Sports Nutrition On The GO

This blog is for college athletes who need great nutrition throughout the day

[tkulus]

Organic Food In the Community

It might not be too much of a challenge to buy organic in your town, but what about if you live in a small, rural area or are on the road? Now that we have started to explore what organic food means and why we might want to try it, we have to look at where we can get it.

Gardening

The easiest way to make sure that you are getting organic food is to make it yourself. By planting your own garden you are able to monitor the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and the production process (if applicable). It is also a fun experience to see the progress as the plants grow and to see the results of your hard work. Although gardening can take a long time and only creates produce, the food is always fresh, organic practices can be used easily, and there is a large variety of plants and vegetables that you can grow. There are even systems to let you grow plants indoors during the winter!

Farmer’s Market

A lot of communities have a weekly to monthly farmer’s market, especially during the summer. These can be great places to buy organic food, support local producers, and meet other people in your community who love food as much as you! Usually there is a website or notice in the local newspaper to notify you of the times and dates. Make sure to ask the seller about their practices to make sure that their food is truly organic and not just local before you buy it.

Grocery Stores

Most grocery stores have a separate section for organic foods. The most common is the produce area where many types of fruits and vegetables are labeled. On occasion they will have a section for non-produce items, but usually these items are sold alongside their non-organic counterparts with a label on the packaging to tell you they are organic.

Restaurants

Getting organic food in a restaurant is a little harder to do, but there are certain restaurants that use only organic ingredients or have certain foods that are organically made.

Online Searching

The Internet is a fantastic tool for finding information on all of the above options in your community. You can also shop for organic food from online stores and have it shipped to your house. This can be more expensive, but may be the only option if you live in a rural community that is a long way from a larger organic market.

Traveling

It can be hard to find organic food while traveling, but doing research ahead of time makes the process easier. The Internet may be your best friend when it comes to getting information on any of the above options in the destination you are going to. With enough time, figuring out all the details is possible. Another option is to pack your own foods such as nuts, apples, oranges, raw vegetables, beef jerky, and energy bars. These foods are easy to keep fresh, provide you with plenty of calories, and can be a great snack until you find another source of organic food.

The next time you need to buy organically produced food just do a little searching. There are plenty of options to find it and most of them are probably right around the corner.

References:

1. 7 Secrets to Eating Healthy on the Road. (2015, March 30). Retrieved April 02, 2017, from http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/7-secrets-eating-healthy-road

2. Organic Travel™ - Guides to Healthy and Organic Places - About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2017, from http://organictravel.com/server/general/aboutus.shtml

[paigedeibert-blog]

I truly appreciate how you gave easy ways to find healthy and organic food. Many people assume that it is too hard to find healthy food that they just go with what they know. I can be guilty of that too. Having an easy guide to follow while shopping and planning for the future is so important.

Currently, I am living in an apartment without a patio or deck. Originally I wanted to plant my own food but found that that just is not possible. Instead, I am planting my own herbs (like mint, chives, and the like). It is all about making sacrifices and planning ahead.

In my grandfathers apartment complex in Bozeman they have a community gardening plot and in the park nearby, they do a weekly mini farmers market where they just exchange food for each other! It is a great way to get closer to your community all while making healthier choices.

[paigedeibert-blog]

Different Diets for Different Athletes

This past month, our athletic department at MSU hired a new nutritionist. As her first project she has set up a ‘Fuel up’ station that is available before and after practices held at MSU to ensure athletes have proper nutrition before, during, and after practices and games.

This is an amazing new opportunity for us athletes and ensure that we don’t binge the few times we are at home. I saw what is available at the Fuel Up station and noticed that there is a lack of vegetables and complex carbs, but other than that it is an amazing step forward for health for the student athletes at MSU.

Still, we need protein, veggies, and more options with calcium, so at home we were told to get more milk and meat and veggies at home which is incredibly helpful to know what you’re missing with a busy schedule. We were told to eat 1.5 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight in a day in order to maintain healthy muscle mass.

The Fuel Up station is an amazing addition to an already amazing athletic program, and having a nutritionist at the ready for us has and will help for our health in the future.

[ehodgenutritionblog-blog]

Food.Doesnt.Cause.Cancer.

In my last blog post I discussed how food can help you combat cancer. In this post I want to go over something that has bothered me since my mother was diagnosed with cancer when I was 7 years old (almost 20 years ago);

Food does not cause cancer.

