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Before I begin this post I’d like to say a big thank you to all my readers. Thanks for your encouragement from my last post. It is you all that push me to keep creating my sugar-free recipes!

Also, I’d like to thank my sponsors, Swanson Vitamins and Snacklets Inc., for making this site possible. If you have a chance, check out their sites. Swanson has great prices on vitamins, minerals, and health products. In fact, I even buy my vitamins there! Snacklets Inc. makes great kale chips snacks in a few different flavors. They’re portable, easy, tasty, and much healthier than a bag of potato chips! If you are interested in becoming a sponsor yourself, check out this page and email me at spoonfulofsugarfree(at)gmail.com.

Now onto the real topic of this post,

 7 Nutritional Strategies to Optimize Athletic Performance

I was privileged enough to attend a seminar this past weekend for female athletes. One of the guest speakers was Cynthia Sass, author of Sass Yourself Slim and the Flat Belly Diet. Ms. Sass is a Registered Dietitian and certified in Sports Dietetics.

Her 7 Strategies for Athletic performance don’t just apply to athletes, though, but to all who wish to optimize their health and recovery. Here are the strategies:

1. Don’t workout on an empty stomach. Many believe that working out on an empty stomach will help you burn pure body fat. However, it is impossible to burn just pure body fat; and when you don’t eat, your body kicks into starvation mode to try and save the extra fat and energy you have. You can exercise longer and harder with fuel, even if you eat only a small piece of fruit.

2. Eat a moderate amount good carbs, not bad carbs. Carbohydrates are the preferred food source for the body because they are readily usable for the muscles. Choose carbs from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, not refined sugars and flours. A bonus from eating  carbohydrates from fruits ans veggies: the antioxidants in the produce open up your body’s cells improve circulation and fuel the cells.

3. Focus on good fat. She prefers healthy, plant-based fats like those found in nuts, avocado, and olive/coconut oil. These fats help you stay fuller longer and increase the production of a chemical in the gut that shuts off hunger cues. Studies show that eating saturated fats from processed sources (like refined oil or meats) will decrease your circulation for 4+ hours after eating. This can lead to a decrease in sports performance.

4. Don’t overdo protein. Protein is good, and the body needs it to recover muscle mass. However, a typical female athlete needs only 105 grams of protein per day (males need more like 150g, depending on your size). If you eat too much protein, it will either get stored as fat or used as fuel. The problem with this is that protein is not readily absorbable like carbohydrates. There is an extra nitrogen attached to the protein molecule that will break off during digestion if it is being used for fuel. This nitrogen molecule then turns into ammonia in the blood stream, which is acidic and can break down bones and is hard on the kidneys.

5. Go Organic as much as possible. Some say that organic food doesn’t have any more health benefits than conventional, but it does! Antioxidants in fruits and vegetables protect the food against parasites and other natural dangers to food. When the produce is sprayed with chemicals, though, the produce doesn’t have to produce as many antioxidants to defend itself. Organic is expensive, though, so try buying organic for meat and the “dirty dozen.”

6. Make produce the main attraction of every meal. Produce helps with athletic performance and recovery because of the high vitamin, fiber, and antioxidant content. One study shows that athletes who ate watercress after working out experienced less DNA damage than those who didn’t. Another study showed that athletes who drank tomato juice tested no oxidative stress, while those who didn’t drink the tomato juice had up to 75% more oxidative stress.

7. Go easy on alcohol. If you must drink alcohol, limit it to one serving because alcohol can increase the risk of cancer. It also decreases glycogen replenishment by up to 50%, which means your muscles don;t recover as quickly.

What to eat Pre-Exercise:

Eat something that is easy to digest and high in carbohydrates. Don’t eat something high in fat, protein, or fiber because they take longer to digest and aren’t easily available for the body to use. Example: a small bowl of brown rice cereal with almond milk and a small banana.

What to eat Post-Exercise:

What you eat after exercising is meant to replenish and recover your muscles. Eat a meal that contains each of the following: a lean protein source, a healthy fat, a whole grain, produce, and natural seasonings/spices. Example: Basic Brown Rice Stir Fry.

Fun Fact!

