Sport Coaches Should Stay Out of Nutrition
Let me begin by saying I have no certifications in the realm of nutrition. I cannot legally prescribe meal plans or tell people specific foods to eat. My certifications teach how to recommend food groups, macronutrient breakdowns, and calorie amounts to clients. I am not a nutritionist or a dietitian, I am a Certified Strength and Conditioning coach with opinions.
I feel it is becoming commonplace for sports coaches, especially high school, to give nutrition information to their athletes. Initially, I think this sounds great. Giving good information to help the younger generations to stay healthy and fuel themselves in proper ways. Unfortunately, most of the time it is not good information that is being given. To me, the bottom line is that if you don’t have a certification or something that shows where you learned this information you shouldn’t impose it on others. If I gave someone a meal plan or said “Hey Bob, eat XYZ” I could be in big trouble. What I am allowed to do is give suggestions and I think suggestions can be very positive! For example, high school athletes should eat more protein provided they are able to consume it without adverse effects. What kind of protein? Everyone is different and certain foods will sit better with one individual than others, I would speak to a nutritionist or dietician for exact foods but some foods that have a high protein content are: Protein shakes, Chicken, Fish, Beef, and Tofu.
The biggest problem comes when sports coaches decide to put dietary RESTRICTIONS on their athletes. This is an issue for a couple of reasons.
1. Poor advice. The most common one I hear my athletes tell me their coach said to them is “No consuming sugar.” And “No Caffeine” … Sugars and Caffeine both can yield performance benefits in sports with caffeine being one of the most studied supplements with some of the most positive backing as well. Now put yourself in the middle of a marathon, Mile 13, you are starting to get tired. Do you eat some chicken, or B eat a running gel? I hope you chose B, but what is in those gels? Sugar. Sugars digest quickly and allow your body to transition into quick energy to keep you going. Some high-level soccer programs eat little candy bars at halftime. Restricting foods is unnecessary and should not be framed as such. Instead, suggestions to consume ample fruits and vegetables would be a much better route. Leave restrictions to professionals.
2. Body Image and Eating Disorders. This is the bigger of the two problems in my opinion. Poor advice exists everywhere and we will never avoid it, but there is a difference between poor advice and dangerous advice. Currently, in the age of social media, there is more pressure than ever on people to look a certain way or feel bad about where they are currently. Body image and a healthy body image have such a distorted view and can have a huge impact on people’s state of mind. Especially high school students who are in a very vulnerable environment in terms of wanting to fit in. If someone feels they don’t fit in they could develop an eating disorder which can lead to a multitude of other health problems both physically and mentally. Female athletes are already at risk for developing the female athlete triad (give it a Google search as I don’t want to tangent too much), and it is important that we as coaches do what we can to provide support not add to the problem. If you have an athlete that has negative body image thoughts and now you say “Don’t eat any sugar” you impose a further restriction on them which could help them along to developing an eating disorder or further poor body image thought.
Words that you feel are advice or commonplace may have a much deeper impact than you think. That is why I say, leave nutrition to nutrition professionals. I think it would be wonderful if high schools had a position for nutritionists and dieticians to support students and work with sports teams, but until then let the sport be sport.
