Week 3

Posted on: December 28th 2016

HOW ARE YOU FEELING?  HOW ARE YOU FUELING?

Hope things are going well, and that you’re starting to feel pretty comfortable with the habits and the process.  Through the whole Derby Fuel plan, we hope you’re learning new skills and remembering that nutrition is a journey.  Every little thing that feels simpler is progress – make sure you celebrate your success!

Here’s your WEEK 3 PLAN (more on that below!)

Okay, new habit for week 3! *

Remember how we’re always telling you to eat like an athlete?  Well, this week’s habit will really help to drive that message home:

EAT A LEAN PROTEIN WITH EVERY MEAL OR SNACK  

As derby skaters, and generally athletic people, our protein needs are great.  Any SO many of us aren’t getting nearly enough complete, quality protein. 

First things first – What’s a complete protein?  And what’s an incomplete protein?  

Complete proteins contain all 9 essential amino acids that we need to get from our diet (our bodies can’t make them).  You can get complete proteins from:

  • Meat (beef, chicken, turkey, bison, venison, etc.)
  • Fish (salmon, tuna, cod, basa, etc.)
  • Dairy products (milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, whey protein)
  • Eggs
  • Soy (plant-based – tempeh, tofu, TVP)
  • Quinoa (plant-based)
  • Buckwheat (plant-based)
  • Hemp and chia seed (plant-based)
  • Spirulina (plant-based)

Incomplete proteins don’t contain all 9 essential amino acids – but they can if you combine them – which is why you often see Vegan protein powders being made with a blend of different veggie proteins (like pea, brown rice, chia, amaranth, etc.).  Incomplete proteins can be found in

  • Nuts & seeds
  • Legumes
  • Grains
  • Vegetables

Getting a complete protein from those sources is easy, though.  Try combinations like:

  • Rice and beans
  • Spinach salad with almonds
  • Whole-grain noodles with peanut sauce

How can you make sure you’re getting enough?  A pretty good guideline is 20-30 grams of protein with every meal or snack (a serving is about a palm size).  Five 30 g servings a day will give you 150 g of protein per day, which is a fantastic amount for an average 150lb skater trying to gain lean mass.  An easy to remember optimistic guideline for protein goals is about a gram/lb of bodyweight daily.

Protein does a lot of great things for your body, not the least of which is that it help you to build and repair muscle tissue – which is definitely a priority for derby skaters.  It also make enzymes, hormones and other essential body chemicals. It’s also a key nutrient to include post-training so that you can maximize your muscle building capacity. 

Now that you know what you need to be successful, let’s get into Week 3’s plans!

* If you’re not ready to add a new habit yet (i.e. you’re still working hard on nailing Habit 1 or 2), just keep doing what you’re doing.  Be mindful with your eating, and try to incorporate a protein when you can.

>> Quick hop back to the Derby Fuel Home Base

LET’S HIT THE ROAD!

Here you can find: 

  • Your WEEK 3 PLAN – Meal Plan, Prep Activities, Grocery List, and Recipes for Week 3! 
  • Your General Grocery List  (the staples you’ll need every week), and your Quick Fill-Up recipes (snacks, shakes, and bars) 
  • Some substitutions for special diets – vegetarian, dairy-free, nut-free and gluten-free options available for many recipes
    • Vegetarians: there are a few recipes in the weekly plans that are just for you (like the Veggie burgers), and there are also substitutions written into the individual recipes.  Make sure you check each of the recipes before you shop for food to ensure you’re getting all the swaps you need.
    • If you are substituting legumes for animal proteins, you may slightly want to decrease your serving sizes of other carbs, since legumes contain more starch than other protein sources.

Again, you can always change up the order of your meals, main protein sources and spices to suit your time constraints and personal tastes.  This far into the program, you should be better aware of the signs that your body is sending you.  Pay attention to when you feel hungry and when you don’t and fuel accordingly.

As always, you can make any swaps that suit you (proteins for proteins, starches for starches, greens for greens) – you can look through the recipes or the Swap Info to find appropriate switches, both at home and on the road.   Keep in mind, if fat loss is your goal, you want to keep your meals with starchy carbs (marked PW) for post-exercise.

Your shakes for Week 3 are:

RED VELVET SMOOTHIE

What’s in it:

  • ¾ cup almond milk
  • 2 medium cooked beets (1 cup chopped – you can buy these pre-cooked too)
  • 1 tablespoon almond butter
  • 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
  • ½ cup greek yogurt
  • dash cinnamon
  • ice

Cook your beets, then blend it all together until smooth.  You can top it with crushed almonds and/or cinnamon. 

… And if you want to cram all your green veggies into one single shake:

MIXED BERRY SHAKE (this one doesn’t have a vegetable in it – so make sure to have some chopped veggies on the side, or add some beets)

What’s in it:

  • 1 C frozen strawberries
  • 1/2 C frozen blueberries
  • 1/2 C frozen blackberries
  • 1 scoop vanilla or unflavoured protein powder
  • 1/2 C Greek yogurt
  • water and ice

Blend your berries together first with liquid, then add protein powder.  Add ice and water until desired consistency is achieved.

Feel free to refer to these shakes this week, or use the Quick Fill-Up guide for even more ideas.

Let’s get Week 3 started!  Let us know how you’re doing!

-NoFair and Booty Quake