The Banana

Let me tell you some fun things about bananas that you may or may not know.

Did you know bananas have a nice high amount of potassium? This potassium is a specific electrolyte needed in order to help your muscles function in the ways you intend. When dehydrated after practice, during the day or just afterwaking up (when everyone is dehydrated) a banana is a great thing to add to drinking water. Because it is a natural source of the stuff, the potassium gets absorbed nice and easily into the system. Hooray body.

Did you know that bananas are awesome to add to anything? Try making a smoothie, adding to the top of oatmeal, using old bananas to make banana bread, putting peanut butter on the top of a banana, or even warming one up in the oven and adding some whipped cream for a tasty dessert that's also nutritious.

Did you know that bananas are very low in fat, give about 1 gram of protein and 24 grams of carbohydrate? The types of carbohydrates you will find in the banana are low glycemic carbs that will give you longer lasting energy over time. This makes a nice profile in the snack category anyday! Plus the high amount of vitamin B6 will give you a slight energy boost too. Mmmmm...B6...

Did you know you can make your bananas ripen faster real easily? Take a brown lunch bag and but a cleaned banana and either a tomato or an apple in the bag and seal it tight. Leave it in a cool dry area and the ethylene gas produced by the tomato/apple will cause the banana to ripen faster. MIND BLOWN.

Bananas are cool, huh?

An Apology

Im sorry fans, especially after my last posts I told all of you I would be keeping up with this blog much better. I have not followed through. Let me explain myself.

When I got back to Italy, my brand new computer decided to not work. At all. The thing won't even open to my desktop. On top of that, we didn't have any internet until just yesterday when I went and bought some. It's been a little bit of a headache, but I am now back in working order using my friends free netbook.

Now that I am actually back, what would everyone like our focus to be? I think that this blog should have a focus for the new year and second half of my season (basketball).

Speaking of focus, this is an important concept to grasp before trying to accomplish goals. Without focus goals are lazily done or forgotten about. Focus can be a couple of things:

• Hardy mindset to get through what you desire
• A system which rewards the person when good things are done
• A piece of paper with the goal written on it in a very open spot
• Friends working with you cooperatively
• Variation in accomplishing your goal in order to keep things fresh

All of these things will be able to help you win. And everyone likes winning correct? Good, that's what I thought.

Christmas Eatings

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

Sorry about the long time between posts this time. It was kind of hard for me to do because of all my travel and  basketball. After New Year's I should be getting back into a regular swing of articles.

With Christmas dinner we can all easily fall into the pit of eating whatever is put in front of us. Tradition, family, tasty treats, and holiday spirit are all culprits. Eating these foods can hurt the waistline at an inopportune time when we all want to look pretty for family photos, New Year's, or any holiday party. Just a few reminders this holiday so that we don't lose everything we work for.

Avoid the food coma. Eat until you are full. What's nice about the holidays is that we usually get more time, leftovers, and plenty of opportunities to eat those foods we love. When you pass your own threshold in order to eat more foods you are going to hurt yourself. Side effects include sleepiness, vomiting, sweating, fatigue, etc. You should be having fun now not complaining about how full you are feeling! Pace yourself. Go back for more but do it much later, and definitely realize that food could keep on coming (don't forget dessert!).

Don't stop your typical daily activities. Instead recruit friends, family, others, etc. to do them with you! Go for a jog in the morning? Bring the sister. P90X around lunchtime? Who else wants in? Getting your blood flowing and working up an appetite will help you stay in shape while enjoying the awesome food. Who knows, maybe you'll introduce a fun new way to stay fit to your friends and family. Here's a fun exercise: shopping. Make sure it involves lots of walking, trying on clothes/shoes,  picking up objects, etc. You'll find yourself burning when you don't even realize.

