I am frequently asked how to add more veggies to a daily diet to boost anti-inflammatory nutrients. One easy way is to add them to your recovery shake. These recipes, and a few more, are in my new Performance Enhancement & Recovery Nutrition Brochure. A big shout out to Sarah Lippman who helped design these recipes as my intern this past summer. They are delicious, and will make you feel SO GOOD!

Apple-Ginger Spinach Berry

1 cup all natural 100% apple juice

1 Tbsp fresh chopped ginger (approx. 1" piece)

2 cups baby spinach

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

25 grams chocolate or unflavored isolated whey protein

Combine in blender, blend on high speed and enjoy!

Banana Beet Orange

1 cup water or 100% natural orange juice

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 small banana

1/2 cup beets, chopped (about 2-3 beets)

25 grams vanilla or unflavored isolated whey protein

Combine in blender, blend on high speed and enjoy!

The science is clear that anti-inflammatory foods and supplements will make you healthier.  I lecture on this frequently, and always include these foods in the diets of all my clients and teams for performance enhancement and recovery. In my husband's periodontal practice, patient education partly relies on the role of anti-inflammatory nutrition intervention to prevent and treat periodontal disease,  a chronic inflammatory disease which increases a patient's risk of developing cardiovascular disease. It is also critical to enhance recovery after surgery.

To support patient education in my practice and in my husband's practice, I have created two educational brochures that our patients love. Now I am making them available to you. They are each 8-panel, multi-colored, glossy, high quality brochures packed with useful information about creating an anti-inflammatory diet and how to choose the right supplements.

I have found that along with nutritionists and dietitians, other practitioners that love these brochures include physical therapists, nurses, physicians, personal trainers, coaches, wellness centers, and of course, all general dentists, hygienists, and dental specialists. You don't have to be teaching others to use these. They are easy and wonderful for personal use!

Click here to view a mock up of the dental brochure.

Click here to view a mock up of the performance enhancement and recovery brochure.

To order the brochures:

Click here to order the dental brochure.

Click here to order the performance enhancement and recovery brochure.

I hope you enjoy them!

Yours in a good mood,

Dr. Susan Kleiner

Great Dr. Kleiner interview posting on msn.com about 6 food mistakes even healthy eaters make.

Thanks to the writer, Holly Corbett!

Healthy Body, Healthy Wallet Seminar - January 30th, Seattle, WA (1:00 PM to 4:00 PM)
Flyer

Healthy Body:

Here are a few of the comments we received after our last meeting on May 1st:

"I wish I would have brought 10 people to hear this!"
"Dr. Kleiner is one of the best speakers on nutrition and the body that I have ever heard!"
"Let me know when you are doing this again...no matter where you hold it, I will be there with many guests"

If you were not at our last meeting in Tacoma, mark your calendars to hear Tom and I speak on January 30  (Saturday) in Seattle.  Here are the details about the meeting:

Location:  Seattle Public (Central) Library  (Google Map link) (Level 4, Rm 2) (See flyer for address)
Time: 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Cost: $15 pre-registered (closes on Jan. 23rd at 12:00 PM),  $25 (cash only) at the door

Pre-Register with this link - Pre-Register For Healthy Body Healthy Wallet
Parking: Garage under the library - $6.00 for the day

Seating is limited to 75 people.  I would encourage you to pre-register early to ensure seating.

Dr. Susan Kleiner, nationally recognized sports nutritionist, will be speaking on the latest research concerning foods for a healthy body and brain and the need for quality supplementation.  She will also be speaking about why she personally uses and recommends the USANA products to the elite and professional athletes.  Dr. Kleiner has consulted with professional teams, including the Seattle Seahawks, Mariners and Supersonics, the Cleveland Browns and Cavaliers, the Miami Heat, Olympians and elite athletes in countless sports.  Dr. Kleiner is also an active USANA associate.

See the attached flyer for detailed information about Dr. Kleiner.

Healthy Wallet:

Tom Mulhern will be complementing Dr. Kleiner's presentation with a presentation about the need to take control of one's financial health.  He will be teaching about the difference between linear and residual income.  From the story of his life and others, he will highlight how owning a residual income business has been a powerful solution to freeing up our time to pursue the passions of our heart.  He will be highlighting:

The difference between linear and residual income
Understanding why "trying harder" or "working harder" is an incomplete solution to financial health
What is a residual-income business
Critical criteria in choosing a residual-income business
Much, Much more...

I would highly encourage you to attend this meeting to hear about taking control of your health and wealth.

Click here for a Flyer for this event.

