Tip of the week by Nancy Clark and Gloria Averbuch – Recipes for Soccer Players

If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to find recipes to fuel you for high energy and good health, check out my new app: Nancy Clark’s Recipes for Athletes. The information will help you create meals that make you feel and perform better.

The app offers 71 recipes, searchable by calories, carbohydrate, protein, and fat. You can further sort the recipes by recommendations for what to eat pre- and post-exercise, as well as for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free recipes.

Each recipe comes with a  colorful photo of the prepared dish accompany the recipes as well as additional nutrition information for each recipe so you know the exact health value for each prepared meal.

The app also includes a quick reference listing of the most popular protein and energy bars, sports and energy drinks, and protein powders.

If you live outside the States, you can select imperial or metric measurements.

All this for only $2.99!

Eat wisely and feel great,

Nancy

Available at the App Store:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nancy-clarks-recipes-for-athletes/id429672418?mt=8&ls=1

Contents

I. Recipes

Breads and Breakfast

Pasta, Rice, and Potatoes

Vegetables and Salads

Chicken and Turkey

Fish and Seafood

Beef and Pork

Beans and Tofu

Beverages and Smoothies

Snacks and Desserts

II. Quick Find

Calories

Carbohydrates

Protein

Fat

Nutrient Timing

Special Diets

III. Advice

Sports Drinks

Electrolytes

Endurance Food Recovery Drinks

Energy Drinks

Energy Bars

Protein Bars

Protein Powders

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Nancy

Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD
Sports Nutrition Services

www.sportsnutritionworkshop.com (home study; online workshop)
www.nancyclarkrd.com (books, handouts, CEUs)

Tip of the week by Nancy Clark and Gloria Averbuch – Pancakes: soccer fuel!

 

Whether you want to recover from an early morning practice or an afternoon game, pancakes are a fun source of carbs to refuel your muscles.

To make pancakes into a balanced sports meal, enjoy them with a poached egg or a tub of Greek yogurt (for a protein boost) plus some fruit salad or glass of juice. 

Here’s a recipe for light and fluffy prizewinners.

Oatmeal Pancakes

1/2 cup uncooked oats (quick or old fashioned)

1/2 cup plain yogurt, buttermilk (or milk mixed with 1/2 tsp vinegar)

1/2 to 3/4 cup milk

1 egg or 2 egg whites, beaten

1 tablespoon oil, preferably canola

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt, as desired

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup flour, preferably half whole-wheat and half white

Optional: dash cinnamon

1. In a medium bowl, combine the oats, yogurt, and milk. Set aside for 15 to 20 minutes to let the oatmeal soften.

2. When the oatmeal is through soaking, beat in the egg and oil and mix well. Add the sugar, salt (and cinnamon). Stir the baking powder into the flour; then add and stir until just moistened. For best results, let the batter stand for 5 minutes before cooking.

3. Heat a lightly oiled or nonstick griddle over medium-high heat.

4. For each pancake, pour about 1/4 cup batter onto the griddle. Turn when the tops are covered with bubbles and the edges look cooked. Turn only once.

5. Serve with syrup, honey, applesauce, yogurt, or other topping of your choice.

Yield: six 6-inch pancakes                                         Total calories: 1,000

Calories/serving (2 pancakes): 330               57 g Carb; 10 g Pro; 7 g Fat

This is just one of many recipes in Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook, 4^th Edition

Manya Makoski’s Snickerdoodle Pancakes

This recipe is from soccer pro Manya Makoski. Manya’s addition of yogurt and strawberries makes this a complete and healthful meal.

2 eggs

¼ cup (35 g) sugar

2 teaspoons (10 g) baking powder

1/4 teaspoon (1 g) salt

2 teaspoons (10 g) vanilla extract

2 teaspoons (2 g)  ground cinnamon

2 cups (250 g)flour (preferably half whole wheat)

1/2 cup (120 ml) milk

1. Beat eggs and sugar together with a whisk.

2. Add in the baking powder, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Stir in the flour and milk until the batter is mixed well.

3. Heat the frying pan and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Pour batter into small circles on the frying pan.  Flip when small bubbles reach the surface of the batter and the edges of the pancakes are dry.

4. Enjoy with vanilla yogurt and strawberries.

Yield: 4 servings

Total Calories: 1,200 (without toppings)

Calories per serving: 300

60 g Carbohydrate

9 g Protein

3 g Fat

From: Food Guide for Soccer: Tips and Recipes from the Pros by Nancy Clark and Gloria Averbuch.

Tip of the week by Nancy Clark and Gloria Averbuch – Want better recovery? Eat more colorful fruits!

Tired of feeling sore after a game? Try eating more colorful fruitsand veggies. Tart cherries, pomegranates, purple grapes, and blueberries. These are just a few of the colorful fruits and their juices that are filled with healing powers. Colorful fruits are rich in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties; they are perfect remedies for soccer players who get “beat up” during a game.

 Several studies have shown the power of fruits in reducing muscle pain. For example, tart cherry juice taken for 7 days before—and on the day of— a 12 mile run significantly reduced post-run pain (1). Sounds to me like a better alternative to NSAIDs with the risk of adverse medical effects.

