Category Archives: Healthy Eating

Hydration

November 8, 2015 svs5936 Leave a comment

Water + Electrolytes + Glucose

Water

Water is the most vital nutrient for the body. The body depends on water to give its cells life. Being hydrated allows the body to work for longer without getting fatigued as quickly and is crucial for optimal performance.

Electrolytes

During physical activity, the body looses water in two ways: sweat and exhaling vapor. When the body sweats, not only does it lose water, but electrolytes too. Electrolytes help increase fluid absorption and help to sustain good levels of plasma volume in order to perform for longer.

Glucose

Glucose, also known as sugar, helps sustain blood sugar levels and hydration in order to perform at a high level for a longer period of time. It can be more effective than water, especially in physical activities that last longer than an hour.

How to Hydrate

Prepare to hydrate for competition days in advance, especially when competing in warm weather
- This ensures maximum hydration on game day!
2-3 hours before the game drink 2-3 cups of fluid
- Tip: take sips instead of chugging water or sports drink to prevent stomach aches and discomfort
15 minutes before the game drink 1-2 cups of water or sports drink
During the game drink ½-1 cup of water or sports drink every 15 minutes to minimize the loss of body weight
- But avoid overhydrating! This can create discomfort as well
After the game drink 2 cups of water or sports drink for every pound lost

Healthy Options

Water: is the nutrient needed for the body’s cells need to function properly
Sport Drinks: has the electrolytes and sugar the body needs to maintain during competition

Drinks to Avoid

Caffeine
- Is a stimulant that can hinder performance, especially when used with unregulated substances
- Energy drinks contain high amounts of caffeine and carbohydrates which makes it harder for the body to have optimal fluid absorption
Carbonated Soft Drinks
- The carbonation in soft drinks can easily make a person full
- When a person is full, it will decreases the amount of fluid intake causing the person to become dehydrated faster
Alcohol
- Has a natural diuretic effect, causing the body to lose a lot of fluid and putting the person at risk of dehydration
- It also impairs a persons perceptions

Athlete, Brochure, Healthy Eating

Helpful Tips! And More Information

November 8, 2015 svs5936 Leave a comment

Helpful Tips to Remember!

Food should be completely digested before competition in order to be able to use the energy from the food
- It will help avoid an upset stomach
- Carbs digest faster than protein
- Protein digests faster than fat
Aim to eat whole wheat breads and grains
- These products are rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals
- They support good health
- Should be accounted for at least half of your daily consumption of grains
- Examples: brown rice, whole wheat english muffin
Aim to eat low fat dairy
- These products are rich in calcium, which is needed for strong, healthy bones
- High in protein
- 1% milk or skim
- low-fat or Greek yogurt
When eating meals: incorporate all the foods groups in order to get a variety of nutrient
- Starch/Carbs
- Meat/Protein
- Fruits and Vegetables
- Dairy
- Fat

For More Information…

Check out these Websites

You can also contact Samantha Shanahan

Email: svs5936@psu.edu

Sources

Kohn J. Strength Building and Muscle Mass. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 2014.

Whitney EN, Rolfes SR. Understanding Nutrition. 12th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth; 2011.

Healthy Eating, Hospital

Chester County Hospital Nutritional Services

November 6, 2015 svs5936 Leave a comment

The Chester County Hospital released a brochure to provide its patients and the community with information about the nutritional services available at the hospital. The brochure’s purpose is to communicate to people that the dieticians on staff want to help each individual reach their nutritional goals and influence a healthy lifestyle. Also, it was created to express that everyone has different dietary needs and that each person will have an individualized plan. The programs offered include nutrition counseling, group classes and an exercise center. The nutrition counseling sessions are tailored to construct a realistic plan based off of the lifestyles of the individual. The group classes offered focus on giving the participants the necessary tools and skills to make healthy choices about food and physical activity. Supermarket tours and special interest nutrition seminars are also available for group classes. The exercise center offers equipment for strength and cardiovascular training. An assortment of fitness classes is also available at the exercise center for a more controlled training session. The hospital wants these services to be family oriented in order to create a healthy living environment for everyone in the family. Therefore, the programs are offered to anyone, from children to the elderly. The primary goal for these nutritional services is to prevent disease and weight management, as expressed by the hospital.

