5: Fueling Young Athletes with Heather Mangieri, RD, CSSD

Heather is an internationally recognized registered dietitian-nutritionist, a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics and author with a passion for helping athletes fuel and hydrate to maximize their health, development and athletic performance. Her expertise is in fueling young athletes, disordered eating in sports and nutrition communications. In 2008, she founded Heather Mangieri Nutrition where she provides nutrition counseling, consulting and communication services for organizations and companies focused on evidence-based health and wellness.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How to manage day-to-day nutrition for athletes
• How to handle dinners with after school sports/activities 
• Should athletes take a multivitamin or protein powder?
• Finding macronutrient balance in kids
• Breakfast ideas for active kids to start the day off strong
• Meal ideas that older kids and parents can prep in advance
• Making balanced snacks + On the go snack ideas
• How to make a balanced school lunch
• Teaching active kids to acknowledge hunger
• Being creative with prioritizing family meals with youth activity schedules 

Protein ideas for kids lunches 

Fueling Young Athletes book 

Third party tested protein powders: 

• Certified for Sport 
• Informed Choice 

Heather's Website | Instagram 

Transcript

Sarah Schlichter (00:03.02)
Hello, welcome back to the podcast today. Today we have an important guest, Heather Mangieri on the podcast today. And we're going to talk all about eating youth athletes, athletes in sport and everything that comes with that. So welcome Heather. Will you give us a little bit of an introduction about who you are, a little bit about your family and what you do?

heather mangieri (00:25.323)
Yes, absolutely.

My name is Heather Maggiere. I'm a registered dietician. I'm a sports dietician with my specialty or expertise is working with young athletes. So I have a private practice in Pittsburgh. I see athletes and I work with their families in my home office or also over telehealth. I've been doing this for a very, very long time. In the beginning, I kind of saw a need for some resources and didn't have, there wasn't a lot available to this.

population, so I wrote a book called Feeling Young Athletes and the focus there after that launched to my whole business and practice and scope of work has really been with helping families, helping athletes, pre-puberty, puberty, post-puberty, and I also work with collegiate athletes. But my main focus is probably middle school, high school, and helping families kind of manage that time period of when the child is really developing and the food.

food intake is very high and helping them manage the schedule and what to eat.

Sarah Schlichter (01:34.616)
That's great, Heather. And I'm sure you hear many of, wish I knew this back then. mean, myself, I was a tri-sport high school athlete, went on to be a college athlete, and I knew nothing about nutrition during high school. I think back to what I ate and my parents didn't know much either. You know, they did the best they can. So what a resource you must be to those families and those athletes.

heather mangieri (01:56.353)
Yeah, I sure hope so and feel that way. And it's very rewarding. Today, the scope of nutrition information is different just because of social media. And there's just so much access to information. Unfortunately, that information is not always accurate and it's not always the best. So a lot of times I'm focused on like, okay,

make sure that if you're getting information online, you're getting it from an athlete. Because a lot of times that information isn't coming from someone who's in the same position as the student athlete who has way different nutritional needs, depending on their individual situation, than just somebody that's trying to tell them how to eat healthy.

Sarah Schlichter (02:42.008)
So focusing in on the middle school and high school demographics, kind of like you mentioned, what would you say are some of the basic challenges that these young athletes and families face?

heather mangieri (02:53.312)
Yeah, I think it's just, you know, they're confused with nutrition information for one, just because, you know, kind of like I just said, with so much nutrition information out there, coming at them from different directions. So there's the social, there's the coaches, there's the trainers, but also just being so busy. You know, the competitiveness of sports is so much more demanding, the duration of practices, the...

you know, going straight from school to practice and then, you know, having a game and, you know, not being at home, traveling on the weekends, being on a club team and, you know, a school team and then, or being a multi-sport athlete too. So they're just very, very busy. And I think the biggest challenge is, how do you, first of all, you know, what to eat, but then how do you even make that happen? Because they're like never home or they're always on the go. So that's probably the biggest.

challenge and focus that I see.

