McNaney R. Understanding the Role of Healthy Eating and Fitness Mobile Apps in the Formation of Maladaptive Eating and Exercise Behaviors in Young People. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2019 Jun 18;7(6):e14239. doi: 10.2196/14239. PMID: 31215514; PMCID: PMC6604512.

9. Wells KR, Jeacocke NA, Appaneal R, Smith HD, Vlahovich N, Burke LM, Hughes D. The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC) position statement on disordered eating in high performance sport. Br J Sports Med. 2020 Nov;54(21):1247-1258. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2019-101813. Epub 2020 Jul 13. PMID: 32661127; PMCID: PMC7588409.

10. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-hidden-dangers-of-protein-powders