This is not the photo you expect to see in July!! This blog post is to let Off-Season Sports and Physical Therapy clients know that there is a new nutritionist at the clinic. Kathleen Searles, MS, RDN, CSSD, LDN is moving on after 5 years with OSSPT. My husband just retired from The Governors Academy, and we have relocated to northern New Hampshire. 

Erin Columbia, MS, RDN, CSSD, LDN is now seeing clients at OSSPT. Erin graduated from Penn State University, where she has also served as Associate Director of Sports Nutrition.
She has a MS in Clinical Nutrition from Boston University. Erin relocated her practice from the South Shore in May and is ready to see clients at OSSPT! In addition to her sports nutrition expertise (and experience as a collegiate athlete) she has experience with eating disorders and general nutrition issues. 

While Erin is taking over at OSSPT, I am launching Snowtrition (www.snowtrition.com). Snowtrition offers sports nutrition expertise for skiers and snowboarders, and I will have some limited availability at OSSPT to meet with clients in addition to availability on-line and via telephone. Still working out the details, but I hope you will visit me at Snowtrition! Join the Snowtrition Facebook group and like Snowtrition on Instagram and Twitter!
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Can healthy eating go too far? Orthorexia is a form of disordered eating involving an obsessive interest in the quality, healthfulness and wholesomeness of food. Typically orthorexia starts with a focus on choosing healthy or unprocessed “clean” foods. But this interest in eating well develops into a collection of food rules that ultimately become overwhelming.

​From simply trying to eat healthy, persons with orthorexia become preoccupied with finding only
the healthiest foods. They may avoid social situations and family events because they are worried that they will be pressured to eat “forbidden” foods. Their sense of self-esteem may be related to their ability to follow the food rules, and they may experience anxiety and shame if they are not able to.

It won't be long before the sap rises and maple syrup season arrives. Here are a few maple themed products from New England that can be used for sports fueling and hydration.

Drink Maple is described as "pure maple water, straight from the tree." It is from Concord, MA and is marketed as a sports drink. An 8 ounce portion has 25 Calories, 6 grams of carbohydrate, and 40% of the daily manganese requirement. (Manganese does not have any particular known benefit for athletic performance.) This product has a little more body and sweetness than plain water.

Untapped, based in Richmond, VT, offers maple waffles and 1 ounce packets of maple syrup. The waffles are made with organic maple syrup and have 140 Calories and 20 grams of carbohydrate. They are a little drier and crumblier than I expected, but the maple flavor was pleasant. The Slopeside Syrup is billed as "all natural athletic fuel" and has 100 Calories, 26 grams of carbohydrate, and 60% of the daily manganese requirement. These could be used as carb sources during cross-country skiing, running,  cycling, or other activity.

Brown Cow maple whole milk yogurt is distributed by Stonyfield yogurt in Londonderry, NH. It provides 130 Calories, 23 grams carbohydrate, and 5 g protein. It is a "cream top" yogurt with a pleasant mpale flavor. It would make a good recovery snack.

If you are looking for a change from standard sports drinks and gels give one of these a try!

​© 2017 Kathleen Searles, MS, RDN, CSSD, LDN 

Would you like to take the worry out of eating? That’s just what Ellyn Satter, a Registered Dietitian and Family Therapist, recommends in her Eating Competency Model. Satter developed her model after seeing that though people often feel guilty or worried about food, they often don’t actually follow published nutrition guidelines. Her mission is to help people feel joyful and confident about eating.
Competent eaters demonstrate the following behaviors:

1. * Feeling good about food and about eating…and not worrying about feeling good about it
2. * Liking a variety of foods and enjoying learning to like new foods
3. * Trusting themselves to eat the right amount (and allowing body weight to reflect genetics and lifestyle)
4. * Taking time to eat regular meals and snacks and paying attention while eating

Fall is cranberry season! One of the highlights of last week’s Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) in Boston was the opportunity to learn more about America’s Original Superfruit™.  This tart and tasty fruit is native to North America, and European settlers learned to use them from Native American populations. They grow on vines in sandy soil.
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Most cranberries are harvested by the “wet” method. The growing areas, called bogs or marshes, are flooded with fresh water and the cranberries float to the top. 

Eating well is a key strategy for injury recovery, as outlined in an earlier post. Tendons and ligaments are made of collagen, and foods that support collagen formation may be beneficial to heal ligament tears or tendon ruptures.

