COACH NICHOLE'S NUTRITION CORNER

Hey Team & welcome to the Nutrition Corner! Some of you have met me during past nutrition focused meetings, but I'm back as the official Nutrition Coach for Nu Wave.  I will be hosting monthly nutrition meetings to help you learn how to better fuel your body, navigate meal portions, identify healthy foods, and learn the importance of your total wellness! I will also be providing weekly tips on social media, along with offering personalized nutrition coaching through my Total Wellness Coaching company. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or if you would like to learn more about my nutrition program.

 

*For A Personalized Nutrition Plan Contact Coach Nichole At Total Wellness*  

 

HIGH PERFORMANCE GROUP NUTRITION MEETING SCHEDULE

JUNE 2021 MTG: Sunday, June 13 (6:30 PM) "Nutrition Needs Through Increased Training"  RECORDING

JULY 2021 MTG: Sunday, June 27 (6:30 PM) "Summer Tips 101: Snacking, Hydration, Sleep, & more!" RECORDING-PT1  RECORDING-PT2

AUGUST 2021 MTG: Sunday, August 22 (6:30 PM) "School Year Strategies: How to Plan & Prep" RECORDING

SEPTEMBER 2021 MTG: Sunday, September 26 (6:30 PM) "High Performance Q&A" RECORDING

OCTOBER 2021 MTG: Sunday, October 17 (6:30 PM) "Label Comparisons and Hidden Sugar" RECORDING

NOVEMBER 2021 MTG: Sunday, November 7 (6:30 PM) "Championship Week Prep and Good vs Bad Fats" RECORDING

DECEMBER 2021 MTG: Sunday, December 19 (5:30 PM) "Navigating Holiday Eating & Championship Event Feeback" RECORDING

JANUARY 2022 MTG: Sunday, January 9 (6:30 PM) "Travel Meet Shopping" RECORDING

FEBRUARY 2022 MTG: Sunday, February 6 (6:30 PM) "Championships Meet Prep" RECORDING

MARCH 2022 MTG: Sunday, March 27 (6:30 PM) "Protein Options and Survey Responses" RECORDING

APRIL 2022 MTG: Sunday, April 10 (6:30 PM) "Q&A" RECORDING

MAY 2022 MTG: Sunday, May 1 (6:30 PM) "Survey Resposes Pt.2" RECORDING

JUNE 2022 MTG: Saturday, June 11 (8:00 AM- In Person) 

JULY 2022 MTG: Wednesday, July 13 (6:00 PM) RECORDING

SEPTEMBER 2022 MTG: Sunday, September 18 (Senior HP Groups: Girls 5:30 PM/Boys 6:30 PM) RECORDING-SR GIRLS  RECORDING- SR BOYS

OCTOBER 2022 MTG: Sunday, October 23 (6:30 PM) Intro To Nutrition: Tidal Wave and Cyclone Groups RECORDING

NOVEMBER 2022 MTG: Sunday, November 13 (5:00 PM) Hydration Log & HS Championship Prep RECORDING 

JANUARY 2023 MTG: Sunday, January 8 (5:00 PM) Intro to Macros: Tidal Wave and Cyclone Groups RECORDING

FEBRUARY 2023 MTG: Wednesday, February 8 (8:00 PM) Championship Check-in: Senior High Performance Groups RECORDING

APRIL 2023 MTG: Sunday, April 30 (5:00 PM) Nutrition Back To Basics: Senior High Performance Groups RECORDING

JUNE 2023 MTG: Thursday, June 22 (7:00 PM) Pre-practice Snacks, Daytime Hydration, and Swim Meet Session Needs: Tidal Wave and Cyclone Groups RECORDING

JULY 2023 MTG: Sunday, July 9 (7:00 PM) How Does Your Nutrition and Hydration Help or Hurt Your Day-to-day Recovery? Senior High Performance Groups RECORDING

