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068 - Gamifying Nutrition for Teens w/ Jen Broxterman
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What if the secret to sustainable nutrition change wasn't more information, but better engagement?
Jen Broxterman, RD, turned her passion for behavior change psychology into a half-million dollar nutrition practice—without traditional marketing. Her approach? Making healthy eating so fun and simple that clients become her biggest advocates.
In this conversation, we explore the tools that transform nutrition from a chore into a game. You'll discover:
- The Water Balloon Method – A visual tracking system that builds self-awareness without shame or obsession
- Netflix Season 2 – A goal-setting framework that helps teens articulate what they truly want (not what they think they should want)
- Six by Sixteen – Teaching young adults essential cooking skills through social connection
- The Curious Detective – Using motivational interviewing to help athletes solve their own problems
We tackle the hard stuff: energy drinks wreaking havoc on teenage nervous systems, the protein powder trap, why breakfast remains the ultimate battleground, and how to get parents bought into creating environments that serve their athletes.
This episode is for coaches who want to empower rather than prescribe, parents navigating the nutrition chaos of teenage athletics, and anyone who believes that lasting change comes from within—not from another meal plan.
Your environment saves you. Let's design one that works.
Jen Resources: Free masterclass + coaching games: https://www.prospernutritioncoaching.com/shownotes
Training - Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train
Education - Why They're Not Listening: Coaching the Modern Athlete - http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com
#SportsNutrition #TeenAthletes #BehaviorChange #NutritionCoaching #YouthSports #AthleteDevelopment #MotivationalInterviewing #HealthyTeens #CoachingTools #NutritionForAthletesRetry #teenagers #nutrition
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Transcript
The Risks of Poor Nutrition in Athletes
00:00:00
Speaker
Protein powder gives you the protein, but it doesn't necessarily give you the stuff that supports your blood work. And your blood is very, very important when you're an athlete. And um I always kind of tell this funny story as an example is I had a young, a young late teen client.
00:00:15
Speaker
He was a wrestler and Didn't like to cook, didn't know how to cook. No one really taught him. He was doing six protein shakes a day because he was dead set on eating 200 to 250 grams of protein.
00:00:28
Speaker
So in his mind, protein was king and that was the only way to accomplishment. The kid had scurvy. So he was so malnourished from just, like he just had blinders on that protein was the only thing that was
Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
00:00:42
Speaker
healthy.
00:00:42
Speaker
What if nutrition coaching wasn't about restriction, but about unlocking potential? Welcome to the Captains & Coaches Podcast, where we explore the art the science of leadership through the lens of athletics and beyond. I'm your host, Texel Quilkin, and today we are getting into a master class in transformation, not just of bodies, but of mindsets.
00:01:01
Speaker
Jen Broksterman built a half-million-dollar nutrition practice without traditional marketing. Her secret? Making behavior change irresistibly engaging. From her Netflix Season 2 goal setting framework to the water balloon game that we get into that helps teens actually enjoy tracking their food, Jen has cracked the code on sustainable change.
00:01:22
Speaker
We're diving deep into practical tools you can use immediately, whether you're coaching athletes, raising teenagers, or leading a team. Jen shares how gamification, motivational interviewing, and environment design create lasting results where willpower fails. This isn't another nutrition lecture. It's a blueprint for empowering people you serve to take ownership of their health and their lives.
Building a Nutrition Business
00:01:46
Speaker
Now, let's serve it up to Jen to help us raise the game. Ready, ready, and ready. Jen, welcome to the show. I've been excited. it's We met a year ago, if you can believe it or not. It's...
00:01:58
Speaker
It's been a wild ride. I know you're a very, very busy, very successful coach, and you've been able to scale your business. And then you were at the Super Coach Conference to speak on just that, scaling your nutrition business and then empowering nutrition coaches to then take their clients where they can't take themselves.
00:02:18
Speaker
So let's hit the ground running with the successful aspect and then I mean, there's some background story I want to get into and then explore a lot of the topics I've i've outlined today. So thank you. I'm glad we finally got the time to do this.
00:02:33
Speaker
It's been a year, but it's ah it's been a great year. Yeah, hopefully worth the wait. And I am so pumped to dive into this topic. I think this is going to be a really fun episode. All right. So when we met at the the Super Coach Conference, you were presenting on your successful nutrition business. And I want to begin with that to give you an opportunity to highlight what you do best out of anyone in that nutrition space to then empowering other coaches to then lead people in this reverberation of
Behavior Change in Nutrition Coaching
00:03:03
Speaker
impact. And that's what it's all about.
00:03:05
Speaker
Yeah, my success to this day still surprises me. So I run a half a million dollar nutrition coaching company where I started just me. I literally started out of a spare bedroom in our house where like people would come to my home and, you know, we'd like put the bed on the side of the wall and had people sit down into, you know, bringing that inside of a CrossFit gym that my husband owned into then hiring more and more nutrition coach team members to support me.
00:03:33
Speaker
finally into this whole brick mortar building with an online presence. And so we run maybe like 50, 70 nutrition appointments a week. ah We do, you know, hundreds of thousands in sales and support a year.
00:03:48
Speaker
And really, i think where that kind of popped off or where that really surprised me with how much it just kind of like kept gaining traction was the fact i wasn't overly like marketing myself. In fact, there was a period I just don't market. I didn't have any ads. I wasn't doing anything.
00:04:04
Speaker
But where that success came from was the customer or the client experience. I got really obsessed early on in my coaching career about two things. so One, I wanted to become really, really good at just being a nutrition coach.
00:04:19
Speaker
And at first I thought that was more certifications and more science heavy learning. But what I actually realized was the missing piece was more how to coach behavior change psychology. So I went back to school and I did my master's in behavior change psychology in the condition of prediabetes, where people know they're at risk of getting type two. There is a medical condition on the line,
00:04:41
Speaker
And yet more information doesn't always help people change their behavior. And from there, I just started to almost like play in the sandbox with coaching skills, gamification, motivational interviewing, making nutrition extremely simple and extremely fun.
00:04:58
Speaker
And then I invented all of these games. I brought in my practice. And then this was the part two of the success. I just didn't say
Using Creative Tools in Coaching
00:05:05
Speaker
anything. My clients wing woman and wing man me. So almost every client was like, this was so much more fun, easier and different than I thought hiring a nutrition coach was going to be.
00:05:16
Speaker
And then they would you know tell their mom about me. They tell a colleague at work. I literally had a client yesterday. She's got polycystic ovarian syndrome. And she said from my influence, she started a salad club at lunch.
00:05:29
Speaker
with three other female colleague friends. And she's like, Jen, expect all three of them are gonna be coming to work with you. um We just love all the like practical ideas you've had me try. And she's like, I've just been teaching my friends what you're teaching me.
00:05:42
Speaker
So long-winded answer to say, I think I got really obsessed with like, what is my client's experience working with me? it needs There's a lot around the energy, the feeling. um Do they leave feeling empowered and excited, not stressed out and overwhelmed?
00:05:57
Speaker
Am I giving them the right coaching tips, right? Any coach knows some tips work for some and not for others. So I don't do a blanket like, here's your macros, here's your meal plan to everyone.
00:06:07
Speaker
Really individualizing the tips to the person in front of me. And yeah just really leaning hard into gamification is where all that success came from. And then during your presentation, you leaned in into behavior change psychology. So then I had i had my master's in in health behavior change.
00:06:28
Speaker
I just took all those tools. Oh, yeah. And then I was just taking all those tools to convince all these kids to then... try and work hard where the the behavior change models that we were learning were centered around smoking cigarettes and other just very common no-nos.
00:06:46
Speaker
So it was cool to just then see the the behavior change models they were leaning in And then the game gamification, like the the funness that you're bringing to this.