Sarah Schlichter (03:54.35)
Totally, and you have to think with this age group, they're not, maybe they're able to prep some of their snacks and meals, but I would imagine the parents have to be pretty involved as well.

heather mangieri (04:04.694)
Yeah, mean, access to food is one. So like the food has to be in the home for them to be able to even get it. then, yeah, I mean, some parents are available in home to help and do meal prep and make, I have some parents that will make all the meals breakfast and there's still some family meals or even pack lunches, but other athletes are completely, that's what they have to do it for themselves.

And so it's just finding how the family dynamic is for a certain family and then what their individual challenges are and then helping from there. But yeah, the food has to be there. You have to know what to buy, you have to buy it, and then you have to know how to prep it. it's a lot of work. They need a lot of food and it's a lot of work to make it happen.

Sarah Schlichter (04:58.902)
Right, right. And like you said, with so much information and misinformation and disinformation out there, it can be overwhelming. So let's start with the basics. Of course, this is going to vary based on how active the athlete is. Like you said, if they're doing tri sports, if they have weekend competitions and things. But what are some general nutrition principles that you'd like parents to know? mean, talking about nutrients, what nutrients...

Do these athletes need more of what should a bigger focus be on in their diet?

heather mangieri (05:34.024)
Yeah, well, I I think I love that question because so often I get the one of the probably biggest questions I get is, well, what should he eat before practice or what should he or she eat after practice and what's recovery nutrition, know, game day nutrition. And, you know, my big stress is always the day to day nutrition is so much more important because if you don't have that baseline diet, that foundation of a healthy diet,

getting a good breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, then just eating the perfect thing before a practice isn't gonna solve the problem. Because it's really, nutrient deficiencies that we see in adolescents, they don't happen because you missed a meal or you missed two meals. They happen over a long period of time. It's like day after day after day, you're not getting adequate nutrition. So even if you do eat the perfect thing before practice,

if you have a bigger issue with your nutrition, it's not gonna be resolved or really support that activity. day-to-day nutrition, focus on getting balanced meals, starting with breakfast, getting a school lunch. After school, kids come home, if they do go home after school, some of them will go right to practice, but if they do come home after school,

I like to call that dinner number one because they always come home from school really hungry and they need a meal rather than filling up on snacks at that time. And then later in the evening is more like a dinner number two. So it's really, you know, rethinking meal times. You know, a lot of times I'll hear, well, we eat dinner at 5.30 and I'll say, okay, well, is that flexible? Because if it's not flexible, okay, I'll try to, you know, help you manage the schedule, but.

Ideally, if you're able to have some flexibility there, it's very helpful because it does have to of morph around the sports schedule. But overall, balanced meals, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, those are key. That's what it takes to get the vitamins and minerals you need. And then of course, specific nutrients of concern.

heather mangieri (07:56.807)
especially in female athletes, see those, those would be addressed individually as they come up.

Sarah Schlichter (08:04.332)
Right, and I think it's so important to obviously recognize there really aren't blanket recommendations in nutrition. Obviously we can say eat the carbs before exercise for energy, but we can't say go take an iron supplement to everyone because it is very individualized.

heather mangieri (08:12.136)
Thank you.

heather mangieri (08:20.722)
Yeah, yeah, I I do too. I am a big advocate for a multivitamin, just a general multivitamin to kind of help. But even that, you know, if you have a six foot two, 17 year old male that's eating, you know, 4,500 calories a day, there's a great chance within that, you know, all that food he's eating that he could be meeting his nutrition needs.

you know, whereas if you have, you know, a five foot one female that's, you know, on a lower, you know, her intake or her needs are lower, she's gonna have a more difficult time meeting just the baseline needs. And so it would be more likely that she might benefit from that multilidium in mineral supplement. But again, it's not gonna hurt to take one. But sometimes there are very specific nutrient needs that need to be addressed.

I see that more in the recent years than ever because of all of these like food trends. you know, people aren't eating this anymore. And so what happens is they take the food out of their diet, but they don't think about what nutrients they took out of their diet when they removed that food or food group. So, you know, helping them to see, well, you didn't just stop eating this food. You now are not getting enough of the nutrients that that food provided.

so we can try to find other foods that provide those nutrients, but if we can't, then we need to consider some supplementation.

