February 5, 2025

Why Everyone Is Cheering for Non-Alcoholic Beer

 

 
The popularity of non- alcoholic beer has surged with the fantastic variety now on the market. Almost every major brewery makes one. Athletic Brewing offers a beer for every taste profile and more than a dozen flavors. Refreshing and delicious, these brews are perfect on game day, and as replenishing recovery fuel too.

Traditionally non-alcoholic beers have paled in flavor, compared to their alcoholic counterparts. Stripping the alcohol removes that beer flavor, and adding malt is what brings it back — along with all sorts of additional health benefits. Says Peeyush Maheshwari, PhD, the Founder and Principal of Food 4 Thought, “Minus the alcohol, beer is actually a nutritious beverage, and this is where malt extract makes its mark.”

The high antioxidant content in malt extract, in addition to the substantial amounts of polyphenols — plant compounds with anti-inflammatory properties — make non-alcoholic beer an ideal beverage for athletic recovery. Notably, it has become the beverage of choice for many Olympic athletes in Germany, after a 2012 study revealed that runners who drank non-alcoholic beer before and after the Munich Marathon reported less inflammation post-race than runners who drank a placebo. Read More

 

January 20, 2025

Super Snack Swaps: Chips & Dips

 

 

It’s NFL playoff season and plenty of football to watch in the countdown to the Superbowl. Game time is snack time. No need to sabotage your diet with all the healthy chips and dips available at most grocery and convenience stores.

Robin Barrie Kaiden MS, RD, CDN, CSSD, one of the nation’s leading experts in personal wellness and nutrition, recommends crunchy snacks like organic popcorn, chips, and nuts cooked in olive or avocado oil. Avoid refined vegetable oils like corn oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oil.

Says Kaiden, “I love Kettle Brand Chips made with avocado oil. For tortilla-style chips, my favorite are Siete. They are grain free made only with cassava flour, avocado oil, coconut flour, chia seeds and salt.” Read More

 

March 7, 2024

Sunshine and Eggs

 

 

As winter starts to thaw, we put away the puffers, and peel off the layers, many of us have a spring awakening by what’s left underneath. The body is not as toned as we’d like, and there is a spring realization that it’s time for a spring cleaning. The search begins for a quick fix: a restrictive diet, cutting out a food group, intermittent fasting, a juice cleanse – something radical to lose that winter weight fast. But what if the answer was a back-to-basics approach of 3 balanced meals a day, real food, and eating more, not less?

Robin Barrie Kaiden MS, RD, CDN, CSSD, one of the nation’s leading experts in wellness, nutrition, and fitness, and frequent contributor to CBS, NBC, ABC, Parenting, and Forbes.com, among other media outlets, says of her 2-week Reset program, “It’s not a strict diet where you lose a pound only to gain three the next week. I want to teach people lifelong healthy habits to take with them going forward. The only way to lose weight and keep it off is to change your habits.”

Kaiden is a graduate of Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutritional Sciences and an Exercise Science minor. She has a Master of Science Degree from Columbia University as well. Her post graduate work was at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, studying nutrition and dietetics at the hospital level. Read More

 

January 5, 2024

Jitter-Free Jolts

 

 

Pop into almost any 7-11, CVS, or convenience store, and you’ll see the refrigerated section filled with assorted flavors of Celsius. The top-selling energy drink on Amazon, Celsius has taken over the market from brands like Red Bull, Monster, and other sugar and caffeine enhanced energy drinks that once dominated the market. While this “natural” energy drink still contains 200mg of caffeine, almost twice the amount in a cup of coffee, the boost in Celsius comes from the alternative plant-based ingredients like Guarana and Green Tea, which offer other health and fitness benefits as well. Plus Celsius contains no added sugar.

In addition to Celsius, there are other naturally caffeinated, low or no sugar energy drinks on the market, promoting sustained energy and mental focus without the caffeine jitters. Accelerator Active Energy, endorsed by football and Swifty fan favorite Travis Kelce, also gets its caffeine boost from Guarana and Green tea, along with Yerba Mate, a thermogenic blend said to boost metabolism and burn more calories.

 

“Many energy boosting, focus-inducing beverages on the market today do contain the same amount of caffeine that you would find in a cup of coffee,  but the addition of ingredients that calm the nervous system reduce the ‘jitters’ associated with caffeine, and therefore can make the user feel more focused”

-Sarah Herrington, MS, CNC, CPT 

 

Other energy drinks have added adaptogenic and nootropic ingredients like Ashwagandha, Gaba, and L-Theanine, known for their cognitive and relaxation enhancing benefits.  Adaptogens support the body’s response to stress, including the stimulation from caffeine, while nootropics elevate cognitive function such as memory, focus, and mental clarity. Drinks like BioLift, Kin Spritz, and MTE have been formulated and are marketed to promote those benefits. Read More

 

November 28, 2023

The Hydration Situation

 

 

It’s very easy to become dehydrated, even if you are drinking the traditionally prescribed 8 glasses of water a day. A common belief is that you only need to replace electrolytes — minerals like magnesium, potassium, and sodium — after an intense and sweaty workout. To many people, the term hydration refers to water, but that is not enough when it comes to hydration on a cellular level. Every cell in our body requires fluid to function properly. 

