Healing foods aid with muscle recovery, tendon injuries and help decrease time to get back into rotation. Your body is built to heal from the inside out. Eating foods to support recovery is extremely important in the healing process.Omega-3 fatty acids are important to normal metabolism, the breakdown of food and use of nutrients in our bodies. This helps our bodies utilize nutrients needed for the body to repair an injury.  

As a volleyball player, getting hurt happens. Injuries can be a super downer to your momentum and psyche. It can be disheartening and frustrating when you can’t train to your full capacity. Thankfully, food is another component. Your body is built to heal from the inside out. Eating foods to support recovery is extremely important in the healing process. Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is required to synthesize collagen. Collagen is a protein your body uses to make connective tissues such as tendons, ligaments and skin.

I can imagine you have enjoyed, or tried, a banana once in your life. They are the most popular fruit in the world! According to horticulturist, bananas were actually the first fruit on the earth. Bananas are one of the best natural foods for athletic performance. I hope you are enjoying the secret foods! Eat power food, be powerful. Side note! I am officially a Board Certified Sports Dietitian! I passed an extra tough exam this past Monday, and can happily say I am an expert in sports nutrition. Very excited to be able to utilize this certification with you all! If you need any questions answered, shoot me an email at elevatemynutrition@gmail.com

Spinach plants can grow about 1 foot high! Spinach can be grown year grown year around, it’s most popular through end of winter seasons.  Spinach is a good source of vitamins A, B2, C, E and K, iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, zinc, selenium, copper, folate, protein and dietary fiber.   Boosts Muscle Strength. Popeye the Sailor Man was right about eating spinach to produce stronger muscles. Spinach can reduce the amount of oxygen required to power muscles during exercise, making your muscles more efficient. Nitrates in spinach are also believed to help muscles run more smoothly and efficiently.

You have probably enjoyed apples your whole life, but never realized the “Eat an Apple a Day to Keep the Doctor Away” expression was for real!  Apples are a rich source of various nutrients that are found in the skin, core, and meat of the apple.. all of these chemicals provide amazing health benefits & here are just a few: Vitamin C - a powerful natural antioxidant, B-complex vitamins (riboflavin, thiamin, and vitamin B-6)...

You have probably enjoyed cinnamon your whole life, but never realized its historical importance or the health benefits of this tasty spice! 

Cinnamon is the brownish-reddish inner bark of the cinnamon tree. Cinnamon farmers first shave the outer bark off the trees, and then shave the inner bark, the cinnamon layer. When the cinnamon is dried it naturally curls up into “quills”

Pumpkin is a winter squash, and comes in hundreds of varieties. While each type varies in shape, color, size and flavor, they all share some common characteristics. Their shells are hard and difficult to pierce, the inside is mildly sweet and a fine grained texture.… AND, they all have super healthy seeds inside their hollow cavities...

Does “being healthy” feel like a daunting task? Like everything “good” is off limits and a really good diet is pretty boring? I thought like this for a long time too… but I'm happy to say it's not the case ;-)

Eating healthy is fun! I'm being serious here… there are hundreds of different healthy foods that taste amazing and give you tons of energy… I cannot wait to share them with you! That's why the next 10 blog posts will be dedicated to the most amazing foods on the planet (in no particular order), What they are, Why they are important, and How to enjoy them… Here goes…

No matter your team level or age group creating a strong eating well & hydration plan is going to help you perform your best… sounds good!? Right!  ;-) 

Although your every day nutrition plan is going to impact your performance most… there are specific day before and day of strategies that will prepare you for a strong tryout performance… interested!?  Here goes…  

Are you ready to learn the simple secrets to better sports performance? These two rules make so much sense and yet are overlooked so often… #1 Eat when you're hungry#2 stop before your full… so simple… so effective…  & here’s why. ..

Want to know the great news about snacking? You already have all you need to make great choices.  So congratulations! and here are the 3 Top Notch ways to snack well using what you already know about nutrition. 

Snacking, its a part of life...

When you imagine a healthy diet… does it seem complicated? Too many bits and pieces to remember and plan for? And to be truly healthy you have to eat perfectly? If these thoughts cross your mind you can breathe a sigh of relief, because EVERY healthy bite counts! 

Think clear, play hard, dream big! What do these three verbs have in common? a strong start to the day… Yep! Breakfast  

Breakfast, the most important meal because it is (or can be) the first good decision you make. And, when you make a good decision at breakfast research shows that you are much MORE likely to continue to make good decisions throughout the day.  

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What is the #1 goal of a  great nutrition plan?…

Eating and drinking all of the nutrients your body is dependent on to survive and most importantly to THRIVE. 
We hear a lot about calories. Calories come from only three places; #1 carbohydrate, #2 protein, & #3 fat. 

Protein Protein Protein …

It’s found in just about all foods- plants and animals. All protein is made from amino acids (AA), which are linked together to form long chains; some proteins are 20 AA long and some can be a thousand AA long. We can make amino acids (and therefore proteins) from the amino acids in our diet….. however, there is one catch….