Sarah Schlichter (09:51.776)
Mm-hmm. Right. So it sounds like with everything you're saying, obviously advice needs to be personalized, but also it's a pattern of your diet. It's not just one day. It's not one meal here or there, but we want the pattern to be consistent with breakfast, lunch, dinner, maybe dinner one, dinner two, pre-practice snack, post-practice snack or meal. So let's start with breakfast. What are some ideas that middle school, high schoolers

can, should eat, whether they're eating free lunch at school or breakfast at school, or it's something that they can prepare at home to kind of start the day off on the right foot.

heather mangieri (10:30.647)
Yeah, mean, breakfast is a hot topic. It's my hardest one when I'm working with high school athletes. They tend to like to sleep in until the last minute and maximize their sleep more than eat. But breakfast is an extremely important meal for student athletes. And my stance on that is a few things. One, it's not optional. It's essential. I always tell them something is better than nothing. So I can give you these great ideas of what to make for breakfast, but

The bottom line is something is better than nothing. That's the meal that starts your fueling and kind of breaks that fast from not eating all night. But if you're gonna put together a good breakfast, athletes, we need all the macronutrients, carbs, proteins, and fats. But ideally, the breakfast would include all three of those. So if I have like, what does the ideal breakfast look like? Well, it would be like,

you know, having, you know, eggs, which would be your some protein and some fat, and then you have toast or a bagel and then, you know, I have a little cream cheese or something on the bagel. So there you get all of the nutrients. So a breakfast sandwich like that. But it also could be, you know, cereal with milk, just like a Greek yogurt bowl with some fruit and nuts on it. Those are some things that are kind of easy to throw together.

or even like a homemade smoothie. Though I do always stress because the idea of protein smoothies is out there now. So the smoothie that you would want for breakfast would not be just protein powder and water mixed together because that would just be providing protein. You really would wanna make a homemade smoothie that has a combination of the nutrients needed. like making it with milk or making it with.

some yogurt, putting fruit in there, maybe putting some nut butter in there and ice. And then kind of you're getting that balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats for that balanced breakfast meal.

Sarah Schlichter (12:39.982)
Right, so what I'm hearing is it's essential, don't skip it. Doesn't have to be super complicated. I mean, a lot of the ideas that you mentioned can even be taken on the go. You know, it takes minutes to make a smoothie or if they did prep the overnight oats or even breakfast sandwiches on a bagel, that's something parents or athletes could make in advance and freeze. Just take as they go out the door, it up, keep the yogurt, add some granola or some fruit.

heather mangieri (13:02.012)
Yep.

Exactly.

Sarah Schlichter (13:08.76)
just to make sure they're checking off the boxes.

heather mangieri (13:09.02)
Yep. Yeah, and like overnight oats are a big one right now because you know, anything that they can prep in advance, I say that knowing that they don't often prep in advance. mean, so it's like easy to have all these ideas. But what usually happens is I say, open up your refrigerator, know, grab a hard boiled egg and you know, grab some chocolate milk or grab a juice or you know, grab something that you're going to like run to your car, run to the bus stop and eat.

if you are running late or if you can't. Now, ideally there would be planning and there would be, you know, a little bit of work effort to go into that breakfast. But, you know, maybe it's just a favorite granola bar or energy bar that they bought and they have in their pantry. It's really just important to kind of make sure that you get something. mean, obviously, it would be ideal to get like that big balanced breakfast.

but if not, get something. And then, you know, throughout the day we can kind of work on where you're gonna make sure you're getting snacks and other meals to make up and get the nutrients needed.

Sarah Schlichter (14:16.586)
Mm-hmm. And I'm thinking most athletes are having practices after school, but I guess that is sport dependent because sometimes if they're not having a meet, for example, maybe they are swimming or running in the early morning. So for those athletes, how would that recommendation change for this?

heather mangieri (14:34.809)
Yeah, and that's a tough one because swimmers are sometimes, you they have to be at the school at five o'clock, 530 in the morning. So it's tough. And that's where I stress that like night before meal, you know, like what that importance of, you know, that meal the night before is really, you're making sure to get enough carbohydrates. I mean, you want proteins and fats too, but you want enough carbohydrates so that you're waking up in the morning without having completely depleted glycogen stores or muscle energy. But waking up and hydrating,

is number one. So as soon as you wake up, get hydrated because it's, you want to start all activity and practices well hydrated and fueled. So morning practices make that a big challenge because again, kids are sleeping in, they're running out the door to these practices. Typically what I recommend is some sort of liquid. So maybe a little bit of a juice and a banana and then take off, you know, like a food thermos and like have your oatmeal.

hot oatmeal or your Greek yogurt bowl and have it ready to eat as soon as practice is over in the morning so that you're still getting that breakfast. It's just, you know, the timing is a little different.

