Our children are receiving an abundance of fake foods in the name of sports snacks. It's time we change that. As adults who care about children, we need to take responsibility for how we feed our own young athlete, but also what we offer the team for sports snacks.

Read more: Sports Edition for Parents and Coaches

It's great that there are so many opportunities for our children to be involved in sports. They benefit from the physical activity, the self-discipline, learning new skills, the stress release, the socialization, and from just having a great time. If your child is involved in any kind of organized sport activity, you are probably familiar with the last minute scramble to find inexpensive snacks and drinks that the whole team will like on your scheduled day.

Read more: Is Your Student Athlete Being Fueled by Fake Foods?

Sports drinks are sugar, water, and salt. Originally designed for athletes, the largest growing segment of the sports drink market are non-athletes, including children. Most sports drinks have between 13 and 19 grams of sugar [equivalent to 3 to 5 packets of sugar] per 8 oz serving! That means for the average 20 oz Gatorade, your child will drink 40 grams of sugar (or 10 sugar packets), along with some artificial colors and flavors. So most sports drinks are far from REAL.

Read more: Are Sports Drinks Necessary for My Child Athlete?