Tips and Recipes to Help You Achieve Your Nutritional Goals

If you ask any college or professional player what one thing they wish they would have known more about and taken more seriously when they were in high school they will say nutrition.  However, even when high school athletes make that their mission, it is very difficult to do it because the lives of their families are very busy. 

​Here are some tips to help meeting their nutritional goals much easier.

• Learn how to prepare your own meals or parts of meals, e.g., side dishes – take accountability for your future!
• Prepare meals in quantities that can be warmed up for leftovers.
• Prepare and pack your meals for the next day the night before.
• Make two sandwiches at a time – one for lunch and one for a snack
• Begin dinner preparation in the morning in a slow cooker/crock pot
• Keep food on hand – e.g., cases of water or quality drink in the trunk of your car; high quality granola bars in the car and your school bag.
• Prepare grab ‘n go food – e.g., pasta salads, fresh fruit, bran muffins, trail mix, fruit smoothies with packaged vegetables and/or whey protein

Here are two super healthy meals that any athlete can learn to make for lunch or dinner:

            Loaded Baked Potato:

• Wash a medium potato and slice the ends off of it.  Poke 5-6 knife holes into both sides of it
• Microwave the potato on high for 5-6 minutes
• Slice open and mash the potato with a fork
• Cover potato with thin layer of cheddar cheese
• While potato is cooking in microwave, warm a can of Amy’s Organic Chili in small pot on low heat until hot
• Cook a cup of microwave brown rice in microwave on high for 1 minute and mix in with chili (the meal can be prepared without the rice or with rice and without the baked potato too).
• Pour ½ of chili/rice mix on top of cheese on potato – save the other half of the mix for another meal
• Add ketchup and/or sour cream on top of rice/chili mix
• Top with a small handful of packed mini tortilla strips
• Top with shaved carrots, chopped lettuce, and cherry tomatoes chopped in half

  
            Chicken – Vegetable - Rice – Pineapple/Mandarin Oranges with Sweet & Sour Sauce:

• Warm-up or grill pre-cooked packaged chicken (season with Mrs. Dash or other seasoning) or BBQ chicken and slice it into bite-sized pieces
• Cook microwavable cup of brown rice for 1 minute
• Drain packaged cup of chopped pineapple and/or mandarin oranges
• Chop ½ cup of cauliflower or other vegetable of choice into bites sizes, season with margarine and salt.  Microwave with 2 tablespoons of water on 60% for 1 ½ - 2 minutes.
• Mix chicken, rice, cauliflower and pineapple/mandarin oranges
• Add 1/3 cup of sweet & sour sauce & stir so everything is coated with sauce

​Follow these tips and recipes and you will have a much easier time achieving your nutritional goals!