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6 Tips for Making Great Meals in Less Time

  • August 1, 2023
  • Nutrition
EducatorsParents

Kristen Ziesmer headshot.Constantly finding yourself queuing up in the takeout line because there’s just no time to cook dinner at home for you and your very hungry athletes? Or simply sick of spending an hour in the kitchen getting dinner ready every night—plus the cleanup afterwards—when you’re already tired from a long day at work? Young athletes require a lot of food and need it to be packed with the macro and micronutrients they need in order to grow and recover, but that shouldn’t require you to spend hours every week in the kitchen.

Here, TrueSport Expert Kristen Ziesmer, a registered dietitian and board-certified specialist in sports dietetics, is sharing a few surprising tips and tricks to speed up meal time by meal prepping and making smart menus that provide variety and flavor without hours in the oven.

 

Pick a Day For Meal Prep

“You can either make three meals a day five times a week, or you can do it one time,” says Ziesmer. “If you plan out your week of meals and prep as much as you can in one session, things are going to go a lot more smoothly throughout the week. It just simplifies things.” While many people use Sunday as a meal prep day, you can pick whatever day works best for you. You may find that you can’t get everything done in one session, but if you’re judicious with your time, you should be able to multitask and make a big batch of rice or another grain, grill or bake a big tray of protein, and clean and chop all of your fruits and vegetables. Take advantage of kitchen tools like slow cookers, pressure cookers and rice cookers that allow you to easily make big batches of rice, beans, chilis and soups but can also be used to cook a whole chicken or hard boil a batch of eggs.

 

Develop a Reusable Shopping List

Hand holding a phone with a grocery list on it at the grocery store.While meal prepping doesn’t have to mean boring meals, it does speed things up if everything is more predictable. The middle of a busy practice and competition season isn’t time to test out new recipes with exotic ingredients on a nightly basis—stick to the staples! Having one ‘master grocery list’ that’s accessible to any member of the family who may be doing the grocery shopping makes each week’s trip to the grocery store easier. You can add or subtract from the list, but having a starting point list that has all the basics saves a huge amount of time (and trips back to the grocery store because you forgot eggs!).

 

Get The Kids Involved

At any age, your athletes can be helping with meal prep, from grocery list making to cooking the meals. And teaching them to prep their own meals from a young age helps them develop better nutritional habits in the long run, says Ziesmer. If your athlete is old enough, let them help with the grocery shopping—perhaps even handing the list off so they can shop while you run other errands. And even the youngest athletes can help with meal prep if you’re doing things like layering vegetables in a casserole dish or mixing up individual jars of overnight oats.

 

Think About Multi-Use Meal Prep Options

Rather than making five separate casserole-style meals during meal prep, think about leaving the ingredients separate, when possible, says Ziesmer. This makes it easy to ‘remix’ each item so that breakfast, lunch and dinner feel fresh every night.

  • Sliced grilled chicken close up.A batch of hard-boiled eggs in the pressure cooker on Sunday can be used for fast breakfasts, snacks, and salad toppings.
  • Brown rice can be used as a base for any lunch or dinner.
  • Grilled chicken can be sliced on salads, in wraps, on rice bowls, and on sandwiches, and grilled vegetables (peppers, onions, eggplant, etc.) can jazz up any dish.
  • Meal prep your fruits and vegetables by washing and pre-chopping. It’s easy to toss vegetables into a fast stir-fry if they’re already washed and chopped, and fruit is less likely to go moldy in the fridge if it’s an easy grab-and-go snack. (You can also have kids pre-portion out their fruit and vegetables for lunch bags.)

 

Think Outside The ‘Classic’ Meal Prep Box

Ziesmer is a huge fan of meal prepping baked potatoes. Bake 2 potatoes for each member of the family and use them the same way you would use rice. They can serve as a perfect carbohydrate when paired with a chili (that you also meal prepped the same day!) or as a side dish with a salad topped with grilled chicken.

 

Make Meals That Can Be Individually Tailored

Overnight oats in mason jars or small containersTwo small glass jars of overnight oats topped with blueberry and banana. are one of Ziesmer’s favorite fast breakfast options, especially if you have multiple kids. Each of your athletes can prep their own containers on your meal-prep day, adding the dried fruit, seeds, nuts, cinnamon and sweeteners that they prefer, and then each night before bed, they can add the wet ingredients (fresh fruit, honey or maple syrup, milk, nut butter and/or water) to the container so the oatmeal can soak overnight. Warm it up in the morning, and breakfast is ready in under 45 seconds! The same concept is true for rice bowls for lunch or dinner: Athletes can add their own protein and toppings according to their preferences.