Sarah Schlichter (15:45.994)
Mm-hmm, and we're stressing we don't want you to have that practice and then just go to school and not eat anything It is important to replenish after

heather mangieri (15:51.984)
Yep, exactly. you know, I, I do see more like that more understanding of that after practice. So that it's, it's the before that I struggle with the most. And so there, the questions are, well, you know, I'm just getting up and going, I don't want food in my stomach, totally understanding. So it's what are some very quick digesting, easy items that you can have?

you know, in the 30 minutes before you start your practice that are gonna digest quickly. And those would be focusing on more fluids and then like quick digesting carbohydrates like a piece of toast or, you know, fruit like a banana or an orange or something like that, just to give yourself some carbohydrate to fuel that practice. And then you can feel up after.

Sarah Schlichter (16:42.688)
Mm-hmm, right. It sounds like it doesn't need to be huge like that piece of toast half a bagel. We do the mini bagels a lot But again stressing the night before so there is some mental prep work involved if you have a 5 a.m. Swimming practice or you're going out for a run with the team You do want to think about that the night before to make sure you're topping off those glycogen stores itself

heather mangieri (16:49.388)
Yes.

heather mangieri (17:06.444)
Yep, 100%. And it's interesting because a lot of times athletes will think about, well, I have a competition this weekend. What should I eat Friday night for my Saturday morning competition? But they don't think about what I'm gonna do for my practice on Thursday, Wednesday night for my practice Thursday. So the competitions get a lot more attention. And so a lot of times I'm focused on, the purpose of the training during the week is to get your body ready so that on competition day you're...

you're good and you know what to do and your body's very used to doing that, practice your nutrition in the same way that you practice your sport. So it's not just doing this perfect on a competition weekend or the night before a competition or the day of a competition. It's practicing how you're going to eat and how you're gonna feel your body all week so that you are more prepared for that big day.

Sarah Schlichter (18:01.154)
Great. Now talk to us a little bit about snacks, because I'm thinking this could be challenging for kids. It sounds like they might have to fit them in between classes in the hallway. I don't know what the protocol is these days for eating in the classroom with teachers, but it seems like, you know, if they're eating that breakfast, lunch, lunch varies from what I hear, depending on school times, but it could be a long period of time between meals. So what is...

heather mangieri (18:28.511)
Yep.

Sarah Schlichter (18:28.554)
snacking look like these days and what are some good options for middle school and high schoolers?

heather mangieri (18:34.176)
Yeah, I mean, that's a big, it's a really big one. you know, it's looking at, okay, well, what time is breakfast? And then every, you know, these kids have different lunch periods. So if a child's eating lunch at 6.30 in the morning, or breakfast, I'm sorry, at 6.30 in the morning, and then their lunch isn't until 12.30, there definitely needs to be a snack plugged in there, you know, 9.30 or somewhere, you know, throughout that period.

on the reverse side, if they're eating breakfast at 6.30 and their lunch period is at 10.30, the snack would then be later between the lunch and the after-school snack. snacks vary. My general kind of guideline I try to say is like try to pick something that has at least two of the main nutrients in there, carbs, proteins, and fats. So rather than just having an apple, have like an apple and nuts,

or you're choosing like a combination snack. So because they have to be portable and especially in a morning, it can be very challenging. So it has to be things like fresh fruit that has peels on them tend to be a little easier. Even like granola bars or protein bars or energy bars, I'll oftentimes work with athletes on like choosing one that is best for.

their needs and goals. You know, a little bag of popcorn with, you know, if they have a cooler, a cheese stick. So there are some protein options that are portable, you know, beef jerky, for example, that doesn't need refrigerated, but for the most part, protein is hard because it usually needs refrigeration. So

if it's not coming from like a protein bar or an energy bar that has some protein in it or from like beef jerky or, you know, there's not a lot of options. Then they, you know, have a little cooler lunchbox with some ice packs in it. And if they're willing to do that, because usually they look at me like I'm crazy at first, but then they get used to it. Then they can take other things. Like you could take a Greek yogurt cup. You could take, you know, different types of fruit. You could take cheese sticks. You can take,

heather mangieri (20:53.285)
the hard boiled egg. So if you have those protein options, pairing it with some sort of a carbohydrate option is key too.

