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An online newsletter about food, nutrition & food safety for consumers |
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June
2002
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The
Food/Physical Activity Connection
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"I can't believe how much better I feel now that I've learned how to balance the right food into both my exercise program and my hectic lifestyle."
Whether you're an easy-going exerciser or an avid athlete, how you eat affects both your PERFORMANCE and your PLEASURE during physical activities. Whether you're taking a walk through the neighborhood or tackling a triathlon, you'll likely do better if you fuel up with healthy foods. To help make the best food/physical activity connection, Sports Nutritionist Nancy Clark provides suggestions based on her Sports Nutrition Guidebook. She also shares a recipe from her book.
An Interview with Nancy Clark, MS, RD Food Reflections: In your book, Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, you use the Food Guide Pyramid as the basis for planning a healthy diet for an active lifestyle. One of the points you make is about the importance of eating a variety of foods. Why is this so important?Nancy Clark: By eating a variety of foods, you consume a variety of different vitamins, minerals, amino acids, phytochemicals and other health-protective nutrients. Often these nutrients work best in combinations from different foods. By eating at least three types of foods at each meal and two types of foods at snacktime, you'll take a step to including a better variety of foods. Food Reflections: Your book advises eating fiber-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes (kidney beans, lentils, chick-peas, etc.) and whole grains is important for physically active people. While these foods may have the long-term benefit of helping prevent heart disease and cancer, you also point out they have an immediate short-term benefit. Fibrous foods help promote regular bowel movements, an important consideration to a person's comfort level during physical activity! Would you give us some guidelines for including fiber in our diets? Nancy Clark: I tell my clients they've had enough fiber when they have soft stools that are easy to eliminate on a regular basis. Some active people eat too much fiber and end up with the inconvenience of too many bowel movements that interfere with their exercise program. Food Reflections: Drinking sufficient fluids goes along with adding fiber to the diet. Also, adequate fluid is important to keeping an active person well-hydrated and at peak performance. How can people tell if they're drinking enough fluids? What dangers might be associated with being chronically dehydrated? Nancy Clark: If your urine is pale yellow (like lemonade) and of significant volume, you're getting enough fluid. You should need to urinate every two to four hours. If you urinate only once or twice a day, and the urine is dark (like beer) and smelly, you are dehydrated. Dehydration leads to needless fatigue, headaches and poorer exercise performance. Food Reflections: It's a common belief that physically active people require high protein diets. What would be a sample meal plan that includes enough protein for most active lifestyles? What are some consequences to eating TOO MUCH protein? Nancy Clark: The Food Pyramid allows for adequate protein: a small serving of protein-rich food at two meals per day (such as a peanut butter sandwich at lunch and some meatballs with pasta for dinner) plus some calcium and protein-rich dairy foods with each meal (milk on cereal at breakfast, yogurt for a snack, milk with dinner). This pattern provides the right amount of protein. Too much protein displaces the carbs you need to fuel your muscles. You'll end up tired and unable to perform at your best. Food Reflections: It seems like there are a lot of myths about drinking milk and athletic performance. What's the truth about such concerns as "cotton mouth" and "stomach cramping?" What are some possible health consequences of avoiding milk? Nancy Clark: Milk is indeed an appropriate beverage for most athletes. Lowfat or skim milk, in particular, are healthful, easy to digest foods that provide the package of nutrients needed to build strong bones and bodies. If you are lactose intolerant and cannot digest the sugar that's in milk, you should try LactAid milk or take pills that digest the milk sugar. Your body needs calcium, regardless of your ability to tolerate milk, so don't eliminate a food group without first consulting with a registered dietitian. Too little calcium can have you sidelined with stress fractures today and osteoporosis in the future. Food Reflections: One reason some people participate in an active lifestyle is for weight control. As a part of trying to lose or maintain weight, they may skip breakfast. What have you observed during your work with athletes, as well as casual exercisers, about the relationship between skipping breakfast and physical performance? Nancy Clark: Breakfast skippers tend to run out of energy, train poorly and then reward themselves with/succumb to excessive calories at night. Skipping breakfast tends to invest in weight gain, more so than weight loss. If a dieter wants to skip any meal, I'd vote for dinner (but don't skip meals!). The concept is: just as putting fuel in your car before you drive helps the car perform better, putting fuel (food) in your body helps your body perform better. Don't fuel at the end of the day; enjoy higher energy during your waking, active hours. If you want to lose weight, eat less (diet) at night. Food Reflections: Many busy people feel they don't have time to eat. What are some solutions you've found that help always-on-the-go people? Nancy Clark: For many people, having "no time" to eat is a choice that they hope will contribute to weight loss. For others, having "no time" means they choose to work, sleep or do something deemed more important than fueling their bodies on a regular schedule. I teach my clients to be responsible and have wholesome foods readily available--granola bars in the backpack, packets of peanuts in the car, a well stocked refrigerator at home, etc. Good nutrition starts in the supermarket. Food Reflections: Your book is over 400 pages long with over 120 recipes! There are so many things we haven't covered! If you had to choose just one nutrition tip you felt was most important for people leading active lifestyles, what would it be? Nancy Clark: Eat a big breakfast rather than a big dinner. By fueling for a high energy day, you'll feel better, prevent cravings for sweet foods, improve the overall quality of your diet, have better workouts and invest in weight management. For More Information If you would like to learn more about "eating to fuel your active lifestyle," Clark offers "Nutrition Links & Articles" on her Web site as well as information about her books at: http://www.nancyclarkrd.com Banana
Bread "The key to good banana bread is to use well-ripened bananas that are covered with brown speckles. Banana bread is my favorite "magic food" for pre-marathon carbohydrate-loading and for snacking during long-distance bike rides. Add some peanut butter and you’ll have a delicious sandwich that’ll keep you energized for a long time!"
Reprinted with permission from: Nancy Clark, MS, RD, Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook, Second Edition (Copyright, Human Kinetics, 1997).
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