Spices, herbs, and seasonings are really high in antioxidants, which can help with recovery and prevent disease. Did you know one teaspoon of cinnamon contains the same amount of antioxidants as a cup of blueberries? Also, one teaspoon of oregano contains the same amount of antioxidants as a sweet potato! So load up on your herbs and spices, and sprinkle them on everything.

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

What are some of the “rules” you follow to optimize your health and athletic recovery?

Conference Works Cited: Sass, Cynthia. “7 Nutrition Strategies to Optimize Athletic Recovery.” The Female Athlete: Strategies for Optimal Performance and Injury Prevention. Bay Care Health System. Hilton Hotel, Tampa, Florida. 4 Aug 2012. Keynote Speech.

Hello my lovely readers!

There are going to be some changes coming to my Spoonful of Sugar Free because I’m going to college! Next week I pack up my stuff and move 1000 miles across the country. I’m saying goodbye to the beautiful, sunny, warm Florida, and saying hello to the chilly midwest.

(Saying hello again to snow and warm jackets!)

I don’t know what these next few years will hold, but I do know that I want you all to be a part of it. I’ve met so many great people through Spoonful of Sugar Free, and I want to continue my journey of healthy eating and sharing sugar-free recipes with you.

That being said, there will definitely be changes to my site. I’ll be a lot more busy with my schoolwork and extracurriculars in college, so here are some changes you might see coming:

• Less frequent posting. Because I will be very busy, I’ll probably have time to post only once a week.
• Different types of recipes. There will be a kitchen I have access to in my dorm, but I won’t have all the equipment I’m used to at home. I will also be cooking just for myself, so you might see a lot of recipes “for one,” like my Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cake, Bitter Chocolate Cake or Peach Crisp.
• Tips on staying healthy in college. College is notorious for unhealthy food choices and the “freshman 15.” One of my goals for this year is to create a post that addresses this and gives you tips on how to deal with this.
• Lessons in nutrition. I will be taking a lot of nutrition courses over the upcoming years, so hopefully I will be able to share the information I learn with you!

I’m excited to start this new chapter in my life! Who knows exactly what will happen with me and my website within the next couple months, but I will try to keep you all updated with my progress. Here are some of my plans for my college career:

• Student athlete. I’m playing D1 tennis for my college team. This is very exciting for me because tennis is an individual sport. In college, tennis is played on a team. This will play a big part of my college career with daily practices, weight training, sprint training, and tournaments throughout the year.
• Majoring in dietetics. I plan on becoming a Registered Dietitian, so there will be a lot of nutrition and science courses on my class schedule. After my 4 year undergraduate degree I will need to take a dietetic internship and the Dietetics exam.
• Honors college. I’m excited to be a part of the honors program to work with my professors and fellow classmates.
• Internships and shadows. In order to become a registered dietitian, I need to intern and shadow other professionals. During summer vacations, I will look for professionals willing to take me on as their intern. There is also a study abroad program through my school that I would love to take part in.

Thank you all for sticking with me throughout these past couple years. Stay tuned for next week for a look at my new dorm room!

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

Share with me a memorable experience from your college years!

 I have a confession: I’m not a huge fan of tomatoes.

Don’t get me wrong, I love tomatoes on certain things, and I love roasted tomatoes! I like salsa and tomato sauce, and I even like a couple slices of fresh tomato on my sandwich. There’s just something about a raw tomato, though, that I don’t like. The flavor, the texture: I don’t know, but I don’t really like it.

When I saw a recipe for a chilled tomato soup, I should have known I wouldn’t like it. I tried it anyway, and it was, well, okay. I couldn’t really choke down more than a few spoonfuls. If your a fan of raw tomatoes, though, I’m sure you would love it!

I didn’t want to waste the soup, so I simply heated it up with more than a sprinkle of fresh basil.

I had tomato on the mind, though, and about 5 pounds worth sitting on the counter due to a recent organic co-op basket. Therefore, I attempted to make tomato soup again. Not just regular tomato basil soup, but a roasted tomato soup made with roasted garlic and onions, too. Roasting tomatoes, onions, and garlic brings out the flavor of the ingredients and adds a bit of smokiness to the mix. In order to compliment this smokiness, I turned to smoked paprika as the seasoning. So make no mistake, this is no spaghetti sauce. This is tomato soup.

