Installment 3 - Meal and Snack Suggestions

Specific Ideas for Snacks and Healthy Meals

Since I don’t believe in reinventing the wheel I will refer to another web site for specific ideas for snacks and healthy meals.  Eat Like the Pros and SportFuel are web sites developed by Julie Burns, MS, RD, CCN.  SportFuel is an integrative nutrition consulting firm based in Western Springs, a west suburb of Chicago. They incorporate nutrition strategies that have worked for professional and elite athletes into everyday living.

Their current and past clients include the 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks hockey team, the 2005 World Series Chicago White Sox baseball team, the Chicago Bears football team, the 1993-1998 NBA Champion Chicago Bulls, the NBA Development League, Northwestern University's varsity teams, Next Level Performance and individual pro and elite athletes worldwide.

These are the same nutrition strategies that I utilize with my clients.  They provide lots of excellent information on the two web sites and are great about sharing that information, so here it is!

Do I have to eat organic?

The following lists emphasize organic.  I’d like to address the question of whether or not it is necessary to eat organic.  The answer is no.  I would certainly encourage you to do so for a variety of reasons, but I understand that there may be economic or other considerations. 

I believe the healthiest food choices are organic vegetables, fruits, dairy, and whole grains; grass-fed or pastured beef, chicken, turkey, eggs, and pork; and wild caught fish.  I mentioned above that “we are what we eat.”  I have a second saying, “we are what we eat eats.” What we feed our plants and animals ultimately will find its way into our bodies.  This refers specifically to the chemical soup of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, antibiotics, and hormones that are used in producing much of our food.  These are toxic to our body.  There are many studies showing the dangers of these chemicals to our body.  I will not get into this further here as there are many other sources. 

That being said, and this is very important, I still believe that eating non-organic vegetables is still better than not eating vegetables and eating farm raised fish such as Atlantic salmon is better than not eating salmon.  So, I repeat, you do not have to eat organic.  The foods that are recommended for you to eat are still the best foods to eat.

When eating conventionally produced animal products I do encourage you to limit the consumption of fat and avoid the skin.  Organic is emphasized even more for dairy than for vegetables.  Why?  Fat stores toxins. When animals are being fed hormones, antibiotics, and the food they eat has been treated with pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides this gets into their fat and eventually into our body.

Also, please be aware that there are options to buy organic and healthier foods at reasonable prices at such stores as Trader Joe’s, Costco, Woodman’s, and Sendik’s.

Ideas for Snacks

300 Calorie Snack List: http://eatlikethepros.com/menus_forms_sheets/meal_guides/ELTP300CALORIESNACKS.pdf

Healthy Meals

2300 Calorie Meal Plan: http://www.eatlikethepros.com/menus_forms_sheets/meal_guides/2300_CALORIE_MEAL_PLAN.pdf

1900 Calorie Meal Plan: http://www.eatlikethepros.com/menus_forms_sheets/meal_guides/1900_CALORIE_MEAL_PLAN.pdf

1700 Calorie Meal Plan: http://eatlikethepros.com/menus_forms_sheets/meal_guides/1700_CALORIE_MEAL_PLAN.pdf