______________________

Takeaway

Meal prepping may take a time commitment one day a week, but it can save you hours every day, while also saving you money. Get the whole family involved in the prep, and prep foods that can be used in different ways throughout the week to prevent palate fatigue.

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Goal-Setting Lesson Video Transcript

Hi. I’m Trevon, Trey, Jennifer. Team USA wheelchair basketball player, paralympian, and true sport athlete. Today, I want to talk to you about goal setting. And there are three things that I would like you to know. First, successful athletes set goals and a planned roadmap. Second, goals should be written down, assessed over time, and changed if necessary. And third, goals need to be challenging in order to be worthwhile. As a freshmen at Edinboro University, I was a part of a team that made the national championship game. And at that time I recognized I was the low man on the totem pole, but I felt in my heart that I knew my dreams were so much bigger than winning a national title. I wanted to make Team USA. I knew what achieving my lofty goal was not going to be easy and that I would need to work hard every day.

So, as a reminder, I created a pyramid of goals that I kept right above my bed. This pyramid reminded me of the accomplishments that I was working towards and visually represented my need to create a solid foundation underneath me before reaching the top. In the bottom roll of my pyramid of goals I listed goals such as obtaining my bachelor’s degree, becoming a scholar athlete award recipient, and becoming an All-American. The middle row listed winning a national title and playing for a professional team. And at the top row, the most challenging of them all, I listed becoming a gold medalist for Team USA.

By understanding that there are smaller stepping stones to achieving my ultimate goal of being on Team USA, I was able to stay motivated and to stay focused on completing the smaller stepping stones fully before moving onto the next one. Now I’ll be the first to admit that not every goal that I listed on my pyramid was accomplished, but seeing my goals every day when I went to bed, I was able to push through the days that I felt like doing nothing in hopes of achieving the bigger picture. Remember, create a clear goal roadmap, assess your goals often, and continue to challenge yourself. I hope that you never stopped dreaming big or reaching for the stars. And I look forward to seeing where your roadmap takes you.

Body Image Lesson Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Kara Winger, Olympic javelin thrower, and true sport athlete. Today I want to talk to you about body image and I have three things I’d like you to know. First, healthy thoughts often lead to healthier bodies. Second, there are varying body types and no one’s body is exactly like another. And third, true beauty goes deeper than the skin. As a multi-time Olympian, I’ve experienced a lot of variation and progression in my training. My coaches and I adapt to my training frequently, all with the goal of supporting my long-term success and health in the sport of javelin. I’m talking to you about body image today because sometimes even with the best of intentions and a common goal in mind, the changes you make to your training habits can prove to be detrimental if made for the wrong reasons. In the lead up to the 2012 Olympic trials, I was told in order to improve my performance on the field, I should try to become a leaner, skinnier version of myself.

So I changed my diet. I went along with what I was being told to do, even though I’d had great success at a slightly heavier weight and higher body fat percentage, and became much leaner than ever before. It seemed like a successful change at first, but I didn’t have nearly the results I’d had before. And I believe becoming leaner than my body naturally wanted to be was what caused my ACL to tear. In the end, it cost me heavily going into the 2012 London games. The takeaway for me, and hopefully for you, is that it’s important to know what works for you and your body and to not compare yourself to others. You should do your research and experiment with your diet to find what makes you feel the best, rather than focusing on what you look like. Today, if I feel like having a chocolate chip cookie, I have one, just not every day.

I’ve learned what a properly balanced meal for my body looks like and I recognize food as the fuel that keeps me throwing. I hydrate and allow myself time to recover. And I listen to and communicate with my body so that I can be the best version of myself. In the end, you are in control of how you see, treat, and respond to your body. We only get one and it’s amazing to discover how many things our bodies can do. Be a true sport athlete. Love who you are in this moment and get excited for all the places your body will take you.

