Feed that young athlete before, during and after

Meridan Zerner, a dietitian at Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas, offers these recommendations for young athletes:

Pregame: Easy-to-digest carbohydrates, such as graham crackers and milk, whole-grain crackers with a little cream cheese, a small bagel with a little peanut butter, pasta, brown rice, a healthful cereal bar such as Kashi, a Clif Z Bar or Kellogg’s All-Bran Fiber bar

Halftime: Handful of Cheerios or the mini Honey Nut Cheerios bags, whole-grain graham crackers

Postgame: Trail mix, watermelon, low-fat cheese, whole-grain Goldfish, yogurt sticks, minibagels with peanut butter, oranges and bananas, 100 percent fruit bars, yogurt fruit bars

For kids who want something more exciting than water, she suggests Honest Kids, a flavored water with no high-fructose corn syrup that comes in a pouch with a straw.

Tips on buying snacks: Look for the words “real fruit” and “whole grain,” and less than 3 grams of saturated fat; avoid high-fructose corn syrup or any sugar if it’s in the first five ingredients. Zerner says she always brings two snacks to maximize the chance that each child will find something she likes.

Nancy Churnin

Dallas Morning News