Whats all that grain about?!

Knowing the difference between whole grain, multigrain, and refined grains is an important step in making sure your diet consists of healthy complex carbohydrates to give you long-lasting energy.

Whole grains are healthier for you than processed and refined grains because they are a complex carbohydrates rather than a simple sugar, helping you to control blood sugar, reduce cholesterol and maintain a healthy weight. Consuming whole grains may help reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers, as well as help with weight management. Whole grains contain all parts of the grain kernel – the bran, germ and endosperm, which provide B vitamins, folate, iron, fiber and other minerals. B vitamins play a key role in metabolism and energy release, folate helps form red blood cells, and iron is used to carry oxygen in the blood. Whole grains also contain magnesium and selenium. Magnesium helps bone development as well as muscle contraction and selenium helps with oxidative stress and inflammation.

Multigrain products contain a mix of grains, such as wheat, oats, barley or cornmeal, although none of them may necessarily be whole grains. The grains may have been processed or refined, therefore reducing the nutritional value. The refining process removes the bran and germ from the grain, making it less rich in helpful vitamins and minerals. Products may be “enriched,” but it doesn't make up for the natural parts of the grain.

Examples of healthy whole grains include: whole –wheat flour or pasta, oatmeal, rolled oats, whole cornmeal, brown or wild rice, quinoa, bulgur, buckwheat and even popcorn. Look for products that list the first ingredients as “whole” vs "enriched". 

USDA states on their website that "foods that are labeled with the words "multi-grain", "stone-ground", "100% wheat", "cracked wheat", "seven-grain or "bran" are usually not whole grain products".

To help get you started with some whole grain goodness here is a recipe for cold quinoa salad

COLD QUINOA SALAD

Servings: 4

Ingredients: 

1 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 a yellow or red pepper diced

1 cup of cherry tomatoes cut in half

1/2 cup of dried tomatoes sliced

1 cup diced cucumber

1/2 cup diced black olives

1/2 cup fat free feta cheese

1/4 cup of fresh basil 

2 Tbsp olive oil

4 Tbsp of lemon juice

Salt and pepper per preference 

1/4 cup Diced scallions

Directions

Place the first 8 ingredients in a large bowel and mix

Add oil, lemon, salt and pepper to the mix

Serve and enjoy with a garnish of scallions

For more recipes go to http://www.choosemyplate.gov/healthy-eating-tips/sample-menus-recipes.html

Bon Apetit! 

Contributed to this blog - Intern Brooke Kinney

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Giving Yourself That Edge…Safely (Guest blog)

It’s no secret that whole foods and drinks are the safest and smartest route to go when fueling for your sport.  The evidence against steroids and other performance enhancing drugs are there and will only continue to mount, yet there will always be the individual that chooses to take that route.  The great thing about food is not only will it protect you from failing a drug test and costing you your scholarship and athletic career, but it also has so many other properties that can enhance your performance and recovery other than just providing the fuel you need to perform. 

More and more research is coming out on beneficial foods that can help an athlete perform better but also recover stronger.  The following is a list of 4 foods, some common, some maybe not, that can help you perform at your peak as well as help you recover. 

Beet root- Most of us consume the sugar from beets quite often (and too much).  It is how we get a majority of our table sugar.  I introduce to you a vegetable that will give you a boost.  Beets should be an athlete’s best friend.  It is a safe and alternative way to expensive and potentially adulterated pre workout supplements.  Beetroot juice, such as Beet Elite, can be taken to improve an athlete’s performance and give them that extra jolt of energy to perform their workout or before competition day.  It is a great source of nitric oxide, which expands your blood vessels to allow more blood carrying oxygen and vital nutrients to your muscles for greater exercise potential.  As opposed to taking a pre workout substance such as NO Explode, you don’t have to deal with a proprietary blend (what does that even mean?) or potential adverse health effects.  Instead, you get a whole food (or juice) that also delivers folate, potassium, vitamin C, fiber and antioxidants.

Tart Cherry Juice- Another juice that can be beneficial to the athlete.  Many times after a workout you will get sore and it may cause you to skip a workout or to not be as effective at your next workout.  Drinking tart cherry juice (maybe add water to help dilute the tartness) has been shown to decrease the pain during exercise and after.  Cherry juice also provides antioxidants that can help decrease inflammation post exercise, which in turn helps us recover more efficiently. 