Pre-register for Healthy Body, Healthy Wallet

Questions?  email Lorie Mulhern at LorieMulhern@me.com

See you on January 30th!

I had so much fun on the webinar Monday evening. Thanks to all of you who jammed the room, and I apologize to all of those who couldn't get a seat. We'll just have to do it again.

Thanks to Dr. Ladd McNamara for sponsoring the platform and Tom and Lorie Mulhern for hosting.

I mentioned that I'd post some information specifics about recovery nutrition. Remember that recovery nutrition includes before, during and after training.

This information is from my book, POWER EATING, Third Edition.

TIMING OF FOOD FOR RECOVERY

Pre-exercise

Fluids
Meal
4 hours before
Snack
30-90 minutes prior
40-50 g  lo GL carb  +  10-15 g protein

TIMING OF FOOD FOR RECOVERY
During exercise

Fluids
4-8 oz. every 15-20 minutes
Carbohydrate-electrolyte solutions

TIMING OF FOOD FOR RECOVERY
Post exercise & recovery*

Fluids
1-1.5 g/kg high GL carbohydrate
0.5 g/kg high-quality protein

Within 30 minutes and a meal 2 hours post-exercise
*minimum for fat loss: 25 g protein, 30 g carbohydrate

Yours in a good mood,

Dr. Susan Kleiner

A few years ago I had the  privilege to meet and work for the great Coach Pat Riley. It was his opinion that mental focus and attitude made the difference between any athlete and a champion. Winning is not based only on your physical fitness; you have to have your head in the game all the way to the final buzzer, or the finish line.

You’ve spent months building your physical fitness and endurance, now it’s time to check in with your mind and your spirit. Getting mentally prepared is strongly influenced by your diet, so keep up with all the tips that I’ve given so far. Become very aware of how you feel. These next few days before the race, keep your “eye on the ball”. Stay focused on your goal. Whether your goal is to win, place or just finish the race, do the things that make you feel good and maintain a positive outlook. If you find yourself becoming distracted by negative thoughts, change your environment and adjust your attitude.

Already you have accomplished something that few people actually have: you have trained to run a marathon. That alone should make you feel great. Enjoy these days leading up to the race. Whether you’re eating, training, working, or interacting with others, stay mindful of how you feel. On race day, maintain this awareness, and find pleasure in the journey of the race itself, from the starting gun to the final stretch.

I use this quote from Coach Riley as a mantra to raise my spirit when the going gets tough:

“Great effort springs naturally from great attitude.”

RUN GREAT!

Yours in a good mood,

Dr. Susan Kleiner

It may sound old school, but nothing puts the brakes on your performance faster than dehydration. Since muscles are nearly 70 percent water, even a small loss of fluid will affect their function. Muscles are controlled by nerves. The electrical stimulation of nerves and contraction of muscles occurs due to the exchange of electrolytes dissolved in water across the nerve and muscle cell membranes. If you’re low on water or electrolytes, muscle strength and control are weakened. A water deficit of just 2 to 4 percent of your body weight can cut your strength-training workout by as much as 21 percent, and your aerobic power by a whopping 48 percent!

If muscle recovery is your goal, then you should care about cell volumization, or the hydration state of your muscle cells. In a well-hydrated muscle cell, protein synthesis is stimulated and protein breakdown is decreased. On the other hand, muscle-cell dehydration promotes protein breakdown and inhibits protein synthesis. Cell volume has also been shown to influence genetic expression, enzyme and hormone activity, and metabolic regulation. In other words, you won’t recover well after exercise if you are not well hydrated.

Contrary to our drive to eat, our drive to drink is not as keen. Our thirst mechanism doesn’t kick in until we are already mildly dehydrated. When you’re working out moderately in a mild climate, you are probably losing 1 to 2 quarts (2 to 4 pounds) of fluid per hour through perspiration. That means that a 150 pound person can easily lose 2 percent of their body weight in fluid (3 pounds) within an hour. If exercise is more intense, or the environment is more extreme fluid losses will be greater. You can see how easily you become dehydrated. If you don’t replenish your fluid losses during exercise, you will fatigue early and your performance will be diminished. Without fluid replenishment after exercise, your performance on successive days will decay.

Design a fluid plan just like you plan your food: a couple cups when you get up in the morning, a few more mid-morning, a couple at lunch, again in the mid-afternoon and at dinner. That covers your minimum intake. Make sure that these are non-alcoholic (since alcohol will promote water loss), and make at least 5 of them water. All other fluids, including soups, milk, juice, coffee, tea (up to 3 caffeinated beverages) and of course, Solixir, count toward your total fluid intake. Then add what you need to be well hydrated before, during, and after exercise.

