Dec 21, 2018Eating Out
Between Friday night pizza with friends and stopping for dinner when traveling to away games, high school athletes go out to eat a lot. A few easy tips can help them stick to their nutritional game plans, even when their meals are handed to them through a drive-through window.
Some overall good choices include:
• wraps
• sandwiches
• baked potatoes.
It’s also important to understand terms and word usage. The following terms generally indicate high-performance food choices:
• broiled
• steamed
• poached
• garden-fresh
• in its own juice
• tomato sauce
• marinara sauce
• roasted
• wood-fired
• stir-fried
• grilled.
So where is fat hidden? Often in sauces and dressings. Stay away from food items with these terms:
• mayo
• aioli
• au gratin
• creamed
• creamy
• crispy
• deep-fried
• gravy.
At typical teen hangouts like pizza joints, fast food restaurants, and movie theaters, my advice is to limit fat intake whenever possible. Here are some good rules to go by:
When ordering a pizza, select lower fat toppings like ham, pineapple, veggies, and chicken sausage, and order the pie with half the amount of cheese.
At fast food restaurants, follow a “pick-a-fat” method — choose avocado or mayonnaise on a sandwich but not both.
At the movies, aim for “healthier” snacks like pretzel bites, trail mix, or chocolate-covered raisins as alternatives to popcorn and candy.