Ponte Vedra High School

Over the last year, I slowly started eating worse and worse and exercising less and less.  My typical daily food intake for the summer of ’08 was a bagel sandwich for breakfast, chicken wings and fries for lunch, a bag of chips for a snack and topped off with a cheeseburger and fries for dinner. Along with drinking almost nothing but sweet tea, I gained almost twenty five pounds from the end of my sophomore year. When I started dancing again, and school, I may have lost five pounds solely from the lack of temptation. However, when I had to stop dancing all together due to knee injuries, I was not in a healthy state. The weight may have not been enough for people to generally notice due to my tall figure, but it was affecting more than my figure. I also noticed a bad attitude change and I was always tired.

Luckily, in January of the same year my parents decided that the whole family needed a lifestyle makeover. So, in an attempt to make this a healthy life makeover, they came up with outlines. We were to eat healthy and exercise to our discretion for four months and we would all have a weight loss goal. For the girls, we would need to lose fifteen pounds and for my dad, it would be twenty. In order to stay motivated, they came up with consequences and a reward. If anyone didn’t meet their weight loss goal, they would have a consequence that was designated specifically for them. Mine happened to be to wash both of my parent’s cars every weekend for a whole year. Although what motivated me the most was the reward; whoever lost the most percentage body fat would win a $200 shopping spree. With all of these in place, we began our diet on January fifth.

Because of my knee problems, I decided that my choice of fitness would be swimming.  So, for six times a week I would swim laps for 30-60 minutes and occasionally do abs workouts. The eating part of the lifestyle change was the hardest part to stay on track with. I started by counting calories and trying to keep the daily count to under 1,750. By doing this and focusing on a lot more fruits and vegetables my daily diet transformed into eating a small bowl of Special K for breakfast, half a sandwich with more meat and veggies than bread with a yogurt and a fruit for lunch, a small after school snack and finally a carb free dinner ( like a grilled chicken salad). Now I’m not going to lie and say that I never fell off the band wagon, but in order to keep myself sane, I allowed myself one “bad” meal a week along the lines of a buffalo chicken sandwich.

After four months my goal of fifteen pounds was surpassed by six pounds for a total of twenty one pounds and needless to say I saw a lot of improvements. I didn’t end up wining the reward money, but I didn’t feel upset because of all of the things I did obtain. I obviously felt lighter, but I also was a lot more positive and had tons of energy. I did get a little off track right after the end because I kept on focusing on foods that I couldn’t eat for those four months but now, two months after the diet I am maintaining a healthy weight by continuing to exercise daily and focusing on eating foods that are good for me.

If I had to give advice on starting a healthy life, I would say to start slow and don’t focus on any one side of health; you must both eat well and exercise. Exercise at first for only thirty minutes daily and slowly work your way up. For the diet side, counting calories at first until you get a general feel for what is good or what is too much.  A healthy weight is not being thin and looking good, but it is about feeling good about yourself and eating foods that better your life.

Top ten foods I live by now:

1. Nuts: almonds, peanuts, anything (the perfect snack that keeps you full!)
2. Chicken: contains protein without all of the fat that other meats have
3. Brown rice: a great alternative to white rice with almost half of the calories
4. Granola:  although high in calories, it is still really good for you
5. Grapes and Blueberries: taste as sweet as candy and easy to snack on
6. Wraps instead of bread on sandwiches: always wheat or wholegrain
7. Oatmeal: great alternative to cereal and contains more fiber
8. Eggs: contain a lot of protein to keep you from getting the munchies
9. 5 Calorie Jello: makes for the perfect dessert!
10. 100 Calorie Popcorn packs: better for you and contains more product than a bag of chips

“What and when you eat, day in and day out, will determine your body’s ability to recover, repair and grow. To really put your food to work for you, timing and combining of foods, meals and supplements will maximize mental and physical training and recovery.” …Dr. Susan M. Kleiner

I’m opening this article on Game-Day Nutrition because it is absolutely essential to understand that performance on game day is not based on what you eat on the day of the game or competition, it’s what you eat day in and day out, for weeks and months before competition, that will ultimately determine overall performance. Once you get your nutrition foundation built, what you eat on the day of the game certainly helps.

These are the key goals for your meals and snacks on competition day.

• Hydrate and fuel during exercise
• Boost mental focus and energy
• Recover, build and refuel after exercise
• Minimize muscle damage and soreness

Before your game, fluids are essential:

• Drink throughout the day
• 2 cups immediately prior to exercise

Among your fluids include water, nonfat/lowfat milk, and 100% juice (4-8 ounce servings).