Chocolate Milk- A great recovery drink that is cheap and tasty. It contains whey and casein which are important for muscle building and therefore, is a great post workout option. Moreover, it contains carbohydrates that help us replenish our glycogen stores (which provide us energy) lost during exercise. Chocolate milk also contains electrolytes that help us replenish what we lost in sweat as well as vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin D and Calcium that assist with bone formation and strength. 

While it is convenient to take supplements to gain the competitive edge, the risk of having adverse health effects and not truly knowing what is in them can cost you your health and your career.  We have everything we need to perform at our best in the foods we consume.  The best thing you can do for your performance is consume a quality diet of whole foods and stay properly hydrated.  Cheers to eating clean and working hard!

 Guest writer: Tommy Jensen is a Registered Dietitian and a personal trainer certified through the American College of Sports Medicine.  He was a collegiate athlete and is working to be an advocate for athletes and adolescents to avoid performance-enhancing supplements.

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Hydration, Hydration, Hydration

Summer is just around the corner and with it comes warm weather and training more outdoors. More time outdoors and training in the heat may cause dehydration and/or heat related issues.  Therefore, this summer, lets focus on hydrating for performance and preventing injuries related to dehydration.

To stay well hydrated we should rely mainly on fluids but we can also rely on foods.  Eating things like fruit, vegetables, soups, smoothies and yogurt can help replenish some of those fluids. Especially summer fruits and vegetables like: watermelon, peaches, nectarines, melons, grapes, cucumbers, sweet bell peppers, tomatoes, summer squash and berries. These fruits and vegetables not only have a good amount of fluids but they contain plenty of antioxidants to help us recover from our activity, stay healthy and maintain a strong immune system.

The most efficient way to stay hydrated is drinking water or a sports beverage. How much and what you need to drink depends on genetics, the length and intensity of the activity as well as if you are a heavy and/or salty sweater. Make sure you arrive to your training session/game well hydrated or else you may not even last half of it. Activities that are 60-90 minutes ideally should be replenished with water. If your activity is more than 60-90 minutes you should hydrate with a sports beverage. Try to reach for your beverage every 15-20 minutes and drink about 5-12 oz. The ideal sports beverage should have 110-170 mg of sodium, 20-50 mg of potassium and 12-24 grams (6-8%) of carbohydrates per 8 oz.

How much fluid should I drink after activity? Weigh yourself before and after activity (ideally with minimal amount of cloths), for each pound you lose hydrate with 16-24 oz. If you are a salty sweater (characterized by the following: your sweat stings in your eyes or burns when reaches an open cut, you tend to leave white lines on things like hats and shirts, your skin feels gritty after a run and it actually tastes salty) make sure you also add simple salty foods to the equation not just a sports beverage (pretzels, crackers, etc.). You can also have a sweat test done (a test that can tell you how much sodium and fluids you lose in an hour of exercise) in order to provide you with an exact regimen of how much you need to drink as well as how much sodium you need.

    

To make sure you are hydrated, it’s important to know what the signs and symptoms of dehydration are. Signs and symptoms of dehydration include:  elevated heart rate, headache, reduced sweating, muscle cramps, dark urine, small urine volume, chills, clammy skin, nausea, vomiting, may cause heat related illness – e.g heat exhaustion, heat stroke (For more info on heat exhaustion and heat stroke visit http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/extremeheat/warning.html).
A urine scale is commonly used to check level of hydration. The rule we try to stick to is that it needs to be more like lemonade versus apple juice   

Whether its for fun or practice, make sure you hydrate well this summer!
Here are some ways to help you stay hydrated:

1. Drink throughout the day
2. Carry a full water bottle with you at all times
3. Drink 1-2 cups of water before each meal
4. Drink 2-3 cups of fluids before each practice/activity
5. Drink 1-2 cups of water before you go to bed
6. Drink every 15-20 minutes during practice/exercise
7. Avoid hydrating with energy drinks or caffeinated beverages
8. Depending on activity level, consider eating salty snacks as they will cause you to drink

 Drink up!

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Sleep, an Essential Component

There are 4 main components that are essential for any athlete: training, recovery, nutrition and sleep.
We tend to talk a lot about the first 3 components but not much on the last one.
The recommendations for sleep duration are as follows:
Children - 10-11 hours/day
Teens - 8.5-9.5 hours/day
Adults - 7-9 hours/day

Lack of sleep has been shown to: impair cognitive performance and mood, disturb glucose metabolism and appetite regulation which in turn can cause higher weight, decrease immune function and decrease production of hormones such as testosterone and growth hormone (these hormones assist with building and repairing muscle). 

