Oct 6, 2016Eating 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.
