How to Maintain Health During the Holidays: An Athlete’s Guide

Posted by Megan Fischer-Colbrie from blog.bridgeathletic.com

At this time every year, athletes add another important aspect to their lives that can impact their training and performance: celebrating the holidays. With more time dedicated to seeing friends and family, this can be a healthful and restorative period for athletes—a chance to mentally recharge. The holidays, however, bring several temptations that when left unchecked can lead to negative effects on training that outweigh the positive energy during this month. Let’s look into how people tend to overindulge and what strategies you can exercise to maintain fitness through the month. Respect your hard work and discipline during the rest of the year by following these tips!

Indulge in Moderation.

One lavish meal won’t dig you into a hole but a season of calorie dense meals will, so try to exercise greater vigilance throughout the month. It is unlikely that the one to two pounds the average American gains during the holidays (and doesn’t lose, according to a The New England Journal of Medicine study) comes from a specific meal you had. The hidden calories are in all the little treats throughout the season. Included in that category are peppermint mochas, the candy bowl that sits on the table for the month of December, the endless supply of holiday cookies, and many more parties that involve festive drinks.

Focus on the holidays by spending time with family instead of focusing on the food. Enjoy a generous meal once or twice this season, and in between recognize all the seasonal treats that you don’t need to incorporate into your diet on a regular basis, as these are the calories that add up with the blink of an eye.

Pay attention to your drinks.

holiday drink chart

Approach seasonal beverages like pumpkin spice lattes and hot chocolate as dessert, reserved for special occasions.

One medium sized peppermint mocha will run you 330 calories and 60 grams of carbohydrates — the same amount of carbs as there are in 4 brownies! This can affect how you feel in training due to the high volume of sugar you may be drinking that you normally do not choose.

At holiday parties, skip the heavy cocktails and opt for red wine or clear liquor with club soda and a splash of lime, if you prefer and if you are of age. Drinks at night tend to leave you feeling tired the next morning. Alcohol can lead to faster time to falling asleep, but the trade off is far worse for the second half of night, according to director of the London Sleep Center Irshaad Ebrahim, lead author of a recent study. Alcohol decreases the time your body spends in REM sleep. Rapid Eye Movement sleep is the deep sleep during which dreaming and learning occurs and memories are stored. Less time in REM sleep can lead to restlessness, grogginess during the day, and an increase in appetite.

On that note, get plenty of sleep.

Pick carefully which holiday events you feel obliged to attend because multiple late nights can be disruptive for your training. If you are returning to school or work in January, your goal is to hit the ground running on the next phase of training and to be mentally re-invigorated to work hard.

Engage in new, but safe activities.

Share experiences with your family that create more memories than the typical gatherings around food. Go for family hikes, walks, or try ice-skating. For all athletes, I recommend saving the skiing and snowboarding for retirement and picking sledding or lower-risk activities in the snow. You have the rest of your life for recreational activities and do not want to risk injury. If you like to bake, try giving away most of the cookies as gifts to friends.

Healthy Holiday Alternatives:

After dutifully listening to this set of tips, here are a few simple substitutes to make your holiday meals healthier.

  • When baking, try switching out half of your all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour (you’ll lose the spike in blood sugar and get a boost in fiber, vitamin B-6, folic acid, and potassium)
  • When possible, use olive oil instead of butter. Sautee items in a pan or roast meat, poultry or vegetables in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil.
  • Use coconut milk, yogurt, or even soft tofu in place of heavy cream for making soups or dips during the holidays. Coconut milk works well as a replacement in desserts while tofu can be used in savory dips and provide a little boost in protein.
  • Try switching out half of the butter in a baking recipe for applesauce or another fruit puree. The puree will not change the flavor and will keep your baked items moist. Use prune puree for darker baked goods like chocolate cake or pear puree for lighter baked items such as muffins.

Most importantly, enjoy the holidays! Allow time with your family and friends help restore your mental health as you build momentum for the coming training cycle in the New Year. Wishing you a Happy Holiday Season from Bridge!


