Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

  Healthy Eating -  A way of eating that maintains or improves overall health and makes you feel good. There is no one-size-fits-all definition when it comes to "healthy eating." While similar methods and ideologies may work for the masses, every individual is on his/her/their own nutritional journey. Depending on who you are, "healthy eating" could mean..... Making homemade almond milk, grinding your own nut butter, or picking produce from your home garden Only eating GMO-free and organic foods Not eating meat, dairy or fish Doesn't eat meat but eats dairy and fish Portion control Not eating out of boredom or emotions Not restricting food in order to prevent binge eating Eating enough to support training for a long distance triathlon Making nutrition changes to reduce the risk of a cancer recurrence Making nutrition changes because a disease runs in your family Practicing intuitive eating after overcoming a decade of disordered eating or an eating disorder ...

Are you tired of living with a rigid and restrictive style of eating? Do your food-related habits affect your relationships? Do you want to stop feeling so anxious, stressed, overwhelmed and conflicted around food-related events and decisions?  Are you wanting to make food choices that help fuel your active lifestyle, help you feel good physically and satisfy you mentally?  Are you ready to break free from food rules and build a healthy relationship with food and your body?  If you said yes to any or all of the following, you may find that there is one thing that is holding you back from feeling controlled by food.....you are worried about gaining weight/body composition changes.  Unfortunately, we live in a world saturated with diet culture. We are conditioned to group food into "good" and "bad" categories and it's almost universally acceptable to fat shame. Even worse, nutrition experts often encourage disordered eating strategies as a way to improve health, l...

An optimal athlete diet is made of many inter-related parts that are constantly moving - all in an effort to support your training. In other words, every meal and snack that you consume during the day is an essential part of your training plan. Many athletes fail to construct the diet in a way that supports the demands of training and supports health. There’s no value in putting all your effort and energy into your training if you lack a solid foundation of nutritious eating. As the saying goes, you can’t out-exercise a poorly planned diet. Your diet is the foundation in which your body can function optimally in life and during your workouts.  Just like a training plan, your diet requires nutrition modifications throughout a training season. There will be many times throughout the year when you need to build from your “normal” style of eating. This increase in calories, carbohydrates and more energy-dense foods allows you to support the more rigorous times of training (higher vol...

For those who are used to working in an office, it can be a big struggle to transition to a "work from home" environment. With so many interruptions, the biggest WFH (work-from-home) distraction is........you guessed it.....the refrigerator. As it relates to nutrition, when you work in an office away from home, there's the need to plan ahead as to what, when and where you will be eat. While this lifestyle skill is still a work in progress for many, bringing your lunch (and snacks) to work helps you control what you are eating. At home, you may find yourself mindlessly snacking or forgetting to eat all together. To help you eat healthy while working from home, here are a few tips: Meal prep - Even when your office is (now) in your home, meal prep is a must. Making a meal from scratch - and when you are hungry - can take up a lot of time, cause you to lose momentum during a work project/emails and force you to resort to quick and not-so-nutritous options. With a bit mor...

When it comes to sport success, diet is a big piece of the puzzle that many athletes fail to master (or appreciate). Creating a healthy diet to optimize sport performance is not as confusing as many people make it out to be. Although intense and prolonged training increases energy, carbohydrate and fluid needs, the essential nutritional needs of active individuals are very similar to sedentary people in order to help maintain a healthy weight, reduce risk for disease, improve physical and mental health and live a longer, healthier life. Despite the strong relationship between good nutrition habits and athletic success, many athletes overlook consistent nutrition habits in favor of training harder or longer. However, it’s only when you supply your body with optimal nutrition can you perform at optimal levels. With many strong opinions on nutrition, it’s easy to fall victim to extreme dogmatic nutrition approaches. But the truth is that every human being responds differently to diff...

Spring has arrived to Greenville, SC! The warm weather is here and our furry crew is soaking it all in. Although Campy gets plenty of time outside in his backyard, our 16.5 year old cat (Smudla) is allowed to enjoy some time outside in the warm sun. At this phase in her life, she pretty much gets whatever she wants. In case you missed it, here's an article from our weekly newsletter (subscribe HERE ) on springtime eating.                                                                    ------------------------------- With winter behind us (hopefully), warm and rich soups, stews, casseroles and drinks are replaced with brightly-colored produce and hydrating beverages. Eating what's local, available and in-season is a practical choice, especially when you are trying to optimize your nutrient intake. To keep you on ...

