Eating a balanced diet and drinking plenty of fluids is also important in staying healthy.  There are some nutrients like vitamin C and vitamin A that help our immune system. Our immune system defends our bodies against infection. The immune system also helps us recover from injuries. Football players need to eat healthy so their bodies are able to heal after a rough football game. Preventing a flu or cold and healing a bruise all require good nutrition. In order to keep your body healthy through the football season and flu season try to eat foods rich in vitamin C and and vitamin A. Here are some of the best foods to eat.

Vitamin C Rich Foods                    

Orange                      Broccoli                                   Green Peppers

Grapefruit                  Spinach                                   Cauliflower

Strawberries              Tomato Soup                           Cabbage

Potatoes                    Turnip Greens                         Pineapple

Vitamin A Rich Foods                             

Skim Milk                  Carrots                                     Cantaloupe

Kale Greens             Apricots                                    Sweet Potato

Peas                         Peaches                                   Pumpkin

Oatmeal                   Red Peppers                             Liver

• Whole wheat pita filled with hummus and vegetables like lettuce, tomato and shredded carrots. Bring a couple apples and pickles to eat with your pita.

• Layer a whole wheat tortilla with refried beans or a black bean spread. Top with chopped onions and green peppers, diced tomatoes, and shredded cheese. Roll it and enjoy your wrap with some melon cubes. (The melon cubes will hydrate you!)

• Eat leftover cold cheese pizza for a nutrient dense meal or make your own. Spread pizza sauce onto some whole wheat flatbread or a whole wheat tortilla shell. Add shredded mozzarella cheese on top. Broil for a few minutes and it is ready to eat. Add an orange and carrots for your fruits and vegetables.

These meals/snacks can be made and eaten quickly.  Eat these foods if you are on the run so you stay energized and ready for your summer fun.

The Ravens players are back in town for their off season strength and conditioning program. The exercises they are doing are specific for football. Workouts that are specialized for football often include lifting heavy weights, running gassers (sprints) on the practice fields, and specific exercises to strengthen their backs (core).  Each of these movements uses the carbohydrates in their muscles.  The stored carbohydrate or glycogen must be replaced before and after workouts.  Glycogen gives our muscles the energy to run or lift weights.

As an athlete try to eat healthy grains at meals and snacks to replace the glycogen in your muscles.  This will give you the energy you need for school, practices, and workouts.  A healthy grain is one that contains fiber and lots of B vitamins.  Maintain your energy by eating healthy grains throughout the day. Here is a table of some of your healthiest grain choices.

Healthy Grains

The offseason is a time for them to recuperate, heal, and strengthen their bodies, as they start to think about the next season.  The Ravens players take a break from the rigorous exercise and practices for a few weeks, which help their bodies mend. Since the Baltimore Ravens players are not working out as often, they need to be careful to maintain their healthy weight.  Many of the players cut back on how much they are eating in order to prevent extra weight gain.

Some of the eating rules they have when they are not exercising may be useful for you to maintain your weight.  Here they are:

• Do not take second helpings at meals.
• Drink more water then juice, soft drinks, or sports drinks.
• Avoid fried foods.
• Limit the extra butter and margarine on potatoes, noodles, and toast.
• Eat less than 3 sweets a week.

Enjoy and relax if you are in your off season, but try to eat healthy and maintain a healthy weight.

As young athletes focusing on how you eat before and after practices is just as important since many of you are still growing and developing. Eating the right balance of nutrients will help you to maintain your lean muscle mass and strong bones.  Choose Quality lean proteins at your meals. Quality proteins are foods like lean chicken, lean ham, lean ground beef, and tuna fish.  Choose these types of proteins instead of foods with a lot of cheeses and sauces. For strong and healthy bones choose cow's milk, fortified soy milk, and fortified almond milk.  These are drinks that will provide you with calcium and phosphorous. Calcium and phosphorous are minerals that are vital to healthy bones. Think about the quality and the types of proteins and drinks you choose to maintain lean muscle and strong bones.

An example of meals with Quality protein and rich in calcium and phosphorous are:

• Lean Chicken Breast, Mashed Potatoes (made w/fortified milk), 8 oz. Skim Milk

• Ham, Macaroni & Cheese (made w/fortified milk), 8 oz. Fortified Soy Milk

• Tuna Salad Sandwich (use low fat mayonnaise), 8 oz. 1% Milk

Eat well and have a great month!

If you are not drinking water right now, start by drinking a glass of water with each meal.  Carry water with you to workouts or practices and drink it all before the practice is over. This will help you stay hydrated during your workouts.  The winter months have many of us sitting in classrooms and offices where the heat is blowing all day long.  The dryness of the rooms and the extra heat cause us to lose more water, so we need to drink more often.  If your lips are chapped or you become thirsty, you are already dehydrated. Do not let yourself get this dehydrated.

