What to get for the athlete in your life

With the holiday season approaching everyone is thinking about gift ideas, but what do you get for the athlete in your life? The thing about the Christmas season for everyone, including athletes, is the busy schedules with gift shopping, decorating and attending various holiday functions. For athletes who are training or competing the late nights and busy schedules can have them feeling tired and run down. The additional stress of the season mixed with their training can compromise the immune system leaving the athlete at risk of getting sick. This is why it is important to have good nutrition this time of year. Here are some great gift ideas to assist your athlete to eat well during the holidays to support training and a healthy immune system.

1. Premade meals. Athletes will appreciate having home cooked meals that can be warmed up, thrown into a slow cooker or oven to eat when they get home from a hard training session. Another variation of this gift is giving them your time to help with meal prep on days they’re not training. Cooking up a couple batches of larger meals and freezing them in smaller portions will support your athlete to have meals ready on busy training days.

2. Slow cooker or Instant Pot. These programmable cookers cook the food unattended so that the meals are hot and ready when the athlete gets home. Roasts, soups, and stews can be added to the slowcooker and which cooks it throughout the day at a low temperature. An Instant Pot is a 7 in 1 kitchen appliance that can be used as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, yogurt maker, saute/browning pan, steamer and food warmer. It also is a time saver for cooking foods and athletes can add food, set it and walk away.

3. Quick and easy recipes and cookbooks. Share your favorite quick and easy recipes or a favorite cookbook for athletes to try new dishes. It is very easy to athletes to eat the same thing everyday as they are putting much of their energy into training and competing and not into meal prep and planning. Recipes that contain a lean source of protein such as beans, eggs, fish, chicken, turkey or lean cuts of beef are good choices. Also be sure there are whole grains such as brown rice, whole wheat pasta or barley and vegetables to provide carbohydrates, fiber and vitamin and minerals.

4. Blender. A blender can be used to blend fruit, vegetables, yougurt and milk to make a delicious smoothie. Smoothies make a great recovery snack after a training session as it provides protein to help repair muscles, carbohydrates to refuel muscle and fluid to hydrate.

Do you have another gift idea for an athlete to support them to eat well during the holidays? I would love to hear from you. Share your ideas by emailing us at ASDC at asdc@mhc.ab.ca and follow us on facebook at ASDCSE.

Kimberlee Brooks, RD, MSc, is a sport dietitian with the Alberta Sport Development Centre and can be reached at asdc@mhc.ab.ca