Chocolate Dipped Bananas

What a delicious treat! Bananas are full of potassium, soluble fiber and carbohydrate, and the chocolate and nuts add both fat and calories. Yum!

These are absolutely delicious when eaten soon after dipping. I don’t recommend storing them in the fridge - they turn mushy and watery. I guess you can refreeze them. I don’t know. We ate all of ours, so I can’t tell ya.

I can tell you what I did.

HERE’S ALL IT TAKES

ripe bananas
semi-sweet chocolate chips
almond bark
chopped unsalted peanuts
popsicle sticks or lollipop sticks
I cut the bananas in half for smaller portions and for easier dipping in a shallow bowl of melted chocolate.

Skewer the bananas with the sticks, THEN PEEL THEM! Place them on a sheet or tray lined with wax paper, then put them in the freezer for oh, let’s say 15 to 30 minutes. (I actually forgot about them for 2 days.)

Anyhoo. Put the chopped peanuts in a plate so it’s easy to roll the banana across the nuts. Melt the almond bark with a handful of chocolate chips, either with the double boiler method or in the microwave. As soon as the chocolate has melted, take out the bananas are start dipping and QUICKLY move to the chopped nuts. Those frozen bananas work fast to harden up the chocolate. There’s no time to dilly dally.

Return the coated treats to the waxed paper until you’re finished.

Yell out, “Come and GET IT!” and they’re gone. They will vanish before your eyes.

Source: SimpleDailyRecipes.com

Healthy Weight Gain Tips for Athletes

For many underweight athletes, the struggle to gain weight is a constant frustration, equal to that of overweight people who are trying to lose weight. "I’m always eating. I spend too much money buying food. I wish I could just eat normally and look normal. I hate my spindly legs..."

Clearly, genetics plays a powerful role in a person’s physique. But so does "the fidget factor." Never sitting still and constantly moving around even when seated - burns calories (possibly an additional 700+ calories per day, equivalent to one or two meals. Mellow out and try some of the following weight gain tips.

Weight gain tips. Theoretically, you have to eat 500 to 1,000 calories per day to gain one to two pounds per week. Without question some people do gain weight more easily than others. Controlled weight gain studies have shown 20 lbs differences in subjects who were overfed the same amount of calories for the same time period. Why the difference? Maybe its fidgeting and perhaps its genetics. Keeping those factors in mind, here are five important rules to help with your quest for bulk.

1. Eat Consistently. Every day , have three hearty meals plus one to three additional snacks. Do NOT skip meals. You miss out on important calories that you need to accomplish your goals.

2. Eat larger then normal portions. Instead of having one sandwich for lunch, have two. Eat three potatoes at dinner, instead of only two. Have a taller glass of milk, bigger bowl of cereal, larger piece of fruit.

3. Select higher calories foods. Read food labels to determine which foods have more calories than an equally enjoyable counterpart. For example, cran-apple juice has more calories than does orange juice (170 vs. 110/8 ounces); granola has more calories than Cheerios (700 vs 100/cup); corn more than green beans (140 vs 40/cup).

4. Drink lots of juice and milk. Beverages are a simple way to increase your caloric intake. Instead of drinking water, quench your thirst with calorie containing fluids. One athlete gained 13 pounds in 3 months simply by adding six glasses of cranberry juice(1,000 calories) to his standard diet.

5. Do strengthening exercises (weight lifting, push-ups etc.) to stimulate muscular development so that you bulk up instead of fatten up. Some underweight people are afraid exercise will result in weight loss rather than weight gain. Remember, exercise tends to stimulate the appetite; you’ll want to eat more. Exercise also increases thirst; you’ll easily be able to drink extra juices.

Many athletes today are taking creatine to gain weight. Creatine is a natural compound found primarily in meats. It is needed for immediate energy during short, intense exercise such as sprinting. If you are tempted to try creatine, I first recommended you pay attention to the above Weight Gain Tips. That is, you need to consistently eat more calories, drink more juices, and do strength training. No magic pill is going to replace these key steps.

Copyright: Nancy Clark, MS, RD

Nutrition Tips for Strength Training

Eating for Muscle Building

In order to build lean muscle mass you need to combine an adequate calorie intake with a solid muscle strengthening program. A large number of calories are needed to fuel both workouts and tissue building. While getting enough calories is important, it is also important to get the right kind of calories.

