"Eliminate Garbage by Adding High Performance Ingredients"

Hello Friends!

If you are the busy mom (or dad) of a young athlete you probably have your hands full with feeding your kids let along feeding them well!  There are so many nutritional claims on products and the advertising that targets our young athletes is often times over the top!  In my forthcoming book "Winning the Game:  The Busy Mom's Manual to Refueling her Athletic Family in Six Easy Steps,"   I have a chapter devoted to "Eliminating Garbage by Adding High Performance Ingredients."  I think it's important to take a step away from the tv ads, magazines and supermarket displays if we want to see clearly what is being ingested by our kids.  If you are busy juggling schedules it is sometimes difficult to stand your ground when your kids are bugging you for that candy or ice cream at the snack stand isn't it?

Here is a very simple list of some power foods that help young athletes in a variety of ways:

Eggs - helps build muscle and burn fat
Oatmeal - boosts energy, reduces cholesterol and maintains blood sugar levels
Beans and other legumes - (ex chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans) helps build muscle, burn fat and        maintain digestion
Green vegetables - neutralizes the free radicals
Almonds, seeds and other nuts - builds muscle and helps with cravings
Lean meats - especially farm raised animals that are not factory raised - builds muscle, improves the immune system
Whole Grain Breads and Cereals - helps prevent you from storing fat
Olive Oil - lowers cholesterol and boosts immune system

These are not the health food store variety of specialty foods!  They are probably in your house now!  If your young athlete is interested in taking his/her game to the next level by improving his health and wellness this may be the right time to implement simple changes in his/her routine.  These foods should be eaten by all of us however the physical and mental stress that young athletes face often compromises their immune system.

There are many ways to substitute foods that or children may be used to eating.  One of my biggest pet peeves is the snack stand that sells garbage to our kids.  The amount of garbage consumed during one baseball game, soccer game, summer swim meet is absurd!  The artificial colorings (not getting into food sensitivities, ADD, ADHD here ), high fructose corn syrup and empty calories is at an epidemic.  Yes, you can set boundaries for your children.  If you are consistent with your expectations, you will find that they really are ok with eating some nice crunchy grapes, apples, or blueberries instead of a gooey rope of candy.

Stay tuned for some more strategies!
Be Well,
Krista

~ Parents who are afraid to put their food down usually have children who step on their toes.

                              Chinese Proverb