During these next few months, drink a glass or bottle of water at each meal and during your workouts.  Stay hydrated to keep your body healthy.  Have a healthy and hydrated holiday season!

If you lost weight during your football season and need to regain some weight or just need to eat more to grow taller, there are lots of foods that will add the calories and the nutrition your body needs.  Think your Drink by including healthy milkshakes or 100% juice at meals or with snacks. They provide more nutrition than soft drinks, juice drinks, and energy drinks.  Do not rely on a healthy milkshake to be your only source of nutrition at a meal. If you want to gain weight, drink it with a meal or between meals. The extra calories will boost your nutrition and help you gain weight.  Here are some low-cost, high calorie drink ideas to help you gain weight:

• Milkshakes (make with Carnation Instant Breakfast and skim or 1%milk)
• 100% Orange Juice
• 100% Grape Juice
• 100% Apple Juice
• 2% Chocolate Milk
• Double strength milk (add a scoop of powdered milk to a glass of skim or 1% milk)
• Hot Chocolate (make w/ skim or 1% milk)

Think your Drink and eat well this month!

How do they know what to choose? Well, I advise them to choose foods from each of the food groups and to keep all their meals balanced with nutrients. One of the easiest ways to know if you are eating a nutrient rich plate is if it contains a variety of colors. For example, chicken (yellow), spinach (green), sweet potato or brown rice (orange), and an apple (red). A variety of vitamins and minerals like vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, and calcium are included on this plate. The chicken and the spinach contain protein and iron. The apple and sweet potato provide healthy carbohydrates. It is a balance of nutrients that keep the Ravens healthy and able to play hard for each game. Keep your self healthy by choosing a variety of foods and keeping your plate colorful.

Food groupings will keep you strong and well nourished for years to come. Try a new food each week for a taste change and the variety of nutrients it will provide. Since apples are a Fall fruit taste, a Red Delicious and a Granny Smith apple and notice how one is sweet and one is more tart. Ask your parents if they can tell which apple is the tart one and which is the sweet one. Let’s strive for variety on your plate this month!

As your football season continues, remember to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.  Eating regularly is the best way to stay energized for your practices and games.  Choosing meals and snacks that provide the best nutrition is important.  Eating quality protein and healthy grains at meals gives your muscles energy and strength.  Examples of quick and easy foods that contain protein and carbohydrates are; ham sandwiches, turkey subs, apples and peanut butter, or a banana with low fat yogurt. Carry and pack foods in an insulated lunch bag, so your foods stay cool until lunchtime. 

In addition to eating the protein and carbohydrate rich foods, carry water with you if your school allows this. Here are some fluid guidelines for your school day:

1.      Drink at least 8 ounces of water at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This helps to meet your daily water needs. 
2.      Drink 16 ounces of water after school and to get ready for practice.
3.      Drink another 16 ounces of water to replace the fluid you lost during practice.

Hydration will affect your energy and stamina.  A muscle fiber is 75% water.  If you get dehydrated by not drinking enough at school, you may not have the enough energy for    practice.  Eat and drink to stay in the game for your team.

With the start of your 2-a-days, it is important to prevent dehydration during your practices.  Boys and girls need at least 1-2 liters (1 liter = 32 ounces) of water a day to stay hydrated.  If you sweat a lot during your practices, carry even more water and fluids with you. 

In addition to preventing dehydration, remember to eat healthy everyday, since you are exercising Every Day! Here are some rules to follow to make sure you are eating and drinking enough to have energy for your 2-a-day practices:

• Carry 1-2 liters of water or other drinks in a cooler to practice. 
• Eat breakfast at least 2 hours before your first morning practice. 
• Carry 2-3 pieces or fruit everyday. The fruit could be oranges, grapefruit, canned peaches or pears and watermelon slices. Fruit provides vitamin C, potassium and vitamin A that you are not able to get from the other food groups.
• Bring sandwiches in your cooler that have quality proteins such as turkey, ham, tuna or chicken. 
• Snacks that will digest easily are important so you are ready for an afternoon practice. Some easy to digest snack include pretzels, saltine crackers, and graham crackers.

Do not miss any meals if you are working out everyday. It will zap your energy. Eat healthy and practice hard!

While the Ravens are away from the facility, they will still try to eat healthy and make good food choices. Since many are going on vacation, they know how vital it is to still monitor their diets and not report to training camp out of shape. Since school has ended and summer vacation has begun, it is important for you to watch your diet as well. You will have some time off to spend with your family and friends or vacation before your football season starts.