00:06:58
Speaker
And it it it set so many light bulbs off because it's like, why do I have to convince these teenagers to try hard? This is sport. This should be fun. And then it was then, okay how do I tap into the game where we're already playing?
00:07:13
Speaker
and yeah and lean into competition. And and so it was beautiful to see you're just tapping into the tools and finding your own way then take these people and and show them that they can do this.
00:07:30
Speaker
Um, so the, the tools I want to talk about is one, I like the, like the Netflix season to the coming soon teasers, and then the, the different balloons that you use, the different colors, just as an aspect to give people a reference to the tools that you've came up with.
00:07:46
Speaker
So fun. Okay. We can absolutely do that. So what the Netflix season two premise is, I started to study, I love the idea that success leaves clues and never think like that you have to live in the silo of just your your domain or your coaching industry. And I was like, I was watching Netflix as many of us do. And I was like, damn, Netflix is really addictive.
00:08:10
Speaker
Like, you know, you mean to sit down and just watch an episode and you're like, how did I get through like half a season of whatever? and so I was like, there is something to be learned here to keep someone excited to consume more.
00:08:21
Speaker
And so how I use Netflix season two is in two very kind of intentional ways. When I start with a brand new nutrition client, this is one of my opening questions. So I first get them to kind of explore their past with me, go through the three big rocks I talk about, which is like your relationship with food, exercise, and relationship with exercise over the years.
00:08:41
Speaker
And then I call them the anything else big things, big life changes, big life stressors. And I always start with that before I introduce Netflix season two, because I'll say to my new client, you know, for me to do a really good job as your nutrition coach,
00:08:55
Speaker
You're a whole person. you And I always indicate I've done my homework. You're not just your answers on the intake form that you filled out. There's so much more I want to kind of capture because the better I understand you, how you tick, where you come from, what you've been through, the more we can really individualize this and make this work for you.
00:09:12
Speaker
Because you've tried stuff that you know works. And I also know you've tried stuff that doesn't work for you. So let's go figure that out. too Then there's this very natural point where I introduce Netflix season two. So I'll do a thank you after they kind of dive into their past with me and I'll go, all right, so if I could wave a magic wand or just like, you know, log into Netflix, we're in season one right now and just skip ahead to Netflix season two, episode one.
00:09:36
Speaker
And I always time frame it six months to a year from now because that's a really tangible time horizon. Someone could imagine themselves working with you, improving their skills, getting better and seeing some success.
00:09:48
Speaker
And so within Netflix season two, I'll go, OK, let's skip. Let's skip all the drama that happens within the season, all the hard work and more just where do you want next season to start off from? So if we got to next summer, we're filming this in the summertime, what would make this a year where you look back and you're like, wow, I'm so proud of myself.
00:10:08
Speaker
That was a fantastic year. i feel like I made a lot of positive progress. And this is a place I'm really proud to sort of say I've worked hard to get towards. Now, I always like to give a premise when I ask season two of like, what's your version of health and happiness and success? And I don't say, hey, what are your goals?
00:10:27
Speaker
I mean, you could say the word goals, but if you ask, hey, what are your goals? Where would you like to be? You'll get a more generic, shortened answer. Weight loss, more energy, build muscle, you know, just kind of the surface level.
00:10:41
Speaker
But if I say, hey, Netflix season two, where do you want to, you know, jump ahead? We're going to Skip six months to a year and just be there. What's your version of success when you look around? Is it about your weight? Maybe it's not.
00:10:54
Speaker
Is it about your energy levels and your performance on the field? Is it about that you do want to see more muscle? um Is it about a clothing size? Is it more about a place in your brain where you're like, maybe someone's had a bit of disordered eating and they're like, I just want peace and quiet from always thinking about food and being so wrapped up in my body image.
00:11:15
Speaker
And so I'll ask that open-ended, but teasing some trails that their answer could go down. And then I just stopped talking And I completely listen because if you can get them to articulate and capture what's in their head, you can be the best coach in the world. But if you're just coaching for weight loss or muscle gain and they ah don't overly care one way or the other, they could walk away from your experience being like, that was a bad coach.
00:11:40
Speaker
They didn't get me at all. They didn't help me accomplish anything I wanted to do. So the Netflix season two question is, lets me make sure I'm really coaching to the person.
Motivational Interviewing and Teen Engagement
00:11:51
Speaker
And then i'm going to tag one more kind of cool coaching hack on top of the Netflix.
00:11:56
Speaker
And I realized there was something else Netflix does really well. And this is part of the addiction of going to the next episode. Netflix does a little trailer at the end of an episode to tease the most dramatic, best cliffhanger parts that are coming up.
00:12:13
Speaker
I don't know if you've watched a series where it's like, this is happening next time, or I mean, I'm a bit of a bachelorette, bachelor girly. So, you know, I'm like, Oh my God, give me the next episode of the bachelor. I want to see what happens in this like cat fight between people.
00:12:28
Speaker
I know, I know, very bad. But it's it's exciting because you're like, oh my gosh, there's more good stuff coming that I want to i want to consume. So what I started to do at the end of every nutrition appointment, one, to show I was listening, two, to show I'm a guide where I'm going to help them get to where they want to go,
00:12:46
Speaker
And three, just to keep retention and engagement really high, is I will wrap up today's appointment, give a quick summary, some action items, and then go, and here's when we're meeting next, or let's get that next appointment booked.
00:12:59
Speaker
When we next meet, I'm so excited if you're down for it. Let's cover really going through your road trip snack box. So your next tournament coming up next month, you've got a full snack box to take with you and we're going to get all those items ready.
00:13:13
Speaker
Or let's really work on some batch cook and freeze meals so that when you come home from practice at nine and you've been tempted to kind of do takeout the last few times, you've got a fully stocked freezer of all athlete-friendly healthy meals that are five minutes in the microwave, homemade, cooked, delicious, athlete fuel kind of stuff.
00:13:32
Speaker
And so I'll always tease something amazing that we're going to talk about next. And people are oh, my God, yeah, like I can't wait to come back. So I think that's really important to show as a coach, like you've got this path that you're going to guide them down and to keep someone excited and engaged. So those are two tricks my brain sort of made up after watching Netflix.
00:13:52
Speaker
ah I love it. ah the, it and there's aspects where you have to listen during the interview. And in line with that, a lot of people come in with obstacles, barriers, especially working with high school boys, they don't know how to answer questions. So there's not a lot to listen to.
00:14:10
Speaker
But you have got a great, great tool that you highlighted during your presentation, motivational interviewing. And then this is a great tool when speaking to teenagers who are hold back. And every parent knows this when you ask them how school was. What you learn today?
00:14:26
Speaker
Nothing. So as soon as you start to try to dig... that's when the those walls and barriers come up. So introduce us some motivational interviewing tools that allow those walls to come down and then put them in a position to really express themselves openly.
00:14:44
Speaker
Let's do the water balloon game. And again, it is a game and this is a great one with teens. And I'm very visual, so if it's okay, I'm gonna hold up some visual examples. And then for anyone that's just in the car listening to the audio, I will definitely use my words so you can see see what we're gonna hold up on the screen.
00:15:01
Speaker
So how water balloon game works is I start with a single piece of paper that has monday to saturday or Monday to Sunday written across the top. So each of the seven days of the week and then down the columns, I just have the different eating points.
00:15:16
Speaker
So a breakfast, a morning spot, a lunch, an afternoon snap spot, a dinner and an evening snack time. And then if you um can see on the screen, but I'll definitely use my words, I have a green smiley face.
00:15:29
Speaker
And beside those words, it says like amazing, plus quality. um Basically, we're really proud of the amount and the quality of our food. Or for the green happy face, I use three bullet points for my teens to keep it really simple.
00:15:44
Speaker
Was it high quality food? So quality, quantity, Do I feel like I ate the right quantity of what my body requires as an athlete training? Not too much, not too little.
