Leslie Bonci, RD, CSSD

As a sports dietician, I help clients support their supporting structure by providing them with an eating plan that contains protein, anti-inflammatory foods, calcium, vitamin D, potassium, iron, B vitamins, and phytonutrients. This includes consuming prunes as part of the plan, which are very beneficial for bone health. Eating this way will also help strengthen muscles and joints.
 
Transcript: "As a sports dietician, I am all about having my clients support their supporting structure. In other words, how do you take care of your bones, and ligaments, and tendons, and joints, and muscles? So, number one, you have to eat enough. If you under fuel, then everything really falls apart. Number two, when we are looking at muscle health, that means having protein containing foods as part of every eating occasion. Number three, if we are looking at the health of joint, we want to think about food that have an anti-inflammatory benefit. That's fatty fish, that is berries, that is eating things like a beet, having turmeric, and ginger as part of your eating. And when we think about bone health, a lot of people think just calcium. Calcium is important, it's not the only thing. Your bones need to have enough protein, your bones need to have enough fat, your bones do need to have calcium but they also need vitamin D, and they need potassium, and they need iron, and they need B vitamins, and they need what we call phytonutrients or plant nutrients. So, making sure that you are having a bone building type of an eating plan, not skimping on what you do, protein is part of every meal, getting some color on the plate that is critically important for the health of the bones and something that you may not know, interestingly, one of the best foods for bone health, prunes. Who knew? But prunes actually contains substances in them that tend to support healthy bones. You can mix them into a cereal, you can put them in a rice pilaf, you can put them in a smoothie, you can eat them as part of a trail mix. So thinking about bone building, joint supporting, muscle strengthening, all these types of things, this hand-to-mouth activity is critically important as any physical activity that you do. So, make sure that you support your supporting structure each and every day with every meal."

To help feel more comfortable when suffering from a cold, it is important to make sure you are hydrated, eating regularly and consuming foods with vitamin C. Soups, stews, chilies and smoothies can all be helpful. It is also important to make sure that you are eating things that you enjoy, as when feeling unwell, you don't want to spend too much time in the kitchen.
 
Transcript: "Hey, guys, I know it's that time of the year common cold, and what can we eat to help us feel more comfortable? Well, it really depends upon the symptoms. So, if you're having like a sore throat, stuffing this even thinking something like chicken soup, this is why it's called Jewish or Italian penicillin because it really does help you to feel like you're clearing out a little bit. Secondly, even trying to support your immune system, and that means consuming foods with vitamin C, that could be orange juice, that could be great. Fruit juice or orange or Grapefruit Tangerine, those types of things. Third is that overall is you want to have some things with some flavor because of your stuff, then you probably don't feel so wonderful. So things that might be a little spicy might be a little bit more enjoyable. If your throat is sore, going with liquids, so things like soups, and stews and chilies, and smoothies can all be really, really helpful to do. And I think most importantly is that That you consume foods that you like and not making a big production about it because when you don't feel well, you don't really want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so making sure that you are well hydrated. That is critically important making sure that you were eating as regularly as you can to keep your energy levels up and making sure that you're consuming things, that actually help to clear. Some of that mucus can feel a little bit more comfortable, get better soon."

The minimal daily recommendation for fluid intake for women is 72 ounces and for men is 120 ounces. However, it is recommended to consume optimal amounts of fluids (including things such as juices, milk, coffee/tea, soup, stew, popsicles, yogurt, fruits, and vegetables) throughout the day to ensure proper hydration for health, performance, injury prevention and body composition goals.
 
Transcript: "This is the really interesting question about the minimal amount of water that we could drink everyday em survive. Now as a sport dietitian, I am always about optimal and optimal is not minimal but optimal is not excessive. So what are the recommendations for fluid per day for women? It is minimally about 72 ounces of liquid a day for men minimally is probably about 120. 20 ounces of liquid a day. If you're physically active, you're going to need more. Now, I use the word liquid for a reason is water. Is a fluid juice of the fluid. Milk is a fluid, even coffee and tea. Caffeinated are also fluids for the body. If you have soup, if you have stew, if you have a popsicle, if you have yogurt, if you eat fruits and vegetables, all of those foods are part of your fluid intake. So it just doesn't have to be water. We know that being well hydrated is essential for all aspects. Of health and body functioning and certainly has an impact on strength speed, performance, injury, prevention, even when it comes to body composition goals by being well hydrated. So let's not think about minimal. Let's think about optimal. Making sure that we are consuming fluid or fluid containing foods as part of every single meal during the day. So glasses up hydrate up score with your poor."

If you are working out more than once a day, it's important to be strategic about what and when you eat. You should have some food before and after each workout as well as something before bed to help your body recover and refresh.
 
Transcript: "If you're working out more than once a day, you might be thinking hmmm. I have to eat a lot more calories. Well, let's put this in perspective. First of all, it's not just about the calories or the energy. You consume is the quality of if the timing of is the quantity of that. Make a really big difference. So, here's what I say to my athletes all the time, if we look in the middle. So in the middle of might be a workout, it might be a practice. It might be conditioning or it might be an event. Depending upon the day on either side of that is your and post what you were doing before, to prepare for activity, and what you're doing on the back end to repay her from what you did. So you can do it again. So, if we think about parenthesize in our bouts of physical activity, if you're going to work out in the morning, perhaps you're splitting breakfast. So you're having part of your breakfast before and part after you're done, if you're going to work out again in the afternoon, maybe you have lunch in the middle of the day and then in the afternoon, maybe you're doing a snack before that afternoon work out and eating something. After that might be dinner or it might be something lighter and you have your dinner later. So starting to be strategic about what it is that you do. Help you to stay energized throughout the day and help you to maximize strength stamina and speed. The other part of that is we can do the makeup on the back end. And what I mean by that is after a day of rigorous training or two a day, then think about what you do before bed, because when you sleep, that's the time to restore. They help your body recover and refresh. So you can do more the next day. So, ending with a nightcap, so to speak. And maybe that might be a bowl of cereal. It might be a yogurt parfait, it might be a smoothie, it might be a good old fashioned, peanut butter, and jelly with a glass of milk. All those types of things. Help your body come back to Baseline, so that you are recovered and renewed and refreshed."

When looking for information about eating and nutrition, it's best to seek advice from a registered dietitian, preferably one who specializes in sports nutrition. They will help you create a healthy lifestyle that works best for you.
 
Transcript: "As a registered dietitian, I'm interested in using any question to combat some of the misinformation that's out there. There are too many still influence others and thin. Fluence others out there that unfortunately are giving people wrong information. That may be detrimental to their emotional well-being, to their physical well-being, and also to their performance. So, at the end of the day, if you're trying to get information on this hand-to-mouth exercise, what when Then how much to eat then, think about who it is that you get your info from a registered dietitian and especially a board certified specialist in sports, dietetics is going to help you be the best that you can be to create your Healthy selfie."

If you don't like eggs for breakfast, there are plenty of other protein options to choose from such as Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, smoked salmon, scrambled tofu, turkey sausage, pork sausage or veggie sausage. All of these can help optimize your protein intake and make a great way to start the day.
 
Transcript: "Not an egg eater, no problem. There's lots of other protein that you can choose for breakfast. One-off for dairy food, things like Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese itself. Ricotta are all excellent to think about something like salmon, it could be a smoked salmon works really, really well three. If you don't want to do egg, how about scrambling tofu? That's another one or something, like a turkey, sausage a pork sausage, or even a veggie sausage in the morning all of Those things will help you to optimize your protein intake as a great way to start your day."