Stop snacking! I know it's hard...but try not to eat anything unless it is at a meal. When we eat these big meals like this, snacking can be the real problem with too many calories being eaten in one day. The days where you know you'll be feasting (and I'm talking Grandma's house here), have a nice light breakfast and lunch and really get yourself hungry for the dinner. It will make it taste that much better I promise! I don't really recommend this style of eating all through out the year, but for these special events, it can work perfectly.

Happy Holidays again! You have been awesome readers my first year with the blog!

Increased Energy! Not Waistline...

Hey everybody!

Got a request from a fellow athlete this week, so I decided to work on it for her! This post focuses on the people who strive for more energy but don't want the extra poundage associated with more food.

Think timing. When you eat your food is extremely important when looking for boosts of energy. Eating 30 min to one hour before energy is needed is ideal. This is perfect timing because of  the time it takes for the food to be digested into usable energy. A trick I've told my teammates is to eat during activity as well. Make this food high in simple carbohydrates (raisins, gummy bears, orange slices, etc.) and you will see a similar increase in energy. This is one thing Gatorade does for us with its sugar content. If energy is a thing of need after activity, those of you who have jobs or studying, then make sure to eat 30 min to one hour after practice as well. This will help your body recover along with giving the body great fuel for the rest of your day.

The number one item to eat for your energy boost is fruit. Just think any fruit. Your favorite will work fine. If not, try any of the other. The thing about fruit is:

• High sugar content for fast acting energy
• Natural food made to be digested easily by the body
• Fiber in skins will help keep calories down while increasing "fullness"
• Easily portable (most fruits) and can be eaten at anytime
• Amazing micro-nutrient profiles mean higher focus, higher energy, and higher immunity

Convinced? Instead of going out to try out a new snack to boost your energy, just go buy a sack of oranges or apples or bananas or grapes or strawberries or...you get the idea? Fruit is so great in that it literally needs almost no preparation and no storage needs. Throw it in your bag and go. This is something I've been working on recently and my energy level is much higher in the morning after eating one banana or one orange. My hunger level during and after the workout tells me I'm not eating too much either.

So if fruit is not your thing or you just can't do it, try different methods. Here in Italy we drink cafe (espresso) when tired. It's nice because it is small and quick and provides a nice energy boost. Caffeine is good for this in small doses (like espresso). The problems come around from having large volumes of coffee or caffeine and adding a ton of additives to the drink. Try it sometime. One espresso shot with no sugar or milk. This has no calories and provides a ton of energy. Yeah its a bit bitter, but it gets the job done without any chemical-bomb drinks involved. Stay away from energy drinks. Those lead to crashing and are sometimes illegal to use according to USADA.

A final thing to try for getting your energy without the calorie boost is staying hydrated. Simply by being hydrated you can avoid headaches and injuries which can give the feeling of fatigue and sleepiness. Always keep a drink at hand, especially when your day has some heavy activity in the future.

I hope this helps! This request was awesome to get! I love hearing from my viewers if it's a request or just some positive words! I love my fanbase! You keep reading, I keep writing :) Ciao amici!

Have you ever?

I thought I'd get creative with this post and just post a bunch of "have you ever" statements to give you ideas of what to try in your diet:

Have you ever...

• switched from vegetable oil to olive oil?
• gone from 2% milk to a lower fat content?
• adding vegetables to your sandwich like peppers, cucumber, and mushrooms?
• tried cooking without a recipe? (something more complex than blank pasta...come on)
• tried not drinking soda for one week?
• gone to the farmer's market?
• made your own snack bags for work/practice/hunger moments?
• cooked something you've never eaten before only because you wanted to try it?
• gone out of your way to make sure you've eaten breakfast?
• read nutrition labels?

These are just some of the things pulsing through my mind. By looking at these questions and answering them, you could improve your diet. Give it a try!

Concerning your weight: Part 2

I am realizing that my last post was somewhat "negative." I pretty much just told people off saying don't get your hopes up, because of who you are you will weigh only a certain amount always.