I didn’t add any extra liquid because the tomatoes were still juicy enough on their own to blend. I wanted the soup to stay thick, too, and I didn’t want to dilute the tomato flavor by adding any cream. Instead, a drizzle of olive oil added while blending keeps the soup smooth and creamy without the extra cream.

Health Benefits:

• Tomato: Best known for its high lycopene content. Lycopene is a carotenoid that may reduce incidences of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and macular degeneration. Tomatoes are especially high in vitamin C and A as well.
• Garlic: Garlic is a strong flavor with large contents of antioxidants that can help prevent aging by blocking free radicals. It can also help reduce blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. It can also be used as a natural antibiotic because it has the ability to kill “bad” bacteria in the body.
• Olive Oil: A good source of Omega-3 oil, which can help lower bad cholesterol. It also helps promote clear and healthy skin, nails, and hair.

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

Are you a fan of raw tomatoes? Or do you like them better roasted, too? What’s your favorite way to eat tomatoes?

After 3+ hours of playing in the hot, humid, Florida sun, I’m tired. I sweat about a gallon every 15 minutes and can literally ring out my clothes and hair. Not to mention, this all happens during lunch time. So I’m tired, sweaty, hungry, and grouchy (sorry to my car-buddies).

I grab my packed lunch and snarf down my usual: smoothie, apple, salad, and a rice cake with peanut butter. Plus I chug another gallon of water.

Where does this Paleo cake fit in?

After my 40 minute drive home, I’m hungry again, and now my sweat has dried on to my skin-ew. My bags get thrown down and I race (more like drag myself) to the kitchen to throw together this cake. It’s easy, fast, filling, and delicious. While it bakes I’ll take a shower. No, I am not eating cake with dried sweat sticking to my skin!

Health Benefits:

• Coconut: Coconut is widely misunderstood because of it’s high fat content; however, coconut’s saturated fat is made up of medium-chain fatty acids. These medium-chains are easy to absorb and digest, and are converted quickly into energy. This means that the body is less likely to store the medium-chain as fat. Coconut is also a great source of dietary fiber with a whopping 5 grams per oz!
• Chocolate: Click Here for a post I wrote about the benefits of chocolate.
• Cherries: Fresh cherries are packed with antioxidants and beta carotene, which aid in the reduction of heart disease and cancer. They are rich in vitamins A, C, E, potassium, magnesium, iron, folate, and fiber which help prevent memory loss and reduce the risk of diabetes. Because of their powerful anti-inflammatory benefits, cherries are said to reduce pain and joint soreness for runners and athletes after workouts.

What do you crave/eat after a hard workout?

What’s a great thing about pancakes?

They’re versatile! I can turn them into any flavor I choose by simply adding a handful of this, a dash of that, and a scoop of something else. It’s the difference between plain and boring pancakes to caramelized banana-cinnamon pancakes or chocolate covered cherry pancakes.

I can’t forget, though, that the greatest thing about pancakes is eating them!

These pancakes are a great sunday brunch meal. It’s fun for kids to help with, too, because they can help stir the batter, pick out the fruit, and dip the fruit in the batter. Mom or dad need to help them with the fruit-slicing and pancake-frying, though.

Feel free to use any fruit you want, but make sure to slice it so that it can cook-through. Softer fruit like sliced bananas and berries work best because it stays soft when cooked. Apples work well, too, but they are still crunchy when cooked.

You can really use any pancake  batter you want to make this. If you don’t have any coconut flour, try making my Gluten-Free One Size Fits All pancake batter.

I love adding a bit of cinnamon to the batter and dipping banana slices in. You can also try adding a bit of cocoa powder for chocolate pancakes, or pumpkin spice and a scoop of pumpkin for a pumpkin pie pancake.

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

What is the craziest pancake-flavor combo you’ve tried? If you haven’t tried any “crazy” flavors, make one up!

When a rainy day threatens to destroy your plans, don’t despair! Make pancakes!

That’s exactly what I did on a rainy morning this week. It has been raining a lot lately, so I may have to make another batch! The pancakes look innocent enough: fluffy and plain.

But oh no, these aren’t any ordinary pancakes. They are made with coconut flour and are…

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

What do you do when you have a rainy day?

Play board games, read a book, watch movies, eat popcorn, make pancakes?!