00:15:56
Speaker
Right quantity of the healthy components on our plate, like vegetables and proteins and healthy carbs. And then finally, my third bullet point for green is just the word goals. And what I mean by goals is if I keep eating this food in this way, will this move me in the direction of my goals?
00:16:12
Speaker
Will this help me get faster in practice? Will this let me build muscle and grow stronger? Will this support my energy levels? If this was a grade in school, because teens are still in school, I often say that a green is like you're coming home with an 80, 90, or 100% on that test that you submitted.
00:16:30
Speaker
You don't have to be perfect. You definitely you know don't have to get 100 on a math exam. But if you came home with a 94% in calculus, you rocked it out of the park. Like, amazing job. You worked hard. You got a really good grade.
00:16:42
Speaker
Now the next category is a little yellow so-so face. Think of it instead of a green smiley face, it's yellow with a straight line for its mouth. I call this guy my meh, M-E-H, meh.
00:16:54
Speaker
It's just like so-so in the middle. So this is a so-so food choice. If it was a grade in school, back to our school numbers for our school-age kids, I say this is like coming home with a 50 to a 79.
00:17:08
Speaker
You passed, right? Definitely a 60%. You passed. Did you pass with flying colors? Are you in the scholarship territory? Are you getting a full ride? Probably not.
00:17:19
Speaker
So a so-so shows that you have some healthful elements to your nutrition choice. But when you evaluate it, you're like, yeah, I maybe could have used a little more veggies.
00:17:30
Speaker
I did white noodles again. you know, I know I'm trying to work up to more the like fibrous whole grains. Maybe i was in a rush. I didn't eat quite enough protein with my lunch today. I was, you know, didn't have enough um food for that.
00:17:43
Speaker
So we're just kind of like helping them figure out like why was it passable, but not all the way amazing. Then what I have is a final little face that is a red frowny face. And I call this, I do not call this bad. So this is very, very important. I come from a space of eating disorder recovery coaching.
00:18:00
Speaker
So mindful when I talk to teens about this. So my actual words are off track slash enjoy. This is a food that I know I can't eat every day all the time if I want to hit my
Creating a Supportive Nutrition Environment
00:18:13
Speaker
goals and feel my very best.
00:18:14
Speaker
But absolutely, if my overall nutrition is balanced, these enjoy squares, think of them like your rest days from exercise. If I'm a serious athlete, I'm going to be working out most of the week, but my rest days are really important to allow me to come back stronger and more mentally ready for the next work in front of me.
00:18:36
Speaker
So with an enjoy square, it's to remove guilt and shame and judgment or labeling foods as bad. I'm very careful that I don't call this cheat meal or a cheat day.
00:18:48
Speaker
You are not cheating anything. You're just enjoying food because it tastes good because maybe socially you want to participate in it. So how does the water balloon game start now that we have our three our three faces?
00:19:01
Speaker
Each face, I want you to picture them as like they're ah a balloon filled up with a smiley face or a so-so face or a frowny face. And the balloon is filled with paint, green paint, yellow paint, red paint.
00:19:13
Speaker
So the first thing I have them do is I'll just do as a coach. a 24 hour recall and I'll say, hey, can I get whatever you had yesterday? Go back in your schedule in your brain, think through your day.
00:19:24
Speaker
What did you have for breakfast yesterday morning? Okay, and then we'll just write out very quickly what the food was. So this was a random client. I'll just look at theirs. use the one where we were on the screen.
00:19:35
Speaker
So one guy wrote, you know, two eggs and toast with a smoothie with berries, oats, and added flax and protein powder. Then, and you know, for their lunch that day, it was, again, they like this is real life.
00:19:49
Speaker
I have a question mark and it says leftovers. And he's like, I can't exactly remember what I ate, but I know it was leftovers from Sunday dinner. But I do remember the quality was really great.
00:20:00
Speaker
So like, that's real life. I'm not give me your macros. Tell me exactly what you had to eat. He's like, I honestly, I'm drawing a blank. I do know it was leftovers. I know we made something really healthy on Sunday.
00:20:12
Speaker
I'm just going to chalk it up that I know I made a good lunch choice. Okay, that's all I need as a coach. This is real life on the fly, right? Talking to teenagers. They sometimes aren't going to give you a full answer. Then through the afternoon snack, he had just an orange.
00:20:26
Speaker
Then in dinner, it was pulled pork. with brown rice and some Swiss chard. And then the evening snack that night was just like one small square of dark chocolate. And so as we kind of went through that day, I was like, okay, cool. We've got that whole day.
00:20:41
Speaker
And then I'll go look at your calendar and your phone for a second. Can you remember the day before that? So for this guy, I think we were like meeting on a Wednesday and, you know, I was like pop quizzing him around a lunchtime appointment and So then it was like he went back and gave me the Tuesday.
00:20:57
Speaker
and then that's where we went back one more day. And i was like, hey, go back in your brain. Like, go back to Monday. Do you kind of remember when did you have practice? What did you do at school that day? Often if you jog someone's memory of the events of their day, they can come back and find figure out the food based around the events.
00:21:13
Speaker
So at the beginning, there won't be any faces. There's just simple, simple writing of words on the screen. You'll see that not one of those little boxes was I was like, tell me specifically how much sauce was on your pulled pork?
00:21:26
Speaker
How many grams of protein do you think you just ate? How many exactly measured bowls or cups of Swiss chard did you have? It's just get the high level, especially if you're with teens.
00:21:39
Speaker
If you can pull the high level out of them of what they ate, you're already one on that side of it.
Challenges and Solutions for Teen Nutrition
00:21:44
Speaker
Then I go, okay, water balloon time. I'm, I hand it over to them. I like slide the piece of paper or if it's virtual working virtually, I'll just draw it on their behalf.
00:21:53
Speaker
And I go, I'm going to draw a blank circle beside every single meal. And you're going to help me figure out the face. Are we from our 10,000 foot hot air balloon, we're up in the sky together, and I'm going to give you a big bowl of balloons filled with paint, green, yellow, red.
00:22:10
Speaker
And you're just going to go like Geronimo like drop your water balloon, let it splash in the square. And you're now going to paint your scoreboard with greens and yellows and reds, but we're going to do them one individual meal or snack at a time.
00:22:25
Speaker
So yeah, going back to yesterday's breakfast, I'll ask them, if this was a grade in school based on quality, quantity, and supporting your goals, Would you give yourself an 80 or higher? If not, that's okay.
00:22:37
Speaker
Then we decide if we're giving it yellow or red. And if it's not a green, I want you to maybe tell me or point out what you think if you were to go back to up the score, what you would have adjusted.
00:22:50
Speaker
So I'll point out subtly what I'm doing here. This is motivational interviewing. I'm not being the expert didactically going, now let me tell you what you did right. Let me tell you what you did wrong. I'm not judging. I'm not shaming. I'm not bringing any food choice down.
00:23:04
Speaker
I'm giving them full agency to scan their few days from a high level view. I'm letting them choose the color they think is appropriate If I truly as a coach disagree with the color they're giving, i will still allow them to pick the color that they want.
00:23:21
Speaker
And then I might gently come back and go, what I noticed, are you okay if I share my opinion? So I agree. This is a green, this, yep, yep, yep, yellow. Oh, that one where you put green.
00:23:32
Speaker
But I don't see any vegetables at your dinner, even though, yes, I think like brown rice was a healthy choice. And yes, I know you had a lot of like lean steak and, you know, there was like a couple little onions mixed in there.
00:23:44
Speaker
But what I'm looking for as as your nutrition coach was that 50 percent really large, colorful, micronutrient-rich vegetable part, I don't see that in your dinner.