This brochure is very informative about all the nutritional services provided by the hospital. However, the brochure is very heavy in information with long sentences, making it a little overwhelming as a reader. To improve this brochure, I recommend cutting the sentences and making them into bullet points. This will make the information more clear and concise to the audience. This brochure requires a higher-level literacy level in order to read and comprehend the information. Therefore, creating bullet points will also help make the brochure an easier read for the majority of individuals. Since there is so much information, there is not a lot of white space or empty space in the document. Creating more space by eliminating the large sentences will help make the brochure more appealing, balanced and not as overwhelming.

In the brochure, the hospital did an excellent job of using appropriate headers and displaying an attractive design. The headers are bolded and use a different color than the text. I really enjoy the layout and design of this brochure. It is colorful and bright, giving it a fresh look and feel. The brochure also does a good job of including information about how to get in contact with the dieticians and how to get involved in the programs.

I think this brochure will be effective. The content is accurate and the hospitals messages and statements are encouraging and positive. It demonstrates that the employees want to help each person develop a plan that will help encourage positive long-term lifestyle changes, which is essential to getting individuals to commit to a program. It is also colorful which helps make the programs more inviting. Overall, the hospital produced a professional and informative brochure that will attract many clients.

Click on the link below to check out the brochure!

https://www.cchosp.com/brochures/Nutrition%20Program%20Brochure.pdf

Healthy Eating, Kids

“It’s Fun to be Healthy!”

October 16, 2015 svs5936 Leave a comment

Can kids have fun being healthy? Absolutely! There are many ways to incorporate kids into engaging physical activities and appealing, tasty food choices. However, it all starts with knowledge of how to be healthy. The Kids MyPlate and Physical Activity brochure is an easy-to-read and kid friendly guide. It is great for parents and kids to go over together so that the parent and child are on the same page of how to reach a healthier lifestyle together. The focus of the pamphlet is for kids but it surprised me that it can be used as a great reference source for parents as well.

The pamphlet begins with the slogan, “It’s Fun to be Healthy!” I think this a great saying because it helps catch kids attention since kids are all about having fun. On the inside of the brochure it emphasizes on the five important food groups: protein, dairy, fruits, vegetables, and grains. Each panel provides the importance of eating each food group and offers at least one good option to eat. Also, at the bottom of each panel, there is a tip colored in purple, which seems to be the most important take-away from the information. On the back of the pamphlet, it highlights on how kids can be active. It gives a very brief description as to why it is important to exercise and also explains how much every kid should be getting each day. It then lists numerous fun and active forms of exercise, instead of time in front of a screen. On the last page of the brochure, it offers kids to visit the MyPlate website in order to receive more information about how to improve their lifestyles to be healthier.

This brochure is very well put together. It exhibits the four C’s of communication, which includes being clear, concise, complete, and correct. It grabs its audience’s attention with the cartoon pictures and bright colors. Also, it is portable, inexpensive, easy to reproduce and could easily be stored. However, I think the pamphlet needs to incorporate more specific healthy ideas for snack or food options for each food group instead of listing just the broader option. By giving kids more detailed options will help them understand what are some truly healthy options that can be eaten.

As a nutrition educator, this pamphlet would be great to use in elementary and middle schools. It would be a fun interactive lesson where each student would receive the pamphlet and would discuss it as a class. In the class, the pamphlet would be expressed in much greater detail and as to why each panel is important. For this education tutorial, I would also bring in food items that are common amongst the age group to demonstrate what kind of options that are good and ones that are bad. A taste tester would be a fun engaging activity to do with the kids to demonstrate some new foods that they may have not tried before.

Overall, this brochure does a fantastic job of describing the importance of each food group and the significance of exercise.

To check out the brochure, click on the link below!!

http://nutritioneducationstore.com/products/Kids_MyPlate_and_Physical_Activity_Brochure_Packet_of_25-738-184.html