With so many fad diets and skinny cover models, it was nice to read an article on the importance of fat in a diet. A writer for Women's Health Magazine, wrote a nutritionally solid article, complete with reasons why fat is important, why low-fat diets aren't so great for you, and what fats to avoid.
There are various reasons to consume fat. This article mentions how fat is necessary for certain nutrients to bind to and be absorbed by the body. In addition to being a necessity for health, fat can satisfy hunger and without it, may leave you snacking more throughout the day. This article points out that although Americans consumed a lower percentage of calories from fat in 2000 compared to 1971, total calories consumed increased by more than 300. One point I found interesting to note, is the glucose stabilizing effect of meals containing both fats and carbs. The article states that this combination may prevent spikes and dips in the sugar levels in blood, which can cause hunger. The various types of fats are also discussed, including saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, omega-3, and omega-6 fatty acids. The benefits of these fats are briefly discussed, as are examples and serving sizes. This article did a great job of describing the importance of fat, as well as providing specific examples. I am happy to read an article that I find to be nutritionally helpful and not strictly based on weight loss. Kudos Women's Health Magazine!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Weight Gain in Former High School/Collegiate Athletes
As I was sitting in the airport, reading my Women's Health Magazine, I came across an article that seemed like perfect support for a project my physical performance class is working on. The project is a survey for current and former athletes from Meredith College, inquiring about their physical activity and nutritional habits. Our goal is to see if former athletes continue to be active and healthy post-college.
This article provides support for our survey. A woman gained 100lbs over the years post-high school by continuing to eat like she did in high school, but without keeping up with her activities of track, basketball, and softball. This also relates to one of my original posts about how sports nutritionists are needed to teach athletes how to stay healthy throughout their life and not just during their seasons. This woman worked out so much throughout high school, that she appeared healthy despite her unhealthy junk-food eating ways. It wasn't until she stopped being active that those habits really took their toll by adding extra weight, and causing high blood pressure and diabetes.
Once these medical conditions arose, she finally decided to take control of her health and her life. She began altering her habits by replacing her three daily sodas and bag of M&M's with fresh fruits and veggies and cooking at home. By adding 3 days/week of gym sessions, she lost 45 lbs and was ready to step up her routine even more. Almost a year later, she was off her blood pressure and diabetes medications and a few months after that, she was back to her college weight. This woman is the perfect example of an athlete who suffered from poor nutritional habits and once the physical activity ceased, tangible medical conditions manifested. Luckily, this woman realized her mistakes and took control of her life.
Through our survey, we hope to see that Meredith College did a better job of preparing their athletes for the real world.
This article provides support for our survey. A woman gained 100lbs over the years post-high school by continuing to eat like she did in high school, but without keeping up with her activities of track, basketball, and softball. This also relates to one of my original posts about how sports nutritionists are needed to teach athletes how to stay healthy throughout their life and not just during their seasons. This woman worked out so much throughout high school, that she appeared healthy despite her unhealthy junk-food eating ways. It wasn't until she stopped being active that those habits really took their toll by adding extra weight, and causing high blood pressure and diabetes.
Once these medical conditions arose, she finally decided to take control of her health and her life. She began altering her habits by replacing her three daily sodas and bag of M&M's with fresh fruits and veggies and cooking at home. By adding 3 days/week of gym sessions, she lost 45 lbs and was ready to step up her routine even more. Almost a year later, she was off her blood pressure and diabetes medications and a few months after that, she was back to her college weight. This woman is the perfect example of an athlete who suffered from poor nutritional habits and once the physical activity ceased, tangible medical conditions manifested. Luckily, this woman realized her mistakes and took control of her life.
Through our survey, we hope to see that Meredith College did a better job of preparing their athletes for the real world.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Professionals Need Help Too!
I love finding articles that reinforce why sports nutritionists are needed. I was randomly perusing the Yahoo! homepage when I came across this beauty:
Justin Verlander's (pitcher for the Detroit Tigers) "secret to success" is apparently consuming three crunchy taco supremes, a cheesy gordita crunch, and a mexican pizza before game night. This crazy amount of fast food is not only highly caloric with 1,630 calories, but also contains 96 g of fat and 2,300 mg of salt. That is almost double the recommended dietary intake of sodium and about 3 times the RDA of fat per DAY (from the USDA website). And that is just for one of his meals. Even if he ate relatively healthy the rest of the time, a regular consumption of this type of meal is surely going to reduce any chance of healthy aging. There are plenty of studies, including the well known Framingham Study, that show direct links between coronary heart disease and dietary intake of fat. Regardless the appearance, and apparently the performance, of an athlete, nutritional intake still determines actual health.
Yet again, I say thank you, for this is why my career exists. And good luck to you Mr. Verlander, you may need it.
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