Your pre-game meal should be 3-4 hours before competition, but this is somewhat flexible based on individual adaptability. In other words, test it out and see what you’re comfortable with. Everyone is different.

• Pre-game Meal
  • Protein, carbohydrate, healthy fats, fluids
• Example foods:
  • Grilled fish/chicken, wild rice/potato, whole grain roll, sautéed green beans, salad, olives, fruit, milk, water

If there is time, you should have a pre-game snack within 60-90 minutes prior to your event. The amount of food and timing is very individualized. Test this out before a game. Don’t ever experiment or do anything new on game day!

• Pre-game Snack:
  • Carbohydrate + protein + fluid (minimal fat)
• Example foods:
  • Yogurt+Fruit+Honey (or pre-sweetened yogurt)
  • Cereal+Fruit +Milk
  • Turkey Sandwich
  • Crackers/pretzels + Apple + Low fat mozzarella cheese
  • PB&J + milk
  • Sports drink + whey protein
  • Protein-energy bar/shake

During your game or event, the goal is to stay well-hydrated:

• Fluids!
  • 4-8 oz. every 15-20 minutes
  • Sports drinks are a good choice on game-day

When the game is over, these are your immediate goals:

• Rehydrate
• Repair
• Refuel
• Grow

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE, DRINK YOUR RECOVERY SHAKE!!

No shake? Drink chocolate milk. It is a great convenient way to rehydrate and recover.

Then shower and eat a meal.

This recipe is adapted from my book, Power Eating, Third Edition. You can use it as one serving if you can use all the calories. Cut it in half of make it two servings for a smaller portion. Many more smoothie recipes are available in the book, available at www.powereating.com.

**Kleiner’s Muscle Building Formula PLUS**

24 g isolated whey protein

1 cup frozen unsweetened strawberries

1 medium banana

1 cup nonfat vanilla soy milk fortified with calcium, vitamins A & D

1 cup orange juice fortified with calcium and vitamin C

Blend for 60 seconds until smooth.

One serving contains:

Nutrients Food Group Servings

436 calories 4 fruit servings

86 grams carbohydrate

27 grams protein 1 nonfat milk serving

0 grams fat 3 very lean protein serving

8 grams dietary fiber 3 tsp added sugar

]]> http://nutritionsg.com/game-day-meal/feed/ 0 http://nutritionsg.com/water-the-nutrient-for-life/ http://nutritionsg.com/water-the-nutrient-for-life/#comments Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:47:19 +0000 admin http://nutritionsg.com/?p=6 by Susan M. Kleiner, PhD, RD, FACN, CNS, FISSN

Proteins, carbs, vitamins, minerals, water, and fats. Of the 6 primary classes of nutrients, which is the most critical for growth, muscle development, and health? If you guessed water, you’re right!

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

But with all the obvious importance of water it appears that most of us aren’t drinking enough. Nearly one-third of the U.S. population is walking around slightly dehydrated. “So what?” you ask. “What’s the big deal about being slightly dehydrated?”

A VOLUMINOUS PROBLEM
Just about anyone who knows anything knows that you can get pretty sick and even die from severe dehydration. But the fact is that chronic, mild dehydration, a constant 1 to 2 percent deficit of body weight caused by loss of fluids, can have a measurable effect on mental and physical performance, muscle growth, and even long term health.

WATER AND YOUR MUSCLES

Since muscles are nearly 70 percent water, even a small loss of fluid will affect their function. Muscles are controlled by nerves. The electrical stimulation of nerves and contraction of muscles occurs due to the exchange of electrolytes dissolved in water across the nerve and muscle cell membranes. If you’re low on water or electrolytes, muscle strength and control are weakened. A water deficit of just 2 to 4 percent of your body weight can cut your strength-training workout by as much as 21 percent, and your aerobic power by a whopping 48 percent!

WATER AND YOUR FAT
When your goal is losing body fat, water is your friend. It can help take the edge off hunger so that you eat less, and it has no calories. If you are on a high protein diet, water is required to detoxify ammonia, a by-product of protein energy metabolism. And as you mobilize your stored fatty acids to burn off as energy, you release any fat-soluble toxins that have been benignly stored in your fat cells. The more fluid you drink the more dilute the toxins in your bloodstream, and the more rapidly they exit from your body.

WATER AND YOUR BRAIN
When it comes to peak mental capacity, whether in school or in competition, your hydration state will affect your performance. In a study of subjects’ abilities to perform mental exercises after heat-stress induced dehydration, a fluid loss of only 2 percent of body weight caused reductions in arithmetic ability, short-term memory, and the ability to visually track an object by 20 percent compared to their well-hydrated state.