When you are away from school or on vacation with your families, it is still essential to choose healthy foods like fish and chicken a few nights a week versus high fat steaks and fried foods. Grilling foods is healthy if you do not add too much oil or butter when preparing the food to grill. Corn on the cob, mushrooms, and onions are great vegetables to grill. Wrap them in foil with some seasonings and they will taste great. The summer months offer a variety of fresh fruit like watermelon, strawberries, and cantaloupe for you to eat. They are high in vitamin C and potassium, so eat them weekly. Rest your bodies like the Ravens players and try to drink lots of water. This will make it easier for you to arrive ready for your two a day practices in August!

It is important to remember to drink water during the school day. You also need to hydrate before exercise or playing so you won’t get dehydrated or injured. Many kids forget to drink fluids during school because they are not able to carry bottles of water in school. If you are able to drink a glass of water with your lunch or snack, this could be the first step in making sure that you stay hydrated.

Sometimes the Ravens will tell me that they get tired of drinking water. We have a variety of food and drink options to help them hydrate if they are tired of water. We offer them jello, popsicles, frozen fruit bars, watermelon and oranges everyday. All these foods contain large amounts of water, which helps them stay hydrated. If you are not able to drink a lot of water during the day, eat some watermelon at breakfast, an orange at lunch and have a popsicle or frozen fruit bar for a snack in the afternoon. Milk, juice and sports drinks will also help you hydrate, but they may add extra calories if you drink these fluids more than you drink water. These other hydrators may keep you hydrated if you can not drink enough fluid during the day.

Bart has specific nutrition goals during his off season program. He wants to decrease his body fat and increase his strength by customizing his diet to meet the demands of the heavy workouts. When we are working on his nutrition program we include chicken, lean red meat, egg whites, and turkey to meet his protein needs. Bart does not like fish, but fish is a great source of protein to include in your diet. We make sure that these protein rich foods are also low in fat. In order to lower his body fat, we work together to limit the high fat foods that he loves to eat. I recommend extra protein for his heavy workouts to help his muscles repair and recover.

Every year, Bart is motivated to improve his play by making changes in the offseason conditioning and nutrition programs. Since May is Youth Health & Fitness Month, we encourage you to eat right and exercise just like he does. He knows how hard it is to make an NFL team, so he always works hard at his diet and workouts to be in better shape each year. In addition to exercising everyday, it is important to also choice the right foods. Choose foods with quality protein like chicken instead of chicken nuggets or a chicken patty. Another example is eating tuna fish instead of fish sticks. Small changes can make a big difference in keeping you healthy.

We have three mini camps in May, so I will be able to meet the Ravens rookies and help them create customized diets for their needs. It’s an exciting time at our facility because we have a new group of players who are excited to make the team!

The Ravens started their off season conditioning program in the middle of March. We have a new head coach, John Harbaugh, and our new strength and conditioning coaches are Bob Rogucki and John Dunn. The new strength and conditioning program has the players using more free weights and kettlebells to improve their power and strength. The players are running sprints and gassers to get in football shape. Some of the guys have gained weight in the off season so they are eating healthier and working out everyday to lose the extra weight and decrease their body fat. We have about 40 players working out at the Ravens facility each week. The strength and conditioning program lasts 14 weeks.

One of our new free agents, Brendan Ayanbadejo, from the Chicago Bears, has already had me analyze his food intake so he can see if he is meeting his nutrition goals. Brendan wants to keep his body fat low so he is focusing on eating low fat foods. He tries to stay away from fried foods and limits the amount of red meat he eats each week. One of his favorite foods is rice, he would eat brown or white rice everyday if we served it. His body fat is about 4% which is excellent! Brendan’s low body fat helps his speed when he is playing.

I’ll give you updates each month on the Ravens players and their nutrition program. Eat healthy and Play 60!

Sue A. James, MS, RD, LDN is president of Pinnacle Health & Wellness, LLC, a consulting firm that provides health, wellness, and sports nutrition programming to businesses and schools.  James received her MS degree in nutrition with a focus in sports nutrition from Georgia State University and her BS in nutrition from Purdue University.

Pinnacle Health & Wellness, LLC, clients include the Baltimore Ravens, the Baltimore Orioles, Johns Hopkins University, and Constellation Energy. James has been honored to be a presenter for the U.S. White House’s Wellness Seminar Series and the Healthier U.S. Fitness Challenge.  James has been quoted in the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun and has been a frequent guest on Dr. Sok’s “Talk Back Live” radio program in Baltimore.

She is a member of the American Dietetic Association (ADA), the Maryland and District of Columbia’s Dietetic Associations, and ADA’s Sports, Cardiovascular and Wellness Nutritionists, in which she has held several leadership positions. She is a board member of the Annapolis & Anne Arundel County Boys & Girls Club and has volunteered with the Leukemia Society’s “Team in Training” and the annual MS Walk.

James is a fitness and sports enthusiast who has participated in a variety of fitness and running events. She believes that being active, loving what you do, and everything in moderation are the keys to living well.