Tag Archives: sports

Easy Family Meals for Game Nights

We’ve all been there: Kid #1 has a soccer game in one part of the town, kid #2 has a lacrosse match two cities over at the same time, and somehow, you’ve got to get everyone fed a quick, nutritious meal to fuel them right.

Sure, you could hit a fast food drive thru – if you want a meal full of fat, calories and goodness knows what else. It’s a great idea to have a few tried and true meals that are easy on the wallet and high in both taste and nutrition in your rotation.

Here are some of our favorites here at DietsInReview:

  • Brandi Koskie, Director of Publishing, loves to make a Pulled Pork BBQ. Place a pork tenderloin – one of the best cuts of pork, as it’s low in fat – in a crock pot for several hours. When it’s finished cooking, shred it, mix in some BBQ sauce and serve on a whole wheat bun. Served with cut up veggies and fruit, this is a meal that can be on the table literally in minutes.

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Posted on July 1, 2023 by Carmen

Red, White, and Blue 4th of July Activities to Get You Moving

by Kelsey Murray

The 4th of July is quickly approaching and along with lighting firecrackers and watching fireworks shows, many of us tend to eat a lot of high-calorie foods such as hamburgers and potato salad on this summer holiday. If you want to burn off these extra calories while still celebrating the holiday, try these red, white, and blue activities everyone will enjoy.

Red: For your red exercises, it’s time to regress to your childhood days. Find a red ball like the one you used to play with when you were younger. It could be a basketball, a tether ball, or even a baseball (the stitches are red) and then enlist a friend or family member to join you in the fun. Throw the ball back and forth, roll it down a hill and chase it, or just play a traditional game. Either way, using a red ball is a great way to get in some cardiovascular exercise this Fourth of July.

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Posted on June 23, 2023 by Health Buzz

5 Easy and Fun Ways to Keep Kids Active Over Summer Vacation

With summer vacation quickly approaching, many parents are trying to think of ways to keep their kids occupied throughout the day without breaking the bank. Keeping kids active is important to help them avoid boredom and keep them from becoming couch potatoes over the next couple of months. With a little planning, you can ensure your kids have their best summer ever, and they will stay active in the process. Below are some fun ways to keep kids active and occupied while they are on summer vacation:

Limit electronic consumption. Setting some boundaries about how long kids can watch TV will keep them from turning into couch potatoes. The same goes for playing video games and being on the computer. This will also allow them to branch into other activities that will get them moving. Encourage playing outside and go outside with them. This will teach kids to be creative with the games they come up with while getting them to exercise.

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Posted on June 2, 2023 by Descygna

Helping Your Child Athlete with Hydration

Playing sports has a multitude of benefits for kids. Beyond the understood exercise, children learn time management, how to get along with other players, and most importantly, the necessity of teamwork. One of the most important, and least emphasized, skills that children will learn while playing sports is the necessity of proper nutrition and how it relates to both endurance and results.

Have you heard the saying, “You only get out of it what you put into it?” That saying seems tailor made for sports. As adults, we know the importance of fueling ourselves correctly, being certain to be adequately hydrated and well rested. These lessons are not usually at the forefront of a coach’s mind, however, and when you spend time ferrying your kids back and forth, it can often slip to the bottom of your priority list as well. After all, you’ve got to remember where the practice has been scheduled, remember to get the kids there on time AND the gear – something’s bound to slip your mind.

Arguably the most important aspect of the children/sports/nutrition triangle, and the one easiest to overlook, is hydration. Sure, we send our kids to practice and games with a water bottle – but do we make sure that they drink it all? And is the beverage that we’ve given them the best choice? How many of us have seen the swarm of players at the end of a game, grabbing a sugar sweetened drink pouch and thought to yourself, “Is that really the best beverage choice for a player who has just run for an hour?” Let’s take a look at hydration as it relates to the child or teen athlete.

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Posted on May 31, 2023 by Carmen

The Right Way to Fuel Your Child Athlete

I’ve had kids playing sports for more than 15 years (just typing that out makes me feel so, so old) and time and again, I’ve noticed one thing that just about every practice or game has in common.

Junk food.

Doesn’t that surprise you? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Admittedly, I’m a self confessed health food aficionado – although I have been known to dig into some french fries time and again – but I really have a hard time with the foods that many kids are offered after a difficult game. My kids have been given corn chips, candy bars, fruit snacks, squishy fruit punch pouches and even sodas. Rarely are there healthy choices offered.

I’ve been the team mom many times, and although I have often requested that healthier snacks be offered, the overwhelming concern is that kids just won’t eat them. A Sports Moms Study, funded by PepsiCo, found that more than 70% of moms are raising kids in competitive sports. The study found that sports moms spend 1/3 more time and more than twice as much money across their children’s extracurricular activities than those families without kids in sports. According to the study, the area in which most moms feel that they have the highest level of influence is their athlete’s nutrition. (more…)

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Carmen

Make Your Own Junk Food for Super Bowl

Holidays and events are generally focused around the food. While there’s nothing particularly wrong with this, the problem occurs when we choose the wrong foods on which to focus. Super Bowl is a prime example, known as the biggest eating day of the year. If you’ve made a resolution, this is your first real test and we want to help you pass with flying colors!

