Like other martial artists, practitioners of karate are conscientious when it comes down to their diets. This is necessary so that they can have peak performance as well as good health.
Although goals may differ as they can range from fat loss to gaining muscles or general energy increase, most martial artists are normally conditioned to see food as fuel and nothing more.
With this in mind, your kids must focus on developing eating habits scheduled around their karate training when they get into any martial arts school in Las Vegas.
Diet For Pre Training, Post Training And Non-Training Days
There are different diet menu for your kids during their karate training and they are:
- Pre Training
Here, your kid can eat a small number of carbohydrates an hour or two before his or her workout. This is done to increase energy for the training session of the day. He or she can eat half a bagel, fruits like apple or grapes, and grain cereal.
The foods must be swiftly digested and able to offer enough fuel to assist with reaching optimal performance as the child workout.
- Post Training
In thirty minutes of training, your child can eat some protein with a small amount of carbohydrate. This will assist in speeding up recover restore glycogen that is supplied in the muscles.
Note that a fruit smoothie with one scoop of protein powder is swift and easy to make. Since it is in liquid form, it will be easy to digest. Another meal to eat is low-fat peanut butter added to a piece of whole-wheat wheat bread.
- Non Training
On days where your kids have no karate classes in Las Vegas to attend, they can have little servings or carbohydrates with one serving of fat and protein as breakfast. The fat and protein serving can be a cup of oatmeal with two eggs and one handful of almonds.
Their morning snack can include four oz. of tuna with either an apple or one cup of vegetables. As for lunch, it can be one grilled turkey or chicken sandwich with a half cup of vegetables or a little salad.
The snack for the afternoon can be grapes and yogurt or half a cup of vegetables. It can be half cup of pasta, beans, or rice with six oz of protein like turkey, lean beef, fish, or chicken.
Overall Nutritional Health
For most karate students, the traditional meal they consume is a ginseng free green diet because it is believed that it will boost metabolism and act as an active source of antioxidants.
When your kids are enrolled in any martial arts school in Las Vegas, you can feed them daily multivitamin and mineral. You can also give them fish oil. Note that the true practitioners of martial arts are mentally and physically strong.
They are to stay fit with building strategies while simultaneously maintaining muscle strength. These are the demands for performing the diverse sequences that will lead to purpose in the arts.
Your kids’ bodies need to be nourished with the ideal nutrients to keep their minds and body focused and fluid. The types of meal that martial artists are expected to eat include:
- Lean proteins such as nuts and seeds, eggs, fish
- Carbohydrates such as whole grains, vegetables of different colors
- Lean meats
- Fruits, and finally;
- Heavy fats like avocados and healthy oils
If you never knew, nutrient-rich food like the aforementioned aid in building the three square meals daily. While you may discover a better schedule like healthy snacks and frequent meals, the three squares with ideal six hours between meals work for karate practitioners.
When kids eat nutrient-dense meals before their training, their bodies will easily absorb and make use of the energy effectively all through the training. Note that sticking to a healthy meal plan will provide diverse physical health benefits for the martial artist.
However, unhealthy and processed foods can take away the energy of an active martial artist. When poor food choices are made, the kid’s performance will be affected.
Furthermore, your kid will need minerals and vitamins. Understand that, calcium and iron are two highly essential minerals for them as well as athletes. This is because, calcium aids in building strong bones that will resist breaking and those stress fractures.
As for iron, it will help your child to carry oxygen to the diverse body parts that will need it. The foods rich in iron are tuna, salmon, eggs, and even whole grains.
Foods To Avoid
When it comes to kid’s karate diet, some foods should be avoided. Some of which include:
- Breakfast
It is compulsory for active people to eat breakfast. Some of the sensei’s do follow the Asian diet of rice, seaweed, kitchen, and even miso soup. While your kid may not be able to follow this diet, they should, however, avoid breakfast cereals that have so much sugar.
Also, flavored oats must be avoided. Note that instant oats are usually dehydrated, pre-cooked, and filled with slate and sugar. Instant oats must be avoided.
- Lunch and dinner
As for lunch, pasta is well received though most of them are high in calories; the popular ones lack substantial fiber and nutrients. If it is consumed too much, it will lead to heart diseases.
Canned soup must be avoided as the preservatives, and increased sodium content makes it horrible for karate practitioners to consume. Your kids should have wholegrain bread and not white bread.
The reason for this is because the white slices of bread are refined and very much processed. Your kids will need protein, but it should not be proteins gotten from processed meats. The meats they should consume during lunch should be lean meats like eggs, turkey, salmon, etc.
As for the drinks your kids need when they begin their martial arts training, you must keep it simple. Water is ideal, while morning coffee will help with energy. They can get natural boosts from green tea, herbal tea, and even oolong tea.
Your kids must avoid alcoholic drinks.
They can have apples, cheese sticks, almonds, tree nuts, and other seasonal fruits for the snacks.
Conclusion
It is worthy to note that the low fat and low carbohydrate foods are unhealthy, just like artificial foods. You will have to read through food labels to pick the ideal meals for your kids when they begin their classes in any martial arts school in Las Vegas.
A Child learns Kokutsudachi or Horse Stance.