While the folks who sell tart cherry juice products have funded this research, the bottom line is that all colorful fruits and their juices are very powerful in terms of reducing pain associated with inflammation. These include Welch’s purple grape juice, PomWonderful pomegranate juice, as well as strawberries, blueberries, dates, mango….

How do you plan these health-protective fruits into your diet? Four easy suggestions include:

• Whip up a fruit smoothie for breakfast or recovery snack: frozen berries + OJ + Greek yogurt or powered milk for protein.

• Sprinkle generous amounts of chopped dates, dried apricots and other dried fruit on top of oatmeal or other breakfast cereal.

* Tuck two bottles into your gym bag: one with water, one with tart cherry, pomegranate or blueberry juice into your gym bag so the fluids will be ready and waiting to quench your thirst. 

• Establish a food rule: You have to eat some dates (they are powerfully sweet and very rich in anti-oxidants) before you have a cookie or other dessert. (Hopefully, this will even kill your appetite for the cookie!)

Eat wisely and be well,

Nancy Clark and Gloria Averbuch

Food Guide for Soccer: Tips and Recipes From the Pros

www.nancyclarkrd.com

(1) Kuehl KS, Perrier ET, Elliot DL, Chesnutt JC. Efficacy of tart cherry juice in reducing muscle pain during running: a randomized controlled trial. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2010 May 7;7:17.

Tip of the week by Nancy Clark and Gloria Averbuch – A pain in the side...

About 60% of athletes know what a side stitch feels like. It’s a stabbing pain in your gut that can bring you to a stand-still. Because getting attacked by a side stitch is unpredictable (that is, one day you might get one but the next day you don't), they are hard to research. The available data suggests they commonly occur in the same spot: on the upper right side of the abdomen where the liver is attached to the diaphragm by two ligaments.

To treat a side stitch, many athletes bend forward, stretch the affected side, breathe deeply from the belly, push up on the affected area, tighten the abdominal muscles, and/or change from "shallow" to "deep" breathing. (Pretend you are blowing out candles while exhaling with pursed lips.)

While we aren't 100 percent certain what causes a side stitch, the prevailing theory is exercise creates stress on the ligaments that connect the liver to the diaphragm. Stitches can be provoked by a heavy dose of pre-exercise food and fluids, minimal training and inadequate pre-exercise warm-up. Wearing a tight belt can help reduce organ jostling and reduce the symptoms. You could also record your food and fluid intake to try to detect triggers (too much pre-exercise water? too large a meal?). With repeated dietary tweaks, you can hopefully discover a tolerable portion of pre-exercise fuel, or at least start to train your body to be able to tolerate small amounts that can enhance your performance without sending you to the sidelines.

Eat wisely and play well,

Nancy Clark and Gloria Averbuch

Food Guide for Soccer: Tips and Recipes From the Pros

For more information on diestive concerns, see Chaper 9: Fueling Before Exercise in Food Guide for Soccer: Tips and Recipes From the Pros.

Tip of the week by Gloria Averbuch and Nancy Clark – Salad as a meal

Any season, brunch, lunch or dinner, salad can be a soccer and sports-worthy meal-IF you make the right choices. Below is a "complete program" for building the best salad for your sport from Food Guide for Soccer: Tips and Recipes from the Pros.


Salad for Lunch


Salads, whether served as a main dish or an accompaniment, are a simple way to boost your intake of fresh vegetables-that's good! But as a soccer athlete, you need a substantial, carbohydrate-based lunch. Most salads get the bulk of their calories from salad oil-not good. You'll be better able to fuel your muscles if you choose a sandwich with a side salad for lunch, rather than eat just a big salad for the entire meal. However, if a salad is your choice, to make it a meal, make sure to add from the substantial choices below.



Three tricks to making a healthy sports salad are:


1. Choose a variety of colorful vegetables-dark green lettuces, red tomatoes, yellow peppers, orange carrots-for a variety of vitamins and minerals. If the vegetables you buy for salads tend to wilt in your refrigerator, consider frequent trips to the salad bar at the grocery store and deli as an alternative to tossing veggies that spoil before you find the chance to eat them. And here's a tip: dig from the bottom, to make sure to get the coldest (and therefore best preserved) part of the salad bar.


2. Add extra carbohydrates, or protein:

• dense vegetables, such as corn, peas, beets, carrots

• beans and legumes, such as chickpeas, kidney beans, and three-bean salad

• cooked rice or pasta

• oranges, apples, raisins, grapes, craisins

• toasted croutons

• whole-grain bread or roll on the side

• hardboiled eggs, cheese (moderate amounts), chicken, flaked tuna or imitation seafood, preferably without mayonnaise. (If it comes with mayo, hold off adding any extra dressing to the salad or add lemon or vinegar.)


3. Monitor the dressing. Some soccer players drown 50 calories of healthful salad ingredients with 400 calories of blue cheese dressing! At a restaurant, always request the dressing be served on the side. Otherwise, you may get 400 calories of unhealthy oil, or mayonnaise-fatty foods that fill your stomach but leave your muscles unfueled.