When it comes to physical activity, sleep deprivation has been noted to cause: slower reaction times, slower sprint times, decreased aerobic performance, decreased cognitive processes (visual tracking, focus, mood, determination) and higher odds for injury.

Although there are not many studies out there, the University of Stanford has done several studies on swimmers, tennis players and basketball players. They tried to see what happens if you extend sleep time to 10 hours/day. College students had their baseline (performance and psychological tests) measured while sleeping regularly for several weeks (typical sleep day ranged 6-9 hours) and then got them to sleep at least 10 hours a day for several weeks. If they could not sleep the whole time at night, they were encouraged to take naps throughout the day. Interestingly enough the results showed they all had faster sprint times and they all had increased mood and decreased day time fatigue. 

Each sport also had specific improvements:

1. Tennis - Had about 24% better accuracy in hitting as well as 42% better hitting depth.
2. Basketball - Had improved shooting accuracy by 9% in both free throw as well as 3 point field goals. They also had a better reaction time
3. Swimming - Had faster reaction times, total faster times and 25% more kicks 

Are you ready to go to sleep yet? If you are, here are some things you can do to get a better sleep:

1. Sleep on a comfortable mattress with comfortable pillows
2. Finish eating about 2 hours before you go to sleep
3. Schedule time for sleep. If need be, set an alarm
4. Avoid caffeine or energy drinks close to bed-time
5. Dim the lights in your room and when its time to go to bed make sure your room is dark as possible
6. Turn off all screens at least an hour before bed: TV, laptop, computer, Ipad, cell phone, X-box, etc. If you feel you must text or email before bed make sure you use the light dimming apps 

Athletes should make sure they are not only training, eating and recovering right but also sleeping enough!

Good Night

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Alcohol and Performance

Alcohol is the most abused recreational drug in society and is the one most used by athletes. It is well known to cause poor judgement, decreased reaction time and decreased fine motor skills which is why we don't drink and drive. In addition, it effects our heart function, our ability to regulate body temperature and it can cause hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

Research states that 88% of intercollegiate American athletes use alcohol. Moreover, collegiate athletes are much more likely to binge drink compared with non-athlete students. It's speculated that maybe the competitive behavior of athletes is not just on the court or field but also in social activities, such as drinking.

So, what can alcohol do to performance? Lets go over some facts:

• Athletes that drink alcohol once per week have been shown to have twice the risk for injury. 
• Moderate alcohol consumption has been shown to lower force production.
• Chronic alcohol use can cause substantial weight gain. Which in turn can slow you down.
• Alcohol use can decrease aerobic ability as well as decrease sustained power output. In fact, one study showed that drinking 24 hours before an event caused 11% decrease in performance which could be the difference between being first and last.
• Alcohol hurts recovery by interfering with muscle protein synthesis (building and repairing muscle) as well as glycogen re-synthesis (restoring our glycogen stores so that we have stored fuel for exercise). One study showed that even if you consumed alcohol with protein after exercise you would still have lower rate of muscle protein synthesis.
• Alcohol can interfere with our ability to regulate core temperature, therefore, lowering our ability to tolerate training no matter what the temperature is (even in an air-conditioned facility).
• Alcohol influences our psycho-motor skills which means it can decrease balance, reaction time, visual search and recognition, memory as well as accuracy of fine motor skills. Now imagine a quarterback that has all these problems.
• Alcohol shortens our time in deep sleep (REM). Lack of deep sleep causes a decrease in performance as well as a decrease in human growth hormone (HGH) secretion. HGH helps us build and repair muscle. (Stay tuned for a blog on how sleep effects performance in the near future).
• Alcohol is a diuretic (promotes production of urine) which means it can cause dehydration. Dehydration in turn can cause a decrease in performance.
• Alcohol may continue to effect your performance 2-5 days after you drink, depending on how much you drank.

If you're an athlete that wants to improve PR, excel and/or win, you must think about what you are willing or not willing to do. Make sure you fuel right for performance and limit or avoid alcohol. Since social interaction with friends many times includes alcohol, be smart about it and consider following the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) guidelines:
"Pre-event - Avoid alcohol beyond low-amount social drinking for 48 hours.   

Post exercise - Re-hydrate first and consume food to retard any alcohol absorption"

Cheers! 

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