Top Fast Food Choices for Swimmers

10/23/2012

BY CHRIS ROSENBLOOM, PHD, RD, CSSD

I’ve had the joy of working with athletes for over 20 years, and I know that athletes, like all Americans, eat fast food.

In an ideal world, parents would be feeding their kids healthy, home cooked meals, but when that isn't possible in this fast-paced society, healthy choices can be made when eating out. Instead of telling athletes to avoid all fast food, I think it is more realistic to help them make good choices when dining out.

If you think you can’t eat healthy at quick service or fast food restaurants, think again. Healthy options are popping up in all of your favorite restaurants but it is up to you to make the healthy choices. Here are some of the better choices at the top restaurant chains:

1. McDonald’s has more healthy choices than you might image. Menu boards now post calories and about 80% of menu choices are less than 400 calories. My favorite choices for athletes include Egg McMuffin, Fruit & Maple Oatmeal, Strawberry Banana Real Fruit Smoothie, Vanilla Cone, Fruit’N Yogurt Parfait, Fat-free Chocolate Milk, Apple Slices, Scrambled Eggs, Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken, and Ranch BLT Grilled Chicken Sandwich. You can even download a McDonald’s app for nutrition information on your phone. 
2. Subway recently announced that they will pilot the American Heart Association’s Heart-Check Meal Certification Program which to date is only found on food in the grocery store. For athletes, my favorite picks at Subway include any 6” 6 grams fat or less sub, Subway Club with avocado, Subway Melt, Ultimate Veggies with avocado, Yogurt Parfait, and Egg & Cheese with Spinach Breakfast Sandwich. 
3. Chick-fil-A has tasty chargrilled chicken sandwich, but that is not all that tops the healthy choices at this restaurant. Try the Southwest Chargrilled Chicken Salad, Carrot & Raisin salad, Yogurt parfait, Chick-n-Minis, Mini-Sundae or Icedream cone. 
4. Wendy’s offers Homestyle Chicken Go Wrap, Ultimate Chicken Grill, Broccoli & cheese potato, Chili, and Small Original Chocolate Frosty that can all fit into the calorie budget of an active teen. 
5. Dunkin Donuts is adding oatmeal to the menu so sweet, fried pastries are not your only breakfast option. The “DDSmart” menu offers Egg White Turkey Sausage Wake Up Wrap or Multi-grain bagels for a quick grab and go meal.

I know some parents will be surprised that a dietitian is recommending fast food. To be sure, there are many high-calorie, high-fat, not so healthy choices to be made at any restaurant, but there are more options than ever for a healthy, quick, inexpensive meal or snack that young swimmers will like and parents can feel good about.

Chris Rosenbloom is the sports dietitian for Georgia State University Athletics and is the editor of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Sports Nutrition Manual, 5th edition, 2012. She welcomes questions from swimmers, parents and coaches. Email her at chrisrosenbloom@gmail.com.

Article from USASwimming.org

BEATING FATIGUE IN THE YOUNG SWIMMER

10/17/2012

BY JILL CASTLE, REGISTERED DIETITIAN AND CHILD NUTRITION EXPERT

Many swimmers are in the thick of training season, going to after-school practice or meets, heading home for dinner, homework, studying, bedtime, and perhaps getting up early the next morning for an early practice.

It’s a grueling schedule for any swimmer, and one that may be working toward fatigue and against peak performance.

Swimmers who drag through the day, lag in the pool, are moody and bordering on physical exhaustion need a wake up call—but not one from the alarm clock! It’s time to get back to the basics: enough sleep, good nutrition and plenty of fluids.

Sleep: In general, children and teens need more sleep than adults. Children aged 7 to 10 years need about 10-11 hours of sleep and teens need 8-9 hours each day. During sleep, human growth hormone (HGH) is released, allowing the process of normal growth to occur.

Children and teen athletes may benefit from more sleep than non-athletes. In studies conducted by Cheri Mah, a Stanford researcher, college athletes (swimmers, football, basketball and tennis players) who were able to sleep ten hours performed better, logging faster times and quicker reaction times.

While researchers don’t understand the sleep/performance relationship completely, improvements appear to be related to the release of HGH during sleep, which stimulates muscle repair and growth, bone formation and overall recovery from exercise.

Take-Away: Be sure to get at least the recommended hours of sleep for age, and consider extra time in bed, either at night or at nap time to optimize performance.

Nutrition: Good nutrition is essential to any sport, but the energy demands of swimming make the selection of food types and amounts important. Pay attention to the content of meals and snacks, selecting wholesome foods most of the time (90%), and Fun Foods occasionally (10%) as follows:

• Lean protein sources (lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, and eggs)
• Low fat dairy/non-dairy sources (low fat or skim milk, soymilk, low fat yogurt and cheeses)
• Fruit (fresh, frozen, dried and 100% juices)
• Vegetables (fresh, frozen, and low sodium canned)
• Whole grains (cold and hot cereals, pasta, bread/bagels/rolls, and crackers)
• Fun Foods (candy, cookies, ice cream, chips and French fries)

Food timing is just as important. Keeping up with nutrition means being more scheduled with eating, targeting meals and snacks every 3-4 hours. Skipping or delaying meals can translate to poor nutrition and reduced performance.

