Nutrition
November 22, 2011 | 
Author I was recently in the local supermarket and spotted some new, Whipped Peter Pan peanut butter. As I asked myself, “why the hell would I need whipped peanut butter?” I looked curiously at a claim on the label “1/3 less sugar.” Oh, really, Peter?
You need to understand – I love calling companies out on their deceptive practices. As such, I flipped the jar around to look at the nutrition label, wondering how they managed to squeeze 1/3 of the sugar out of said nut goo. The answer? They didn’t. Not technically. Here’s an example of what they did, provided to you in town-crier format:
“I’ve created the world’s lowest fat Pizza! Come eat it! It has 87.5% less fat…it’s true! This magical pizza is called…one slice.” Read the rest of this entry »
Currently, myself and a handful of my athletes are involved in the “Fall Eating Challenge.” What is the fall eating challenge? Well, it’s a challenge that I made up. I make up lots of stuff – I’m my own boss and I do what I want.
Basically, the problem that we are addressing with this challenge is “little person syndrome,” otherwise known as “Hey, put on some damn weight.” I have some very strong kids working out with me, but they just aren’t going to apply the force they need to the baseball, softball or volleyball without some added muscle mass. There’s a lot to be said for being strong, but when it comes down to it, Force = Mass x Velocity. You can tell me that Tim Lincecum throws gas all you want, but 99% of guys his size simply will never be able to produce the power that he does from his little frame. Most big leaguers…BIG.
I’ve seen it too many times already for it to be a fluke. Serious baseball players who lifted year-round for 2, 3 or in some cases all 4 years of high school, and somehow manage explode in strength once they reach college. Gaining 15 lbs in bodyweight was typical for freshman on my collegiate team this fall, and almost everybody was making their previous one rep-maxes look like light weight by thanksgiving break.
I haven’t written in a few weeks, which is largely a product of my trip to Spain for the holidays. I’ve been swamped since returning, and my mind just hasn’t settled long enough to put the electronic pen to the electronic paper. Anyway, I went grocery shopping today. Here’s what my cart looked like:
Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve recently discovered that Craisins are delicious. Having never been a fan previously, I now am the proud owner of a 3lb bag. Yet, I am still on the fence about whether or not these tasty little bog treasures are healthy. Let’s figure this out.
The Red Death?
Read the rest of this entry »
“You mean to tell me that there’s a drink that combines the benefits of steroids AND the delicious taste of salty poolwater?!?!”
I was given some ASEA water a few months ago to try – one of the few perks I have received as a result of my baseball career. I was promised that as a pseudo-athlete, my athletic prowess would shoot through the roof with only a few salty ounces a day. Did it work? Read the rest of this entry »
Most of us are out of the house for the vast majority of the day. Couple this with the fact that the food service industry can almost never deliver nutritious and affordable meals consistently, and we have a big dietary problem. If you don’t plan ahead, your diet will fail.
Invariably, my girlfriend Rachel is going to assume that this post is about her. Anytime I offer nutritional advice she gives me accusatory looks, but this stuff is never about any one person. Planning is the biggest thing holding most people back from their goals.
You just can’t find legitimately healthy food out there in the real world. Restaurants sell on taste, even the ones who pretend to be healthy like Panera Bread and Chipotle. Spending 7 or 8 bucks per meal becomes prohibitively expensive for most of us anyway, especially when eating every 3-4 hours.
What Do Lunchables Have in Common with Port-a-Pots? Portable Crap.
So, it takes planning. If you can prepare your own healthy food in accordance with your goals and take it with you to work or school, you’ll be well on your way. The key is never finding yourself without food or stuck in situation where you will stray from your diet out of hunger.
Whether you’re trying to gain or lose weight, you need to be eating clean food every 3-4 hours. If an athlete wants to get bigger, allowing 5 or 6 hours to pass without eating is unacceptable. And if a person is attempting to lose weight, the hungrier they get the more likely they are to have a blow up meal of unhealthy food in unhealthy quantities.
Wouldn't you look forward to this in your lunch?
The bottom line is that you just need to spend more time in the kitchen prepping and packing food. Whether this means whipping together a 4-day batch of stir-fry for the week on Sunday night or just putting together healthy sandwiches, on whole wheat with spinach and avocado the day before, is up to you. But waking up and rushing out the door WILL NOT get you to your goals.
And let me emphasize the amount of food necessary to get you through a whole day at work or school – it’s a lot. People pack a small sandwich, baby carrots and a Snack Pack for the place they will reside for 8-10 hours each day; not acceptable. You need to pack two meals if you’re a 9-5er, because you’re probably eating 1-2 hours before work actually begins, and when you factor in commute, after school activities, and just the fact that it will take you some time to prepare dinner when you get home, those two packed meals become crucial. If you don’t plan ahead, you’ll end up fasting too long during the day and overeating at dinner. Coming home ravenous is a result of poor planning.