00:23:55
Speaker
So I'd say you still passed, but I wouldn't be able to give you all the way up to that 85, 90. But you know here's why, as an athlete, we do care about this part. This is a lot of the energy, the vitamins that affect like your energy cells and your like mitochondria and how your cells produce energy and recovery and things like that. So even though it's not just straight carb or straight protein,
00:24:17
Speaker
There's some value that these vegetables still have, you know, to be included. So I do a very gentle kind of set of feedback. Then the final thing I'll do is I do hash marks.
00:24:29
Speaker
So I will have them count up and put a hash mark beside how many of each of the three colors so they can start to see proportions. So they'll be like, okay, this person was like, oh, shoot, in three and a half days, I had one green, ah had seven yellows, and I had three enjoyss.
00:24:47
Speaker
And so what I start to teach is, okay, I will work at their level. Like some people are really off and so they're not going to hit my ideal ratio. But often what I teach for my ideal ratio is if you can get to 20 greens a week.
00:25:01
Speaker
So if you think about it, three greens a day would be 21 greens. So three times a day, give or take something that is super amazing, really passable,
00:25:12
Speaker
awesome for long-term health. Then i give between, you know, seven to 10 yellows. So that's about once a day that you're like, ah, whatever. That was a good enough lunch. That was a good enough dinner. That was a perfectly fine breakfast.
00:25:27
Speaker
Trying to get out the door after sleeping in. Yeah. I grabbed the protein bar. I'm trying to eat more real foods than just always a packaged food, but like, It got me to school and got some some food and protein in my body. Okay, possible. I'll give you that.
00:25:42
Speaker
And then I give people between three to five enjoys. So they can have them whenever they want. They don't wait for a cheat day. It's not saved up. It just fits the flow of their life.
00:25:55
Speaker
And the other thing that's important is there is... teenagers are quite vulnerable for disordered eating. That is a major place that starts to show up. And what an eating disorder or disordered eating does is it hyper focuses on what it can perceive as flaws or failures, and then it magnifies ah perceived flaw.
00:26:15
Speaker
And so for some of my athletes, male and female who are battling some disordered eating thoughts I can now very objectively show up, show them their entire week. So I'll have them track for a full week of doing this and go, is this on fire? We're up in the hot air balloon. I'm looking for a canopy top of green, healthy trees with a few yellows and just some reds, but I don't see a forest fire below me.
00:26:42
Speaker
And so when you came in and sat down and said, everything's going really terribly and I'm not eating well, but objectively we've put in all your workouts. So we'll put workouts in and highlight those in green. You know, this was a crossfitter and dog walks and hiking.
00:26:55
Speaker
And then I see, yeah, you definitely got to have some great enjoys. I see you baked cookies with your niece or with a friend and then you had cookies the next day. That's okay. That's part of healthy eating, but look at your follow through and consistency with packing lunches for school I can see you're waking up early enough. I mean, and then I'll have them go. I'll ask some questions of like, all right, before I want you to pick yourself apart, don't start there.
00:27:19
Speaker
You have to give yourself one or two compliments. So I want you to look down at your week and I want you to tell me what you think is going really well and what you're really proud of. And that breaks the negativity cycle of like flaw picking right off the get go.
00:27:35
Speaker
And then I'll go, I'll give them the do over. So I'll go, hey, I'm going to give you a magic wand and I'm going to let you pick three spaces that you could completely do over a red that maybe you want to make a yellow or green or a yellow that you want to bump up to a green.
00:27:48
Speaker
What would you change? If I gave you time travel and you could go back and come out with three more greens on the board. And so it's cool. This is another motivational interviewing game.
00:28:00
Speaker
I'm letting them decide that red was totally worth it. I'm not changing that. I love going to Dairy Queen with my friends on Saturday and I got the blizzard. Oh, but that rushed Tuesday before I had to get out to practice where I just grabbed the I don't know, a Pop-Tart and threw that in the toaster and I didn't feel so great at practice after eating that.
00:28:20
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't. That wasn't worth wasting one of my enjoys on. If I were to go back, I could have done this instead. So it's cool because you're teaching them now the problem solving skills by using this very high level.
00:28:34
Speaker
Part of a game. And then the final question I sort of anchor for all of this is I don't want someone to get obsessed and have to feel like they have to track forever. So this is how I bring tracking in. And then I take tracking away is I'll ask a weird question. I'll use it with you, Tex.
00:28:48
Speaker
When's your birthday? So when were you born? March 27th. March 27th. Okay. Your anchor is the 27th of the month. So we're filming this. Well, we just kind of missed the 27th of July, but, um, you know, when August 27th rolls around, so I might have you do it like right now, cause we're doing it live. And then I'll go, as soon as you're done this week, Tex, put it away.
00:29:10
Speaker
But when August 27th rolls around in the calendar, you're going to hear from me. So I'm going to send you an email the morning of the 27th. I'm going to reattach this document. print it out.
Understanding Protein and Supplement Risks
00:29:22
Speaker
And I want you to just track for seven days. Yep. You're going have to track over the Labor Day long weekend. If you're away, you're at a cottage doing stuff with friends. That's still real life. You can't wait for the perfect Monday to start tracking.
00:29:36
Speaker
I want to see seven days of real life for you then. Then take a pause. And then on September 27th, you're going to do it for one more week. Then October 27th, guess what?
00:29:49
Speaker
You're going to have to track over Halloween because that's when October 27th falls. We don't get to cherry pick. This is real life. So if you're having three things of candy every day, how do you want to doll out your enjoy squares?
00:30:04
Speaker
knowing that it's the time of year that's Halloween. And so what I want you to do is don't worry so much about being perfect or hitting those exact numbers, but we'll get a baseline in August for how many greens, how many yellows, how many reds.
00:30:16
Speaker
And all I want you to do is keep upping your green score. month to month. So if you only got to 12 greens in that first month of seven days, make it 13 or 14. The next time you do the tracking activity, just make it a little bit higher.
00:30:32
Speaker
And then finally, if you want, I do have some clients. What I say is you can almost use it like a life diary. So I'll say, flip it over. And on the back, You can just write some notes ah about what was going on in your life that moment. If things are kind of weird and wonky, you might say, was at a tournament and traveling and, you know, like had to eat out of a cooler or I coming off a cold and my appetite was really down. So I was skipping snacks because I wasn't as hungry.
00:31:01
Speaker
um Or for some of my athletes, I don't try to be overly weight focused, but just to let them do a weigh in where it's just like, we're just going to a quick check. once a month, where are things at? We're not going to look at the scale the rest of the month.
00:31:13
Speaker
And we can just quickly document like weight and any life events. And then you will have a little folder of these hot air balloon exercises over time. And you can really see progress happening.
00:31:25
Speaker
Okay, so that's the whole game. little bit of time to explain it, but hopefully you could, any parent, any kid, any coach can copy this. Just draw out, you know, Monday to Sunday, give each spot for the meals of the day, and then you just need your three faces and you're good to go. Time out.
00:31:42
Speaker
Let's take a second to talk about training and introducing you to the old bull training program. This is the program that I'm following and writing for myself because i was bored and beat up with other training programs out there.
00:31:56
Speaker
Now I focus in on fun and a very time effective and efficient training program. It also targets different joint issues that I'm having. Shoulders, hips, back, knees, ankles. Everything from my athletic playing career and then career as a strength conditioning coach. Lifting every single day. My body's beat up as I approach 40. This program is focused on building it back up in a very time-effective and efficient manner I love it. And mean, ultimately...
00:32:29
Speaker
and how i'm structuring the program and giving you the opportunity to choose your own adventure each day for a seven day free trial click the link in the show notes check out the program and join me on old bull and now back to the show ready ready and break ah love it and i mean ultimately And why we're playing sports is to help teach these self determining lessons that allow them to make responsible choices and decisions about everything.