I am a huge proponent of guidelines. By definition, a guideline provides boundaries. A guideline provide direction to take action. In contrast, a rule tells you what you are and are not allowed to do. Rules must be followed or else there will be negative consequences. Rules bring anxiety and stress. Most of the time, there are no real consequences to breaking a guideline. However, rules are typically set as a way to enforce the right way that things should be done. If not, there are serious consequences. In your everyday life, you likely adhere to both rules and guidelines - at work, in society, at home, with your family, etc.. For example, when you race in an athletic event, there are rules to ensure safety and fair play. At work, you may have guidelines to ensure a positive, safe and supportive work culture. But what about food rules? Do you constantly live life following rules as to how you should and shouldn't eat? As a board certified sport dietitian, I don'...

The human body is an amazing machine. In our daily life, we only use a very small part of our true physical capabilities.  But as athletes, unlike our daily life, our training is a big stressor on our body. Understanding that training for an athletic event places such a high demand on the cardio, respiratory muscular, immune and other organ systems, it’s important to recognize that preparing your body for an athletic event is so much more than just checking off workouts. I am sure I don't have to tell you this but your athletic success depends on proper nutrition.  Last night, I had the opportunity to give a presentation at Run In on my Top 10 nutrition tips for athletes.    Before getting into the talk, it is important that I tell you a little about myself and why I am so passionate about nutrition and sport nutrition.  As a Board Certified Sport Dietitian with a MS in Exercise Physiology, I have dedicated much of my educational career to studying ...

You are invited to attend my "Top 10 nutrition tips for athletes" presentation, on  March 6th, 2017 from 7:00-8:00 pm EST. This is a FREE presentation for all fitness levels. Are you bummed that you are not local and can't attend? Well, not to worry! This is a Facebook live chat so yes, I will be live, you don't need to show up to the store and you can watch it from anywhere in the world! This also means that you can ask me questions anytime  during my presentation. No matter what you are doing, you can "join in" on this interactive nutrition presentation. To access the live discussion, just refresh the Run In Facebook page at 7:00 pm and turn up your volume. I will be speaking and my friend Dane (manager of the store), will be alongside me to read off the questions from the comment section as they roll in. For the presentation, I will be discussing:  How to organize your diet as an athlete Incorporating whole grains into your diet Daily hydrati...

I couldn't be more excited to support and promote our local half ironman distance triathlon, here in Greenville, SC.  Mountains to Mainstreet  (M2M) is not just a triathlon event but a full festival weekend of events, with a 1K, 5K and half marathon on Saturday, followed by the half ironman distance triathlon (and relay/aquabike) on Sunday. For a limited time, you can use the discount code tri35 to receive a $35 off discount code for the event. We hope to see you there and we can't wait for you to enjoy our gem of a triathlon playground, here in beautiful Greenville, SC. For more info about the event: Mountains to Mainstreet In conjunction with the event, the M2M team is bringing together the triathlon community with a series of educational talks on all things triathlon - nutrition, swim, bike, run, injuries, race preparation, etc. I just love our triathlon/cycling/running community here in Greenville and I could not be more proud and excited to be a triathle...

What does "healthy food" mean to you?  To me, healthy food is included in a varied, nutrient dense diet which keeps my body functioning well.  But in a world where unhealthy food is so available, it can be difficult to define and follow through with healthy eating.  Busy schedules, misinformation, poor planning and low motivation can make healthy eating extremely challenging.  Here are a few tips on how you can get back on track with healthy eating.   -Stop the dieting and food rules. Restriction and deprivation doesn't work as it's not a sustainable style of eating.  -Plan and prep ahead. When you are prepared, you make better food choices. Plus, by learning how to be a great meal/snack planner, you will create long-lasting "go-to" strategies for maintaining healthy eating habits even during your most busy, stressful and exhausting times in life.  -Don't make your meals too complicated. Keep healthy eating simple an...

There is a lot of information available to athletes on the topics of nutrition, specifically as it relates to how food can change your body composition, improve your health and boost your performance. I think it is safe to assume that most athletes view food as a naturally safe way to boost athletic performance and the diet as a method of changing body composition. But with so much information available to athletes, the topics of eating for health, eating for fuel, eating to change body composition and so forth, can make the simple topic of "diet for athlete" so confusing and overwhelming. Due to information overload, I wouldn't be surprised if you are one of the many athletes who have explored (or tried) a dietary trend or fad at least once a year (likely around January) in an effort to get your diet under control in order to change body composition. The interesting thing about a diet trend is the unique marketing of the dietary strategy which accurately ident...

When I was young, I wanted cheese on everything. I also loved starches. Cheesy french bread, lots of cheese on pasta, pizza topped with extra cheese, bagel topped with cheese and Cheeze-its were some of my favorites. When I became a vegetarian at the age of 10, not much changed in my diet except the removal of meat and fish. While it's not a rule that vegetarians have to eat more veggies than the carnivore, it wasn't until mid college when I learned the nutritional value of veggies and that I should be eating them on a daily basis. I transitioned myself to a very plant-strong diet around the age of 20 and I noticed a lot of great changes. While my focus wasn't on my body composition, I did notice a body composition change when I made a few dietary swaps and additions into my diet. As the years went on and I transitioned myself from a competitive college swimmer to distance runner, I had to do some tweaking in my diet, once again, to make sure that I was eating enou...

Picture source This is the time of the year when it's so easy to make bad decisions with eating choices. But I'm not talking about devouring a dozen pieces of Halloween candy in one sitting, eating an oversized portion of Pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream or choosing 3 holiday cookies for an afternoon snack. Nope, I'm talking about dieting. A diet is a restrictive way of eating, designed to help you gain control over previously unhealthy eating habits. Although it may sound like exactly what you need around the holidays, a diet is a big change in your eating routine - it's rapid, it's extreme and it provides temporary results.  Healthy and mindful eating is a learned habit and once achieved, it makes it possible to enjoy the holiday season without guilt, anxiety or fear.  A few tips come to mind when it comes to eating healthy around the holidays.  1. Don't be locked down to one style of eating - having freedom with your eating choices...

As an athlete, you have special nutritional requirements compared to your fellow exercise enthusiasts. You do incredible things with your body on a daily basis and you have high expectations for what your body will do on race day. And unlike research laboratory studies, you are not exercising to see how long you can go but instead, you train to see how fast you can cover a specific distance on a specific date.   As an athlete, you probably experience many challenges when it comes meeting your extreme training needs through the daily diet because you are not like other people who must only meet basic nutritional needs - you must have great nutritional habits on a day-to-day basis but you also have an extra responsibility to your body to ensure it has the right foods, at the right times to give you extra energy, to delay fatigue, to promote recovery and to keep your body in good hormonal and metabolic health. First off, if you are reading this right now, I want you to ...

Most athletes will come to me for nutrition help with the goals of: -Improving performance -Improving their relationship with food and/or the body -Changing body composition All three goals require dietary changes (in some capacity) and depending on the athlete, he/she may want to achieve all three goals listed above, or just one or two. Oddly enough, sometimes changing body composition can improve performance but so can improving the relationship with food and the body. And sometimes focusing on nutrition limiters and strengths in order to improve performance, with a great relationship with food and the body can change body composition.  There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to dietary changes as every individual is on his/her own nutritional journey. Furthermore, every athletes may have his/her own personal limitations when it comes to the "best" approach to changing the diet - this can be anything from lack of healthy food options, unrealistic eating/bo...

It seems like every day there is a new diet telling us what not to eat and a scientific article for reference. A nutrition expert, doctor, celebrity, professional athlete or personal trainer touting a diet plan. A book, blog or website telling us what foods are destroying our health.  And a food company excited to grab the market share by introducing a new “healthy” re-engineered processed food alternative which has the opportunity to be highly profitable.   And with all this information - people are still confused how to eat.  Whether it’s lack of confidence, common sense, passion or effort for healthy eating, much of our society relies on diet plans as the easiest or quickest way to lose weight, improve performance or to improve health. In America, eating habits are unstable.  When it comes to the mention of food, people are confused. You may have even found yourself grocery shopping and saying "I have no idea what to buy or eat!" In our...