Categories: Nutrition
      Date: May  5, 2009
     Title: You don’t need to be a chef to eat well!
Most of us are time-deprived in our day-to-day lives and it can be a challenge to prepare nutritious meals or snacks each day.  But with a little planning and organization you can eat better to maximize your training sessions and recovery! 

We need to expand our definition of “training” to incorporate both workouts and nutrition. Many of us focus on the workout aspect but place less emphasis on fueling the body correctly.  Our diet essentially “trains” our body - for good or ill - to extract and process the nutrients we put into it. If you owned a finely tuned race car.  what kind of gas would you use: low end or high grade?  You would use the best grade out there to keep the car running at top notch!  Think of your own body as a race car; if you want it to run efficiently and smoothly you’ll need top end fuel too.

I commonly hear from athletes that they don’t have time to cook.  But you don’t need much time or to be a chef to eat well.  You can prepare a nutritious meal in 10 to 20 minutes.  One of my favorite recipes I use at least once a week that everyone likes a lot (including my kids) is: 

Simple Veggie Pasta with Chicken Sausage

Ingredients:

1 package of precooked chicken sausage (choose the all natural kind)-Cut into slices

2-3 Tablespoons (40-45 ml) of olive oil

3 cloves of garlic minced

3 cups (.7 liters) Cut fresh veggies and/or frozen veggies –use what is available

¼ cup of fresh parsley (optional)

Parmesan cheese or other hard cheese to top dish

1 lb (454 grams) of whole grain pasta or 2 cups (.5 liters) of brown rice

Directions: Cook pasta or rice separately.  In a large sauté pan brown garlic, chicken sausage, and olive oil over medium heat about 2-3 minutes, enough to brown the garlic.  Then add fresh and frozen veggies cover and cook until tender about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add chopped fresh parsley in the last 1-2 minutes of cooking.  Remove from stove and stir into pasta or rice.  Top with grated cheese and add salt and pepper to taste.  For a less starchy meal use less pasta or rice and add more vegetables.

Coach Kelli’s list for the Simple Chef:

   1. Stock some simple ingredients in your refrigerator/freezer and pantry for a quick snack or meal prep.

      Here is Coach Kelli’s list:

      Fresh or frozen fruits and veggies

      Garlic and Onion

      Extra Virgin Olive Oil

      Vinegar for salad dressing

      Hard cheese for grating such as parmesan, asagio, romano

      Nuts such as walnuts and almonds

      Low-fat yogurt and/or cottage cheese

      Grains such as: brown rice, whole grain pasta, quinoa, barley

      Canned tuna or salmon

      Organic canned beans such as kidney, pinto, lentils, or chickpeas

      Eggs

      For the freezer: stock fresh meat such as chicken breasts, turkey meat, steak,

      chicken, and sausage (write yourself a note to remind yourself to take it out to defrost)

      Dark chocolate (for when the sweet tooth strikes!)

   2. For the whole grains such as brown rice purchase a pressure cooker: you can cook brown rice in 10 minutes.  (And the new models don’t explode like the ones from years ago, so you won’t be cleaning rice off the ceiling!)

 

   3. Pack snacks and lunch in the evening so you have them ready as you are rushing out the door in the morning to drop the kids and/or go to work yourself. You might not feel like doing it some nights - but you will thank yourself come the morning!

 

4. Cook enough for 2 to 3 meals at a time - this way you don’t need to cook every day

and you can have the leftovers on those days that you are busier.

Kelli