Archive for Nutrition
Summer Workouts – Do Not Train On Empty
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My own daughter learned a really tough lesson this morning – you can not train on empty!
This is the first week of morning practices at gymnastics for the summer and rather than taking the time to eat breakfast, pack a snack or make her lunch … like her Mother (that’s me) asked her to, my daughter (who is almost 12) decided to take her time getting ready, fix her hair, and turned her nose up at the breakfast selections I had for her. I made a whole batch of cranberry orange muffins this morning – which two of my three kids gladly ate – but, no, she did not like them. She also decided the banana she was offered would not work either. She passed on the eggs, too.
So around 10 a.m. – one hour into her 3 hour gymnastics workout, she tells me she is feeling tired, weak and sick to her stomach (I coach at the same gym, but don’t coach her). Hmmm, maybe you should have had some of that breakfast. I offered her some of my pasta salad that I had packed. Nope, not interested. A teammate shared some pretzels and grapes with her and she came and got some money to get an energy drink, and then she perked up.
The moral of this story – picky eater or not, it is absolutely critical to fuel your body for the sports you do – especially if you have a long, morning work out!
As a parent it is can be difficult to make sure your athlete is getting everything they need and is properly fueled – and picky eaters don’t help matters any. After practice we had a little discussion and talked about the foods she likes and doesn’t and decided that planning her pre-practice meals ahead of time might help prevent this from happening again.
Sports Nutrition Resources:
- USA Swimming has a fantastic sports nutrition resource center on its website
- Feeding your child athlete
- American Youth Soccer Athlete Nutrition Notes
- The Athlete’s Plate: Real Food for High Performance
- Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook
Don’t forget to hydrate, too! While water is the best for hydrating your athlete, there are times when sports drink (recipes to make your own sports drink) does come in handy – for extra calories, a quick burst of energy during a long work out, and for picky athletes. I do like the new lower sugar options – like Powerade Play (which we recently had the opportunity to review) – the flavor is light, not too sweet and the extra electrolytes and calories do come in handy for long practices, outdoor practices and games.
Best Bones Forever – Educating Girls on Bone Health
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Osteoporosis is a pediatric disease with geriatric consequences. In terms of bone health, the stage is set early on: girls build close to 90% of their bone mass by age 18. Once they reach adulthood, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to make it up. Unfortunately, most adolescent girls do not get the calcium, vitamin D, and physical activity they need to grow strong, healthy bones.
That’s why the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health (OWH) launched Best Bones Forever!, a national bone health campaign for girls ages 9-14. Best Bones Forever! focuses on friendship and fun–and encourages girls to “grow strong together, stay strong forever.”
The new campaign empowers girls and their BFFs (best friend forever) to build strong bones by choosing snacks and foods with calcium and vitamin D, and getting an hour of physical activity a day.
Campaign materials such as journals, posters, magnets, tattoos, book covers and a Web site (www.bestbonesforever.gov) get girls excited about growing healthy bones! Parents can get important bone health information from a brochure in both English and Spanish, and a Web site: www.bestbonesforever.gov/parents.
As a gymnastics coach I see girls with repetitive use injuries, injuries that occur from a small error and other injuries that I feel could often be prevented through better nutrition and conditioning. If you are a parent of an athlete, I highly recommend to take a look at the Best Bones Forever site and its sister site, GirlsHealth.gov to get more information on ways you can help your daughter get the proper nutrition and make the appropriate lifestyle changes to keep her bones healthy!
Recipes for Homemade Sports Drinks
Posted by: | CommentsBy Dr. Lorraine Williams, aka TrackMom
Many parents of athletes ask ,”With prices on everything going up how do I provide quality sports drinks on a budget?”
I have written many times in the past about Homemade Sports Drinks. I frequently receive requests for these recipes, here are a couple of quick and easy recipes. Over the course of a year, you can save hundreds of dollars on sports drinks. (an average bottle of 16oz Gatorade can be almost $1.00 each.)
Sports drinks like Gatorade ™ can be very useful for longer runs and races. Unfortunately, they are also very expensive and full of High Fructose Corn Syrup. I’ve found a couple of ways of making sports drinks that are effective and cheap. The ideas for the recipe, like most good running ideas, first came to me from The Dead Runners’ Society.
Gatorade ™ has worked hard to come up with what they feel is a good balance of carbohydrates and electrolytes for extended physical activity. Most researchers agree that the optimal concentration of carbohydrates in a sports drink is about 6%. This concentration actually allows the water to be absorbed more quickly in the body than plain water alone.
Gatorade has a formulation that gives the following for an 8oz serving:
- 14grams Carbohydrate (5.9%)
- 110 mg Sodium
- 30mg Potassium
- 52 calories
Assuming that is a pretty good formula, we can get close by using one of the following recipes:
Homemade Sports Drink Recipe #1
- 10 tbs. sugar (5/8 cups or 120 grams)
- .75 tsp Sea salt (4.2 grams) or Morton’s lite
- 1 package of unsweetened Koolade mix for flavor
- Water to make 2 liters
The recipe will give a total of 124 grams of solute which in 2 liters water gives a total of 6.2% concentration. For an 8 oz serving this gives:
- 14.2 grams carbohydrate (6%)
- 53 calories
- 103 mg Sodium
- 121 mg Potassium
You’ll notice that the amount of potassium is quite a bit higher than Gatorade, but the rest is pretty close. If you wanted to reduce the potassium, another option would be to use 1/2 tsp. each of regular sea salt and the Morton Lite Salt. This would change it to:
- 104mg sodium
- 40mg potassium
Homemade Sports Drink Recipe #2
If you wanted to reduce the amount of potassium, or simply didn’t want to buy some Morton Lite Salt, here is another option.
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 9 tbs. Sugar
- 3/8 tsp Salt
- Water to 2 liters