AUGUST 2023 MTG: Sunday, August 20 (7:00 PM) Back to School Nutrition Plan. Senior High Performance Groups RECORDING

SEPTEMBER 2023 MTG: Sunday, September 24 (7:00 PM) Back to School Nutrition and Hydration Plan. Age Group High Performance Groups RECORDING

OCTOBER 2023 MTG: Monday, October 9 (7:00 PM) Reading and analyzing nutrition labels to make healthier choices. Senior High Performance Groups RECORDING

DECEMBER 2023 MTG: Monday, December 11 (7:00 PM) Navigating holiday eating, Hydration, and Understanding micro nutrients. Age Group High Performance Groups RECORDING

JANUARY 2024 MTG: Monday, January 8 (7:00 PM) Travel meal prep, Championship nutrition, and shared recipes. Senior High Performance Groups RECORDING

FEBRUARY 2024 MTG: Monday, February 19 (7:00 PM) Championship Meet Meal Prep, Hydration, and Nutrition Goals during Competition. Age Group High Performance Groups RECORDING

 

 

Coach Nichole Approved Recipes:

Peanut Butter Energy Balls (Makes ~ 15)
**These make a perfect PRE-workout/practice snack.  These will also be a great snack to have on hand during meets to have in between swims.**

  • 1.75 Cups Rolled Oats
  • 1/3 Cup Natural Honey
  • 3/4 Cup Natural Peanut Butter (or any nut butter of your choice)
  • Extras: dark chocolate chips, chia seeds, unsweetened coconut flakes
  • Combine all ingredients and roll into golf ball sized balls.  Keep refrigerated.  

 

EASY Turkey Meatballs  (Makes ~ 10)
**Perfect lean meat to have with a whole wheat pasta or chickpea based pasta**

  • 1lbs Extra Lean Ground Turkey (or chicken)
  • 1/4 Cup Italian Bread Crumbs (or panko)
  • 1/4 Onion, chopped
  • 1/2 Bell Pepper, chopped
  • 1 Egg
  • Preheat oven to 350.  Combine all ingredients in large bowl.  Roll out 10 meatballs.  In a non-stick skillet, add 1 TBSP olive or avocado oil.  Brown meatballs on all sides.  Place meatballs on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 mins, until cooked through.

 

Protein Muffins or Pancakes (Makes ~ 6 muffins; Pancakes: depends on how big you make them)

  • 1 Cup Kodiak Power Cakes Flapjack & Waffle Mix
  • 1 Cup (8oz) Protein Shake
    • ​Examples: Fairlife Core Power / Iconic / Premier Protein / Quest (any LOW SUGAR pre-made protein shake)
  • Preheat oven to 350. Spray a muffin tray, muffin cups or skillet (for pancakes). Combine ingredients & pour into muffin tray or into pan for pancakes.  For muffins, bake for 15 mins.  (Store in refrigerator)

 

Crustless Egg White Quiche (Makes ~ 6 slices)

  • 1 bell pepper
  • 1/4 red onion
  • 4 Cups fresh spinach, chopped
  • 3 Cups liquid egg whites
  • 1 container ground turkey breakfast sausage (or turkey bacon)
  • Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Brown the sausage in a pan and pour into the baking dish to let it cool. Chop all veggies, add to baking dish. Pour egg whites into baking dish.  Bake for about 20 mins until eggs set and no longer wiggle in the center.  Let cool and cut into 6 squares. Keep covered & in refrigerator. 

 

 

 

 

LSU's Operations & Performance Nutrition Center:
LSU opens up new $28 million football operations building; How did the sleeping pods get made? | LSU | theadvocate.com

Nichole has stressed how important proper nutrition & sleep is for athletic performance. Check out the link above that shows just how important college's like LSU take the nutrition & sleep for their athletes.