Carbohydrate
Carbohydrate is the predominant energy source for strength training. Stored as glycogen in the muscles, it is the fuel used to supply energy for short, intense bursts of power. The harder and longer you work out, the more glycogen your muscles require. Once these stores of glycogen are gone your energy level will drop and you will run out of fuel to power muscle contractions. For this reason, athletes doing strength training exercise in the hopes of building lean muscle need to have an adequate carbohydrates intake.

Experts recommend at least 500 to 600 grams of carbohydrate per day to keep your muscle glycogen stores high. You can base your personal requirement on the following formula:

3.6gr carb x body wt(lbs)= grams carb/day

For a 140 pound person this is about 504 grams per day or about 2,000 carbohydrate calories and 720 grams or 2,900 carbohydrate calories for a 200-pound person.

Protein
Protein is the basic building material for muscle tissue, and strength trainers need to consume more than the non-exercisers. However, most strength athletes still overestimate their protein needs. Daily protein recommendations for serious strength athletes are about 0.6 to 0.8 grams per pound of body weight. That's about 90 to 115 grams of protein/day for the 140-pound athlete and 128 to 164 grams for those weighing 200 pounds.

Fat
After you've met your carbohydrate and protein needs there is room for fat. Fat is an essential nutrient, however, you require a small amount of it to remain healthy. Less than 30% of your total daily calories should come from unsaturated fat.

Water
In addition to the regular eight glasses of water every day, you need to drink to replace fluids that are lost during exercise. To be confident that you are well hydrated before workouts, drink 2 cups of fluid 2 hours before exercise. During your workout, drink 4 to 8 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes. After exercise, replace any further fluid losses with 16 ounces of water. If you want to be precise, you can weigh yourself before and after workouts. For each pound lost during exercise, you should be drink 16 ounces of fluid.

Sports drinks
Energy bars and sports drinks may be helpful if exercise lasts longer than 1 hour. Carbohydrate supplements can be useful to help fit adequate carbohydrates into a busy day if you don't have time to eat a meal. Consuming a meal-replacement beverage just after muscle-building exercise is convenient but you can do the same thing with a tuna sandwich, a banana, a bagel or other real food snack. You should try to consume some protein and carbohydrate after your workout in order to fuel muscle growth and replenish glycogen stores for your next workout.

Supplements
Most supplements that are supposed to help build muscle don't work. But some, such as creatine, fluid and electrolyte replacers, carbohydrate supplements, and liquid meal replacers may offer some benefits to strength training athletes.

Creatine
When combined with a good diet and strength training program, creatine has the potential to produce slightly more power during workouts. Research has also found that loading creatine into the muscles may help speed up muscle gain. While many creatine supplements are available at a price, meat is the best dietary source of creatine. Typical dose for creatine loading is 5 grams of creatine monohydrate four times per day for 5 days. A maintenance dose of 2 grams per day can follow. Taking more than the usual dosage of creatine offers no added benefit. Also, users should be aware that creatine and other popular supplements are subject to little government regulation, so there is no guarantee that they are pure.

Foods for Strength Training
Here are some post-strength training snacks with both carbohydrate and protein:
- Tuna sandwich on whole-grain bread
- Peanut (or other nut) butter on 1/2 whole-grain bagel
- Bowl of cereal with milk
- Banana and peanut butter sandwich
- Piece of fruit and lowfat cottage cheese
- Homemade smoothie with fruit and milk, soymilk or yogurt


Consult a registered dietitian, physician or other health care provider for personal nutritional counseling. This information is not intended as a substitute for appropriate medical treatment.


Source:

Nutrition for Sport and Exercise, 2005, Jacqueline R. Berning, Suzanne Nelson Steen, ISBN 0763737755.

By Elizabeth Quinn, MS(Sport Science), About.com
Strength Training Foods added by Jaimie Morgan, MS(Nutrition), Dietetic Intern, Bastyr University
Updated: October 16, 2007

Fighting Fat Gain: Strategies That Can Make a Difference

Tips for athletes who want to avoid weight gain

It's easy to get fat in America. Every day we are confronted with an abundance of delicious food that is easily accessible. That's one reason why the average American gains one to two pounds a year.
Simultaneously, we have engineered exercise out of our lives by building communities with no sidewalks for safe walking, TVs with remote controls, escalators, and automatic garage door openers. We've learned to turn to food for comfort when we are feeling stressed, isolated or lonely.

Because exercise is an essential key to maintaining a healthy weight, most athletic people who read this article do not have serious weight problems. But many more fight to stay lean, and all of you know someone-a parent, child, spouse or friend-who would be healthier if he or she were to lose at least 20 pounds. Here are three weight management strategies that can help you and your loved ones minimize fat gain and optimize desired fat loss without feeling denied or deprived of enjoyable food. The following doable suggestions can save 100 to 200 calories per day, enough to make a difference in your battle of the bulge.

