The truth is, anyone who wants information on nutrition can find it. The internet hosts literally millions of pages of content, recipes, meal plans, strategies, insights and tools. Heck, you can even find Apps that will pretty much do everything except cook for you. The thing is though, that when we are dealing with nutrition, anything less than personal, individualized information and connection doesn't usually cut it.
Think about how many times you have told yourself that you are going to stop eating 'A'. Or that you are going to eat more of 'B'. Most experience a day or two of motivation (maybe a couple of weeks if you are really on it) before habits resume and eating returns to 'normal'.
This is true for most adults.
Now consider nutrition from the perspective of a student athlete between the ages of 12-18. They face many more barriers to eating well than adults typically do, including:
- rapid growth and development
- navigating a unique and rapidly changing stage of life
- developing independence from their parents
- connecting deeply with new social groups
- bombardment by media, marketing and nutrition mis-information
- extremely busy schedules
- and high energy demands
If we think making nutrition changes as an adult is hard, think again. Our student athletes have it much harder. And sadly, they frequently receive little to no nutrition support during these years.
One thing adults and young athletes have in common, is that none of them want to be lectured about nutrition. Regardless of age, most understand that vegetables are good for us and chips and candy really aren't. But the thought of giving up all these foods they love is enough to deter most from even starting a conversation about food.
At GUTS, we do things differently with an understanding that in order for nutrition education and strategies to really land with someone, they need to:
- be personalized for the individual
- be shared in bite sized chunks
- be integrated over time
- incorporate community and connection
Sure, one-off nutrition lectures and workshops for student athletes provide good information but it's general, retention is low and integration is even lower. They don't really work.
This is what sets the GUTS Evolving Student Athlete Nutrition program apart from the rest. The GUTS program provides student athletes not only with the information they require to make different choices as well as the why, but it teaches them how to determine their individual needs and implement simple and sustainable eating strategies in bite sized chunks. This system and the ongoing support provided by our coaches and the team environment ensures that athletes retain useable and relevant information that will change their sport experience.
GUTS understands that youth sport organizations have to consider fees and time commitments in order to keep their programs attractive to busy student athletes and their families. At GUTS we don't believe that either should be the reason why programs can't give their athletes this kind of critical information.
Whether you are seeking free resources OR something more specific and ongoing for your student athlete group, we have you covered.
Join our waitlist to be the first to learn about our new offerings.