There are several nutrients that support collagen synthesis.
* Proline, hydroxyproline, lysine and hydroxylysine are amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Gelatin contains ample amounts of these particular amino acids.
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.​Good hydration is a key part of every athlete’s training and competition plan. But even something as basic as hydration can get a contemporary tweak! Here are three new ideas I came across this week:
Tracking Teen Water Intake - At Greater Atlanta Christian School in Georgia, the Spartans Strength Progam has developed a metrics program that started out with a focus on hydration. They set a hydration goal for each athlete based on 0.5 ounces of water per pound of body weight plus an additional 18-24 ounces/day for athletes in-season, training more than 2 hours/day, or who are heavy sweaters. This total was then divided into a set number of 16 ounce water bottles. Student athletes charted how many water bottles they consumed each day and compared their intake to the goal. Initial results showed an average of only 3.25 bottles per day. By the third month of the program, the average was up to 7.75 bottles per day, which met or exceeded the recommendation for most athletes. This simple method of measuring by counting the number of water bottles consumed led to improved hydration and the athletes reported feeling better.

If you are out and about in the greater Boston area, check out one of the  b.good restaurant locations. This chain, whose tag line is "real.food.fast", offers burgers and sandwiches, kale and grain bowls, salads, smoothies, and kids' meals. The ingredients are sourced in New England, and the food tastes homemade.

I tried the Beverly location last month, which was my first
experience with b.good. I had the spicy avocado and lime bowl with the super grain mix, which is pictured here. I wish the picture did this dish justice! Each ingredient tasted so fresh and "real." I went back to try additional items, but just wanted this bowl again!

The walls of the restaurant are decorated with pictures of the farmers who provide the ingredients. It is a pleasure to see the fresh produce on display in the prep area. I hope that you will give this eatery a try!

 
Are you one of the many people who enjoy iced tea as a summer refresher?  Tea is one of the most popular beverages in the world, but did you know it can also provide some health benefits?  
Tea contains flavonoids – anti-oxidant compounds that are beneficial in protecting cells and tissues from the damage that can lead to chronic disease.  Black tea and green tea are made from the same tea leaves, but for black tea the leaves are fermented. White tea is from the same plant, but is grown and processed slightly differently.  All teas (including decaffeinated types) contain the flavonoids epigallo catechin-3-gallate (EGCG), epigallo catechin (EGC), and epicatechin. ​
 
Iced tea is often enjoyed as a change from soda. Commercially bottle iced tea is widely available. Look for a tea with no added sugar to save calories.  (​Tea itself has no calories.) Sweetened teas often have about the same calorie and sugar content as soda.  Some brands, for example Honest Tea, are more lightly sweetened. Be careful about portion sizes. Bottled/canned iced tea sometimes comes in large containers, so the total calories and sugar content may be more than you expect.  When comparing containers, remember to multiply the calories per serving by the number of servings per container. Everyone loves the "bargain" of a big can of ice tea for 99 cents, but each can contains several servings and as much as 17 teaspoons of sugar!

You can brew your own tea using boiling water and loose tea or tea bags.  This can then be chilled or poured over ice to make iced tea.  You can also make sun tea by leaving a container of water with tea bags sitting in the sun. The FDA does not recommend this popular method, however, because sometimes undesirable bacteria can develop in sun tea. The FDA recommends using the boiling water method or allowing tea to steep in the refrigerator rather than the sun. 

 If you make your own tea you can flavor it with lemon or fresh mint sprigs for a refreshing calorie free drink.  If you prefer a sweetened tea you can add sugar, honey, or an artificial sweetener and sweeten to your taste.
 
There are many powdered iced tea mixes, including those that make single servings. Some are sweetened with sugar and some with artificial sweeteners. They may have various food additives or artificial colors in addition.

You may have heard that caffeine has a dehydrating effect, but studies have not shown this to be a significant issue. So it is OK to use iced tea as part of your summer hydration plan. Sip and enjoy!

​copyright 2016 Kathleen Searles, MS, RDN, CSSD, LDN

Earlier this month I had the good fortune to hear a talk by Amby Burfoot, winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon. He was a keynote speaker for the Sports, Cardiovascular and Wellness Nutrition Symposium in Portland, Oregon. Mr. Burfoot has run 110,000 lifetime miles, and has run the Manchester (CT) Thanksgiving Day 5 mile run for 53 consecutive years! Here are a few highlights from his delightful reminiscence of his years of running.

"You only have to exercise on the days you eat." That seems to sum things up pretty well! Mr. Burfoot also shared this wisdom from Dr. Walter Bortz, longevity expert. "It is never too late to start and always too soon to stop exercising." 

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