How to Help Your Young Athlete NOT Be a Picky Eater

“I can’t get my athletes to eat more than just chicken tenders and fries.” I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count how many times I hear this complaint from parents, coaches, and trainers. Co-workers even ask me how to get their kids to eat beyond the foods of their childhood. Picky eating can be a very difficult obstacle to overcome. And while I don’t have experience raising a picky eater (I don’t have any children of my own), I DO have experience working with picky eaters and getting them to try new foods.

A Tale of Two Athletes: From Picky Eater to Building Healthy Eating Habits

I’ll tell you two stories. One is a work-in-progress story and one is a success story. Each story is about an extremely picky college athlete. I’ll start with the work-in-progress. The reason I say work-in-progress is because nutrition really is a lifelong practice and experience. I would never consider a client who didn’t accomplish what we set out to do a failure. He or she is simply a work in progress, and my hope is that I helped move them closer to better eating. But we never really ARRIVE at good nutrition habits, we must always work at them, and that’s okay.

Meet Kyle: Division I Athlete and Picky Eater

Okay. So allow me to introduce Kyle (name changed for privacy). Kyle is a Division 1 athlete, and at the time that I worked with him, he primarily ate three things: McDonald’s, Easy Mac, and Pizza. When I say he ate these three things, I mean he pretty much ate these things 99% of the time. No exaggeration. My objectives with this athlete were to get him to:

• Learn to cook a few foods himself so he could eat higher quality meals.
• Add fruits and vegetables to his daily intake.

During our first meeting, I asked him what his favorite meal was and what he liked to have. He told me he enjoyed breakfast from McDonald’s, specifically two Egg McMuffins. (Eating breakfast was impressive in itself…breakfast is tough for most athletes I work with.) Can you guess what we did then? I taught him to make his own Egg McMuffins. By starting with something he already did well (eating breakfast) and food he liked (Egg McMuffins from McDonald’s), there was a very low barrier to change and this created momentum for trying new things.

Meet Jared: Division I Athlete and Another Picky Eater!

Now, let me tell you Jared’s story (name changed for privacy) which is in stark contrast to Kyle’s, but started out very similarly. Jared, also a Division 1 athlete, refused to eat any vegetables and any meat that wasn’t beef. He hated chicken, eggs, most vegetables, and he also didn’t like to try new things. PICKY EATER ALERT. Using similar methods as I used with Kyle, we began with those low barrier goals: starting with something he did well and also a food he enjoyed. Jared did NOT eat breakfast, and he refused to get up and eat breakfast before class. But he loved dinner, so we started there. As Jared made progress, I would encourage him to eat more vegetables with his meals. I also taught him how to cook foods with seasonings that made them more palatable for his preferences. By the end of my time with Jared, he was getting up at 7:30 am to make a balanced breakfast of French toast, eggs, and a smoothie with fruit AND spinach. A year later, Jared sent me a picture of his breakfast that he made at home on his own and it had eggs AND spinach included…for BREAKFAST. Just awesome.

The Path to Building Healthy Eating Habits Is Different for Everyone

The reason I tell you both stories is because each individual is different, and takes their own path to building new behaviors. And sometimes, we have to be happy that they made even a LITTLE bit of progress (Kyle’s single spinach leaf). In summary, to help you help your athlete to expand their palates, here are some things to try:

• Start with a meal time or snack time they do well consistently AND start with a food they like.
• Come up with a compromise between the two of you, and facilitate positive feedback. If they take ONE bite of the cooked broccoli, do they get a reward? Don’t use NO FOOD or DENIAL OF FAVORITE FOODS as consequences as we want to encourage athletes to eat.
• Celebrate small wins, even if it’s one single spinach leaf.
• Be patient and open to trying a new approach if one doesn’t work.

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