Nutrition Basics for Parents

Good nutrition can make a real difference to a young athlete’s training, recovery, mood, sleep, and long-term health. It also plays a real role in performance, not through ‘super’ foods, but through consistent everyday habits that help them feel and function at their best.

At the highest levels of sport, nutrition is treated as part of performance support, and many programmes include performance nutritionists or sports dietitians within the team around the athlete.

It matters beyond sport, too. Good fuelling helps with training and recovery, and it can help with energy and concentration on school days as well.

As a parent, you have more influence in this than you might think. Not by controlling what they eat, but by selectively shaping what’s available at home, what food routines look like, and what the “normal” food narrative sounds like.

Key Point: The weekly food shop is one of the simplest places to make positive changes without adding more pressure to your family’s schedule.

Feeding the Whole Family

The last thing most parents want to do is cook separate meals for different people, and you shouldn’t have to. The best approach is usually to choose meals everyone already likes, then gently improve the quality of what’s on the plate.

That might mean:
• swapping a few ingredients for higher-nutrient options
• adding a simple side that boosts fibre, vitamins, and minerals
• building meals around a solid base of carbohydrates, protein, and colourful plants

This is “performance nutrition” in real life. It’s rarely extreme; it’s mostly consistent.

It’s also worth expecting a bit of pushback if changes feel sudden, especially from siblings who feel like their food choices are being changed “because of sport”. That’s why the goal isn’t a full overhaul overnight; it’s steady progress that quickly starts to feel normal.

5 Practical Nutrition Tips for Busy Families

1) Avoid labels like “healthy” and “unhealthy”
Those words can trigger resistance, especially with teenagers. Try language like “energy food”, “recovery food”, or “better options”.

2) Make upgrades gradually, not dramatically
Small changes done consistently beat big changes that last one week.

3) Reduce the less helpful options gradually, not with a big announcement
If the cupboard is full of ultra-processed snacks, that becomes the default. If those options are less available, most families naturally shift without feeling restricted.

4) Add a simple side that boosts nutrition without changing the main meal
A bowl of fruit, yoghurt, chopped veg and hummus, a side salad, or frozen veg added to a pasta dish can lift the overall meal with minimal effort.

5) Blend in extra nutrients using foods your family already eats
This does not need to be a battle. Adding lentils or beans to a mince dish, using chopped veg in sauces, or adding spinach to smoothies are easy wins. The aim is to improve the meal, not to trick anyone, and many athletes are genuinely fine with these upgrades once they become the norm.

What This Looks Like at Home

Most families rotate the same handful of quick meals, because they’re easy and everyone accepts them. So when we talk about “making changes”, it can feel like extra effort.

The good news is you don’t need a full overhaul. Small upgrades add up.

For example, one of our founders used to add lentils to a spaghetti bolognese for extra protein and fibre, and blend spinach into sauces, without making a big deal of it. The meals stayed familiar, the nutrition improved, and no one felt like things had suddenly changed.

This isn’t about perfection; it’s about consistency. What helps your athlete can also help the rest of the family: steadier energy, better immune health, and better recovery.

Learn More in Our Nutrition Module

Inside our Nutrition module, we cover:

• What to eat before training, after training, and on competition days
• Protein basics and muscle repair, without hype
• What can happen when athletes do not eat enough, and how to spot it early
• Simple routines that help teenagers fuel consistently, even with low appetite or busy schedules

If you want a clear, parent-friendly guide, it’s all there.