If you choose to use regular dressings, try to select ones made with olive oil for both a nice flavor and health-protective monounsaturated fats. If you want to reduce your fat intake, simply dilute regular dressings with water, more vinegar, lemon, or even milk (in ranch and other mayonnaise-based dressings). Or, choose from the plethora of low- or non-fat salad dressings. These dressings are good not only for salads, but also sandwiches, baked potatoes and dip.


Excerpted from Food Guide for Soccer-Tips & Recipes From the Pros, with Women's Professional Soccer, by Gloria Averbuch and Nancy Clark, RD. Available on www.amazon.com or www.nancyclarkrd.com


Check out the latest news on the 2011 Women's Professional Soccer season at www.womensprosoccer.com

Tip of the week by Gloria Averbuch and Nancy Clark – Make Time for Breakfast!

As an aspiring soccer star, plan to start your day with breakfast preferably within two hours of waking. From female athletes on a 1,800-calorie weight reduction diet, to tall men who devour 3,600+ calories a day, soccer athletes deserve to eat  a hefty 500 to 900 calorie morning meal(s). If you train in the morning (such as in summer camps or team pre-season), you might want to eat part of your breakfast (as tolerated) before practice, and then enjoy the rest of the breakfast afterwards, either at home, on the way to class, or in your car.

Despite our clear message about breakfast being the most important meal of the day, we have to coax many soccer athletes to experiment with eating (more) breakfast. Far too many of them under-eat in the morning. Let’s take at look at just one standard breakfast excuse—and solutions.

“I don't have time to eat breakfast…”

Lack of priority is the real problem, not lack of time. If you can make time to train, you can make time to fuel for your training. Even if you choose to sleep to the last minute before dragging yourself out of bed to go to school, work, or a soccer practice or game, you can still choose to eat breakfast on the way. Some simple portable breakfasts include:

• a baggie filled with raisins, almonds, and granola.

• a tortilla rolled with a slice or two of low-fat cheese.

• a peanut butter and honey sandwich on wholesome bread.

• a glass of milk, then a banana while on the way to your destination.

• a travel mug filled with a fruit smoothie or protein shake.

• an energy bar and a banana during the morning commute.

Excerpted from Food Guide for Soccer—Tips & Recipes From the Pros, with Women’s Professional Soccer, by Gloria Averbuch and Nancy Clark, RD. Available on www.amazon.com or www.nancyclarkrd.com

ww.nancyclarkrd.com.

Tip of the week by Gloria Averbuch and Nancy Clark - Hooray for Carbohydrates!

 

Athletes and other active people should embrace, not shun, a diet that relies primarily on carbohydrates. Fortunately, the cooler temperatures of fall and winter often lend themselves to traditional “carbohydrate cravings.” Ironically, avoiding these cravings usually leads only to other, more destructive cravings: such as for refined carbohydrates, like the kind in sweets. So, do yourself a favor, and include wholesome grains as the foundation of each meal!

Below is some advice and recommendations from Food Guide for Soccer: Tips and Recipes from the Pros.

Carbohydrates for Your Sports Diet

By eating grains, fruits and vegetables as the foundation of each meal, you'll consume about 55 to 65% of your calories from carbohydrates. This is exactly what you need for a high-energy sports diet. These carbohydrates are stored in muscles in the form of glycogen and provide the energy you need for performing on the soccer field.

Grain foods are a popular source of carbohydrates for most soccer athletes. The exceptions are the weight-conscious athletes who believe they will get fat if they eat breads, cereals and pastas at each meal. False. Carbohydrates are not fattening; excess calories are fattening.

Fruits and vegetables are also excellent sources of carbohydrates. But some players have trouble figuring out how to consume the recommended daily 2 cups (500 g) of fruits and 2-1/2 cups (600 g) of vegetables. As one 22-year-old soccer player sheepishly remarked, "I'm lucky if I eat that much in a week." The trick is to eat large portions. Most soccer players can easily enjoy a banana (counts as one cup fruit) and 8 ounces (one cup) of orange juice in the morning. That’s already the minimal 2 cups of fruit for the day! A big bowl of salad filled with colorful tomato, carrot, and pepper can account for the minimal recommended 21/2 cups of vegetables.

Eat Right for Yourself, And for Your Team

Just as each teammate depends on the others to be fit, focused and ready to play, so too with being well-nourished. When you eat right, you do so for yourself and for the team effort, since what, when and how you fuel has a direct impact on your performance. Parents, coaches, team captains and/or managers: take a poll before games. Ask players what and when they ate before arriving. If it isn’t up to speed (often that means not enough), pass the pre-game snacks. Make sure to do this, particularly for important games. The players will soon got the message, and learn to eat well on their own.

Excerpted from Food Guide for Soccer—Tips & Recipes From the Pros, with Women’s Professional Soccer, by Gloria Averbuch and Nancy Clark, RD. Available on www.amazon.com or www.nancyclarkrd.com.