Keeping it real in the New Year

Nutrition Ideas for the New Year
Keeping it Real
by Tri-Sition Area's coach Dawn Elder

As the new year is upon us, so are the New Year "resolutions" that we have made. Some of your resolutions may be about weight loss. As athletes, there usually is a fine line between fueling our workouts, recovering from workouts and maintaining our strength. While there are many formulas that exist with respect to carbohydrate/ fat/ protein rations, many of us are looking at how to apply these to the real world. The method that makes the most sense is to have real weight management by eating real food.

We are surrounded by gels, powders, bars, blocks, gummies and all sorts of "food" for training. When life gets busy, it is easy to grab something like that for "quick energy". What is critical to keep in mind is that there are specific purposes for those products and they are useful when we are actively training. Consuming those at any other time is just adding empty calories and that quick energy will have an even quicker crash.

The next solution that many of us turn to is processed food. We turn to pre-prepared meals, cooking short cuts such as processed meats and cheese, chips and engineered food. The challenge is that the body does not recognize most of this as real food and thus misses some of the vital nutrients needed from food.

The solution is to stick to real food. If you know where your food came from and what is in it, chances are so does your body. The fewer the ingredients the better it is for you. When we start to look for nutrient dense food rather than only energy dense food, our bodies will too and we will learn to use those nutrients as long lasting energy. Even your fat sources should come from natural sources such as olive oil, nuts an avocados. Trans-fat and low fat are just not descriptions that apply to natural food. If it comes in a box or a bag chances are it is not "real".

So as you go through your day, watch your patterns and habits of convenience. Work to make small changes towards eating real food and less processed food. Give yourself time to adjust to the taste of real fruits, vegetables, lean meats and nuts. Soon processed food will no longer even taste good to you. Here is to being REAL this year!

For questions or comments contact Coach Dawn Elder at dawn@trisitionarea.com