I usually talk about fitness tips and supplements to keep you physically fit here, but today I wanted to mention a NEW product that our manufacture had recently released that boosts your immune system.
I did some notes on this great call that Barb Lagoni did with coach Alex Swanson. He coaches teen athletes by phone (info below) and recommends SHAKLEE supplements and sports nutrition products. It's a very helpful session. Thanks so much, Barb and Alex!
07/26/05 ; Alex Swanson Sports Nutrition for Kids (You can listen to this conference call on www.shakword.com)
Barbara Lagoni interviewed Alex Swanson on 7/26/05
His mom is Sherri Swanson, a nutritional counselor for 30 years. Alex grew up in that kind of home with a healthy diet and exercise.
He works with athletes 10-22. He focuses on high school sports, but has 11 and 12 year olds come in as well.
He sits down and does an individual plan for them that they can follow and that is easy for them. He categorizes them as POWER FOODS, SPEED FOODS, and ENDURANCE FOODS.
He has them cross off foods on the list they do not like. He first teaches them how to eat, then how to do protein shakes and meal shakes, and then how to do supplementation.
They learn the connection between performance and injury, and eating and supplementation.
ENDURANCE FOODS are for sports like swimming and water polo, because they burn up a lot of energy swimming--and hydration is an issue.
They are burning 280-400 calories in 30 minutes! They need muscle endurance. So their strategy is eating endurance foods the night before and 2-3 hours before the event, as well as rehydrating. Here you focus less on speed and power.
SPEED & POWER FOODS are for baseball, basketball, volleyball, tennis, football, etc. These need endurance, yes, but more important is speed and power.
They need fast reactions. Volleyball and baseball are very hard on the body because they need quick response.
All sports need all three kinds of foods, but you focus on different ones depending on the sport.
POWER FOODS are the proteins and the basis of each meal--steak, chicken, fish, cottage cheese, peanut butter, etc, as well as protein shakes.
SPEED FOODS are the nuts, walnuts, almonds, and good fats like avacados, oranges, fruit, yogurt. These are things you can have an hour before competition which will not weigh you down but give you quick energy. And are foods kids like. Performance drink fits here.
ENDURANCE FOODS include Performance. They also include pasta, rice, oatmeal. These are slow-burning cards. These are the carb load meals the night before.
Performance is superior because GATORADE has too much sugar in it and sugar dehydrates the body. Performance hydrates you and keeps you going strong the entire game. He uses it exclusively himself, and has tested it out in various ways. It is excellent. There is a steady stream of carbs to burn during the performance, and the electrolytes address recovery and rehydration.
FOODS TO AVOID Avoid Sodas. The sugar makes you tired and weak. If you cut out only one thing, it should be sodas. The biggest complaint is that they feel tired in the afternoon!
Avoid Fast Foods like burger joints and fried foods. Work around for better choices. There are so many chemicals and preservatives in these foods that the body does not recognize them and so stores the food because it doesn't know what to do with chemicals rather than making them available for energy. It contributes toxicity which is another stress factor for the body.
HEALTHY SNACKS Fruits and nuts and yogurts, which are in the SPEED category. He tells them to avoid white flour and hydrogenated oil.
HE PROVIDES A RESOURCE FOR FOOD He has a list of what to buy and where to buy it. He tells them brand names he has researched. He emphasizes organic vegetables and organic meats and fish. There are so many yogurts--he has checked them out and recommends Cascade Farms or Trader Joe's. Altadena is a great brand, like for organic rice milk. (He recommends breakfast smoothies with rice milk and soy protein, along with eggs.)
MEALSHAKE He wants something kids can make in 5 minutes. It's a quick meal and great with a banana in it and/or whole grain toast and/or fruit. It's important to have protein in the morning. And kids love the taste. You can make it as hot chocolate as well.
