NUTRITION TIPS: WEEK 3

This year’s nutrition advice from Patricia Chuey, senior nutrition consultant at SportMEDBC, comes at you in the form of a Sun Run play list — 13 “songs” worth of tips to make 2012 the year you master healthy eating forever.

QUALITY

It’s Week 3 of Sun Run Intraining. Time to take a look at the quality of the food going into your body to fuel those workouts. And to keep us thinking about it, this one is song three on the Sun Run music playlist I’m building. It’s entitled Quality, a doo- wop number by Paul Simon from his 1997 album Songs of the Capeman. Have a listen. It will get you moving — or at least remind you of Happy Days.

To optimize quality in your food choices:

1. Think quality as soon as you sit down to a meal. Ask: Is this a quality breakfast, lunch or dinner? What might be lacking?

2. Go with brown, not white. With cake, it makes no difference. With grains, it does.

3. Make vegetables ( or fruit) cover half the plate in most meals.

4. Due to sodium or sugar content, choose fresh food over canned as much as possible.

5. Apply quality thinking to beverages. Go with a cup or two a day of quality, satisfying coffee or tea ( for example) . Although it shouldn’t be a steady part of your training diet, if having wine or other alcoholic beverages, opt for quality ( not necessarily expensive), to satisfy early and reduce the need for an excess amount. For most people who are trying to stay in a healthy weight range, lower- fat milk is a better choice than higher fat versions. Keep juice intake minimum .

6. If you eat out a lot, choose restaurants that you know can provide the quality items we’re talking about here. Dark green lettuce, tomato, bell peppers and other vegetables on a whole grain bun with turkey, chicken, lean roast beef, grilled tofu or hummus on the other hand is top notch quality.

For a tasty, high quality recipe this week, check out Lentil Salad from the collection of SportMEDBC: http://www.sportmedbc.com/recipe/lentil- salad