The Anatomy of a Burrito Bowl. Creating a Balanced Meal

When it comes to fuelling teen athletes, finding meals that are both nutritious and convenient can be a challenge. The burrito bowl is a weekly favourite in our house. Delicious, versatile and packed with nutrients it’s a perfect post training dinner with leftovers doubling up as a well balanced lunch the next day. Let’s break down the anatomy of a burrito bowl and explore why its an ideal choice for busy teen athetes who need sustained energy, nutrients to support recovery and performance.

Building Blocks of a Burrito Bowl

A burrito bowl typically includes a combination of protein, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats and colourful vegetables. Each component plays a unique role in supporting thenutritional needs of an active teen.

1: The Importance of Protein:

Protein is essential for muscle growth and recovery especially after a long day at school and intense training sessions.

Great choice: Grilled chicken, lean beef, shredded tukey, black beans and tofu all provide excellent sources of high quality protein.

Nutritional benefit: Protein helps rebuild muscle supports overall recovery ensuring the body is ready for a long day at school and the next training session.

2: The Importance of Complex Carbohydrates:

Carbohydrates are the body’s primary source of energy, crucial for fuelling the brain throughout the day, fuelling the body in training sessions and replenishing the bodies glycogen stores.

Great choice: Brown rice, quinoa are excellent options. For fussy rice eaters mix a combination of a long grain white rice with the brown, or jut opt for a long grain white rice.

Nutritional benefit: Complex carbohydrates provide sustained energy, keep blood sugar levels more stable and prevent energy crashes throughout the school day to support concentration.

3: The Importance of Healthy Fats

Fats offer long lasting energy and support brain health, which is particularly important for student athletes who are often eating on the run, underfuelling , juggling study and training.

Great choice: Slices of avocado, a drizzle of olive oil or a sprinkle of shredded cheese.

Nutritional benefit: Healthy fats improve nutrient absorption and help maintain focus and cognitive function

4: The Importance of Vegetables:

Vegetable add fiber, vitamins and antioxidants that support immune function and overall health.

Great choice: Capsicum, grated carrot, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, corn, cucumber, coriander, red onion. Including black beans or red kidney beans in a bowl will take the meal to another level of nutrition!

Nutritional benefit: Including a variety of colourful vegetables ensures a range of nutrients to promote overall health, recovery and helps to reduce inflammation.

5: Improve the Flavour:

Delicious meals encourage healthy eating habits. Adding fresh herbs such as coriander and a squeeze of lime or some salsa help to enhance the flavour of the bowl.

Great choice: Salsa, lime, coriander, fresh chilli, cilantro, or a dollop of tangy greek yoghurt instead of sour cream.

Nutritional benefit: These additions spice up the flavour while keeping it light and nutritious.

Why it’s a Balanced Meal

Packed with Macronutrients: A great combination of protein, carbohydrate and fats provides a well rounded nutrition profile.

Packed with Micronutrients: With a combination of vegetables and wholegrains a bowl is packed with nutrients for overall health.

Supports Hydration: Ingredients like lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and salsa bring water content to the meal supporting hydration in addition to drinking water regularly.

The balance of the bowl ensures a teen athlete receives enough energy the need for concentration at school and also fuels training and performance. Being nutrient dense assists recovery and helps satiety to stay full for longer.

The Perfect Lunch

One of the best things about a burrito bowl is that the flavours enhance overnight so the meal tastes better the next day!

Portable: Make the burrito bowl the night before in an air tight container so it’s ready to go in the morning. It’s a perfect balanced meal for a lunch or a pre training meal 2 -3 hrs before, for a rapidly growing teenager who is completing a high volume of training.

Adaptable: Add and remove ingredients for different family members, with a variety of choice.

Shelf life: Ingredients like rice, beans and cooked protein stores well in the fridge for 24-48 hours.

Saves time: Mexican is easy to meal prep and batch cook rice and meat so there is enough for three to four additional ready made meals in the fridge, or encourage the family to custom make a bowl their own bowl the night before. This process builds good habits in nutrition and fuelling well while also improving organisation.

Why Teen Athletes Love Burrito Bowl

Quick and easy meals that are tasty and packed with nutrients are essential for teen athletes. A burrito bowl is perfet for this.

Energy: Carbohydrate to fuel concentration for long days at school and training. Proetin and fats tfor sustained energy.

Adaptable: Perfect for the picky eater! Tailor each bowl to individual taste for each family member.

Budget Friendly: Affordable ingredients like rice, beans and seasonal vegetables make it easy to eat nutritious food without breaking the bank.

Lifelong Habits: A burrito bowl is the perfect way to develop habits with food and nutrition, by learning how to build balanced meal with a variety of ingredients.

Top Tips

Prepare in Advance: Cook rice, meat and roast vegetables. Prepare fresh vegetable e.g grate carrot, dice cucumber. We usually schedule Mexican for a Sunday or Monday night so that we get on top of the school lunches early in the week.

Power up the Portions: Teen athletes are more active than their peers and require a larger serving of carbohydrates (rice & beans) and a protein (lean meat). Other family members may choose to have smaller servings of rice, with larger servings of the lettuce, cucumber, carrot and other vegetables, however still prioritising at least 30g of protein in the meal.

Experiment with Flavours: Change up the ingredients, swap in chipotle lime chicken, for pulled pork and then choose beef mince with red kidney beans as another option.

A burrito bowl is more than just a meal it’s a nutritional powerhouse that can be modified to support the unique demands of a teen athete, while catering for the whole family. A perfect balance of macro and micronutrients, bright colours and vibrant flavours, the versatility is endless. A great addition to a weekly meal plan, the burrito bowl is a delcious meal that promotes health, provides energy and an easy addition to a school lunch box.

About the author: Jo Francou is an Exercise Scientist, rowing coach and mum of three teen boys who are involved in high performance sport. With over 25 years experience in the health and fitness industry, Jo is passionate about developing healthy habits in food and nutrition alongside and well balanced exercise programs to improve health and performance.