The Core Diet Blog

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Jaime Windrow.

It’s hard for me to think about bundling up in layers for a run when its still in the 80’s down here in South Florida. But as I pack for my upcoming New England trip, I am reminded of the weather reports in the rest of the country. Snow is trickling down on branches, and runners are seeing their breath before the words “hello” come out of their mouths as they pass a local running buddy. It’s also hard for many to imagine that sweat loss is going to occur when you are about to endure a run in 35-degree weather. But guess what? You still need to hydrate!

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Jaime Windrow.

Dress up your Autumn dish with this antioxidant packed vegetable! Last week I suggested a newseasonal dishif you were getting bored with your day to day meals, and this colorful salad can do the same thing! Many of us don’t enough raw veggies in our diet, and carrot sticks dipped in hummus can get very old… Try this as a snack or with any lunch or dinner!  It's perfect for this Halloween season! 

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Jaime Windrow.

Bring on the pumpkins, Autumn is officially here! Although the days are getting shorter and the weather cooler, many of you have not yet reached the end of your triathlon season. At this point in the game, you might be a bit tired of your day-to-day foods. This is the perfect time to bring out those “hearty” meals that are still packed with good nutrients to ensure your body stays in peak condition.



The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Brooke Gowdy.

People typically eat to satisfy hunger or because it tastes good. But food can serve another purpose. The substances in the foods that you eat can drive different physiological functions. In an effort to understand this, I like to envision the following analogy. Think of your body as a "tool box" and the foods you consume as the "tools". Your body uses the tools in the tool box to "tune it up" and help it run efficiently. So it is important, especially as an endurance athlete, to make sure your tool box is equipped with a large variety of useful tools! Just think, you can't repair a car if the only tools available in the tool box are a hammer and a screwdriver. You might need a wrench, crow bar, blow torch, several different sizes of screws, etc to fix the car.

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Jaime Windrow.

One of the many concerns I hear from my athletes is, “I can’t seem to drink while running, what is the best strategy?” The answer to that question is whatever way works for you is the best! The important aspect is just getting those fluids and electrolytes down, and to practice that method day in and day out.

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Jaime Windrow.

As the hot weather months approach, we encourage you to move hydration to the top of your athletic priority list. Although hydration is an important factor to your overall health year-round, slight dehydration of even 2% of your body weight can have negative effects, and your chances of this happening in the upcoming summer months are much higher. Staying properly hydrating is the best way to improve your training and race day performance.
When can athletes run into dehydration troubles?

• More than 1 training session per day
• Competitions held in hot and/or humid environments (if the athlete is coming from a colder climate, the impact is even larger!)
• Competitions of long duration such as marathons and triathlons

Boston, MA - The Core Diet, an operating business of QT2 Systems, LLC and a foremost provider of sports nutrition services, is very excited to announce its recent affiliate partnership with OutRival Racing (ORR); offering ORR athletes nutritional support as a part of their training and racing needs. ORR is a Texas-based coaching service providing comprehensive training plans, group programs, and weekly training sessions to triathletes, runners, cyclists and other endurance athletes. ORR consists of ‘first-timers,’ age-groupers, amateur elites, and professionals led by its founder Michelle LeBlanc, and her experienced staff of triathlon-specific and specialty coaches. ORR is the official coach of the Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Texas and Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas.

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Jaime Windrow.

I’ve never seen a food surrounded by so much controversy as soy. This is even bigger than eggs. If you recall, the same eggs that were once touted as being bad for you are now actually healthy. With soy, on one end of the spectrum, we have claims of this “nutrient-packed” food lowering heart disease. On the other end, we have claims that soy causes cancer. How is it this possible?

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Rachel Gargano.

We’ve all heard the short version of the nutrition mantra, “We are what we eat.” What we’re really saying, however, is that our health and mood are reflections of what we have eaten and what we have not eaten.
We can be deficient in both macro nutrients (protein, carbs, and fat) and micro nutrients (vitamins and minerals). These deficiencies can lead to symptoms associated with depression, behavioral issues, stress, and physical illnesses. For example, what we eat can lower or raise serotonin, dopamine, or norepinephrine – neurotransmitters in our brain that control our ability to relax, resist food cravings, or maintain energy and alertness. What we put in our mouth can also affect how well our red blood cells carry oxygen to our body, and how well we convert food to energy. Poor management of either of these will make us feel tired, weak, confused, moody, or any and all of the above.

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Jaime Windrow.

