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 – Exercising on empty?

Some soccer players abstain from food before a practice or game. They think exercising on empty will help them burn more fat and attain a leaner, lighter physique. True, when you exercise on empty, you will burn more fat. BUT, burning fat differs from losing body fat. Losing body fat depends on your calorie intake for the entire day. That is, you can do a fat-burning Saturday morning soccer practice but then, if you stop for a few donuts and a latte, followed by generous meals the rest of the day, you’ll erase that deficit quite easily!

The benefits of eating before a soccer game or practice include:

-You’ll have a better workout.

-You’ll feel more alert and have energy to enjoy the entire workout.

-You’ll provide your muscles with the fuel they need to optimize performance.

-You’ll be able to exercise harder and get more from your efforts.

-You will have more energy at the end of the session and need less time to recover.

-You’ll help curb the hungry horrors after the workout.

If you want to lose body fat, I suggest you plan to do that when you are sleeping, not exercising! (Sleep, after all, is a fat burning activity--if you still thank that burning fat equates to losing body fat). Your better bet is to fuel by day, have energy to enjoy an active lifestyle, and then diet (eat a little bit less) at night.  Give it a try!

Eat smart, play well,

Nancy

PS: For more information on how to lose weight and maintain energy for exercise, read the weight loss section in Food Guide for Soccer: Tips and Recipes from the Pros. The information will give a kick-start to your New Year’s Nutrition Resolutions.

Tip of the week by Gloria Averbuch and Nancy Clark – Snack Attack

When life is busy, eating can get crazy, and fueling gets off-balance. You may find yourself on the road and needing a quick bite. Here's a tip from Food Guide for Soccer-good for all active sports enthusiasts and their families.

Vending machine or tournament snacks: Vending-machine cuisine, which resembles choices at tournaments, offers tough choices. But tucked among the lackluster choices, you may be able to find pretzels, peanuts, juice, yogurt, or even an apple. The good part about vending-machine snacks is that they are limited in size (e.g., only three cookies instead of the whole bag) and generally provide only 200 to 400 calories, not 2,000.

If you're trying to decide between fatty or sugary choices (i.e., chips vs. jelly beans), remember that the sugar in jelly beans will appropriately fuel your muscles, whereas the fat in the chips will clog the arteries. (After eating a sugary snack, be sure to brush or rinse your teeth.) Tournaments often sell candy bars and M & M's. Try to be equipped with better options so these don't become your only choice.

Sweet treats: If it's cookies, brownies, an ice cream sundae, or any other such

treat that you crave once a week or so, Nancy Clark MS, RD recommends you satisfy your hankering by enjoying the treat. You won't destroy your health with an occasional

treat, as long as your overall diet tends to be wholesome, and as long as you eat it at a time that will not hurt your performance.

Sweets, treats, and fast foods are best saved for after the games. Remember, you eat for yourself to enhance performance, and you do it for your team as well.

Healthful snacks and munchies: To reduce the temptation of the vending machine or tournament choices, keep handy in your soccer bag, locker or car a supply of wholesome options: whole-grain bagels, crackers, pretzels, fig bars, energy bars, granola bars, oatmeal-raisin cookies, graham crackers, raisins and other dried fruit, trail mix, V-8 juice, and juice boxes.

Here are some fun soccer snack ideas:

Avocado chip mini sandwiches. Chips are salty and spicy enough on their own to accommodate plain avocado (as opposed to guacamole or other dip), and this is easy. Put avocado pieces between large chips, and serve as appetizers.

A Healthier S'more: Yael Averbuch of Women's Professional Soccer loves dark chocolate. She invented spreading squares of dark chocolate with peanut butter; try a little cinnamon on it too. It's great on its own, but you can also try it between graham crackers.

Frozen Fruit. Blueberries, strawberries, grapes, oranges-all make fun and flavorful snacks when eaten right from the freezer.

Frozen yogurt cups. Buy blended flavors, put containers in freezer.

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

 

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