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Cooking For Performance: Fueling Your Teen Athlete

There are parents out there who have to feed teen athletes that need to perform. The right diet can help take your teen’s athletic performance to the next level. A small improvement can be the difference between your teen being recruited by colleges or ending their athletic career in high school. A great diet cannot make up for hard work in the gym, and on the practice field. Diet can only set your teen up for success as your performance is directly correlated to your overall diet. The following are tips that will help you cook for your teen to perform to the best of their ability.
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Let Them Define Their Goals

A diet that works for one type of athlete might be too high or low in calories and other nutrients. Wrestlers might be trying to drop weight in a healthy manner, while a football player wants to gain weight without losing foot speed. Goals can change from season to season so make sure that you are up to date with what your athlete wants to accomplish. This can be done as a family as accountability when it comes to diet, and is important especially if your teen wants to become an elite athlete. If you have more than one athlete, then you are going to be doing much more cooking. As a parent, you need to set your children up for success.

Do Some Research

Far too many people do not know how to eat for performance, and they usually just eat to survive. The right ratios of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates differ from sport to sport. Do not try out a fad diet on your young athlete, but rather feed them natural foods and avoid overly processed options. The internet is full of dietary programs for people trying to accomplish a variety of goals. If you do not trust internet experts it can be wise to go make an appointment with a nutritionist. This professional can help you by letting you know what to cook, and can even give you options that will make meal prepping quite easy.
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Use Healthy Alternatives To Cook With

Coconut oil’s uses and benefits are immense with the oil being great for the skin and hair. This is also a great alternative to cooking rather than using vegetable or canola oil. Many people think that it will impact the taste to the point of being bad tasting, but this could not be further from the truth. Other ingredients you can swap out is grain pasta. You can opt for a "riced" cauliflower instead. Small tweaks to certain recipes can make the diet of the entire family much healthier without sacrificing good tasting food. A general rule of thumb is to avoid processed foods, and have a diet full of fruits as well as vegetables. Lean proteins like chicken, bison, fish, and some cuts of red meat can help maximize protein without consuming high levels of fat.

Fuel your teen athlete appropriately and watch them reach their full athletic potential! Sometimes all your diet needs is a few tweaks to take your game to the next level.
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Coca-Cola Give a Ball Program during FIFA World Cup (ends July 13)

Unless you either don't own a television or have no Internet access, it's almost inevitable you have been hearing all the FIFA World Cup talk everywhere. Whether I have attended gatherings, shopped for groceries or waved to a neighbor, it seems everyone is really into the sport. We have caught as many matches as we have been able to and I confess, there is so much excitement involved! 
I wanted to share the latest initiative by Coca-Cola in the spirit of the FIFA World Cup.  Coke has partnered with superstar DaMarcus Beasley to promote the passion and benefits of soccer to youth. In the age of video games, smart phones and recorded shows, it is so important to get out and be active. Summertime is the perfect time for families to go outside and kick a soccer ball around. Making a competition out of it can make it even more fun while working out your entire body. I'm sure the kids won't miss the electronics at all! 

You can help bring soccer to schools across the country. Beasley and Coca-Cola are inviting fans who purchase a product to donate a soccer ball to a school of their choice. Now through July 13, 2014, you can visit www.coke.com/soccer and enter a participating Coca-Cola product code to make the donation. Participants can also enter to instantly win prizes and download “The World Is Ours,” Coca-Cola’s song for the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ campaign.
I have some points in my My Coke Rewards account that I used to play the instant win game. You get up to 5 chances per day and of course, you have to be in it to win it. Check it out if you can and remember, the last day to enter points to donate a ball to your school of choice ends on July 13, 2014.

Thanks for reading and please pass on the word!

I received promotional items as a thank you for spreading the word about the Coke Give a Ball campaign. All opinions are my own. 
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Come join the "On the Go with D.O." Twitter Party

I wanted to invite you all to participate in the "On the Go with D.O." Twitter party that I will be co-hosting next week. If you are not familiar with D.O. (David Oliver), you should check out this post. You can also take a peek at the video below. 




Here are the details of the Twitter Party:

Date and Time: Tuesday July 3rd from 7pm-8pm *NO RSVP
Name: One the Go with D.O. Twitter Party
Hosts: Shelly @momfiles; Tree @amotherofpearl; Piera @JollyMom **Choosing prizing and winners
Special Guest: David Oliver will be joining the party to Tweet along with fans and answer questions! Twitter handle @doliversub13 
Also, My Coke Rewards will be joining the party to Retweet questions and reply to fans @MyCokeRewards
Hashtag: #DOFieldDay

There will be 5 Activity prize packs to give away valued at $100! 

Please stop by if you can and feel free to spread the word. See you there!
Shelly, Mom Files
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Get to Know Olympic Hopeful David Oliver

Hey guys! I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to an athlete named David Oliver. Many of you might already know who he is or have at least heard of him. David Oliver is a USA Track & Field athlete (in hurdles) with many championships, awards and honors under his belt. Some of those athletic achievements include being a three-time USA Outdoor Champion, two-time NCAA All-American, 2008 Olympic Games bronze medalist and several other awards and honors. You can take a peek at his specific rankings and events here. It's quite impressive!
He will be leading a spectacular group of American hurdlers in the 2012 Olympic year. He is hoping to pull from the momentum he had in 2010 since he has been fighting through injuries in 2011. I am quite sure that through determination, hard work and a positive mindset, he will be amazing!