When I first started on my hunt for a homemade fig bar recipe to test, it was for athletes. The traditional Fig Newton has always been a Core Diet recommendation for a pre-workout fuel, so I thought, why not make my own? “If they can make it, so can I!.” That is sort of my mantra these days. From household cleaners to wreaths on my front door, I love “making my own stuff”.

The Core Diet will help you to achieve and maintain your optimal weight and body composition in the New Year, improving health and athletic performance, and SPEED along the way. Staffed by experienced registered dietitians that work exclusively with athletes, The Core Diet offers several options for those looking to attain a healthy body weight and/or solve race nutrition issues.

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Rachel Gargano.

Exercise in general is very beneficial. It helps improve cardiovascular health, reduces stress, helps with weight maintenance as well as overall quality of life. And yet it can play a role, or be a trigger, for a combination of health issues called the Female Athlete Triad.

This syndrome, which includes disordered eating, menstrual dysfunction, and reduced bone mineral density, can be present in female athletes of all levels; from high school girls just joining a team to elite adult athletes. Whether intentional or not, it occurs when there is a lower calorie intake than what the body needs to support increased activity, needs for recovery, as well as necessary nutrients for everyday functioning.

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Jaime Windrow.

As your hydration needs increase during these hot summer days, you'll find yourself craving juicy fruits more than you did before. This is no surprise! When I review food diaries for my clients during the colder months, I see log after log listing apples and bananas as the fruit of choice, with very little variety. But a fruit is a fruit, right? It's not until the summer months that citrus and antioxidant-filled fruits make an appearance, bringing a little more excitement to your diet. One of my favorite ways to savor the season's fruitful flavors and save yourself from the apple/banana rut, is this refreshing summer salad recipe.

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Jaime Windrow.

Whether you are an athlete or not, you've most likely experienced a weight or fat loss plateau at some point in your life (especially if you have ever tried to improve your body composition for health reasons and/or athletic performance). A plateau is defined as reaching a state of little or no change after a time of activity or progress. In this case, we're referring to those little numbers on the scale that won't budge, or that disappointing moment when your trainer/coachpinches you with calipers and thesamemeasurements come back again and again…Although frustrating, there's no reason to throw in the towel or go to extreme measures when this happens, as that will only hurt you and your performance in the long run. Chances are there are one or more factors you may have overlooked that could be the key to breaking through this barrier.

The Core Diet is very excited to announce its brand new affiliate program! This program was created primarily for individual coaches and coaching groups who would like to offer nutrition services to their clients, with our experienced staff ofRegistered Dietitians. The new affiliate program can also be used by other fitness related companies that may have clients who would be interested in athletic nutrition.

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Jaime Windrow.

You have just returned home from a typical shopping trip to the grocery store, and your car is overflowing with the healthiest foods you could find. Although you are pretty sure that there are a few items in there that you are not quite sure about, but you just couldn't resist! Filled to the brim with fresh fruits, vegetables, and anything else labeled organic or "natural", your refrigerator is now ready to be photographed for the cover ofEating Well. Day dreaming about all the nutritious meals you will be enjoying this week, you realize it is time for dinner…"What should I have?!"

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Jaime Windrow.

Between work, family, sleep and high volume training weeks it can be very difficult to find enough time to cook or prepare freshly made meals and snacks each day. As a result, food is often put on the back burner, as we search for quicker and easy options that are as time efficient as possible. But, with big performance goals and weight or body composition as a significant limiter, improving diet can be just as important as developing fitness.

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Jaime Windrow.

Here is our pick for February! This Core Diet recipe of the month, submitted by QT2 One-on-One triathlete Rob Gilfeather using the NEW Core Diet recipe module, is perfect for not only vegetarians, but for all those flexitarians out there! Wondering what a flexitarian is? While there is no precise definition, this term was coined to describe those who eat mostly a vegetarian dietbut occasionally eat meat or other animal proteins. They are, well… flexible vegetarians! At the Core Diet we recommend going meatless once per week - try'Meatless Mondays'with this nutrient packed Black Bean & Sweet Potato Soup!

The following content was provided by Registered Dietitian, Amanda Cassell.

As a registered dietitian (RD), I have always known that nutrition was important for health, disease prevention, and weight loss. Throughout my college years, and during my dietetic internship, this was stressed incessantly, time and again. Clinically, I had learned a great deal of useful information, but my specialized education had never focused specifically on sports-related nutrition.