Do you know what bulking and cutting is? Has your teenager asked you to change what you feed the family, veering between carb-loading and keto-style meal requests? If you're worrying about your sporty teenager's attitude to food, this episode is worth a listen. 

My guests are Kate Shilland and Fran Taylor, registered nutritionists who have seen how teenage athletes are influenced by TikTok creators to resort to sometimes extreme measures to get 'the perfect physique'. 

We talked about toxic masculinity, self-esteem and body image in young men and teenage boys in last week's episode, and this is the perfect follow up conversation for anyone who's 14 year old is asking for a gym membership and scrutinising their diet. 

Kate and Fran explain how good nutrition will help boys as well as girls build the muscle they need for strong athletic performance, without the need for special powders and supplements. 

Who are Kate and Fran? 

Kate & Fran are Registered Sports & Public Health Nutritionists with over 15 years’ experience in helping people understand how to fuel their bodies better in order to perform better.  They work with teen athletes and their parents, and have teenage athletes of their own; they say the consistent thing they see is that there’s a lack of good sports nutrition advice for young people, and an overload of terrible information, especially on social media, that can be challenging to navigate.

That’s why they started Performance Canteen, a go-to resource of easy to follow, science-backed facts on sports nutrition and practical recipes and tips on how to make healthier choices. The aim is always to make the healthy option the easy option, to arm young athletes and their parents with the knowledge and skills needed to build the best versions of themselves, whatever the goals may be.

Their recommendations and resources are based on feedback from teens, parents, teachers & coaches, with the aim of providing everyone with the same good information. 

More teenage parenting from Helen Wills:

Helen wills is a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens. Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast or want to hear more on parenting teenagers contact me on Instagram and Twitter @iamhelenwills.

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Please note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.

Podcast produced by James Ede at Be Heard production.