WATER AND YOUR HEALTH
Probably most surprising is the effect that chronic, mild dehydration has on health and disease. It was a practice of Hippocrates to recommend large intakes of water to increase urine production and decrease the recurrence of urinary tract stones. Today approximately 12 to 15 percent of the general population will form a kidney stone at some time. Many factors can modify the urinary risk factors for developing stones. Of these, diet – especially fluid intake – is the only one that can be easily changed and that has a marked effect on all urinary risk factors.

Mild dehydration can also be a factor in the occurrence of mitral valve prolapse. In a study of 14 healthy women with normal heart function, mitral valve prolapse was induced by mild dehydration, and resolved with rehydration.

YOUR FLUID PLAN
Contrary to our drive to eat, our drive to drink is not as keen. Our thirst mechanism doesn’t kick in until we are already mildly dehydrated. When you’re working out moderately in a mild climate, you are probably losing 1 to 2 quarts (2 to 4 pounds) of fluid per hour through perspiration. That means that a 150 pound person can easily lose 2 percent of their body weight in fluid (3 pounds) within an hour. If exercise is more intense, or the environment is more extreme fluid losses will be greater. You can see how easily you become dehydrated. If you don’t replenish your fluid losses during exercise, you will fatigue early and your performance will be diminished. Without fluid replenishment after exercise, your performance on successive days will decay, and your long-term health may be at risk.

Monitor your hydration status. One of the easiest ways is to check your urine: it should be relatively odorless and no darker colored than straw. Anything more and it is a good sign that you are dehydrated and need to be drinking more.

DON’T GET CAUGHT EMPTY-HANDED

FLUID GUIDELINES

• Drink a minimum of 1 quart (4 cups) of fluid for every 1,000 calories you eat every day.
• Drink at least 5 cups of water every day.
• Fluids should be cool.
• For moderate exercise that lasts an hour or less, water is sufficient for replacing lost fluids. If you like flavored drinks better, then use flavored beverages.
• For intense exercise that lasts less than 1 hour and exercise lasting more than an hour, carbohydrate-electrolyte sport drinks are best.
• Drink 2 cups of fluid 2 hours before exercise.
• Drink 4-6 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes during exercise.
• Drink 4-6 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes during exercise.
• After exercise, drink 16-20 ounces (2-2½ cups) of fluid for every pound of body weight lost during exercise

Put your fears aside. Vegetarian diets are typically rich in carbohydrates, with plenty of protein and high performance fats. That’s the perfect prescription for exercisers and athletes. With 60 percent of your diet coming from carb-packed grains, beans, fruits and vegetables, there’s no way your performance will drop off. And you can certainly get enough protein to pack on plenty of muscle. But you do have to plan your diet well.

And just for clarity-sake, although research has taught us that eating too much of animal-based foods may result in the development of chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer, the problem is not that eating any amount of these foods is bad for you. But if you make animal foods the center of your diet, you just don’t have enough room left to eat all the fabulous plant foods like grains, beans, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables necessary to ward off disease.

ENSURING THE PROPER NUTRIENTS

Changing from a meat-centered to a plant-centered diet is not as simple as just eliminating the meat. The trick is to make sure you’re not skimping on any nutrients as you cut out certain foods. Vegans run the greatest risk of deficiencies because several vital nutrients including protein, vitamins B12 and D, iron, zinc, and calcium, are found in highest qualities or most significant amounts primarily in meat, eggs and dairy products.

SPECIAL FOCUS ON PROTEIN AND CARBOHYDRATE

When it comes to carbohydrates, don’t be misled by fads. The research is clear: if you want to train hard and long, you need plenty of carbohydrate to achieve your goals. Eating a vegetarian-style diet will make this easy. Plant-based foods are great sources of all the different carbohydrates and fibers that will keep you healthy and fuel intense workouts.

To get enough calories and nutrients, vegetarians should eat at least 1,800 calories a day. The following list gives you minimum servings for each day, with a suggestion of where to add more to increase calories.

Lacto-vegetarians:

Vegans:

Serving size guidelines:

A GOLD MEDAL LIFETIME

You are now on the road to improving your performance, and your life. Many successful athletes have chosen a vegetarian lifestyle. Not only could they perform at peak levels during their athletic careers, but they have maintained good health and longevity throughout the rest of their lives.

SIDEBAR

DETERMINING PROTEIN QUALITY

Approximate protein quality of various forms of protein found in food and supplements.*

*Data compiled by Dr. Richard Kreider, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee