Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

We live in a protein-obsessed society. With good reason, protein is a powerful macronutrient. It’s a component in every cell in the body and your hair, skin and nails are made of protein. It’s used to construct and repair tissues, build strong bones and muscles and make enzymes, hormones and other chemicals. A protein molecule is a nitrogenous organic compound consisting of long chains of linked building blocks called “amino acids." Peptide bonds link together amino acids into chains of many different forms and combinations. The body requires 20 different amino acids, nine of which cannot be synthesized in the body, which makes them essential from the diet. Eleven are nonessential, meaning they are synthesized from other compounds already inside the body. For athletes, the three Branch Chain Amino Acids have several important roles during exercise. Proteins can be further classified as complete or incomplete, depending on the quality. Complete proteins, typically found in an...

We have all heard the question that starts the age-old vegetarian protein debate "Where do you get your protein from if you don't eat meat???" If adequate energy and an assortment of plant foods, rich in essential amino acids, are consumed throughout the day, physiologically processes shouldn’t be compromised in a plant-based diet.  For all athletes, diet variety and adequate energy consumption are both key to ensuring that your body stays in great health. This includes eating a variety of carbohydrates, protein and fat. Depending on your dietary protein choices, consider a variety of animal and/or plant protein sources in your daily diet as each protein source has more than just protein to offer to your body. Vegetarian athletes should make an extra effort to consume nutrients like calcium, iron, zinc, omega-3, vitamin D, B12 and niacin, particularly if the diet is lacking in food variety.  Understanding that many essential nutrients are required in ...

(picture source) As an endurance athlete, you should not overlook the importance of protein in your diet. Sadly, in our society, we tend to go from one dietary extreme to another when it comes to eat this, don't eat that. Therefore, when one macronnutrient is heavily emphasized or de-emphasized, it's easy to overlook other important nutrients that are necessary to optimize health and athletic success. In the wake of some pretty extreme, unhealthy and unrealistic eating habits among endurance athletes, it's important for athletes to understand that a low energy and/or low carbohydrate diet is not healthy or performance enhancing. Certainly "low" can be defined differently among athletes and nutrition experts. Seeing that protein supports muscle and tissue growth, assists in immune system health, helps with tissue structure and supporting enzymatic reactions and fosters healthy endocrine functioning, without sufficient protein in your diet, your active bod...

When it comes to a vegetarian diet, there are many critics who believe that meat consumption is a necessary part of a "healthy" diet.  In April, I will be celebrating  24 years of following a meat-free diet. I consider myself to be in great health as a female endurance triathlete but it took time to learn how I can make my vegetarian diet work for my active lifestyle. Clearly, my lacto-ovo vegetarian style of eating is not a fad. I love animals way too much to eat them. As a vegetarian athlete and dietitian, this puts me in a tough situation because it is easy to assume that because I do not eat meat, I will encourage other athletes to not eat meat. Well, Karel eats meat and fish...and vegetables, and fruit, and tofu, and tempeh and grains. I don't lecture Karel when he eats meat because meal time is a happy time for both of us. Thankfully, it wasn't a deal-breaker that I was a vegetarian when Karel and I started dating in 2006. Sadly, because much of ...

Research studies are great especially when it comes to improving athletic performance. When the human body is required to work so hard for a specific amount of time, it's important to understand how to properly fuel the body, train the body and recover the body for health and performance gains. Effective research studies (or studies reflective of the masses) are great sources to learn from and can be a valuable tool for athletes and coaches.  But current sport nutrition guidelines and research can only take an athlete (or coach) so far because the key is knowing how to properly apply the information into the real world.  It's important to always consider the pros and cons when it comes to applying research into your real world for just because a research study (or the abstract which most individuals have access to) states that something works in a controlled, laboratory setting, doesn't always imply that that same message will apply to your setting. Additionally, j...

If you are like most individuals, you are not surprised by the number of new, trendy, hip or cool foods on the market. From fresh to processed, our culture loves to eat trendy foods, companies love to profit it off of them and the media loves to talk about them. (perhaps I have reversed this timeline as the media has a major influence on how, what and why we eat).  Coconut, kale, gluten-free, greek yogurt, juicing, quinoa. Just a few that come to mind when you think of the recent foods that are most talked about when discussing "healthy eating" or dieting. Anyone remember  Olestra? Did you know that there are over a dozen types of lettuces? I wrote a blog a while back on the many types of  green leafy options  that you can add to your current diet.  How come the media isn't obsessing about Mâche, M esclun or   Mizuna and how come the grocery stores aren't carrying them for us to enjoy?  When I work with individuals on the diet, speci...