Take-away: Youth swimmers are unique in that they are still growing, which is a calorie demand in its own right. Coupled with swimming, the energy and nutrient needs of the youth swimmer are a prime concern for proper growth, minimizing fatigue and optimal performance. Make nutrition part of the schedule, giving it top billing on the priority list.

Hydration: Young swimmers can easily get behind on fluid intake and this can negatively influence energy level and performance. To stay ahead of dehydration, drink before, during and after training sessions and competition using these guidelines:

• Before: 6 milliliters (ml) per pound body weight per hour (ex: 100# swimmer needs 600 ml per hour or 20 ounces per hour)
• During: Take the opportunity to drink (if given), according to thirst
• After: 2 ml per pound body weight per hour (ex: 100# swimmer needs 200 ml per hour or ~7 ounces per hour)

Take-Away: Stay wet! In other words, get on top of hydration. Anticipate fluid requirements by calculating pre-training and post-training fluid needs. Drink enough at school and/or before practice. Be sure to pack enough fluids for training sessions and afterward to help with hydration recovery.

Jill Castle, MS, RD is a registered dietitian and child nutrition expert. She is the co-author of the upcoming book, Fearless Feeding: How to Raise Healthy Eaters from High Chair to High School (2013), and creator of Just The Right Byte, a child and family nutrition blog. She lives with her husband and four children (two swimmers!) in New Canaan, CT. Want to contact Jill? Email her at Jill@JillCastle.com.

Article from USASwimming.org

Why Caffeine Is Bad For Your Kids

By Casey Seidenberg

To my delight, there has been a lot of talk about sugar these days, including its toxic effects and addictive qualities. But if we are going to discuss toxic effects and addictive qualities, we should also address caffeine.

Caffeine is a drug. As with most drugs, individuals who consume caffeine build up a tolerance for it, feeling the negative effects less and less even as they consume more and more. A body addicted to caffeine will most likely go through a withdrawal period.
(Stephen Krow)

You might think children aren’t consuming a lot of caffeine, or at least not as much as their Starbucks-toting parents. In a 2010 study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, 75 percent of children surveyed consumed caffeine on a daily basis, and the more caffeine the children consumed, the less they slept. The American Association of Poison Control Centers has reported roughly 1,200 cases a year of caffeine toxicity in children younger than age 6!

As more and more of my sons’ friends regularly get Frappuccino's with their dads on Saturdays, bring energy drinks to their sports games or order soda every time they go out to dinner, my boys are curious. They want to know why we don’t have those items in our fridge and why I don’t think it is a smart idea for them to boost their energy with caffeine.

This is what I told them:

- Caffeine does its job by blocking a chemical that is responsible for calming the brain.

- When this chemical is blocked, stress hormones increase.

- When we have a high-stress response, our insulin resistance and fat storage can increase. (Diabetes and obesity, anyone?)

- Caffeine also inhibits impulse control by making the body think there isn’t a need to produce as much serotonin. (One son asked me if this meant that his brother would tackle him more often after consuming caffeine!)

- Caffeine causes the body to eliminate water, and kids who drink a lot of caffeinated beverages often drink less water. Less water is not a good thing for our little athletes who are sweating on the sports fields! All of this leads to dehydration.

- Caffeine is not a nutrient, like protein or calcium. We do not need it to stay alive or healthy.

- Caffeine takes three to seven hours to get out of the body, so the afternoon jolt of caffeine can disrupt nighttime sleep.

- Caffeine withdrawal can leave children, and adults for that matter, irritable and with low energy. When left without energy, a body will crave more of the substance that provided the pre-crash jolt. Let the caffeine addiction begin!

Then I showed my boys a 1995 NASA study on spiders and drugs that includes a jaw-dropping image of two spider webs, one produced by a spider given caffeine and one by a drug-free spider. The difference is shocking. The caffeinated spider’s web isn’t nearly as neat or operational; in fact it barely resembles a web!

My kids were fascinated by the images. I was horrified. Even if the effects of caffeine aren’t the same in children as in spiders, the study got me thinking about how children who have consumed caffeine often have less impulse control, fine-motor precision and information retention. Those effects do not bode well for the school day, or even the afternoon homework routine. Our kids are sensitive to chemicals and stimulants. Their little bodies are not used to such substances, and we should keep it that way.

So next time your child needs a burst of energy, try fresh fruit or a smoothie. A small bowl of raw nuts can provide real energy in the form of protein and healthful fats. But forgo that caffeinated Coke, the flavored iced tea that might have even more caffeine than a soda, or the Amp energy drink, which makes the other two look like amateurs. Instead of encouraging caffeine consumption in our children, let’s teach them to drink water, eat well, and sleep for their energy. We might just sleep better ourselves.

Jolting numbers

The U.S. government doesn’t have recommendations for children’s caffeine intake, though the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests a limit of 100mg a day for adolescents. Here are amounts of caffeine in milligrams of common beverages.

• 16 ounces of Monster energy drink: 160
• 9.5 ounces of Starbucks Frappuccino: 115
• 8.4 ounces of Amp energy drink: 74
• 12 ounces of Mountain Dew: 54
• 16 ounces of Snapple (peach): 42
• 12 ounces of Coca-Cola: 35
• 8 ounces of hot cocoa: 9

Seidenberg is the co-founder of Nourish Schools, a D.C.-based nutrition education company.

Reprinted from an article on www.washingtonpost.com by Casey Seidenberg