Now, to clarify, I’m not saying that food can’t exasperate cancer. But eating that cheeseburger from McDonalds isn’t going to spontaneously cause stomach cancer. When my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer I can specifically remember, while sitting in the waiting room with my grandparents during one of her many surgeries to remove the tumor, overhearing some woman talking to my grandmother ask if it was because my mother didn’t eat very well. My mother was young, with two kids under ten, and the way she said it made me very angry. Apparently it made my grandmother angry too because she told me years later she almost smacked the woman.

Firstly, understand that cancer isn’t a man-made disease. You hear all the time about how people are only getting cancer now because of all the processed foods and chemicals and preservatives and blah blah blah. Yet, “It was described thousands of years ago by Egyptian and Greek physicians, and researchers have discovered tell-tale signs of cancer in a 3,000-year-old skeleton. It’s even been discovered in dinosaur bones.” If this doesn’t say ‘cancer has been around forever’ I don’t know what does. The main reason that we believe that cancer is only now an issue is because we’ve developed better ways of detecting cancer. So of course it is going to seem like it is a big thing now compared to the 20th century; medical advances are at a rapid, all time high.

This is a subject that has caused me a lot of grief just from what people have told me I should and shouldn’t be eating. When it wasn’t “you need to eat more kale to cure your genetic disorder” it was “you eat too much sugar and that is why you have a genetic disorder that causes cancer.”

Yes. Exactly.

But I’ve done my research. Even before this class I was concerned that maybe there was something that I was doing wrong with my diet. Now, I’ll be the first to admit I do eat to much sugar, but that isn’t going to cause my cancer. It is just going to make me unhealthy and, if I do get cancer, will make it harder for me to get through the chemo and recovery.

While doing my own research I came upon a great website that goes over all of the myths about food and its link to cancer. Check it out if you want to get a whole lot of great information.

http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2014/03/24/dont-believe-the-hype-10-persistent-cancer-myths-debunked/

[paigedeibert-blog]

This blog is pure gold. I have so many people around me constantly judging if myself or others do not eat ‘perfectly organic’ food. I love how you put that it does not cause cancer but can make the recovery or process more difficult. After going to the ScienceBlog website it was simple to see that so much information we get throughout our lives is purely an opinion taken too far and people are persistent to make it a fact.

My aunt was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago. she immediately went vegan, gluten-free, and put many other restrictions on her diet thinking it would cure her (she is kind of a hippie) and while eating a certain way was not an issue, she put so much hope into food myths that it actually made her weaker in the end because she did not look into any of the opinion she had heard and just took it as fact. Her doctor ended up telling her they were myths but gave her a meal idea sheet to help ease her mind

This is a topic that needs more attention in the nutrition world.

[courtneydowling-blog1]

The Cost of Eating Healthy

           Eating healthier requires a lot of work.  Not only do you have to mentally focus on the goal of staying healthy when you pass the bakery in the grocery store, but you also have to prepare for an extra financial burden as well.  Eating a healthier diet vs. a non-healthy diet can cost an average of $1.50 more a day.  This many seem insignificant, but after a year of eating healthy (for a family of four), this can add up to $2,000 more a year spent on food (Rehel).  With healthier diets consisting of more fruits, veggies, and nuts, the cost for a family of four to eat a nutritious meal goes up significantly. On the contrary, research has shown that snack foods and sweets are slightly more expensive than a healthier option.  Chips and ice cream can end up costing more than a banana or a bag of granola (McNight). In many cases, I have found that eating healthier can actually cost less than cheap junk food.  The issue many run in to is the convenience of healthy food vs. junk food.  You cannot always run to the grocery store and pay for a readily made, nutritious meal for the family.  You can, however, run through a drive through and get an entire meal for your family of four in a matter of minutes, with sides and a drink!  The photographs below illustrate the truth to many junk food myths.

Only when comparing healthy food to unhealthy food at a fast food restaurant is when you can run into price issues.

Everything has a price, but where we choose to shop or eat can greatly influence the price differences we see.  Americans need to be more aware of what choices they present themselves with if they really want to make a difference in the amount of obesity in society today.  Although a nutritious and healthy diet may end up costing more, being aware of the options out there can make a big impact on how much more we truly need to pay to eat healthy.   