Sarah Schlichter (21:02.828)
I'm just hearing again, the power of thinking ahead, teaching these kids and parents, especially with those that have this rigorous training schedule to check off the boxes, you know, the night before, do we have our snacks packed? Is there any meal prep snacks? I mean, like you said, there's some things you can do ahead and bring that cooler. And there are so many options on the market these days. And I think athletes, you know, have to accept it's okay to rely on.

heather mangieri (21:06.514)
yeah.

heather mangieri (21:17.905)
Yeah.

Sarah Schlichter (21:31.01)
the processed snacks or things like that because it's going to help your energy and your performance in the long

heather mangieri (21:32.264)
100%.

heather mangieri (21:36.624)
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's really, I mean, there's tons of great options, know, mean, could fig Newtons and things like that, things that people sometimes have like, gosh, that's like, you know, a guilt type of food, but I'm like, you know, it just depends if you have, I mean, I have some male athletes, high school male athletes need so much food. Like it is very difficult and challenging to get them enough to meet their needs and their goals. You know, if they're trying to gain weight or trying to put muscle mass on, or if they have...

play a sport that is a very high energy sport where they're just constantly burning, it's extremely difficult to get them to get enough needs. Even with the school, you know, if they get school lunch, it's sometimes not enough. So it's like, okay, how do we add to that school lunch? So there's a lot of, there are a lot of considerations that go into it and, you know, the needs of the athlete specifically play a big role in what I would, you know, what the snack, ideal snack would be.

But yeah, checking all guilt at the door because there is no guilt. We're trying to fuel and it's going to, a lot of times, rely on some of these convenience foods in order to do that.

Sarah Schlichter (22:47.886)
And I love how you said, you know, even the school lunch might not be enough. So recognizing again, hunger levels, you're just kind of getting in that routine and having kids think ahead, pack extra snacks or pack a lunch or things to eat in addition can be great.

heather mangieri (22:56.091)
Yes.

heather mangieri (23:05.594)
Yep, yeah, and like I, lot of times with the middle and high schoolers, I'm kind of trying to train them to have things available. So keeping things in their backpack, keeping things in their sports bag, like swim bag or gym bag, so that when they do run into times whenever they don't have anything, or if they do start to feel hungry, even though like, you know, another day they wouldn't feel hungry at that time, getting them in touch with that hunger and saying, that's your body telling you that you need something.

having something available in your backpack at all times is, you know, that's the way to be prepared, you know, and getting them to think about their food and nutrition as part of their kind of equipment. You know, I will tell them some of you always make sure you have, you know, the best running shoes or, know, you don't forget your gym shorts. So think of that as part of this whole training package. Like this is your sports nutrition fuel and it's just as important as the rest of.

the equipment and items that you need to play your sport.

Sarah Schlichter (24:09.666)
Love that, love that. Throwing it in the gym bag. It just goes together with the change of clothes and water bottle and everything. So thinking about kind of the next stage of progression. So school finishes, maybe they have a practice, a meet, a game, a competition after school or later in the evening. Earlier on, you mentioned dinner one, dinner two. So can you talk to us a little bit about how these busy families can prioritize?

heather mangieri (24:14.819)
Right.

heather mangieri (24:28.707)
Mm-hmm.

Sarah Schlichter (24:36.642)
the fueling, the dinner times around these evening activities.

heather mangieri (24:42.113)
Yes, it is a challenge, especially if for parents that have like multiple children that play different sports. I mean, I remember even when my kids were all three in that stage, now they're older, but it's like, no one's even home at the same time anymore. You know, you're just, you're, you're playing tag team with your spouse just to get people to where they need to be kids. So, you know, the big thing is looking at the schedule. I mean, I'm a big advocate for family meal.