Strategy #1. Boost your calcium intake.
In 1988, researchers were surprised and fascinated by the results of a study looking at the effect of calcium on blood pressure. Not only did the consumption of two cups of yogurt per day contribute to lower blood pressure, but also to 11 pounds of fat loss in 12 months-even though the subjects had been told to try to maintain weight! This finding triggered more research and today we know:

- calcium within the cell regulates fat storage.
- a high calcium diet turns more calories to heat than to body fat.
- calcium-rich diets contribute to fat loss in the stomach area.
- calcium-rich diets can help minimize midlife fat gain.
- eating three to four servings of calcium rich dairy foods per day contributes to loss of more fat and less muscle compared to dieters who ate less dairy. That is, in a 12 week weight loss study, those who ate three cups of yogurt per day lost 60 percent more fat than those on a calcium-supplemented diet. (Other components in milk, such as high quality protein, may contribute to this beneficial effect of burning fat while preserving muscle.)

A growing body of evidence indicates consuming calcium-rich dairy foods three to four times a day equates to the burning of about 100 more calories of body fat per day--or about 10 pounds of fat per year. Certainly, you can get calcium from nondairy sources (broccoli, calcium-enriched orange juice, supplements), but calcium from (preferably lowfat) dairy foods is most effective.

If you balk at the thought of consuming so much yogurt or milk, keep in mind you can easily choose cereal with lowfat milk for breakfast, have a lowfat yogurt for a midmorning or evening snack, and enjoy a lowfat latte for an afternoon energy booster. Other options include putting two slices (1.5 ounces) of lowfat cheese on a sandwich, cooking oatmeal with milk, and yes, even drinking chocolate milk for a post-exercise recovery drink, which provides a nice balance of carbs and protein.

Given that calcium-rich diets are helpful for not only weight management but also for regulating blood pressure and keeping bones strong, you'll do your health a favor by boosting your calcium intake. The trick to consuming more calcium-rich dairy is to be sure the calories are within your daily calorie budget and not excessive. That is, you cannot start to guzzle gallons of milk and expect to lose body fat! For help with learning how to balance more milk and yogurt into your daily diet, I suggest you consult with a local sports dietitian: go to www.eatright.org and put your zip code into the referral network.

Strategy #2. Eat breakfast.
About 40 percent of adults skip breakfast at least four times a week. Although skipping breakfast may seem a good way to eliminate calories, breakfast skippers tend to be fatter than breakfast eaters. But when people eat a larger-than-normal breakfast, they end up eating almost 100 fewer calories by the end of the day, an amount that can curb creeping obesity. Hence, eating breakfast is one strategy that makes a big difference in weight management (to say nothing of sports performance). In a group of dieters who have lost and kept off more than 30 pounds, 97 percent are now committed breakfast eaters! They know what works...

Strategy #3: Eat more fiber and whole grain foods.
Foods that are satiating (i.e., that fill you to the point you choose to stop eating) are rich in protein (meat, fish, chicken) or fiber(whole grains, fruits, vegetables). Given that protein often comes along with unhealthy saturated fat (e.g., cheese, bacon, hamburger), and excess calories of fatty foods are easily fattening, a wise option is to curb hunger by filling up on fiber-rich foods.

Fiber-rich foods also tend to be bulky; bulk helps promote satiety. That is, you can reduce the calorie content of a casserole by 30 percent by adding bulky vegetables (mushrooms, celery, peppers) and people will consume fewer calories without noticing the difference. According to Barbara Rolls, author of The Volumetrics Weight Control Plan, consuming bulky foods with a high fiber and water content can help you eat fewer calories. This means more fruit, vegetables, soup, beans, legumes, bran cereal (e.g., Bran Chex, Fiber-One), and whole grain cereals, (e.g., Wheaties, Cheerios, Total). Cereal is more satisfying than equal calories of a croissant.

Given the abundance of food in our society, we all need skills to manage the food environment. This means eating breakfast and consuming more calcium, fiber, and whole grains. Sounds like Wheaties is indeed the breakfast of (lean) champions!

Source:

Reprinted with permission of the American College of Sports Medicine, ACSM Fit Society Page, Summer 2004, p. 8-9.

By Elizabeth Quinn, MS(Sport Science), About.com
Updated: October 20, 2007