I hope none of you took it this way. I want to clear up some thoughts I've had since posting before.

First of all. It is possible to change anything you want. You want tighter abs? Go for it. You want a healthier diet? Go for it. You want to lose that weight in your behind? Go for it. There are ways to do everything. What makes things difficult for the disabled population is not being able to activate certain parts of our body. Luckily there are machines that I have seen in order to move or use the muscles that are difficult to use. For example, a lot of paraplegics have trouble with abdominal exercises. There are things you can do though, and they will help. I recommend seeking a personal trainer or a team trainer when it comes to wanting to learn more about how to use parts of the body.

Another thing I wanted to mention was the importance of setting realistic goals. Sometimes coaches will get at you and say things along the line of needing to lose 5 or 10 or 20 lbs. I'm not a fan of huge goals like this unless the time frame is very long. Remember that it is unhealthy to lose more than 1-2 lbs per week when it comes to losing weight. For yourself, set a goal and keep it short. An example could be losing 5 lbs over the next month. Another good example could be always eating fruit with breakfast and eating at least one fresh vegetable with lunch and dinner. Goals can be anything but they must have a couple things: a time limit, manageable terms, realistic ideas. Don't make something your goal if you cannot afford it, don't have time to do it, or don't have the necessary items to accomplish it. Start small and grow.

Finally, when it comes to food when concerned about only weight, do not be discouraged solely by the fact that gaining/losing weight might not happen. So many things benefit from paying attention to your diet:

• Increased immune system response, aka less sick time!
• More energy: on the court, in practice, during the day
• Quicker recovery time which means you can push harder
• Happier mood: studies have shown healthy diets can decrease depression
• Saving money: eating fresh and cooking always beats the junk food...FACT
• Babes, because, idk, babes love a man who can eat and cook (same goes vice versa, love me a woman who can eat and cook)

Have I convinced you yet? So go set a nice goal and don't get upset. Seek help if you want it. Accomplish what you want to do. I HAVE EMPOWERED YOU. Now go.

Regarding Weight for Athletes with Disabilities

This is a tough subject.

I have been approached by many athletes with disabilities with either two things on their mind: I want to lose weight or I want to gain weight. I'd like to clear up the answers right now for the majority of this population.

First of all, understand you and your disability. I small athletes come to me saying help me gain weight, but it can be difficult in most cases due to the lack of body function. Gaining weight is not an impossibility, but it is more focused on lifting weights and increasing exercise. You increase your muscle mass, you increase your weight. There are many things you can do to encourage your body to build muscle like choose lean protein drinks and snacks and eat within 30 min after exercising.

Second, the bigger guys and gals need to understand the same thing. There is a weight for everyone known as the "set point" and this point is basically where the body will sit no matter how healthy you eat or how much more you exercise. When in great shape, you fluctuate around this number by 2 to 3 lbs. Once at a set point, you should become comfortable with your look and ability. Those with big bodies, but can't use the entire body functionally, can struggle to get rid of some extra poundage. The best bet here in order to help lose weight is to decrease total Caloric intake every day little by little. Facts you should know? You will be hungry at times. The weight decrease will be slow. Every dietitian will tell you to eat more fruits and vegetables. Exercising more or harder can be one of the only options.

What I'm trying to get at here is that it can be harder for some athletes with disabilities to lose that beer belly or to slim down just because only half the body is really being used. Same goes for putting on weight. My suggestion then to you? First, understand your body and the way it works. Don't get tied up with needing to be bulky or have a six pack or whatever. That has never defined athleticism. Second, concentrate and learn about your diet. Whether you are gaining or losing or just eating healthy, knowing your food and drink is 80% of the battle with the rest being fortitude and willpower to act on change.

So I hope this helps. I'm not trying to get on my soapbox and sound frustrated, but I want my readers to be happy with themselves and their outcomes. So go out and learn new things! Try new foods! Use my blog as a resource. No problem.