Here’s a sample of what to pack for a typical day at work or school:
- 2 Apples
- 2 Whole carrots
- 2 Bananas
- 1-2 ounces of nuts like almonds or walnuts
- 2 Sandwiches with a lot of meat or
- 2 medium tupperware containers filled with stir-fried veggies and a protein
- A big jug of water
If you’re trying to get leaner and don’t eat everything, fine. But if you’re trying to gain weight, then you need to down all of what you pack. It’s not complicated, it just takes forethought.
**I am a strength coach and pitching instructor in the Central Illinois area. Personal training, pitching lessons, and custom training programs are among my available services. If you liked this post, please subscribe to my monthly newsletter – you will receive member-only information and/or special offers on services and products.**
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Thanks for reading! -Dan Blewett
I crack myself up! What a lame rhyming title for this post! I laughed out loud when I thought it up and recited it to my girlfriend, so I figured I would just run with it.
Anyway, I’ve been leaning up since the end of the season (cutting some of the fat that I gained via late-night hot dog benders in visiting clubhouses), and one of the big difference makers is late-night eating. You simply cannot stuff yourself with carbs in the evening if you want to stay lean.
But, if you’re on a quality workout program, you still need to feed your muscles as the day wanes; fasting from 6pm on is NOT the answer.
So, you need to adjust what you’re eating, and I suggest some variation of the 4 Bs: Beef, Bacon, Broccoli and Brie – all low-carb foods that will fill you up and keep your body moving in the direction of muscle recovery and fat loss. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve learned a few interesting things about food recently. Let’s discuss… Read the rest of this entry »
Muscle Milk is a really hot product in the sports supplement market. It’s presented to the public as an athlete’s ideal protein drink…but is it?
*I wrote this back in ’09 as my senior year in college started to wane.*
You’ve seen him. You have probably whispered to your friends about him while he sits across the room, inhaling his food. Three burgers, three slices of pizza, a whole plate of french fries, and an army of cups filled with what combined looks like a gallon of soda. That’s probably just round one, and he is almost certainly going back for dessert.
If this person sounds familiar to you, then you are probably a college student who has witnessed this feeding ritual in your campus dining hall. Sad thing is, in the University setting this kind of eating is fairly common.
This uninhibited way of eating starts when you enter college, at which time you are thrust into an environment where, within the boundaries of the campus food system, what you eat, how much you eat, and when you eat is entirely up to you. Haven’t even see a vegetable in months? You’re an adult now, and Mom will never know…
The common result of this new style of grazing? You guessed it! The “Freshman 15.” This is a slow-onset affliction, often going unnoticed until one’s parents look confused into the eyes of a round-faced teenager, wondering if it is really the same child they sent away to school.
But never fear, because eating healthy on campus is manageable if you employ some strategy. With careful attention and a little planning, it is possible to live the dream – getting others to cook the meals that make you leaner and healthier. Read the rest of this entry »
If you haven’t yet seen the commercials by Gatorade bearing claims that the iconic sports drink has once again evolved, then let me fill you in: Gatorade is finally wising up and making themselves a player in the post-workout nutrition market, which is currently inhabited mostly by supplement makers. They are doing this by making their classic Gatorade just one piece in a system of three products designed to provide nutrition before, during and after a workout. They call it the G-Series. I call it a decent effort. Read the rest of this entry »
I just read a Wall Street Journal article entitled A Case for Those Extra 10 Pounds. As I read this piece I found myself nodding – sure, 10 extra pounds isn’t going to kill anyone nor will it cause health problems. Fat has always been on-body energy storage, and as such, in small percentages of body mass can’t be deadly – that would be completely nonsensical, and evolution is one smart bastard.
Yet, I hate the message this article sends. Americans are so damned lazy as they are, and each such garbage food on a regular basis, that we should not be preaching acceptance. Sure, normal or slightly overweight people may be healthy and as such entitled to feel good about themselves, but people should only start accepting a non-ideal bodyweight when they are in a power position – that is, living a lifestyle in which maintaining that imperfect weight is easy. I think that most overweight people are not; rather, they are on a slow but slippery slope toward eventually being very overweight, especially if they are young. Read the rest of this entry »
Fiber Supplements? Please. Save yourself the trouble, poor taste and cost of stirring up one of these supplements for which you can easily eliminate the need.
So your Doc says you need more fiber…
Great! He or she is probably right. The average American eats a diet high in processed foods, from which natural dietary fiber is almost always stripped. There is a good chance a fiber supplement might be recommended to you, however, that is not the way to go about it. The problem isn’t just fiber – it’s the fact that you’re not eating natural, unadulterated foods. Read the rest of this entry »
If you know me, you know I am a huge believer in fish oil, and I typically take 3 tablespoons (42 grams) per day. It helps my joints, my heart, my blood pressure, my recovery from workouts, and the list goes on. I am also a very discriminating food and supplement shopper. So, let’s discuss some of the things you should be looking for when buying fish oil. Read the rest of this entry »