It’s been eight (plus) weeks in quarantine and by now, we’ve hopefully established a routine, a new normal and structure to our days. While some have settled into a routine and feeling less anxiety, others are wondering if their business will thrive again, grieving the loss of a friend or family member, or critical life events such as a graduation, prom or wedding that never happened. I’m not going to sugar coat it, this is tough! And, in our lifetime, it’s unprecedented.
[Read more…]Sleep & Athletic Performance – The Impact and How to Improve
Are you skimping on sleep, waking up tired and plodding through your workouts with the well-intended goal of hitting the hay earlier tonight? If so, welcome to the club! A recent blog I wrote, The Secret Recipe to Athletic Performance Enhancement, discusses why blindly following a training plan without first mastering physiological, dietary and lifestyle essentials is ill-advised.
While there are many recovery modalities available to athletes, sleep is the most important and impactful. And, unsurprisingly, it’s the one essential that is most commonly underestimated and compromised by busy people on-the-go. I get it, there’s nothing sexy about sleep; It doesn’t come in a shiny package marketed with endless promises of increased strength and energy, but it should. So, grab your pillow and get comfy while I explain why sleep should be at the forefront of your training plan.
[Read more…]The Athlete’s Top 11 Tips for Holiday Eating
The holiday season is upon us, and while this is a fun and festive season, it can also be challenging to stay on track with healthy eating and training, which can lead to weight gain and loss of fitness. Read on for my top 11 tips for holiday eating for athletes.
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Dieting Pitfalls: What every athlete should know about dieting
For many people, a new year means a new resolution. You’re ready to finally change those pesky hard-to-shake habits. I’d venture to guess that weight loss is the MOST universal New Year’s resolution of all time. Why am I so confident? Quick fixes, fad diets, liquid diets, detoxes, fasting, diets that depend on a company’s proprietary products and supplements, diets that remove whole food groups, and diets that leave you feeling hungry have been around for eternity and will persist simply because they are NOT designed to work. Yep, there I said it. The truth is, [Read more…]
Post Season Eating Guidelines
It is a common belief among endurance triathletes that we perform at a higher level with a lean, mean fighting machine. And, after all, we spend numerous training hours donning skintight attire that leaves little to the imagination. Triathletes come in all shapes and sizes and shouldn’t be judged by their appearance. The art of comparison runs rampant in the triathlon world, [Read more…]
Control Food Cravings – How to Overcome the Pitfalls and Succeed
I’ve been a registered dietitian for 25 years, and I have yet to meet an athlete who doesn’t struggle with cravings. Unmanaged, cravings can throw a carefully designed nutrition regimen out of whack. Cravings tend to come later in the day, without warning, just when you’ve let your guard down, and can derail an athlete’s daily nutritional balance. One athlete I know describes cravings as a “black hole that sucks me in and I lose complete control of all willpower as I tear through my pantry. It’s demoralizing.”