 

 

 

USA SWIMMING PAGE: NUTRITION AND RECOVERY

 

 

FUELING YOUR STROKE

Six 200’s descending on five minutes. Twenty-five 50’s on :58. Whatever your “favorite,”

every set during every workout and dry land session requires energy.

 

Nutrients are the “chemicals” that supply the body with energy. Carbohydrate, protein and

fat supply energy in the form of calories. These are your “Energy-Yielding Nutrients.”

Vitamins, Minerals and Water don’t supply energy in the form of calories, but their presence

is required in order for the body to access the energy provided by carbohydrate, protein and

fat.

 

During exercise, the body gets its energy primarily from carbohydrate and fat. It likes to save

protein for other things (building and repairing muscle tissue, hormones and red blood cells, and

supporting the immune system). The only time the body uses protein as an energy

source during exercise is when carbohydrate and fat are not present in sufficient quantities.

This happens when the total caloric intake is too low over a period of months, and or the

bout of exercise is so long that the body’s accessible sources of carbohydrate and protein

become exhausted. Neither of these scenarios is desirable for swimmers.

 

Think about money. When you have lots of it, you don’t mind paying full price for things. But

when money is scarce, or there is just too much you have to buy, you look for bargains.

You’re not being cheap, just thrifty. Simplified to some extent, your body knows how to shop.

Now instead of dollars, think of your currency as oxygen. When swimming is “easy,” say

during warm-up or your easiest sets, there is plenty of oxygen available to support the

exercise. The body perceives itself as “rich” and doesn’t mind splurging on fat (1 gram of fat

costs 9 units of oxygen). In fact, it automatically does so because it knows it might need

carbohydrate at a later time.

 

When exercise is hard (we’re talking tough sets, definitely your hardest sets), oxygen is not

plentiful. In fact, the body needs every bit it can get to support the exercise, but even that is

often not enough, and the body is forced to derive energy in ways that do not require oxygen

(i.e. anaerobic metabolism). In this situation, the body perceives itself as very “poor” and

becomes very thrifty with its “purchase” if fuel. Since carbohydrate costs less than fat (1

gram of carbohydrate costs 4 units of oxygen), the body chooses to rely primarily on carbohydrate

for its energy.

 

Keep in mind that this entire fuel burning process is never a case of “all or none.” In other

words, the body is always using some combination of carbohydrate and fat, but the

intensity of the exercise dictates which fuel source will be the dominant one. When

swimming is easiest, fat is the primary fuel source. When swimming is toughest,

carbohydrate is the primary fuel source. When swimming is about 50% of maximum effort,

carbohydrate and fat contribute about equally. Let’s face it – the majority of workouts are hard.

The typical swim workout, it’s pretty safe to say that the primary fuel source is carbohydrates.

 

 

EAT COLORFUL FOODS

What are the first three foods that come to mind when we say “carbohydrate?”

1. Pasta

2. Rice

3. Bread

 

Each of these is excellent. One of the most overlooked sources of carbohydrate is fruit.

Fresh, canned, frozen, dried or juiced. No matter how you look at it, fruit is an excellent source of

carbohydrate. Not only does fruit provide carbohydrate in the form of natural sugars (versus

refined sugar), the bright colors of fruits indicate that they are also excellent sources of

vitamins and minerals, including a sub-group called anti-oxidants.

 

You might recall that exercise is the stimulus that leads to training adaptations. And that

adaptations to training occur ONLY is you give the body the right kinds of fuels during

periods of rest. Well, one of the side effects of exercise is the generation of “free radicals.”

Free radicals are molecules that can actually cause damage to muscle tissue above and beyond the

damage caused by exercise. The damage caused by exercise is normal. It serves as part of the

stimulus for training adaptation to take place. But damage caused by free radicals is NOT a

desired part of the training process. Damage caused by free radicals (aka “scavengers”)

circulating in the bloodstream after workout can continue well into the recovery period. This

is when the body is supposed to be adapting!