00:32:59
Speaker
And we're using nutrition here in this example as the vehicle and then nutrition, they're going to run into it for the rest their life. So anchoring in with their connection to sport and play and something they love.
00:33:13
Speaker
Now we teach them how to responsibly eat. So I, I love it. And I was thinking of ways that I can then connect this simple tool to even practice. Cause a big thing that I run into. You can do this in a team environment. yeah So you can start a practice with a, Hey guys, we're going to start with a quick nutrition recall. Everyone's going to get one of these have, you know, highlighters available. So just go buy a pack of red screens and yellow highlighters, let them get in little groups. Not that anyone's being judged or shamed or a comparison.
00:33:44
Speaker
And just, again, those questions of like, start with a compliment, like what's going really well?
The Impact of Energy Drinks
00:33:49
Speaker
Where are you looking that you're like, ah, my fueling isn't really helping me achieve the goals I have here athletically.
00:33:57
Speaker
And then you can have everyone kind of take it home and finish it for the week. I've also done this with teams where big competitions that matter, right? You know, i was going to say provincials because i'm up here in Canada, state finals in the States, you know, like next level kind of competition.
00:34:14
Speaker
You can get your team on board and go the week leading up to our weekend competition. We're going to all start this together on a Monday. This isn't to weigh and measure. This isn't to track calories. This isn't to be obsessed.
00:34:27
Speaker
You'll see that it's just writing down. very quickly the outline of like, what did I eat? Like I'm just writing, you know, this example was, um, you know, dinner, cabbage, carrots, snow peas, ground beef, this one, pork chop, red pepper, onions, garlic, squash, parsley, lime juice, water.
00:34:46
Speaker
Uh, this one was like homemade tacos with side garden salad. I don't know the exact measurements. I don't know there was salsa and sour cream on that taco. Like It just needs to be a good enough of like, yeah, this is jogging my memory of what I had.
00:35:00
Speaker
And then you're just letting them tell the story with the color water balloon paint that they're dropping on it. But my goodness, to get a whole team of athletes committed to the best performance they can have in competition and have every athlete do this one week out.
00:35:15
Speaker
before the really most important game, you will bring people's nutrition levels up. Cause when we get watched, whether humans like it or not, we tend to improve our behavior when we know someone is watching that.
00:35:27
Speaker
As long as there's no judgment shaming from like the coach or their peers, it is, it's your own individual as best as you can make it. Yeah. And that's, that's the goal in the environment is to have one that, that builds up versus breaks, breaks down.
00:35:42
Speaker
And then you, so You're my expert win witness for tracking cracking the teenager nutrition code. What I want to lead off with is breakfast.
00:35:54
Speaker
Okay. Just no time. I'd rather sleep where parents is are rushing them out the door. But most of the dudes I deal with are varsity level. So 16 to 18, they have a driver's license, which gives you a lot of autonomy.
00:36:08
Speaker
And in my mind, no excuse to skip breakfast because like... It's on you. Nobody's rushing you out the door. Yeah. I mean, I think the thing we're fighting with teenagers is just their high need for sleep, right? They're just their biological clocks are different.
00:36:25
Speaker
If I can go in a whole tangent on why like school started the completely wrong time based on a teenage circadian rhythm. I mean, if it started at 10 a.m. and like went a little bit later, probably wouldn't be having this breakfast issue because they're getting to sort of it'd be like asking a full functioning adult to be like, I need you to out the door by 315 a.m., please. And like make sure you get breakfast in there. But you're like, no, I want to sleep. This is unreasonable.
00:36:48
Speaker
So I deeply empathize
Family Involvement in Nutrition
00:36:50
Speaker
and I get like why teens struggle so much. I don't think a teenager is just being. lazy or you know disobedient. it's Really, there is great science to support the circadian rhythm.
00:37:02
Speaker
So how I always look at obstacles is not like, oh, i wish it wasn't like that. It's like, these are the facts. This is the reality. What's the best we can do where we are with what we have. So I'm a huge advocate of your environment saves you.
00:37:16
Speaker
And I talk a lot with my teens. I'd make fun of myself. I go, I have to save future Jen's butt all the time because future Jen sometimes gets herself overbooked, often gets too busy, has too many clients, is is running around, has so many goals and fun things she wants to do. I'm like, why do I do this to future Jen? I make your schedule overbooked.
00:37:36
Speaker
way too busy. So future Jen needs calm, present Jen's help when I have like easier moments. I will do things like get my teens and my athletes to make grab and go snack bucket.
00:37:50
Speaker
So they are individually portioned, little basically salad dressing containers where it's trail mix and nuts and seeds. I've got crackers and tunas and you know healthy bars and stuff like that.
00:38:03
Speaker
Yeah, are there some protein bars that my teens eat? I'll help them find three to five brands that are a little bit more real whole food, have some fiber, have good protein profiles. And I'll say like, let's put some of those bars in your grab and go box.
00:38:18
Speaker
Let's have little things of breakfast cereal. So I have different kinds of healthy breakfast cereals. I just divide out into little containers. And then go, if you need to grab a yogurt, grab a pre-done breakfast cereal in the container that you can dump in and you take a protein bar.
00:38:35
Speaker
Okay, we got some food into you. That's better than nothing. That's absolutely better than the drive-thru or even a donut with a coffee for breakfast. So I'll do a lot of that. um Another one is just to make protein really accessible and travelable, like easy to travel with.
00:38:52
Speaker
So I'll have little egg omelet recipes and have them get um baked in a little like silicone, you know, like baking mix or even just a muffin tin container. And then that way you can pull out, you know, two eggs, microwave them really quickly.
00:39:07
Speaker
But there's, you know, like almost like a little omelet. They've got veggies in there. We could put like a turkey bacon in there or a ground chicken or or turkey. Put some spinach, some tomatoes, some onions, some peppers, mushrooms if they like it, little bit of cheese.
00:39:21
Speaker
Boom. Microwave that for one minute. And you've got two hot protein eggs. And you could even just quickly in the toaster oven put like a whole wheat English muffin and make yourself like a breakfast sandwich.
00:39:32
Speaker
For teens, I have these freezable breakfast burrito, egg um burrito things that they can wrap up, put in tinfoil, put them in the freezer. Again, they just have to heat them up really quickly and go.
00:39:44
Speaker
a lot of my teens, sometimes just giving them a smoothie to drink on the way to school. But again, i will do, I call these snack box appointments. So how I emphasize this with my teenagers is I'm like, have you ever gotten hurt?
00:39:59
Speaker
And yeah. like yeah i'm like have you made time
Self-Awareness and Mindset in Athletes
00:40:01
Speaker
to go to physio? Yeah. How long does physio take? I don't know. 45 minutes an hour. Okay. ah Do you often go to physio at least once a week when you're in an injury?
00:40:11
Speaker
Yeah. Cause you want to get back on the field, right? You want to get back into play. So I said, what we're going to do is we are going to book a once a month prep appointment. This is your nutrition appointment in your calendar, just like physio.
00:40:26
Speaker
I mean, you have time to go to practice four or five times a week. I know you fit that in your schedule. This one hour nutrition practice a month will start to make you more elite than the teams that you're playing against.
00:40:39
Speaker
So the best of the best athletes in the world, the ones that get drafted, the ones that get the highest salaries, they are already thinking about their nutrition and their recovery at your age.
00:40:51
Speaker
So I tie it back to, do you want to be elite? Do you want to be the best you can possibly be? Cool. So here's where I'm going to help you do that. We're going to have like a physio session, ah nutrition appointment. It's going to go in your calendar, just like a haircut, a real standing appointment.
00:41:07
Speaker
What we're going to do in that time is we're going to set future stressed out, over slept you up for success. If you see yourself doing smoothies before school, if you're rushed, let's make like 25 smoothie bags.