Resources:

McNight, C. (2015, April 18). Advantages & Disadvantages of Healthy Food Vs. Junk Food. Retrieved March 05, 2017, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/410164-advantages-disadvantages-of-healthy-food-vs-junk-food/

Rehel, J. (n.d.). A healthy diet costs $2,000 a year more than an unhealthy one for average family of four: Harvard study. Retrieved March 05, 2017, from http://news.nationalpost.com/health/a-healthy-diet-costs-2000-a-year-more-than-an-unhealthy-one-for-average-family-of-four-harvard-study?__lsa=bb1a-8beb

[paigedeibert-blog]

This is something I have ran into while working as a coach to young girls. I coach a team of three to five year-old cheerleaders and there is an obvious difference in whether their family eats out of convenience or eats with a health conscious mind. There are about 7 girls on my team who have families who have time to cook dinners that their family eats together every night. Those kids have a higher attention span, don’t get tired nearly as much as the others, and have a true joy when they come into my class. On the other hand, four of my girls continuously come to class with McDonald's bags, ice cream, and other easy cheap junk food. They do not get enough nutrients from their food so they don’t have the energy like the other kids. They lose attention quickly and run out of gas so fast.

The gym I work for had a parent meeting having to do with many things that included nutrition. Many of the parents who had full time jobs and had multiple kids that were running back and forth all day were cutting corners by getting fast food. to help them we set up a mock week schedule where one day a week they went to the store and bought frozen vegetables, frozen chicken breast, whole grain tortillas, hummus, and one healthy treat like natural fruit leathers. We showed that that could be very cost efficient and the parents wouldn't have to worry about anything going bad because the main parts of the meal would be frozen. we taught them to meal prep for toddlers and it really helped them see the bigger picture and cut down on cost.

Most families are not trying to be unhealthy but do not realize how easy it can be if they just take a minute to think about options!

[paigedeibert-blog]

Crockpot Meals Saving Busy and Poor Students

When reading chapter 10 this past week, I was reminded that the main problem college students have with eating healthy is the cost. Why not go to McDonalds and get a cheap and filling meal that is quick to make? Athletes normally do not have enough time to go to the store and shop, then make food and ensure its healthy and that they have enough to meet demands throughout the week.

 Meal prepping is the best way to make sure meals are easily ready for anyone throughout the week, or if you freeze them then they could last months. Something I have found to make life easier while being cost effective is spend one day a month to go shopping (which I save up my money for the past month to get food) at Costco and make freezer crockpot meals that can last for 4-6 days each. On game days I make sure before I leave to put my meal in the crockpot before I leave and then it is ready when I come home. I also cook rice and noodles separately and make sure to have veggies and hummus and peanut butter close at hand for snacks. Throughout the week I am able to grab some rice or noodles and then whatever I cooked in the crockpot and I have food that is easy and relatively cheap. Most meals I cook come out to less than two dollars a meal, then with about 3 dollars in snacks my day is cheap and easy. I have attached some of my favorite crockpot meals.

[glutenwiznutritionsocietyms-blog]

Gluten: A Hidden Social Tragedy

Please watch the Youtube hit titled “How to Become Gluten Intolerant” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oht9AEq1798 (here’s the link).  

JP Sears pokes fun at how not eating gluten is the new fad and indirectly ‘not’ eating gluten is a way for one to patronize and ridicule others. As funny as this video is and perhaps this could apply to some people, this video is a perfect example of how celiac and gluten intolerance is stigmatized by culture.  “What’s the big deal?  You can’t have one piece of bread, you have got to be kidding me.” OR “You know, 100 years ago you would have starved.  More than half the food was wheat.” Being gluten intolerant myself, I hear many comments such as these.  And yes, being gluten intolerant or having celiac disease is a real and serious health issue.  There is present research illustrating that having a gluten allergy provokes several psychological issues such as depression and social anxiety that are directly correlated with negative stigmatization.

