As a trainer I get asked lots of questions about which foods and drinks are good for you and which you should stay away from. Whether it’s professional athletes, celebrity trainers, Oprah-endorsed gurus or brilliant marketing strategies, we are bombarded with information, theories and opinions from all sides on the matter. In this over-saturated media day and age, it makes it hard to decipher the good stuff from the bad. Well, I hope to shed a bit of light on the situation, so here are my conclusions:
Gatorade: I know you see the stuff on TV during baseball games, football games and funky-colored sweat commercials but that’s just Gatorade doing its job: endorsement. I highly recommend you stay away from this one altogether. It’s made up of sugar, food coloring (even vegetable oil in some variations) and other stuff that’s bad for you.
Option: You want something to replenish your fluids after a long, hard sweat session? Try coconut water. All natural, low on calories, packed with electrolytes, no added sugar, color, anything. You can get it at Choices or Capers; I’ve even seen coconut water at some IGAs as it grows in popularity. Coconut water is quite pricey so another option is just good ol’ H2O (my personal favorite). Squeeze some lemon slices into your water—lemons are also full of electrolytes.
Fruit Juice: Processed and packed with sugar (and hence, packed with unnecessary calories). I’ve never understood why people choose to waste calories on juice, thereby adding on the pounds for something that doesn’t fill you up (and doesn’t quench your thirst).
Option: You’re much better off simply having a piece of fruit. And I know I sound like a broken record, but water is the best for hydration. There are no calories to worry about so drink as much as you want. It’s really the only thing that you can never have too much of.
Protein Powder: Here are two good rules of thumb to go by when choosing the right food or drink. Rule #1: When reading a label, choose only products that list words you actually recognize. If there are words on there that look like Swahili, chances are they are substances/chemicals you do not want to ingest. Rule #2: The shorter the ingredients list, the better. If the ingredients list reads like a novella, steer clear. Food and drink shouldn’t be that complicated and should go through minimal processing (if any at all). Keep it simple and your body will be thankful. Protein Powder fails to observe the above two rules. Not only that, unless you want to look like Schwarzenegger, I don’t see the point in protein powder so I never recommend it to my clients; even the ones who want to bulk up.
Option: Your protein should be coming from the best food source there is: MEAT. As well as eggs, beans, nuts and seeds. If you want to gain muscle you have to eat enough protein and you have to train correctly (and that’s a whole blog in unto itself). The Schwarzenegger types who look like they’re about to explode do so by overloading on protein (and with the help of anabolic steroids). In the end, overloading on anything is not good for the body so that’s why I never recommend it.
Protein/Health Bars: Again, most of these bars are absolute crap and fail to follow my two rules of thumb (see above). It’s really hard to find a decent power/protein bar, and believe me, I’ve tried them ALL. Most taste like tar and come packed with additives that they probably use to make tar out of.
Option: I love Lara Bars. They are tasty and nutritious and I love that there are only two to three ingredients in each bar AND you recognize every single ingredient! Although Rebar has a long list of ingredients, they are all recognizable and good for you (i.e. carrots, cauliflower, spinach, etc.) so I’d recommend Rebar as well. And I just found out that a product by the name of “Honey Bar” makes bars that only list three ingredients as well and are quite yummy, but this is from an outside source. Apparently Safeway carries them so they may be worth checking out.
Dried Fruit: Packed with sugar and sulfates. You might think you’re eating a healthy snack because it’s fruit, but in reality, you’re just packing on the calories.
Option: Fruit on its own. ‘Nuff said.
If I missed something on the list that you’d like to know whether it’s good or bad, send me an email!
That’s all for now. Make good choices.
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