00:41:20
Speaker
You're going to go to Costco and I want you to buy three of the club packs of like all the mixed frozen berries. And then you're going to take little sandwich Ziploc bags and like an assembly line, berries, berries, berries, berries. berries berries Get all that fruit divided out.
00:41:34
Speaker
Then i know you you like your brand of protein powder. Let's get little salad dress containers and put your protein powder in there, but let's add some extra goodness to this smoothie. Let's put flax and let's put some hemp hearts in there as well. So we're going to pre-mix that. And now that little, that little drop in protein powder bomb is going to sit in the bag with the berries.
00:41:56
Speaker
So it's ready to go. So in the morning, if you need to whip that sucker up really quickly, you're just reaching for a smoothie pack. like And you've got everything to kind of dump in and go and just go. Let's make sure we have enough stock of the healthy protein bars we identified you like. oh Again, are they like cooking all whole food here? that you could No. na and a yog Is it the reality of what a teenage morning scrambling to get to school is like? but you Yeah.
00:42:21
Speaker
So on that once a month appointment, we'll make sure they're restocked in like RX food bars and, you know, things that are pretty low ingredient, but still pretty healthy. So, And we're going to make sure we have an overstock of those in their pantry or in their fridge. last We're going to make sure I'll do like a super mix of, I call it my nut and seed super mix, um plus a fruit. So me see if I can find the picture. container i will have them the aluminum do, take it I'll be like, go out and buy one of everything from a nut and seed perspective. One huge jar of peanuts, one thing of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds.
00:42:57
Speaker
Brazil nuts, walnuts, almonds, cashews, banana chips, raisins. and Throw that in a huge mixing bowl. we're trying to get Turn on Netflix. Watch Disney+. plus I don't care. But sit there with the show and
Free Resources for Coaches and Families
00:43:09
Speaker
just go scoop lid, scoop lid, scoop lid. this Now you've got all these grab and go little nut and seed trail mixes with that you could grab with a banana and a yogurt. a friend hanging Boom, that's breakfast to get out the door, but you've made it easier. together pick The other kind of next level to this in the monthly nutrition appointment, and I will do this with teams, yeah is I'll call it cook with a friend. didly So what cook with a friend is, is if they can go get some kind of glassware that allows them to, you know, batch cook and freeze.
00:43:41
Speaker
If you don't have the money up front to come, these are just the three cup Pyrex individual meal containers. Healthy meals. Most grocery stores sell the aluminum i don't little takeout container, right? The little doggy bag takeout container.
00:43:53
Speaker
but But here is initiative I really try to promote. I call it six by 16. By 16 years old, this is can you cook six healthy meals entirely by yourself. and and hang So we're trying to give food skills to these young adults so they don't just order Uber Eats and takeout because they actually just don't have the skill of cooking. lots of groceries But six by 16 is more fun the leftover if you practice it with a friend and you literally do a friend hangout where two or three teammates get together
00:44:24
Speaker
They together pick a recipe, they cook it in bulk together, and then they all get to leave the friend hangout with individually portioned takeout size meals.
00:44:36
Speaker
And then that is a little freezer section. So I have like one drawer of my freezer, can't have pizza, can't have chicken fingers, no French fries in the drawer. And that corner drawer of our freezer are just healthy meals we made for the, oh no, I don't have time to cook. What am I going to eat moments?
00:44:54
Speaker
And so with doing this with friends, you start to create this cadence of every ah month to maybe two times a month, you get together with a friend. So this is called body doubling. When you do stuff with other people, it's easier.
00:45:07
Speaker
And then you hang out with your friend and you have a fun time. You start to practice cooking together and then the friends equally divide the groceries, um the cost of groceries. You equally divide you know the leftovers and then both teammates get to go home with all of these cooked meals that go in their freezer.
00:45:25
Speaker
So this is an appointment one or two times a month. I would argue it's gonna bring you even more value than just going to physio or all the practices that you attend and you're gonna hugely set your environment up for success.
00:45:39
Speaker
I love it. I'm just, I'm to apply all this and find a way to to really make it engaging. And that that ultimately leads to the six by 16, the cooking.
00:45:51
Speaker
Because I mean, yeah after high school, you're going to the next level, then you just, you just don't know what to do. And I want my guys to just dominate all situations socially, then leadership and respect to that in the classroom and everything.
00:46:07
Speaker
So if you're the guy that can cook, Hey, that's going to open up a lot of doors for you. So I i love that. Oh, yeah. um I do want to talk on a couple of things. A lot to you down the road.
00:46:18
Speaker
I know the I do want to talk a couple of things. So I went to the grocery store the a couple of weeks ago and was just cutting through the nutrition supplement aisle.
00:46:31
Speaker
It's right by the cash register. And then there was a ah young man and his mom was with him. clearly not yet 16. He was wearing like a high school wrestling t-shirt and they were looking at protein powders.
00:46:44
Speaker
And mom was like, I, I, I don't know what to do. That doesn't look, that doesn't look healthy. Cause he picked up like his big tub of ghost branded protein. i don't know if you have ghost in Canada.
00:46:56
Speaker
I don't know anything about ghost, but I know it's on an energy drink. So immediately i think garbage. So I, i Then said, excuse me, i I think I can help you here.
00:47:08
Speaker
So then walked through just the different branding labels and I'm like, if it looks like a cereal box, it's not good. So that helped them understand plant-based proteins versus the whey proteins.
00:47:22
Speaker
and just helped ah give some general guidance to to the young man, like at least a pound, a gram of protein per pound body weight, and then explain him what the word supplement meant, supplementing my diet.
00:47:39
Speaker
So then right like my grocery basket, uh, just filled with, you know, bison and lamb and chicken and meat. right This is where we're going to get our proteins.
00:47:51
Speaker
So it gave him like a ah quick few minute rundown and then help mom pick out the appropriate bag of protein ah that was there for us. So ah I, I want to highlight protein supplements for teenagers and then hopefully lead to some understanding of energy drinks because these are. Yeah, for sure. And I've got some funny stories to tell in this area.
00:48:16
Speaker
similar to you with teens, I still try to teach foods first because a lot of times they're like, oh my God, protein powder must be so much better. Look at how special it is.
00:48:28
Speaker
In fact, when you get the lamb, the bison, chicken, turkey, beef, pork, salmon, you know, tilapia, tuna, not only are you getting protein in its most high quality format, but you're going to be getting a lot of these micronutrients. I'm going to be specific about iron, zinc, and B12.
00:48:46
Speaker
And those guys massively affect your red blood cells and how strong and how well you deliver oxygen. Protein powder gives you the protein, but it doesn't necessarily give you the stuff that supports your blood work.
00:49:00
Speaker
And your blood is very, very important when you're an athlete. And i I always kind of tell this funny story as an example. I had a young a young, late teen client. He was a wrestler and didn't like to cook, didn't know how to cook. No one really taught him.
00:49:14
Speaker
He was doing six protein shakes a day because he was dead set on eating 200 to 250 grams of protein. So in his mind, protein was king. And that was the only way to accomplish it. accomplish it He came in because his doctor referred him to me, a sports dietitian,
00:49:31
Speaker
The kid looked like death. He had like dark circles under his eyes. He was really pale, sluggish. And he's like, i just feel so awful. So I was like, let's do a 24 hour food recall. Okay. Protein shake with water for breakfast.
00:49:46
Speaker
protein and cottage cheese for his morning snack, a protein shake at lunch with a whole wheat wrap or a white wrap with a bit of like, you know, skippy peanut butter spread on top of it. So just a protein shake and a peanut butter wrap.
00:50:00
Speaker
And then guess what? A protein shake for his afternoon snack. And then he would do like a protein shake and two grilled chicken breasts for dinner. The kid had scurvy.