A Good Sport Lesson Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Izy Isaksen, Team USA, Modern Pentathlon, Olympian, US Army Sergeant, and True Sport Ambassador. Today, I want to talk to you about being a good sport. There are three things I’d like you to know. First, real winners act the same toward their opponent, whether they win or lose. Second, follow the rules and be a gracious winner and respectful loser. And third, sportsmanship reveals your true character.

I started competing in Modern Pentathlon eight years after my older sister and three-time Olympian, Margaux Isaksen, began competing. I soon realized that people often compared the two of us. I would overhear spectators and teammates asking, “Who’s the better athlete,” and “Who’s going to beat the other.” Instead of letting outside pressures create a negative experience for us, I chose to practice winning and losing with grace and respect. I know that it would have been easy to let our hyper competitive mindset affect our relationship, but instead we decided to support and cheer for each other, regardless of our own performance. My experience of competing against and being compared to my older sister, taught me to focus on how to perform at my best, rather than putting wasted energy into wishing for others to fail.

I believe that sportsmanship reveals true character. So, no matter what situation I encounter during competition, I know it’s important to always treat people with respect and be a good sport. Remember, be a fierce competitor, find grace in all your victories and losses. And I hope to see you out there.

What Kind of Coach Do You Want to Be? Video Transcript

Edwin Moses: You’re a coach. Maybe what you want is very simple, for everyone to just run in the right direction, score for their own team, to try and try again and again. Maybe you want your athletes to become all stars. You want them to earn trophies, medals, win titles. You want them to reach the highest height their sport allows. And wanting all of that, of course, that’s good. But as every great coach discovers, developing a great athlete means nurturing, nurturing the even greater person within. Truth is, you have even more influence than you know.

You have the ability to affect even deeper change, to take what’s in your hands and do something even more extraordinary. You can be both the coach who provides the skills needed to win the game and the coach who helps them learn and succeed beyond the sport, to become all stars wherever they land in the future, and to enjoy their lives more now, because the confidence and courage they find working with you will stay with them when they need it the most. There are games to be won, lives to change. Coaches have the power to do both.

I’m Edwin Moses, and the lessons I’ve learned through sport have challenged me, guided me, and shaped my life forever. What kind of coach do you want to be?

THE SIMPLE TRUTH: DECODING THE SUPPLEMENT INDUSTRY VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

At first glance, dietary supplements look the same. They seem safe and healthy, but just because the label says a product is a dietary supplement, that doesn’t mean it’s safe. Unfortunately, you can’t tell whether a product is safe or not just by looking at the label. Most vitamins, minerals, fish oil, and other supplements containing nutrients are probably just fine, but supplements are not evaluated or approved by FDA before they are sold. Although it is rare for vitamins or minerals to be contaminated with drugs, there has been at least one case of a vitamin containing an anabolic steroid.

At the other extreme are products that contain drugs, stimulants, anabolic steroids, or other hormones. Even though these are not technically dietary supplements, many of them are labeled as supplements. For example, body-building products sometimes contain anabolic steroids or Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators, known as SARMs, or other hormones. Some pre-workout or energy products contain illegal stimulants like DMAA, ephedra, or other amphetamine-like stimulants. Weight loss products might contain prescription drugs like sibutramine, or hormones, like human chorionic gonadotropin, also known as hCG. All natural or herbal sexual enhancement products might contain hormones or Viagra-like drugs. Products like these can harm your health and career, but they’re for sale online, in some nutrition stores, and they’re labeled as dietary supplements.

When you pick up a supplement, especially one that promises performance enhancement, you don’t know if it belongs in the “Mostly O.K.” pile or in the “Dangerous” pile. After all, two products might look the same, but one might contain just amino acids and other legitimate ingredients, while the other also contains anabolic steroids. Because of this, FDA has issued a warning about certain categories of supplements: body building products, weight loss products, and sexual enhancement products. Be extremely careful when considering a supplement in one of these categories. We strongly recommend that you avoid products in these categories.

Even when FDA tests supplements and finds dangerous ingredients, companies sometimes refuse to recall them. Sometimes, they simply repackage their product and continue selling it under a new name. Just because a product is on a store shelf doesn’t mean it is safe. You need to do your research and be an informed consumer. The dietary supplement industry is enormous. Supplements that appear to be safe could actually be dangerous products in disguise. If you use dietary supplements without doing your research, you may be taking serious risks with your health and your career. Please visit USADA’s Supplement 411 for more information about dietary supplements.