It might not always be a dinner anymore. Now it might be like a family snack in the evening or like, you know, getting together for breakfast. But I do think that that's important to have the family meal. And I love that I often see families that still want to come together as a family and do that. So I always do try to find that time, but the reality is like a lot of times nobody's home in the evening. So.

The big thing is changing meal times because for a student athlete that has high nutrition needs and energy needs, they are at school all day. If they come home, dinner right there. And then that works. If they don't go home and they go straight to practice, they might sometimes go to practice for an hour and then there might be like a game. Or if they...

having a way game, they might take the bus and not come home until late in the evening. So sometimes I'll see families waiting until eight or nine o'clock at night to have dinner. And while I don't wanna take away the dynamic of the family meal, the big stress about that is it's okay to do that meal, but it can't replace having that big meal for the student athlete at least.

earlier in the day because the fuel is what supports the activity. So you don't want to like go all day and really not be fueling well and then, you know, come home and then eat all the fuel. They need the fuel before and they need the fuel after. So it's really, really important to kind of think about what can I do to make sure that they're getting food prior to activity. And again, food.

heather mangieri (27:02.592)
lots of ice packs, lots of lunch boxes, food jars or food thermoses, and then making meals in advance. you making things that can be made in bulk that can reheat easy. So I'm a huge fan of like food jars. I'm, know, chicken fried rice, chilies, like those one pot meals that have the carbs, proteins, the fats all in them that can be heated, they easily go in a food jar.

The kids can take it to school with them, eat it after school before their practice or before like on the bus on the way to their game. That way they're getting a meal. It's not at home at the dinner table, but they're still getting that meal. And then they get the feel that they need prior. It really goes back to what we've been talking about. Preparing, thinking ahead, prepping ahead. I always tell families because I feel for

for moms and dads that are like, if I'm asked what's for dinner one more time, like I'm gonna lose my mind. Because that's the what's for dinner? Or what did you make me? What did you pack me? And I tell the parents, because just coming up with what to make is hard enough, let alone like organizing the shopping list, going to the grocery store, then having to cook it. Especially if you have a full-time job. So bring the kids into it. Have the kids kind of help and say, what do you want? Write me down five meals that I make that you love and then,

take Sunday or Saturday and just take four or five hours in meal prep. And that way you have all of those meals prepared and all you have to do is reheat them during the week.

Sarah Schlichter (28:44.622)
I talk a lot about involving your kids in cooking. Of course, my kids are young, two, four and six right now. So it's a little bit easier. I can imagine when they're high school and middle school age, they want to be with their friends. I want to do other things. But I love that point of having them get involved in the prep or starting to think what are some meals that you might like before X, Y, and...

It just seems like one of the themes we've been talking about to simplify it for parents is like just thinking about those bookends, you know, before practicing game and after you want to make sure that you're feeling up and then recovering and ways I'm trying to think here, brainstorm to keep it simple, like sandwiches, frozen burritos, like, or stuff like that. Some portable options that kids could eat on the bus. I mean, I remember having a seven o'clock basketball game. So.

heather mangieri (29:10.354)
Mm-hmm.

heather mangieri (29:27.197)
Exactly, yes. What did you do? You know, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's just so, mean, sandwiches are great because it's, sandwiches are often thought of as like, you know, if I say to an athlete, like, well, what would be something that, you know, let's talk about things you could take with you as a snack after school before practice.

Sarah Schlichter (29:33.56)
What did I eat before? I have no idea.

heather mangieri (29:56.696)
if you only have an hour and a half before you practice. And usually the ideas are these snacks, like a fruit or something, a piece of yogurt or a granola bar or whatever. And I'll say, what about like a turkey sandwich? And the mindset there is like, well, turkey sandwich is like a lunch, that's not like a snack. And I'm like, no, you gotta think about it as that's a snack for you. You need so much.

that that's a snack. So peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are great because they don't require them to take like a cooler with an ice pack. I am a huge advocate and pusher of getting that cooler and ice pack, getting used to having it because that's how you can carry food around with you throughout the day. But you know, it sometimes is

