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Showing posts from January 24, 2016

When's the best time for a salad?

With so many recipes on the internet and in bookstores, you have no excuses when it comes to healthy eating.  Planning is often the hard part.   Athletes, I know you have a lot on your daily plate but if you keep putting workouts and life ahead of planning a diet that nourishes and fuels your busy and active lifestyle, there is a good chance that you are limiting your athletic potential and risking a possible health issue.  Easy fix:  Eat a salad for lunch, every day. Include at least 20-30g of protein, 1/2 - 1 cup grains or small potato and at least 15-20g fat (ex. avocado, nuts, seeds, oil, cheese) with a variety of colorful fruits and veggies. For example: A few handfuls dark leafy greens Unlimited veggies and fruit 1 cup quinoa or barley 2 tsp olive oil 1/4 cup cubed avocado 4 ounce chicken or fish OR 4 ounce tempeh OR 1/2 cup edamame and 1/2 cup cottage cheese A time saver for busy athletes is prepping these ingredients ahead of time so that y...

Muscular endurance treadmill workout

I love running on the treadmill and I love cycling on my indoor bike trainer. Perhaps my love of indoor "stationary" workouts comes from following a black line for 25 yards in for 23+ years as a competitive swimmer. I enjoy being able to control my workout when I train indoors and to minimize all outside influences like terrain, traffic, wind and cold/hot weather. But I also love training outside as this is the best environment for me to mentally and physically prepare for my upcoming races. It's easy to make excuses when it comes to weather and available time to train (morning and night) so for me, I always seek the best environment for a quality workout. Sometimes it is indoors and sometimes it is outdoors. At time in the year, most of my workouts are indoors - but as soon as it gets warmer, it's hard for me to stay indoors to train. I love the sun and the heat!   Karel, on the other hand, will make every attempt to train outside, as much as possible...

Simply delicious homemade granola

        I love simple recipes.  The less ingredients the better....so long as the final product is packed with flavor.  There's so much to love about granola BUT when an ingredient list reads: Whole grain rolled oats, whole grain wheat, sugar, rice, corn syrup, almonds, contains 2% or less of molasses, modified corn starch, palm oil, salt, cinnamon, nonfat milk, malt flavoring, polyglycerol esters of fatty acids, natural and artificial flavor, guar gum, BHT for freshness. I would much rather make granola at home, than eat a concoction of ingredients from a box/bag. For athletes, granola is a fantastic energy-dense snack which can pack a lot of calories to help meet energy needs on high-calorie expenditure days. Depending on the wet ingredients (honey, syrup, oil), granola can also be a substantial pre-workout snack as you will receive a nice mix of carbohydrates with a little fat but without a lot of fiber. However, most store-bought gran...

Plates not pills - Anti-inflammatory diet

Source There are many amazingly wonderful nutritional properties found in real food. Sadly, much of our society overlooks the power of food as medicine and in return, abuses anti-inflammatory meds to reduce pain, aches and niggles (and athletes are not immune to this statement). Certainly, there are times when medications are necessary but with so many people following restrictive diets these days to "be healthy", I do worry that many people are missing out on the many amazing nutritional benefits of a varied, wholesome, real food diet. To get you started with an improved anti-inflammatory diet, consider adding the following food items, rich in antioxidants, to your diet: -Ginger -Cloves -Oregano  -Cayenne pepper  -Pineapple  -Rosemary  -Turmeric  -Sesame Seeds  -Omega-3 fatty acids - fatty fish, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, flax  -Whole grains -Dark leafy greens -Celery -Pineapple -Fermented food - kefir, sauerkraut, tempeh...

Snow day!

Although we have lived in Greenville for 1.5 years, we were so unprepared for this snow and ice storm in Greenville, SC.  But thankfully, we survived no power for 24 hours. We know that many people, all over the US, had it a lot worse so my hope is that everyone is safe, warm and healthy.  Check list for the next ice/snow storm:  Batteries, all types (especially for portable bubble-makers for fish tanks) Battery radio Be sure portable phone charger is fully charged (thankfully it was this time) Flashlights/Candles Make sure propane tank is filled for grill outside Be sure both cars are filled with gas Buy a shovel and ice scraper Make sure Campy, Smudla and Madison have more than enough dry food  Buy books to read and games to play Buy water jugs (just in case water goes out) Make more "prepared" meals ahead of time for easier meal prep/consumption Buy a generator? With cold rain through the night on Thursday til Friday ...