References:

  • A Prospective Study of Holiday Weight Gain. JACK A. YANOVSKI, M.D., PH.D., SUSAN Z. YANOVSKI, M.D., KARA N. SOVIK, B.S., TUC T. NGUYEN, M.S.,
    PATRICK M. O’NEIL, PH.D., AND NANCY G. SEBRING, M.ED., R.D
    http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM200003233421206
  • http://www.starbucks.com/menu/catalog/nutrition?drink=all#view_control=nutrition&drink=espresso
  • http://www.drugs.com/cg/basic-carbohydrate-counting.html

Topics: Nutrition

Why You Need to Eat it Whole

By Anita Nall Richesson, Olympian & Nutritionist

As a general rule of thumb, eating foods in their whole, most natural state (rather than mashed, pureed, juiced, popped etc.) generally lessens the impact on blood sugar and contains more nourishment for the body.  For example, choose a baked potato over chips and fries, choose an apple over applesauce, and always choose the whole vegetable or the whole fruit rather than juicing it, so that you get all the beneficial fiber (which, don’t forget, cancels out some of the sugars) and the other nutrients stored in the skins and pulp.

An excellent illustration can be found in an orange. When you drink orange juice, you get the vitamin C but not the beneficial fiber and phytonutrients that come from the pulp. Even if you buy orange juice with pulp, you’re still not getting any of the fibrous white membrane, which is where the phytonutrients (plant nutrients that fight disease)  hide.

Nutrition science research is finding, increasingly, that it is not one substance or another that gives plant foods their disease-fighting power, but the interaction of these vitamins, antioxidants, and other plant chemicals. So, by eating foods the way Mother Nature presents them, you won’t miss out on any hidden health benefits.  As for sports, your energy will come from whole, natural foods as well.  Bagged and boxed foods won’t give you the performance edge you are looking for.


BIOGRAPHY

Setting the swimming world ablaze at the young age of fifteen with 2 world records in one day propelled Anita into the fast lane of success. After swimming for the cycle (gold, silver, and bronze) in the 1992 Olympic Summer Games in Barcelona, many health challenges hampered her attempts at returning to an Olympic level. Challenged by a series of “mystery illnesses” that lasted a decade after the Olympics, Anita rediscovered health through food. Traditional medicine’s failed healing attempts drove her towards a personal quest for wellness and a passionate understanding of the healing power of food. Her profound experiences with illness, healing and professional athletics have given her a unique perspective she shares with clients.

After completing her undergraduate degree in Communications and Spanish from Arizona State University she pursued holistic nutrition education at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe, Arizona. Anita is a Certified Holistic Nutrition Specialist, Certified Life Coach and accomplished motivational speaker. Anita is also an elite member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Anita coaches clients on how to become the CWO (Chief Wellness Officer) of their own lives through her company Feed Me Anita. She completed 3 NFL seasons as Nutrition Consultant for the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL Football Team. She works with various elite professional athletes including UFC fighters, boxers & world-class swimmers as well as major corporations around the country. She recently began another business called More Than Medals. It is an empowerment program for teenage female athletes that centers around motivation, nutrition & increased self-esteem. www.morethanmedals.us

Read the following articles to learn more about Anita:

How Anita helped guide the NFL team the Jacksonville Jaguars.

How Anita caught Dana Vollmer’s food allergies and helped her get on the right nutritional track to succeed at the Olympics.

Do You Have An Elite Nutrition Mindset?

By: Anita Nall Richesson, 1992 Olympic Gold, Silver & Bronze, Nutrition & Wellness Expert

https://swimswam.com/elite-nutrition-mindset/

What makes an athlete elite? I haven’t met an athlete yet that doesn’t want to be at the top of their game, the tip of the spear, the best of the best. So, how do you get there? There are many components to success in sport.  We are all familiar with attributes like hard work, determination, commitment, dedication and focus. But what else could help take your performance to another level? The elite athlete is always seeking new ways to perfect and grow in sport and improve his/her performance.

After competing at the highest level in sport and winning gold, silver and bronze in the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in swimming, I spent nearly a decade of my life struggling with chronic health problems. I tried everything in order to regain my health and compete successfully at a high level, however, it wasn’t until I learned about the powerful role nutrition can play in our health that my healing began.   Nutrition is a subtle, yet powerful, contributing factor to success. I only say subtle because it can be hard to measure its exact impact at times. If utilized properly, nutrition can be THE THING that takes your performance to another level. It can also hinder performance and lay the foundation for illness, low energy and slow recovery time. I’ve completely transformed my personal eating habits and facilitated that transformation in others. It is the elite athletes I work with who are looking for an edge and see that nutrition is one area in which to do this.

There are 3 keys to having an elite mindset with your nutrition plan. Adopting this mindset and having a new awareness about the impact food can have on your performance will reward you greatly.