I get pushed back from high schoolers on doing that. So a lot of times I'm going back to those shelf stable types of foods that don't require it to be cold or hot. the sandwiches, the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a go-to. And then making sure to just have those, pretzels are a good thing because they have the carbohydrate, they're also salty. a lot of times, depending on the sport, they need some salt before...

heavy training or competition. And then of course, you know, having a water bottle because hydration is, you know, it's at the, that's at the, that's one of the most important things for them to make sure that they're hydrating throughout. So yeah, I mean, it just is for parents, it's just a matter of, you know, you can ask them like, cause sometimes they see other athletes eating things too and.

you know, the parents go into the grocery store looking for things and ask them, would you like this, would you like this or trying things. But you know, the athlete themselves, the child might see somebody else eating something and say, let's try this. relying on those convenience foods, you know, that's oftentimes what it is. And it's just pairing them well, you know, making sure that you're thinking like, do I have a carbohydrate for energy? Do I have a protein for growth and development?

heather mangieri (32:10.168)
you know, is there a little bit of fat in here? That's what I usually try to get them to picture is what are the nutrients you're putting together here with this snack? Are they getting what they need? And understanding that the carbohydrates are the energy, the fuel. So that's important before. Afterwards, the carbohydrates are the recovery fuel, but you also need that protein. you know, sometimes they might go right home after practice. So then I say, well, if you're going directly home to have dinner,

it's not as important to get that snack right after. But if you have an hour bus ride before you get home, then you wanna take a little snack with you to have right after practice or the game or whatever, and then have dinner whenever you get home.

Sarah Schlichter (32:56.194)
There is so much nuance involved and it just seems like having the athletes and parents understand why it's important might help with that agency and like, okay, now I get it. He needs this fuel. No wonder he's not performing. No wonder he's so tired in the morning. He's not eating his pre-bed snack and things like that. It seems like just having people understand that may help with being able to put those things together.

heather mangieri (33:09.174)
Okay.

heather mangieri (33:20.81)
100%. And that is, mean, when I do, when I work with families, the first, I mean, I've been like an initial consultation with them, but my first session is always sports nutrition 101. Like if you, I mean, sometimes the kids are really young, you know, I work with younger ones. And so it's, you know, more focused on the parents, but I'm educating them. Like this is the why. Because if you understand the why it helps you choose the foods better and it doesn't.

just become like, tell me exactly what I should eat. And I always stress, I can give you a list of these four snacks and they might be perfect snacks and work well, but what if you run out? What if you don't have them available? What if the grocery store didn't have them? What if your child gets sick of them? I want you to understand why I'm choosing these snacks so that you can create new ones, continue on that list of great snacks.

because you know that, the purpose is carbohydrates are for energy and we also have some protein for growth and development and you know, some fat in there to keep you full and some, you know, fiber for nutrition. So it's really that basic education is really something that I believe is extremely important because again, I'm always like, okay, well, what do you think? You know, with students, I'm always trying to push them to, you you tell me what would be a good snack.

That way they're thinking about it and they're the ones that are coming up with it and then they're understanding and then they're way more likely to stick to focusing on their sports nutrition.

Sarah Schlichter (34:55.374)
I have one last question before we wrap up. And this is something I think a lot of parents have because I get questions on this, but what's your stance? And I know you talk about this in your book, so maybe you can expand a little bit. What's your stance on protein powders for these athletes? Is it something you recommend? Is it something that parents can and should rely on? Any tips for navigating that nuanced mold?

heather mangieri (35:17.458)
Yeah. So I mean, first and foremost, there's a time and a place for protein powders. I do believe, you know, some I'm not anti protein powders. I'm not I'm also not someone that believes that they're always necessary. I do. For the most part, I see that student athletes, young athletes are getting adequate protein from food. Therefore, they do not need protein powder. But

If they don't like, I don't know, I'll go through all the protein foods, know, so they're struggling to get protein foods that they like. For example, if I have somebody that wants to make a balanced smoothie for breakfast, but they don't like yogurt, they don't like cow's milk, but they like the fruits and they like a plant-based milk, then

then I would say like, a scoop of protein powder will work there because the protein powder is providing the protein because you're not getting it from the milk or the Greek yogurt or the other ingredient. In that case, it's fine. The biggest issue I see is that there's just an over consumption of protein. Now, what's that gonna mean? Well, what happens when kids and these athletes over consume protein is that they fill up

and then they don't eat enough carbohydrates. So I am usually steering them like, okay, that's great, you need the protein, it's important. But if you are filling up on it and getting too much protein and you're putting too much focus on protein, now you're not getting enough energy to fuel your sport. So that's why there's early fatigue or you're not hitting your body, lean mass goals of building muscle mass or whatever it might be.