In order to maintain a balance between water inside and outside the cells, the body relies on electrolytes which regulate osmotic pressure and control fluid levels in each cell. “Hydration is very different from cellular hydration”, says nutrition expert, Sarah Wragge. “We can drink 3-4 liters of water everyday, which is what I recommend, but you need to add minerals to hydrate at a cellular level.”

“We lose water all day through sweat, urination, and even breathing, and in that process we also lose essential electrolytes and minerals.” Adds Sarah, “Our habits are very dehydrating. Things like coffee, sugar, alcohol, and all the fun foods we love are very depleting. Not to mention our food is no longer mineral rich because of modern farming processes and pesticides. We need to hydrate to replenish not just water, but minerals too.” Sarah has just introduced her own mineral replenishing supplement, Restore.
Read More

 

March 4, 2023

What to Eat at the Vending Machine

 

 

It’s late at night or you’re stuck someplace… in a waiting room, at the office, in between classes. You’re hungry, a bit peckish, or maybe just bored. There’s a vending machine down the hall. It’s filled with chips, candy, cookies, and other snacks. You’d like to at least try to be healthy and are wondering what to have. Popcorn? Trail Mix? Pretzels?

The good news is most vending machines have much healthier snacks than they used to. You can generally find Skinny Pop, Sun Chips, Kindbars, and other more nutritional offerings. We asked our go-to nutrition expert Sarah Wragge what are the smart food choices when the vending machine is the only option. Here’s our guide to what to eat and what not to eat before you make your selection.

GOOD CHOICES

Sarah’s overall rule of thumb is: “If you are peckish or bored, push through. There is a time to feast, and a time to famine! Keep those insulin levels low and power through until your next meal to tap into your body’s fat stores.” BUT… if you are really hungry, and the vending machine is all there is: Read More

 

January 17, 2023

Trick or Treat – Part 2

 

 

Last October we did a story on Halloween candy and seemingly healthier alternatives to Trick or Treat favorites like peanut butter cups, Snickers, m&m’s, and gummy bears. After consulting with our resident nutritionist Sarah Wragge, we discovered many of the lower calorie, less sugar, and even “healthy” brands had so many fillers, fake sweeteners, and inflammatory ingredients you were better off having the real thing. A Snickers as compared to a Quest Bar was the perfect example.

A few weeks later I happened to be standing in line at CVS in the aisle with all the crackers, chips, and cookies. The Pepperidge Farm Milanos caught my eye. I LOVE Milano cookies, but would never buy them assuming they were high calorie, fat and sugar filled. Out of curiosity I picked up the bag and looked at the nutrition label. To my surprise, 1 serving of 2 cookies had 120 calories, 7 grams of sugar, and 7 grams of fat. Not that bad I thought! Sure there were a few ingredients that weren’t super healthy, but as an occasional splurge it wasn’t such a big deal.
 

“It’s not the calories that are of concern”, says Sarah, “but how those substitute ingredients affect the body.

 
Then I looked at the Lays potato chips. The ingredients were potatoes and vegetable oil. 1 serving of 15 chips had 160 calories, 10 grams of fat, and 15 grams of carbohydrates – again, not the worst thing, especially when I compared them to the supposedly healthier Baked Lays on the shelf. Yes, those had fewer calories per serving and less fat, BUT they were higher in carbs with long list of ingredients, additives, and SUGAR. I knew there was no way these Baked Lays were better for me than the regular potato chips. Read More

 

December 15, 2022

Guilty Pleasures

 

 
If there’s one food many sports enthusiasts try to avoid, it’s likely junk food. According to a study done by Kent State University researchers, it’s not so much for the nutritional value, but more the guilt associated with eating these foods. In fact, the study shows that one’s knowledge of the unhealthiness of fast food is not enough to stop people from eating their favorite burgers, pizza, or fries. Rather, it’s the guilt about fast food consumption that urges one to stop eating their favorite meals. But what if junk foods can actually be beneficial for your sports performance?

Junk Food Consumption for Sports Enthusiasts

Let’s be clear, junk foods are unhealthy when consumed on a regular basis. However, Lars Nybo of the University of Copenhagen shares that athletes and fitness enthusiasts might benefit from eating junk food, depending on their discipline. Nybo points out that athletes must combine the right diet with their training, which is why some athletes need to load up on carbs during the final 48 hours before an event, while sprinters or shot putters can get away with eating junk food for breakfast. Read More

 
 

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