Besides being an incredible athlete, he also helps inner-city children through his organization called SUB 13. In October of 2011, David and his SUB 13 organization hosted their annual speed and agility camp in his hometown of Denver, Colorado. The kids went through a series of drills focused at helping them improve their performance. You can check out the full photo album of the event on the Facebook page. Imagine how cool that would be to get training from such a popular athlete? I know it had to be a big boost for those kids to learn from someone that took time out of his busy schedule to work with them. I have always respected athletes that give back to their community in such a big way.

You can check David Oliver out on Facebook and Twitter as well as his official site.

Psst.... stay tuned to find out how you can get a chance to meet David Oliver in person and help your child's school with Coca-Cola. I promise you that you won't want to miss out on that!
Shelly, Mom Files
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Safeskin Kids Sport Wrap Review

Being the mother of 2 student athletes, you deal with many issues concerning their bodies. Both of my girls play volleyball and it is not unusual to see them or their teammates with wrapped wrists, ankles, fingers, elbows or knees. Safeskin Kids Sport Wraps are a great way to help get through the game when those body parts are not fully cooperating. What better way than to have a fun, colorful wrap instead of the traditional white. These sport wraps come in four bright colors – blue, red, green and yellow – and is ideal for securing bandages and splints and cushioning or supporting wounds. My daughters say that having the colored wrap makes them look "cool".

In addition to these benefits, SAFESKIN* Kids Sport Wrap is:
· Self-adhesive and reusable – with no clips or pins needed to secure the wrap into place.
· Soft, cushiony and comfortable against the skin.
· Water-resistant.
· Latex-free
Safeskin Kids Sport Wrap is currently available at Walmart locations nationwide for a suggested retail price of $3.94. It will be available at other retail locations in early 2012. For more information, visit www.kcdiy.com/safeskin/.

I will be purchasing a pack for each of the girls' gym bag. I wish they came in orange so they can wear their school color! Sadly, my girls would want to wear these even if they don't need to because they love looking cool :-)

I received a product sample for review purposes and all opinion are 100% mine as always.


Shelly, Mom Files
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Doctor's diagnosis "You are not dead"

The other day my 16 year old was complaining that she was having some odd pain in her chest when she left volleyball practice. I asked her a bunch of questions like "Did you spike the ball hard? Do you think you pulled a muscle? Could it be gas?" She said it was not a normal pain. After about 2 hours I felt like we had better get it checked out, just in case. Off to Urgent Care we went. I told Chardie we should go ahead and get her knees checked while we were there since she has been suffering from knee pain for some time now. We were so glad that we were the only ones in there and was able to be seen within 5 minutes. Wouldn't you know that the pain stopped? Yep, no more pain. Classic. Long story short~ the nurse checked her vitals and did an EKG. My daughter has a problem with anyone touching her. She is VERY ticklish. I mean even if I try to give her a simple manicure she will go nuts with laughter.

Flashback- When Chardie was 6 months old she fell off the bed while I had my back turned to grab a diaper and powder. I was frantic and she was on her back laughing heartily. She has never changed. Whenever she falls or runs into something you will see tears streaming down her face. This is not because she is in pain but it is from laughter. Yes folks, my kid laughs when she gets hurt. You can never tell if she is okay or not.

Now back to the doctor... He walks in to let us know of any findings from the EKG. He let us know that her problem had nothing to do with her heart. It was more than likely from her physical activity that she irritated her chest muscle. He said that if a 16 year old was having a heart attack that they would not be able to survive. He then tells us that the good news is that she did not have a heart attack and she did not die. I could not help but giggle. Every time he tried to touch Chardie, she would start laughing. The doctor said maybe it's a good thing she is that way. He said if she is alone with a boy and starts to giggle then we would know that he better back off of our daughter. He then attempts to touch her knees. Of course we all know how that went! He told us that knee pain is the most common problem in teen athletes and recommended she take Ibuprofen. So the end result is that she is fine, just as I suspected. Thank goodness! We keep cracking jokes about her not being dead. That doctor was crazy but we really liked him and will surely go back to him again :)
Shelly, Mom Files
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Getting ready for the Spring/Summer sports season


Volleyball season is nearing and my daughters have started conditioning already. I always make sure that they have a drink (usually a water bottle) and a snack tucked in their gym bags. Thanks to HINT water and Smart for Life, your players can stay fueled and focused during their games with refreshing drinks and healthy, good-for-you snacks.

HINT flavored water has no calories, sweeteners or preservatives and is a great alternative to juice and soda. HINT was launched in April 2005 by current CEO Kara Goldin and is now available in all Whole Foods and Starbucks. It is available in Blackberry, Mango-Grapefruit, Pomegranate-Tangerine, Raspberry-Lime, and Strawberry Kiwi and sells for $1.79. My girls really liked them and this surprises me since they are not sugary! I tried the mango-grapefruit flavor and it is so refreshing. You can "like" HINT on Facebook.

Smart for Life has a range of protein filled Chocolate Chip cookies, Cranberry Granola Squares, and Protein Bars that are sure to help your players stay energized and on their game. I personally enjoyed sampling the Cranberry Granola Squares. It has a nice chewy texture to it and I love the cranberries.

I received product samples for review. All opinions are 100% mine as always.

Shelly, Mom Files
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