But carbohydrates, these kids are growing and developing. This is like prime age. So it's not just like athlete nutrition. They're not just little versions of adult athletes. They have completely different growth, growing needs. So their nutrient needs are high and their carbohydrate needs are high. So if I have a 45 year old athlete, I'm gonna focus a little bit more on protein.

heather mangieri (37:38.661)
because a 45 year old athlete needs more, they wanna maintain their muscle mass, they have different issues going on, but younger athletes, they are growing and developing, they have higher carbohydrate needs, and that needs to be a focus. So the protein powders and the focus on protein can take away from the focus on energy, which is their number one thing. And then I also would just say always looking for one that is

third party tested and has some sort of like certification on it saying like this was what's in this ingredient list is actually what's in it because a lot of the student athletes I work with do want to go and play collegiate sports. So I think it's really important for them to understand like not all supplements are created equal and not all protein powders are created equal and you want to start learning how to look for the quality ones and kind of know what you're looking at.

what vitamins and minerals are in that protein powder? What are the other things that they're throwing in there that might be problematic, but you don't even know. So it's label education, protein powder education, purpose education. But if it works and it's needed, then absolutely, then it's not a problem. It's just that I find that it's not typically needed.

Sarah Schlichter (39:00.14)
Yes, I love that explanation. think it can definitely be an addition and a complimentary part, but again, you don't want it to crowd out the carbohydrates and all the nutrients and energy involved there. And we can put some links in the show notes to like informed choice and the third-party credentialed options for people if that is something that they want to look into.

heather mangieri (39:10.349)
Yep.

heather mangieri (39:15.116)
Yep, that's it.

heather mangieri (39:20.066)
Yeah, think, yeah, that's great. That's exactly, I mean, you could do a whole podcast on supplementation, right? I mean, it's a big topic. I get a lot of questions about it. I get a lot of athletes that want to talk about it, that wanna try it. And mostly it's parents that are contacting me saying like, my child brought this up to me and I don't have any idea what this is and is it okay? And so it's not a simple yes or no. It's really investigating.

Sarah Schlichter (39:45.511)
Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah, I think there's so much more I could ask you and we could do some more future episodes and pick your brain on all of the other differences, male, female, endurance, strength, spirit, know, everything like that. But thank you so much for your time and wisdom today. Can you let listeners know where they can find you, if they want to work with you, how they can get your book and anything else that you'd like to share?

heather mangieri (39:58.264)
Yes.

heather mangieri (40:12.0)
Yeah, thank you for that. my I have a my website is just my name Heather Mangieri.com. I have on there, you know, the services that I offer, you know, basically working with athletes, specializing in, you know, performance nutrition, but I also do a lot of work with disordered eating and athletes, even eating disorders and athletes, and really just kind of like educating and helping to put together performance plans and

know, helping families strategize like schedules and things like that. So my website, HeatherMangieri.com can be found that. My book, I do not sell on my website, but it's found on Amazon. That's called, Fueling Young Athletes as well. And then on my website, I also have a lot of articles on, you know, these very specific topics that we talked about, you know, things like, you know, 10 snacks for athletes before practice or 10 snacks for athletes after and why they're important.

And then also some like kind of recipes that work. You know, and a lot of times in my recipes I'll put how to adjust them for like higher needs, know, somebody with high, like a male with a higher energy need or a male with a lower energy need, just so parents are understanding and athletes how to adjust them to be individualized for them. So.

Sarah Schlichter (41:30.926)
Those are all great resources and we'll put links to your book on Amazon and your website and everything in the show notes. And thank you so much for your time, Heather. Until next time, we'll talk.

heather mangieri (41:40.992)
Yep, sounds good. Thank you. Have a good day.