How Young Athletes Can Prevent Injury with Fat Loss, By: Dave DePew

In today's world, kids don't play as much as they did 10 and 20 years ago. This combined with poor nutritional habits has resulted in a major increase in the number of over weight kids. The only physical exercise our kids are getting is from sports. When you ask untrained, overweight kids to perform at very intense levels you are inviting a number of potential injuries.

By simply decreasing their additional weight, you decrease much of the injury potential.

In this article I will provide 10 tips to decrease the potential for sports injuries that can be prevented with fat loss.

1. Increasing physical activity with daily walks, riding a bike, and eventually starting a supervised exercise program.

2. Eat small frequent meals to jump start the fat burning posses.

3. Eat better quality foods. Stay away from sugar and sports drinks during times of inactivity so you do not increase fat storage.

4. Learn more about basic nutrition. Find foods you like that are healthy alternatives to offset poor eating habits.

5. Buy a food count book and keep track of your meals to see what you are really eating

6. Balance each meal with about 50% of your calories coming from carbohydrates, 30% from protein and 20% from healthy fats.

7. Prepare meals ahead of time, decreasing the likely hood of falling into nutritional pitfalls. Know the demands of your schedule and have meals prepared. Freeze additional meals for the week.

8. Having only supportive foods in the house makes it difficult to access fast foods or junk food.

9. Limit the restaurant dining. When eating out at restaurants order healthy alternatives. Ask for a list of substitutions or a healthy choice menu. Some restaurants may let you order ala carte.

10. Drink more water through out the day and you will not only get the fluids your body needs, but you will also find it easer to eat less at each meal. Keeping hydrated is important for over all health. It also helps to regulate all the systems in the body, and is one sure fire way to build a strong metabolism.

These changes are not easy to make all at once. Take each one a step at a time. Just like your food, you eat it in small bites so you don't choke. Taking on too much at one time may cause any of us to become over whelmed. However, by implementing these changes, your child will see a decrease in the waist line, improved overall health, more self-confidence, and a major decrease in the risk of sports related injuries.