Groups team up to encourage healthy snacks after sports

The AHA Sports Snack Game Plan is supported by more than 80 Wake County pediatricians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. While kids need to refuel their bodies after sports games or practices, they need to do it in a healthy way, says Laura Aiken, director of AHA and WakeMed Community Outreach.

In other words, those bags of Cheetos and bottles of Gatorade on the sidelines aren't cutting it. And most parents, it seems, know it. According to a recent AHA survey, 80 percent of parents support providing only fruits and vegetables as snacks for their kids' sports leagues.

Capital Area Soccer League, which serves kids ages 4 to 18, has distributed the plan to its 800 team coaches, who are sharing it with team members and families as they begin the fall season. CASL also is rewarding teams that are eating healthy snacks after games and during tournaments. The league is distributing grocery store gift cards to recognize the teams and to help pay for healthy snacks in the future.

As the parent of a soccer player who has filled up on chips and "juice" on the way home from practices and games just before dinner, I'm going to say I would definitely support this.