 

Anti-oxidants “absorb” free radicals, neutralizing their effect in the body before their damage

to muscle tissue can amount to much. A diet consistently rich in fruits (and other colorful

foods, such as VEGETABLES) is apt to keep the body consistently supplied with antioxidants,

which will assist the body in keeping free radical formation to a minimum. This a

good reason to eat lots of colorful foods during the recovery time between workouts.

Colorful foods include, but are not limited to: apples, strawberries, blueberries, bananas,

watermelon, raspberries, grapes, mango, papaya, apricots, red peppers, broccoli, corn, squash,

carrots, peas,green beans, oranges, kiwis and tomatoes.

 

Colorful foods DO NOT include: Skittles, Jelly Beans, M&Ms, Mike& Ikes, Fruit Loops,

 

 

COMMON NUTRITION ISSUES

Daily Recovery

Strenuous daily training requires a high-energy, high-carbohydrate diet. Swimmers who fail to meet their carbohydrate requirement will fail to recover adequately between training sessions resulting in fatigue, loss of body weight and poor performance. Additional energy requirements for growth may compound the problem, especially during the teenage years when training and school commitments can make it hard to access suitable volumes of food. Swimmers with high-energy requirements need to increase the number of snacks during the day and make use of energy-dense foods. It is good to have nutritious carbohydrate-rich snacks on hand to eat straight after training to start the refueling process. This is especially important for swimmers who travel long distances from their pool to work or home and have to wait until the next meal can be consumed.

Fluid Needs in Training

High-intensity exercise in the steamy environment of a heated indoor pool, or outdoors in the sun, can lead to moderate sweat losses, which are not obvious when the swimmer is already wet. Smart swimmers bring drink bottles to the pool deck and drink during rest periods or between sets. Sports drinks provide an additional fuel supply for long training sessions. In a fluid balance study undertaken on the Australian Swimming Team in Atlanta in 1995, we measured average sweat losses of ~125 ml per kilometer in training or about 600 ml per workout. These swimmers were provided with both water and sports drink at the session and managed an average intake that perfectly matched their losses (125 ml per km). Of course, some swimmers were better at matching losses than others. And during anaerobic threshold sets, sweat losses increased to 170 ml/km.

Iron Status

An iron imbalance may occur in swimmers undertaking heavy training who fail to consume sufficient iron. Female swimmers on weight loss diets are particularly at risk. Iron levels should be checked regularly when in heavy training. Iron-rich foods such as lean red meat and breakfast cereals fortified with iron should be included regularly in the diet. Iron-rich plant foods such as wholegrain cereals, spinach and legumes should be combined with animal iron sources (e.g. wholegrain pasta with bolognese sauce) and vitamin C sources (e.g. glass of orange juice consumed with breakfast cereal) to improve iron absorption. A sports dietitian will be able to provide specific dietary help.

Immune Status

Swimmers often worry about getting sick during periods of heavy training. Many nutritional supplements and strategies have been suggested to keep the swimmer from catching coughs and colds. To date, the most important strategy emerging from immune studies of athletes is to keep well fuelled during training sessions. Sports drink during the workout and a recovery snack afterwards help to reduce the stress on the immune system.

Competition Nutrition

Muscle glycogen stores can be filled by 24 hours of a high-carbohydrate diet and rest. Swimmers who are undertaking a long taper may need to reduce total energy intake to match their reduced workload; otherwise unwanted gains in body fat will occur. Fluid levels and carbohydrate stores need to be replenished between events and between heats and semi-finals/finals. Drink a carbohydrate-containing fluid such as sports drink, fruit juice or soft drink when there is only a short interval between races. Snacks such as yogurt, fruit, cereal bars or sandwiches are suitable for longer gaps between races, or for recovery at the end of a session. Between day heats and evening final sessions, most swimmers eat a high-carbohydrate lunch and have a nap. On waking, a carbohydrate-rich snack is eaten before returning to the pool.