1. “LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE”

Hippocrates, one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine, said it best. However, in the land of quick fix prescriptions, grab and go foods, and diet book best sellers it can be a hard motto to live by. Linking what you eat with how you feel is the first step in letting food be thy medicine. Once you become aware, you may soon realize that certain foods give you headaches, possibly increase your eczema and/or contribute to sinus congestion for example. After you take on the mindset of connecting what you eat with how you feel, you are ready for action.

Action: Stay on the perimeter of the grocery store. The most nutritious foods are located there. Foods like fruits, vegetables, proteins, nuts and seeds contribute to high energy, quicker recovery time and decreased illness as opposed to the boxed foods that fill the inside isles.

2. FOOD IS EITHER ENHANCING YOUR PERFORMANCE OR HINDERING IT.

Everything you put in your mouth impacts performance. Understanding this will give you the power to choose foods that contribute to your performance goals.

PERFORMANCE ENHANCING FOODS PERFORMANCE HINDERING FOODS
Eggs, Ham, Green Vegetables Sugary Breakfast foods like Pop Tarts, Pastries & Donuts
Raw nuts & seeds

Sugary, super salted nuts & seeds

Baked Potato

Potato Chips

Fruit Based Desserts w/ minimal sugar or honey as sweetener

Pies, Ice Cream, Candy

Oatmeal Dry, sugary cereals
Grilled Chicken

Fried Chicken

3. FAILURE TO PREPARE IS PREPARING TO FAIL.

If you think about your meal WHEN you get hungry, you are already behind the

nutrition 8-ball. Research shows us that once we get hungry, our decision-making capacity to choose healthy nutritious food dramatically decreases. Set yourself up for success and create a general meal plan for your day and/or week. Here is a sample day (Times, schedules & food requirements vary, this is just 1 possible example)

TIME OF DAY FOOD SUGGESTION
Pre- Morning Practice Oatmeal w/ Fruit & Walnuts & 100% Maple Syrup (1 tsp)
Post- Morning Practice 1-2 Breakfast Sandwiches:   Egg, Sausage & Spinach
Lunch

Quinoa w/ Grilled Chicken, Black Beans, Broccoli & Salsa

Snack

Banana or Apple w/ Almond Butter & Beef Jerky Slices (Be sure its doesn’t contain MSG)

Pre-Afternoon Practice

Coconut milk yogurt w/Chia seeds + 2-3 slices of turkey breast
Post-Practice Recovery shake:   Protein powder*+ Fruit + Almond or Coconut Milk
Dinner Crockpot pulled pork over baked red potatoes & carrots

*The amount and kind of protein varies and is based on body weight and individual needs

Don’t wait until you have a health crisis like I did to adopt an elite mindset with food. Act now! Get your family, your teammates and your coaches on board!

Stay tuned for more articles on developing your elite mindset with food and other wellness strategies that can enhance your performance. I will continue to give you practical tips utilized by many of the elite athletes I work with in their quest to be #1!


BIOGRAPHY

Setting the swimming world ablaze at the young age of fifteen with 2 world records in one day propelled Anita into the fast lane of success. After swimming for the cycle (gold, silver, and bronze) in the 1992 Olympic Summer Games in Barcelona, many health challenges hampered her attempts at returning to an Olympic level. Challenged by a series of “mystery illnesses” that lasted a decade after the Olympics, Anita rediscovered health through food. Traditional medicine’s failed healing attempts drove her towards a personal quest for wellness and a passionate understanding of the healing power of food. Her profound experiences with illness, healing and professional athletics have given her a unique perspective she shares with clients.

After completing her undergraduate degree in Communications and Spanish from Arizona State University she pursued holistic nutrition education at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe, Arizona. Anita is a Certified Holistic Nutrition Specialist, Certified Life Coach and accomplished motivational speaker. Anita is also an elite member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Anita coaches clients on how to become the CWO (Chief Wellness Officer) of their own lives through her company Feed Me Anita. She completed 3 NFL seasons as Nutrition Consultant for the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL Football Team. She works with various elite professional athletes including UFC fighters, boxers & world-class swimmers as well as major corporations around the country. She recently began another business called More Than Medals. It is an empowerment program for teenage female athletes that centers around motivation, nutrition & increased self-esteem. www.morethanmedals.us

Read the following articles to learn more about Anita:

How Anita helped guide the NFL team the Jacksonville Jaguars.

How Anita caught Dana Vollmer’s food allergies and helped her get on the right nutritional track to succeed at the Olympics.

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