00:50:12
Speaker
So he was so malnourished from just like he just had blinders on that protein was the only thing that was healthy. All his blood vessels were broken in his face, the dark circles.
00:50:24
Speaker
He was getting bruised really easily. He was getting his butt whooped and wrestling like he had no energy His carbs were too low. He didn't have any of the key micronutrients, but he was iron deficient.
00:50:36
Speaker
And it is rare to see a young male with iron deficiency, but protein powder doesn't really supply you with your iron needs. And so he had put protein powder on this like holy grail that that must be the absolute best way to have protein.
00:50:50
Speaker
It's not the case. If you can eat eggs and chicken and like I said, fish and nuts and beans and like really the whole gamut. And so what I like to do for my athletes is, again, I really believe in education and choice.
00:51:03
Speaker
So I make up this little macro cheat sheet, not that they're trying to count macros, but I'll go, you can eat anything you want from here. to get your proteins and needs met in a meal or snack.
00:51:15
Speaker
So the way I divide it is the column in red, which is chicken, turkey, beef, lean cuts, pork, lean cuts, fish, shellfish, eggs, bison, lamb, cottage cheese, Greek or skeer yogurt, tofu, tempeh, or a high quality protein powder.
00:51:31
Speaker
These are like the top of the top when we're talking protein. Then in the army green color, the way I teach it, especially because I've got some plant-based eaters, some flexitarian teenagers, and i'm like, these have protein, but just know that you get a little more carb with the, uh, with the serving.
00:51:49
Speaker
So sorry about that. I thought I had that switch to a voicemail. Um, so this little column and army green would be anything from the bean family. So like chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, white beans, Navy beans, pinto beans, flabba beans, et cetera.
00:52:04
Speaker
Anything from the lentil group, um, as well as milk, yogurt, edamame. So we're getting protein, but just know you're also going to get a little more fiber and carbs. And then on the orange, be like, oh my God, peanut butter isn't a protein.
00:52:17
Speaker
It is sort of. So in the orange, these are foods that have protein, but be mindful that they're going to come with more fat and calories. So it's nuts, it's seeds, it's cheese, it's natural nut butters, it's tahini like sesame seed butter and hemp hearts or hemp seeds.
00:52:34
Speaker
So it's not bad if I do a side of peanuts with a banana or put some peanut butter with an apple. Just know that it's a slightly lower protein with a little more fat.
00:52:46
Speaker
And foods that nature make aren't usually just straight blocks of sugar or carb and protein and fat. That's when humans get involved. For example, white granulated sugar is pure carbohydrate.
00:53:00
Speaker
Nature most of the time, if they have a carb, they will put a little bit of protein or a little bit of fat in it. Straight protein, the closest you can get to that probably are the meats, but they have a little bit of fat worked into them, right? Protein powder is the most human isolated version of that.
00:53:17
Speaker
Same thing. Nature doesn't normally just make straight fat. Like if I have an olive, there's fat in it, but there is some carbs, there is some fiber. But if I have olive oil, humans got involved and made it a straight macro.
00:53:30
Speaker
So this whole push in the nutrition supplement field of like, it has a little bit of like nuts have some fat, you can't call them protein. That's not true. It's just, do I want nuts to be my sole source of protein every time I eat?
00:53:43
Speaker
No, because my calories are probably going to add up a little bit faster. So for teens, I'll just start to educate them on, I want you to pick whatever you like, but get as much variety as you can.
00:53:54
Speaker
See how protein powder is in here, but it's like one of 30 options. So proportionally, let it be in your diet, like one of 30 options, not six times a day, like my teen was scurvy, who was on the brink of like, basically passing out because he just had his blood vessels breaking on him.
00:54:12
Speaker
Wild. Yeah. And now energy drinks. Let's, let's take this big swing. Oh, goodness. Well, if we know the state of mental health of teens today, anxiety is a major, major problem and concern.
00:54:28
Speaker
One of the things that is very scary with energy drinks is a lot of the dosing of the caffeine stacking is not well regulated. So we know caffeine, you know, there's an upper limit to what humans can feel good on, and that is 400 milligrams a day.
00:54:43
Speaker
If you're pregnant, that's a little bit lower. It's 300 milligrams per day of caffeine because pregnant women don't clear caffeine as well with its half-life. But teens developmentally might be even more sensitive to caffeine, right? Like they're still developing, they're their bodies are still growing.
00:55:01
Speaker
And so what these energy drinks do to sort of stay within the limits of caffeine is they caffeine stack from different sources. So they'll list like, Hey, we have this caffeine, but I've got green tea extract, but I also have this.
00:55:13
Speaker
And so you might end up with a concoction that puts you closer to six or 700 milligrams of caffeine. And now you've got a body that's in physiological distress. You have altered your central nervous system pathway.
00:55:26
Speaker
You are sending more urgency signals to the brain. You've got a racing heart. You're going to physically get to experience symptomology of anxiety and overstimulation.
00:55:39
Speaker
And I always ask my energy drink users, okay, I need it. Well, let's go upstream and root cause. Why do you feel so tired that you need to use this? Are you doom scrolling? Are you on your phone till 1 45 in the morning and you're not getting enough sleep?
00:55:54
Speaker
Are you eating really poorly during the school day? Cause you've under packed your lunch and your food, and then you feel absolutely dead when four o'clock practice hits, but it's because you didn't have enough carbohydrates and balanced meals earlier in the day.
00:56:08
Speaker
Is it that you're overtrained and this is a bit of an exercise addiction issue and you're not taking proper rest days? Let's go back and look at your whole picture of training holistically.
00:56:19
Speaker
i want to look at your sleep. I want to look at your bedtime wind down routine. I want to look at your stress management practices. i want to look at your quality of your food. I want to look at your rest and your body recovery practices because i would rather you feel your absolute best with water or water and electrolytes while you're training and not rely on an energy drink. um You're giving yourself this like shaky, so unstable false high.
00:56:46
Speaker
Now, is there some research of a little bit of caffeine and athletic performance? We're talking like a modest cup of coffee, Yes, caffeine does help the muscles recruit strength and you know that muscle factor can like contract a little bit harder.
00:57:00
Speaker
We do know it does increase alertness, like you're just a little more focused, a little bit more dialed in. We also know that it dulls pain a little bit. So people exercising under the influence of caffeine don't quite feel pain to the same degree that people who are uncaffeinated.
00:57:16
Speaker
But at that developmental time, especially if in their medical history or present, there is active anxiety, this has does way more harm than it does good.
00:57:28
Speaker
If we want to make sure you're not so anxious and you're sleeping well and you're performing well, Let's get water, electrolytes, and quality food first, not an energy drink. I'm pretty firm on them. And there are some teenage deaths in the world from energy drink overdosing. So let's not make you one of those statistics.
00:57:46
Speaker
And also, we don't know what you're putting in your body. If you're still in that stage of competing where you're trying to make it to the big leagues, Drug testing is going to start to be a part of your reality.
00:57:58
Speaker
You are fully responsible for everything that goes inside of your body and comes out in your blood and your urine. So you can't say, i didn't know there was stuff mixed in there.
00:58:09
Speaker
you are responsible for what you put in you. So by keeping those out, you have the safest assurance that you're not going to test positive. And I mean, you would hate to be one of those stories where you test positive and your entire team's championship is taken away because it's a team sport and you cheated and you let your team down.
00:58:30
Speaker
Yeah. How do you feel about it? do you kind of take the same stance? Oh, it infinitely. And then it's it's providing alternatives. When I do see that in the cans at practice, it's like, what do we what are we doing here?
00:58:43
Speaker
So then one, inform them that it's it is a banned substance if our team was to be drug tested. And two, the the it's it's not helping them.