 When one is stigmatized, scientists believe this is because an individual possesses a quality that is strange in that the typical population sees as unfavorable and strange.  As people have begun to accumulate allergies to gluten, people who are considered “normal” tend to frown upon this character tic as something that is negative.  This becomes extremely prevalent when it comes to eating in a social setting. Those who have a gluten allergy have to avoid a large variety of food.  They can’t have pasta, bread, most baked goods, and one would be surprised what sauces and additives contain gluten.  Then, the  people sitting around them typically do not have this issue.  People with a gluten allergy feel they are inadequate which can lead to them down a dark path of internalizing the stigma (Schroeder, 2013). Feeling different is only one thing but how about gluten free options?  Several restaurants do not even have gluten free options, and if they do they are limited and provided on a tiny separate menu (Cecilia Olsson, 2009) .  

It’s interesting to note as well that celiac and gluten intolerance is not well understood by the public (Schroeder, 2013).  With this, those with celiac disease have difficulty with a variety of different scenarios regarding their diet.  One study evaluates approximately 5 thousand adults on a gluten free diet.  Some reoccurring issues included determining if food they were planning to eat was gluten free, having to avoid restaurants completely, and also avoiding traveling due to lack of finding food that was gluten free (M. Zarkadas, 2006).    

 Gluten allergies can present challenges to college students’ mental health and impact their social activities.  One article illustrates a college girl who explains how her friends express lack of empathy for her celiac condition.  Often, her friends exclude her from social activities, especially when it comes to eating out at restaurants.  Then, if she is invited by her friends she must bring her own food which makes her feel more socially isolated.  In addition, the girl describes the anxiety she feels when someone else offers to prepare her food.  She doesn’t know if they will prepare it correctly or even how much their kitchen is contaminated with gluten.  Additionally, the same article emphasizes how eating on campus can be a reoccurring struggle students with gluten allergies.  Several of the candidates showed concerned regarding food services preparing their meals and a majority of them admitted that following a gluten free diet had a major influence on their social lives (Students with Celiac Disease Face Social Stigma, Limited Options on College Campuses, 2016).      

 There are several challenges to those who have gluten allergies, especially when it comes to social stigmatization.  It is critical for us as a society to understand the underlying struggles with following a gluten free diet in order to overcome negative stigmatization and work to find helpful resources for those with gluten allergies..  

Works Cited

Cecilia Olsson, P. L. (2009). Food That Makes You Different: The Stigma Experienced by Adolescents With Celiac Disease. Qualitative Health Research, 19(7), 976-984.

M. Zarkadas, A. C. (2006). The impact of a gluten-free diet on adults with coeliac disease: Results of a national survey. Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 19(1), 41-49.

Schroeder, R. D. (2013, August). “You Can’t Eat WHAT?” Managing the Stigma of Celiac Disease. Deviant Behavior, 35(6), 456-474.

Students with Celiac Disease Face Social Stigma, Limited Options on College Campuses. (2016, August). Retrieved February 2017, from New England Celiac Organization: https://www.neceliac.org/blog/students-with-celiac-disease-face-social-stigma-limited-options-on-college-campuses/

[paigedeibert-blog]

The video really had me rolling on the floor, because I have met people like that multiple times while working as a server in a restaurant for the past six years. The stigma arises because it is an inconvenience for workers in the kitchen, which is incredibly disheartening when I know a large amount of people personally who have celiacs disease. Since it has not become normal protocol for kitchens to deal with making food without gluten or on gluten-laden surfaces, people treat it as if it is inconveniencing them for another person to have an allergy. I feel that when gluten free becomes more normalized then there will be an easier way for kitchens to be prepared and therefor there will be less of a stigma involved.

[foodilyblog-blog1]

Balancing School, Work, Social Life, and a Healthy Diet

Staying healthy and trying to maintain a healthy diet while being a college student is insanely difficult. Many people who are going to college must balance schoolwork, a job, family responsibility, and a social life. People frequently don’t think about diet or exercise. Often people do not realize how much is going on in their lives and they think they have to choose which to prioritize.

