By Kate Shilland and Fran Taylor from Performance Canteen
What is RED-s?
RED-s happens when the body doesn’t get enough energy from food to
match the energy it’s burning during training, everyday life and also the
energy your bodies need to grow. This energy gap can affect athletes in
many ways, from feeling tired and grumpy to struggling with performance
and recovery or concentration. Over time, it can start to impact health as
well as performance, in particular bone health, growth, and hormone
levels—all things that are especially important for growing athletes.
Why are young athletes at risk of RED-s?
Young athletes train so hard and push their bodies to perform at their best.
Tough training schedules, early morning sessions, busy school days and
social lives all require a lot of energy and it is very common to
underestimate quite how much energy they need. This means that a lot of
young athletes end up under-fuelling which can lead to health and
performance issues.
Be aware of these signs and ask some simple questions to establish how well your student athlete is fuelling:
What did you eat before practice?
Have you had breakfast this morning?
Do you feel hungry throughout the day?
Do you ever feel unusually tired or like you don’t have enough energy to train or concentrate in school?
The detrimental effects of RED-s on a youth athlete’s health is wide ranging
The risk to performance is extensive
How you can support your student athletes
When schedules are busy with school, training and competitions, it can be easy to skip snacks or meals because it often feels like there’s not enough time to fit it all in. But fuelling properly before, during, and after training is key to staying healthy and performing well.
Top tip to support healthy fuelling:
Remind your student athletes to eat! Establish clear expectations and set basic fuelling requirements for young athletes. For example, ensure they understand that if they haven’t eaten adequately, they won’t be able to fully participate in an S&C session. Provide some simple snacks they can grab before they start – bananas, cereal bars etc.
Our top tips for student athletes to fuel well and stay healthy
1. Eat Regularly: Include meals and snacks that provide carbs, protein,
and healthy fats throughout the day. NEVER skip breakfast and NEVER
train without eating something first, even if it’s just a banana on the
way to the pool.
2. Recover Well: After training, ALWAYS have a snack straight after to help
your body rebuild and refuel. This is in addition to your meal. Don’t just
wait until you have dinner. Have a refuel snack to replace training
energy, whilst the meal provides energy for health and growth. Think of
having separate fuelling pots. Life fuel and training fuel.
3. Listen to Your Body: become an expert at recognising the signs that you
may be underfueling.
4. Understand the ‘Performance Triangle’: training, nutrition and rest are
all equally important for optimal performance. Everyone is training
hard but the long term winners are the ones who eat and rest hard too.
