Ironmanlive's Sheila Dean shows you how to maximize your nutrition and minimize your waistline and points out the pitfalls of the flip side of the coin.
For the past several months, we have been exploring the wonderful world of supplements and their role in the athletes' diet. After all, in a day where protein bars, energy gels and supplement meal replacements have become mainstream, it's easy to forget about the importance of good old-fashioned wholesome food and making sure we're getting the right amounts and types of it!
The following is a list of basic foods that are loaded with nutritional ammunition. Choosing more of these foods will help to ensure that you are getting your nutrient quota for the day.
Maximize your nutrition and minimize your waistline with:
- Broccoli - lots of vitamin C, carotenoids*, and folic acid
- Beans - Inexpensive, low in fat, and rich in protein, iron, folic acid, and fiber. Choose garbanzo, pinto, black, Navy, kidney or lentils. Eat them as a side dish or snack, in a tortilla with salsa, or in a soup.
- Cantaloupe - a quarter of this delicious melon supplies almost as much vitamin A and C as most people need in an entire day.
- Fat-free (skim) or low-fat (1% but not 2%) milk - excellent source of calcium, vitamins and protein with little or no artery-clogging saturated fat and cholesterol. (Soy milk can have just as many nutrients- if the manufacturer adds them in) Kellogg's brand All Bran Original or Post brand 100% Bran. - a half-cup serving of these cereals provides about one-third of the fiber you need for an entire day - to reduce the risk of constipation, diverticuloses, and heart disease.
- Oranges - great tasting and rich in vitamin C, folic acid, and fiber.
- Salmon - The omega-3 fats in fish, especially fatty fresh fish like salmon, swordfish, and rainbow trout, can help reduce the risk of sudden-death heart attacks.
- Spinach, Kale, Collard Greens - load with vitamin C, carotenoids, fiber and calcium that your body can actually absorb.
- Sweet Potatoes - a nutritional superstar - one of the best vegetables you can eat. They're loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. Mix in unsweetened applesauce or crushed pineapple for extra moisture and sweetness.
- 100% Whole-Grain Bread - It's higher in fiber and about a dozen vitamins and minerals than enriched while bread or "wheat" bread. Look for whole-grain crackers that have the word "whole" in the first ingredient on the nutrition label.
On the flip side... Top Ten Foods that will minimize your nutrition but maximize your waist line!
- Yogurt covered raisins - a little fruit and yogurt sounds like a healthy snack, right? But buyer beware! These things are coated with sugar palm kernal oil, partially hydrogenated coconut oil and hydrogenated palm oil. A quarter-cup of raisins will give you a quarter of your day's fat maximum needs. Instead for zero grams of fat, try sticking to the plain raisins.
- Corn chips - The coconut oil that these are fried in is twice as saturated as lard. A cup will give you almost half of your daily limit for saturated fat. Try baked, low-fat tortilla chips instead.
- Fast food bagel sandwiches - no, not the bagel..it's the stuff inside. The fillings of these types of foods can yield up to 700 calories, 40 grams of fat, 300 mg of cholesterol and 1600 mg of sodium. Try a turkey with 1 slice of cheese, lettuce and tomato for a tasty alternative.
- Extra cheese pizza - Even if you split this baby with three other people, your two slices will end up with 760 calories and almost a full day's limit of saturated fat and sodium. That's without sausage, pepperoni and anything else! Go for the veggie pizza instead.
- Extra large chocolate chip cookies - a single cookie has more than 300 calories and as much saturated fat as a 12-ounce sirloin steak plus 7 teaspoons of sugar. If you can't resist, try going for the oatmeal cookies or you could always share you cookies!
- White chocolate Mocha Latte with whole milk and whipped cream - This is not your average cup of coffee! It's more like a milkshake packed with 600 calories and 15 grams of saturated fat. Ditch the whipped cream and use skim milk instead and you'll save up to 200 calories.
- King size french fries - a whopping 600 calories, 30 grams of fat (16gms of which are the artery-clogging saturated plus trans fats!) and a super-sized waist line is what you'll get for super-sizing your fries at the fast food joint. Try eating a small order of fries or even better, how about a baked potato instead?
- Regular chicken noodle soup - Brimming with salt, a half a can averages about 1100 mg of sodium. That's almost half your daily quota. Go for the low-sodium brands instead.
- Chips fried in Olean (olestra) - This indigestible fat substitute's generic name is called sucrose polyester (sounds appetizing, eh?). Olean doesn't provide any calories, but in many people it causes gastrointestinal distress - some people have said they suffered such severe cramps or diarrhea that they had to see their doctor. Olean also reduces the body's absorption of carotenoids (defined earlier). How about the baked, low-fat potato or tortilla chips, or for an even healthier crunchy snack, how about some raw veggies like carrots and celery dipped in a raspberry vinaigrette?