“Eat all the junk food you want, as long as you cook it yourself,” is a favorite quote by Michael Pollan, author of Food Rules and Omnivore’s Dilemma. It suggests that it’s OK to eat the foods you love, but only when you prepare them yourself. This allows you to control the ingredients, reduce or remove the processed and chemical ingredients, and stay closer to the whole form of the foods.

Here are some favorite homemade junk food recipes that will no doubt be a hit at your Super Bowl party, or any other food-focused event you’re hosting!

Fake Fry. Anything breaded, battered and fried isn’t good for you, no matter how healthy the original form of the food (think sweet potatoes and chicken). Use Panko, Japanese bread crumbs, to coat chicken strips, zucchini, onion rings or even green beans. Dip in low-fat buttermilk or toss in a small amount of olive oil, roll in Panko, give a light mist of cooking spray and then bake. The food comes out super crunchy and much healthier! Try this Biggest Loser’s Winning Fried Chicken. (more…)

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Natalie K

NBA and WNBA Live Healthy Week Starts Today

NBA/WNBAIt may not be hard for professional basketball players to stay healthy when they’re training all the time, but they know that it’s more of a challenge for their fans. To help encourage families to lead active lives the NBA is promoting Live Health Week, which starts today and will end on January 12th.

To help communicate the cause, a NBA/WNBA Fit Team has been recruited to promote healthy living at events and programs around the country. The team is made up of players, coaches, officials, trainers and other health experts who reach out to kids and parents.

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Posted on January 4, 2024 by Health Buzz

Sports Training for Infants and Toddlers May be Dangerous

Plenty of exercise is essential to the proper upbringing of children. Active play and team sports are a great way to get your kid moving, but some people are suggesting that organized training should start younger than school age or even in toddlerhood. Babies as young as six months old are exercising and using fitness DVDs. Is this cutting-edge-genius or is it a classic case of good advice taken too far? Doreen Bolhuis, a fitness coach from Michigan, has created GymTrix. GymTrix provides babies and toddlers with the opportunity to develop sports-like skills through exercise DVDs.

Many professionals are against the idea of sports training for children so young. Dr. Lyle Micheli has made no secret of his disdain for the trend. He sees no benefits to subjecting such young children to exercise DVDs. He actually fears that it may produce more “overuse injury” among children. Former NBA player Bob Bigelow gives his opinion as well, saying “this is Baby Mozart stuff; you play Mozart for the baby in utero and it comes out some sort of fine arts major,” he said. “There are millions of American parents worried to death that their children might fall behind somebody else’s kid. So the emphasis in youth sports has become more, more, more, younger, younger, younger.”

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Posted on December 30, 2023 by Theresa

Fitness Tips for Your Next Snorkeling Adventure

I just recently got back from Maui, Hawaii and what a beautiful place; it is truly paradise. I had the privilege of snorkeling for the first time and it is now a hobby of mine, especially because it is such a low cost hobby: you can pick up a mask, snorkel and fins for around forty bucks.

Snorkeling is absolutely amazing and I totally recommend it if you have never been. Being able to see life  under the sea is simply breathtaking. The coral, rock formations, thousands of different species of fish, and, of course, the gigantic sea turtles are all a sight to see.

Although snorkeling was a blast and a half, it was definitely a workout. My entire core, shoulders, hip flexors, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and ankles were completely worn out. Below are the benefits of snorkeling, as well as an exercise routine that will help condition you for your next snorkeling adventure. (more…)

Posted on October 23, 2023 by Matt

Jets’ Coach Rex Ryan Weight Loss Inspiration to His Players

As we reported last year, Jets’ coach Rex Ryan is dealing with weight loss in his own way. Last year, he reportedly tried a liquid diet to cut weight from his substantial 350 pound frame. He did not find success in this effort and turned to a lap band surgery during the off season this past spring.

Recently, his team has been surprised to see him power walking on the treadmill as early as 7 a.m. Many of the Jets players like to complete their workouts early, but they have been shocked at the effort that Ryan has exerted in the early morning hours. “He was really going by the time we got in there,” Jets’ center Nick Mangold said recently. “So I don’t know what time he got in there, but he was going on that treadmill.” (more…)

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Carmen

Best Kayaking Places In The Nation

Kayaking has become increasingly more popular over the years and is especially huge during the summer months.

A kayak is similar to a canoe, but I personally find kayaking more challenging. Some kayaks are sit-on-tops while others are cockpit or even spray deck styles. Sit-on-tops are self-explanatory (sit on top of kayak). Cockpit kayaks are defined as sitting inside the kayak and the spray deck style is similar, but involving a waterproof seal around the waist. There are seven kayak classifications: polo, slalom, surf, touring, whitewater, day tripping, racing, and general recreation. Each classification can be broken off into even more sub-classifications, just as with any large piece of sporting equipment. (more…)

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Matt