WAG What are your tried and true snack choices for your gymnast at practice?

[Aero]

I have always been a strong believer in having a snack break for kids who practice for four hours. These kids work out very intensely, and so they need effective fuel for their bodies in order for them to get the most out of practice. Gymnastics, being an anaerobic sport, relies on the muscles using glycogen stores, and these run out fairly quickly. Glycogen is restored by eating carbohydrates, so I'd like to hear what your preferences are for mid-practice snacks, focused on carbohydrates as well as some sugars.

Also, if there are any RDs out there, I'd love for you to drop some knowledge!

 

[gymgal]

My dd used to make energy bites. She also would do a sort of snack mix of goldfish, craisens, and nuts. string cheese, pretzels. really anything that we had in the house. She wasn't picky.

 

[JBS]

Right now has been a struggle since we are not allowing snacks at the gym due to Coronavirus. In normal times we do not have an official snack time... however... they are allowed to eat each time they rotate. This means that they will have 3 to 4 chances to eat during practice and they could be eating as soon as 30 minutes into practice.

Our most powerful and energetic kids typically bring a mix of carbs... sugar... and protein. Many of them have little trays with snap top lids that have 3 or 4 different areas. They will fill them with things like...

pretzels... peanut butter... cantaloupe
beef stick pieces... gold fish... strawberries
cheese... ritz... blueberries

Other common things are...

yogurt
nuts
hummus
avocados / guacamole
veggies and dip

Also... some of our kids bring more food than others. It also varies for some of them depending on the time of year. Some of them come from school starving... so they bring more food.

 

[wandrewsjr]

I can only speak to pre-COVID times, but I used to encourage snacks that could also be brought to meets easily - not messy, can be eaten quickly - goldfish, grapes, string cheese, beef jerky - kids like consistency, and it helps keep parents on board too. some kids seem to need sugars to keep them going, some protein, allowing them to pick what’s good for them seems to work.

 

[JBS]

goldfish, grapes, string cheese, beef jerky

Here's another great combo... have actually seen this exact combo in the little triple snap top trays before. They mix the beef jerky and cut up string cheese bites together a lot. Grapes... totally forgot about those... see those all the time.

 

[GymnastMomX2]

Pretzles, cheese stick, pepperoni, grapes, apple slices.

my daughter doesn’t have an official snack break, but she always eats everything she brings since practice starts at 11:30 she’s never hungry enough to eat a proper lunch before hand.

 

[raenndrops]

My dietician recommends pairing a protein with a carb because the combo helps with satiety and you get the benefits of the carb and the protein.
Personally, I like granola bars with peanut butter and / or nonfat vanilla greek yogurt in between them.
Because I know that granola bars can be crumbly, when taking them to the gym, I wrap the "sandwiches" individually in plastic wrap, then put them in a ziploc baggie.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

My little girls have snack break even during 3 hour practices. It takes a few minutes, but after that they are usually full of energy again!

Just today one of my 9 year olds had a giant apple as a snack. It took her forever to eat it. So I encourage easy-to-eat snacks like squeezable smoothies, banana, protein bars etc.

 

[CuriousCate]

Our kids don't get an official snack break, even with the 4 hours, so they bring "one bite food" items to pop in their mouths during water breaks. Mostly things like pretzels, goldfish, grapes, peeled/sliced mandarins...and sadly, Gatorade Chews.

We have tried a mix of cut up cheese sticks and beef jerky but they pretty much never touched those.

We also make these tiny bite-sized balls of oatmeal, nut butter, maple syrup and a few chocolate chips which they love, but will only eat in the car on the drive home. For some reason, my kids have an aversion to any snack that I have to put in a container with a lid and will only snack out of bags. I think it is very simply the time it takes.... When we put the nut butter-oatmeal bites in a baggie, they all sort of mushed together.

 

[doublestrike]

Bananas, pretzels with Nutella; goldfish; salami/cheese roll-ups; peanut butter granola bars; banana bread; chicken poppers; croissants; biscuits; fruit bowls; smoothies.

 

[Tmacs]

They get a lunch/snack for 20min during a 4 1/2 hour practice. She doesn’t like sandwiches so I have done salads in bento boxes, sent milk in a thermos and given her a bag of cereal that she dumps in, fruit/granola/yogurt in a bento, warm Mac and cheese in a thermos.