ENERGIZING SOY PROTEIN Add it to anything in the morning--have with eggs, oatmeal. You should have it every morning. He recommends the Vanilla, to put it in orange juice so it tastes like a 50/50 bar, or in milk, or in apple juice. You can put it in a blender with some ice, too.
CITRIBOOST It is easy to add to the protein shake. Kids don't like to take vitamins but like this taste okay in the shakes. You get essential vitamins and minerals easily that way plus acidophilus. OR VITA-LEA - but even better is THE BASICS, which are perfect for an athlete because they get 2 Vita-Lea, 2 B-Complex, 1 E, 1 C. These are an athletes need in a nutshell.
The C is important to support an athletes immune system so they will not get sick, because their body is under so much stress. The B-Complex helps with the stress, but also builds and maintains muscle and keeps you from getting sick.
With Vita-E he can tell in his cardio that it makes a huge difference. It oxygenates the blood more. It improves circulation and endurance.
PHYSIQUE is phenomenal. He has tried everything on the market that is healthy because he didn't want anything that would hurt him. He always noticed his soreness went away in one day with PHYSIQUE, but with other products it would take 2-3 days for soreness to go away.
With PHYSIQUE he can work out hard the very next day! The first three hours after a workout/training/event are where you need to recover the most. PHYSIQUE handles that recovery really well during those three hours and you might not even be sore. You want to take it right after the game (at least sometime during those three hours) and then you take another drink of PHYSIQUE two hours later right after you eat. Some kids have two games on the same weekend. Portions are important.
Smaller kids or girls need only 1½ scoops. Boys take 3 scoops each time even if they are wanting to build muscle. PHYSIQUE repairs and builds muscle. Anytime the muscles are taxed they burn and this is the point that muscle fibers are tearing down. When the body goes to rebuild them, they build stronger and bigger because of this anabolic process.
PHYSIQUE shakes help incredibly for kids or anyone who is taxing muscle.
WHAT ABOUT INJURY? He doesn't use machines with the kids. Instead he recommends body weight exercises, and uses the Navy SEAL workout--push ups, pull ups, splits, swimming and running.
When you have strengthened your body you keep your body in shape. You want to do a lot of stretching and keep your body in shape and keep strong.
With PHYSIQUE you are recovering very fast and staying very strong.
Drink WATER in #7 plastic bottles - do not drink out of bottles that leach plasticizers into the water - you want the harder plastic in hot facilities.
CALCIUM is very important for bones and muscle. You take away the soda and they drink water and PERFORMANCE and PHYSIQUE.
You can fill up the bottle ahead of time with PERFORMANCE and cold water.
There are big bottles now so they fill them up and take them to the event.
ZINC is such a critical component of so many enzymes in your body. It helps maintain a healthy metabolism and immune system. It speeds the wound healing process. They are losing a lot of zinc when they perspire. They are growing, too, and zinc is needed for growth. It helps with acne and they worry about that in that age range.
LECITHIN helps you focus. It helps you digest. It helps you calm down. It is needed by the brain and nerves. It is a fat emulsifier, so it can help someone lose weight. People feel stressed and anxious before games and
LECITHIN and B-COMPLEX help incredibly. SUPPLEMENTING is so important that the latest research says that those physically active or in sports need TEN TIMES THE AMOUNT of a person not active or in sports!
He loves preparing/training for events more than the events. So he wanted to help others do that.
Teens have amazingly awful diets. You can help prevent disease by teaching them about eating well and supplementation along with the sports training.
A major problem with ready-to-drink sports drinks is that they tend to be too sweet and more acidic based on the additives required to maintain stability in the bottle. This combination can certainly lead to effects on tooth enamel through long-term use.
In contrast, as Powercat's Sports&nb sp;drink is a mix-to-use powdered product, it does not contain any of the additives found in most of the ready to drink products. Moreover, Powercat's Sports drink is not particularly sweet nor is it very acidic. The overall result is that our sports product will not have any effect on tooth enamel through long-term use.