Trying to find ways to get a healthy diet and find time to exercise is often the last thing on people’s minds. I often forget to eat during a busy day or get so exhausted by the end of the day that I don’t want to go to the gym. However, I’ve been trying to find new ways of sneakily fitting in healthy food and exercise into my life. I have started packing little snacks for while I’m in class, such as fruits, vegetables, or nuts. This way I am able to eat something healthy as soon as I think about eating so I don’t forget later. This also helps with not grabbing a quick unhealthy lunch between classes. Sometimes when I have an awkward amount of time between classes and I hang out in the SUB the smell of food makes me want to grab a burger or a few pieces of pizza. However, if I have different snacks then I lose that temptation in favor of my healthy alternatives. Preparing everything the night before also helps reduce the stress of worrying about what to eat the next day. The evening before allows you to think about what you might want and give you plenty of time to prepare it or go buy supplies. Now I’ve gotten into the habit of bagging my snacks in the evening so that in the morning all I have to do is grab them and go. Sometimes I even separate my snacks into serving sized bags as soon as I get home from buying them. Preparing food in large quantities beforehand is also helpful. So far I have tried cooking a few servings of chicken at once and bagging it in separate servings so that I do not have to worry about preparing anything while I’m busy with school or work. This works great for lunch while I’m between classes or even a quick and easy dinner while I’m trying to finish my homework so I can get enough sleep.

           Another alternative for creating a quick, easy, healthy meal is substituting a full meal for a healthy shake. I go to Fired Up Nutrition often and get a shake when I’m in a hurry or forget to pack snacks for school. Fired Up offers meal replacement shakes that give you all the vitamins and minerals you should be getting through a full course meal. Although this isn’t often an option for college students because of the money, it is a way to stay healthy and have a quick option. I have also gotten my roommate into trying to be healthier, which helps motivate me and keep me accountable. My roommate and I have started going to the gym everyday after class, and having someone else to go with has really helped keep me motivated. Our schedules are constantly changing but we have been able to figure out when a good time for both of us is. Sometimes we go before classes, we have gone between two of my classes, and sometimes we don’t get to go until late at night. Some people thrive under a set schedule; however in college this is often difficult to maintain so having an accountability partner makes staying healthy easier and more fun.

References

Modos, Alyssa. “Balancing Priorities in College.” We Are IU. We Are IU, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2017. <https://weareiu.com/blog/alyssa-modos/balancing-priorities-in-college>.

Teeter, Naomi. “8 Tips To Stay Healthy When You’re Crazy Busy.” Mindbodygreen. Mind Body Green, 10 Sept. 2014. Web. 19 Feb. 2017. <http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-15152/8-tips-to-stay-healthy-when-youre-crazy-busy.html>.

[paigedeibert-blog]

I completely agree with this post. It is so difficult to find time to eat, let alone find time to eat something healthy. Finding time to go to the gym has to be scheduled, as does eating, and then meal prepping so eating can be easier in general.

[paigedeibert-blog]

To Thrive, Many Young Female Athletes Need A Lot More Food

Doctors and parents often miss the signs of female athlete triad syndrome — low energy, low bone density and irregular menstruation in an otherwise healthy-looking girl or teen.

As written in my previous post, I was eating to look and feel good. The problem was I was only eating enough for a normal person, not an athlete. This blog talks mainly about the female athlete triad, which is different from my issue, but also relates. I had low energy, was losing weight at a very scary rate, and mentally started to break down.

Cheerleading requires that their athletes must be power houses, great at cardio, flexible and tight, all with a smile on their faces. They require as much food as any other sport if not more and yet many of the athletes fall to female athlete triad.

Bad diet can cause injuries in anyone, but in college athletes that number skyrockets. Great Read!

[paigedeibert-blog]

So many apples! <3 and of course natural peanut butter.

[paigedeibert-blog]

Choosing Healthy Snacks

Three years ago, I came into Montana State University Full of hope and also, full of ideas of what is healthy. I was told throughout my life that added sugar, added salt, a certain amount of carbs and so on was all bad for me. My senior year of high school I decided to do something called the Advocare 24 day challenge. I lost 15 pounds and also gained a ton of muscle from eating clean and taking natural supplements.

That month shaped the way I assumed I should eat for the rest of my life, especially because I was about to start two-a-days for MSU cheer-leading. Those two weeks of two-a-days while restricting my diet to attempt to be healthy ended up hurting me in the end. I succumbed to fainting spells, I lost a ton of weight, and I was not powerful enough to do well in our workouts.

I decided to go to a doctor about my fainting spells and they made me keep a food and activity log for two weeks. After looking at it the doctor said “I have never seen a healthy lifestyle become so unhealthy for an athlete” and that became so interesting to me. In this health journey I have found many different ways to ensure that very active people in college can eat all they need that while still healthy, gives them all the fat, salt, and sugar that they need. Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of my tricks I have learned over the past few years.