Monitor your hydration status. One of the easiest ways is to check your urine first thing in the morning: it should be relatively odorless and no darker colored than straw. Anything more and it is a good sign that you are dehydrated and need to be drinking more.

Many factors increase water requirements, including high heat, low humidity, high altitude, exercise, dieting, illness, travel and pregnancy. Carry water and fluids with you as a constant reminder to drink. Freeze fluids in water bottles to keep them cold during long-distance exercise. Don’t forget that fruits and vegetables are great sources of water. And whoever is driving you to drink, tell them “thank you!”

Yours in a good mood,

Dr. Susan Kleiner

SYMPTOMS OF DEHYDRATION

EARLY SIGNS                                                SEVERE SIGNS

Fatigue                                                                   Difficulty swallowing

Loss of appetite                                                    Stumbling

Flushed skin                                                         Clumsiness

Burning in stomach                                            Shriveled skin

Light-headedness                                               Sunken eyes and dim vision

Headache                                                             Painful urination

Dry mouth                                                           Numb skin

Dry cough                                                            Muscle spasm

Heat intolerance                                                Delirium

Dark urine with a strong odor

FLUID GUIDELINES

• Drink a minimum of 1 quart (4 cups) of fluid for every 1,000 calories you eat every day.
• Drink at least 5 cups of water every day.
• Fluids should be cool.
• For moderate exercise that lasts an hour or less, water is sufficient for replacing lost fluids. If you like flavored drinks better, then use flavored beverages.
• For intense exercise that lasts less than 1 hour and exercise lasting more than an hour, carbohydrate-electrolyte sport drinks are best.
• Drink 2 cups of fluid 2 hours before exercise.
• Drink 4-6 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes during exercise.
• After exercise, drink 20 ounces (2½ cups) of fluid for every pound of body weight lost during exercise

Combine protein and carbohydrate at each meal and snack and you will raise your muscle fuel and your mood at the same time. The good mood combo of protein plus carbs raises serotonin levels in the brain and enhances muscle refueling, recovery and growth. Milk is an ideal feel great food, combining the quickly digesting whey protein with the natural carbohydrate, lactose. Also enhancing serotonin production and physical activity are the rich vitamin D levels found in fortified milk.

If milk isn’t your thing, then reach for a whey protein isolate supplement (or soy or egg protein if you don’t/can’t use whey). Make your own feel great smoothie with whatever combination of fruits and honey that you find. This is a great place to throw in some yogurt, buttermilk or kefir to raise the bioactive proteins and probiotics in your diet, boosting your immune system and the building blocks for protein synthesis.

At every meal and snack, except around exercise, also include the important high performance fats from olives, extra virgin olive oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil, nuts, seeds and their butters, avocados, and fish. Around exercise, fats slow down digestion, keeping you feeling full. So limit fats before, during and after training, but include them every other time that you eat throughout the day. These fats help you cope with stress and reduce feelings of anger and frustration, they are critically important for healthy hormone and neurotransmitter production and for the function of your brain and central nervous system.

Yours in a good mood,

Dr. Susan Kleiner

The new 2011 banned substance list has been approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA. The list will not be published until October, and will go into effect January 1, 2011. If you are drug-tested, you must be even more diligent with your supplement choices, making sure that any product that you use is certified "clean" by a third party. Look for purity certifications on the product label from either BSCG, NSF, or Informed Choice.

The list has been expanded to chemicals more frequently found in foods. So read ingredient labels carefully, and be wary of anyone who tells you that "this is legal". Read the list and make sure that whatever you take is not on the list. I will post the 2011 list here when it is published.

Yours in a good mood,

Dr. Susan Kleiner

Literally. You can put caffeine to work for you by consuming it before exercise. It takes the edge off of your perception of how hard you are working. So you can train harder, for a longer period of time before you notice that you’re working so hard. This enhances your training effect, and your endurance goes up. You don’t need much: 1.3 mg/pound body weight should do it for you. So if you weigh 140 pounds, you need about 182 mg of caffeine to get a performance-enhancing benefit. An average 8 oz. cup of brewed coffee contains 80-100 mg of caffeine, 8 oz. of black tea contains a little less than 50 mg, and 12 oz. of cola contain 35-50 mg of caffeine.

If you're not a caffeine-user or you're trying to get off the wagon, then don't start now. You could try solixir Awaken. With only 30 mg of caffeine (the equivalent of about 2 cups of decaffeinated coffee) and additional botanicals that give you a lift by supporting several different systems in the body, you might find that it can make the difference that you're looking for.

Yours in a good mood,

Dr. Susan Kleiner