00:58:55
Speaker
One, mentally becoming a crutch. Oh, i yep I need my energy drink. I didn't have my energy drink. And then the the alternatives, like let's let's go lean into element and water as an example, or and i mean, any any of the hydration sticks.
00:59:12
Speaker
So it's yeah it's helping them understand that. And then like as I learn more about the the central nervous system, and I'm really leaning into, I started online ah education again, just getting into into complex trauma, which is central nervous system heavy and fight, flight or freeze.
00:59:32
Speaker
Yeah. so imagine coach coming down hard on you and you go into freeze where the sports game becomes too stressful i go into flight and i avoid contact or i avoid the moment i don't want the ball or i freeze on the stage That heightened ah central nervous system, i want the i want the flow state. I want the freedom where it's read and react and not necessarily react ah relax, but the yeah I can't read and react if I'm in this heightened environment. So the way they think that this is going to help them because they maybe feel a buzz an hour before the game,
01:00:15
Speaker
it's actually going to then dip you into ah a a a poor state. So trying to take the the behavioral approach as as we've spent the whole episode discussing and then provide healthy healthy alternatives.
01:00:31
Speaker
um And then I'm modeling behavior just all day. i don't I don't touch the stuff. and um And then getting on the the coaching staff as well and their awareness.
01:00:43
Speaker
Because they are- their nutrition, they're all professionals who are are helping out with practice. So their nutrition education is not high, but then aiming to educate because there is as much of authority figure as I. So let's lean into and and be a team here. And in all aspects, including what we're, what we're consuming and putting into our body. So yeah, I, I, I,
01:01:09
Speaker
ah This has helped me then further education, but then still leaning and coming into the behavior. And then this leads me to last few questions we got here. Parents, you mentioned your environment serves you.
01:01:24
Speaker
Yes. So a lot of nutrition. So you're right. If it's the team's trying to change this all by themselves, it is an uphill battle because it's the family environment that plays a role.
01:01:35
Speaker
So as a sports dietitian, what I try to do when I work with teams is I always want, to and like, it's not just a talk for the athletes. This is a family talk. Bring the siblings, bring the significant other, bring like, and I do it as a family ticket, not as a, ah you know, a price. So it's like, okay, if you're on this team,
01:01:54
Speaker
the family ticket is like $20 or $25 to come to the talk. We tried, I tried to do one at the preseason beginning, one in the middle of the season. And then one, as we get closer to like finals competition, you know, like end of season peaking.
01:02:09
Speaker
So in the preseason, when I do these talks for these families and I really ask coaches, I'm like, your wife, your husband can come along. Like whoever is on the coaching team, bring every person who's related to you who lives in the household.
01:02:21
Speaker
So I want all household members at these talks. And it's really fun because sometimes we get like a good 150 person crowd for one of these nutrition talks for like a team of like 20, 30 athletes. But I'm like, this is awesome.
01:02:34
Speaker
So then i will go through usually my first presentation is these top 10 nutrition habits. And I start there for athletes instead of like all the pre and post and game specific, because if your foundation sucks, no amount of micro adjusting the hour before what you're having on the field, what you're doing the hour after. Yes, that can help.
01:02:56
Speaker
But if you're coming in on fumes and protein powder and pop tarts and chips at night, you're not going to be performing well. So we do an overall base and the 10 are just like 10 simple steps.
01:03:08
Speaker
So for example, like one of the steps is like, look at this plate. I want you to keep this in your mind when you're planning lunches and dinners. Portion size, about the size of your hand, 50% of the plate for veggies, about the size of your palm for our protein, and at least the size of your fist for my athletes, maybe be more because you're burning so many calories as a start for carb.
01:03:33
Speaker
Then listen to your appetite. If you're hungry and you need more than this, have more than this. If you're satisfied, stop or you don't finish it all, but we're going to start to get great micronutrient, macronutrient balance with this plate.
01:03:46
Speaker
Um, we will do in the top 10 habits. I'll teach the snack bucket. Okay. From today's talk, I want every family to go home and carve out space in their pantry or go get some kind of you know, travel bucket where we can just make it really easy on all the members of the family. This isn't just for the athlete that you can go grab cans tuna, healthy trail mix, you know, little bits of this and that.
01:04:11
Speaker
So the healthy choice becomes super portable and easy to grab. um We do a little rainbow game for families. So I have a list of 110 different colored fruits and veggies.
01:04:24
Speaker
And as a family, what we'll do is as they get added to the grocery list, shop for and worked into a family meal, the whole family does this together and gets the point.
01:04:35
Speaker
So different kids can go, you know what? I want to add something to the grocery list. And instead of eating the same apples, bananas, carrots over and over, we're kind of getting the family to do this nutritional exercise expansion.
01:04:49
Speaker
Just like in practice, if your coach ran you through the same drill every single practice, you would hate practice. You would get so bored and your muscle balance and development wouldn't be well-rounded.
01:05:02
Speaker
You have to challenge the stimulus. So this is a fun nutrition hack to challenge the stimulus, but we'll play it as a family. And so I'll give this out to everyone in the audience. And then again, if all the teams, all the teammates are working on this together, we know we've got fiber, we've got plant quality, we've got phytochemicals, we've got antioxidants that help them heal from the damage that they're putting their muscles through.
01:05:24
Speaker
So i will teach families about the weekly veggie bucket, you know, cut your vegetables, wash them the moment you come home from grocery shopping, front and center in your fridge, you've got a veggie bucket.
01:05:35
Speaker
So I'll start with stuff like that for for teams and and families. And what it does is it gets the parents, okay, I can be a part of making the environment healthier. But it's not in a like judgmental shaming, everyone needs to like lose weight or be hyper vigilant about nutrition.
01:05:53
Speaker
It's just let's just make it easier on everyone who's busy and stressed. to access higher quality food at home. Then as we get in season, I get more into the nitty gritty of like before, during, after practice stuff.
01:06:06
Speaker
But we have to start with the foundation for an athlete to really excel. And do you have any gamification tools for families? So that rainbow one is really, really popular with families.
01:06:18
Speaker
And we'll often set a target of like, could you get to 50 as a family, say by Christmas, say it's like a fall start to the season. And it's like, you know, every family at home is like, hey, we're committed to our child's success.
01:06:31
Speaker
And so we'll say like, if your family's committed, you know, you're bringing them to practice, you're coming to the games at each family supporting their athletes. Can every family get to 50? And it's cool because people are like, wow, not only did I get to 50, I got to like 78 things in a couple of different months.
01:06:47
Speaker
um Well, sometimes, you know, like the parents really like the water balloon game. So I've had them do that for themselves when they learn about it. And to support, you know, support their teen or their child.
01:06:59
Speaker
But yeah, there's, there's lots of things you can kind of make up and make it really fun. Even just the six by 16 practicing, you know, with your child, like I'm going to help with that. And then I'm going to like take the training wheels off and have their athlete cook dinner for the family to practice, you know, that they know how to master six fully cooked meals by age 16 independently.
01:07:22
Speaker
ah love it. yeah Winding down, self-awareness is very difficult to teach athletes. But and in my mind, if I'm self-aware on my skill level, then I'm more able to accept what my coach authority has to say versus rebel against it.
01:07:41
Speaker
And then also level sets on my low self-esteem. If I'm not listening to the negative thoughts, I can, okay, I'm i'm actually up here. I can choose not to listen to that.
01:07:52
Speaker
So I understand you have tools on teaching athletes self-awareness, being a curious detective for themselves. you Yeah. Actually, I need to hang it up, but I'll grab this from the floor. One second.
01:08:06
Speaker
and In my office, i'm I'm just in a new space here, but I have three things i actually keep framed on my wall. It says, be curious, kind, be kind,
01:08:18
Speaker
the wrong one In this space, healing happens. That one's supposed to go first and then be honest. So be curious, be kind, and be honest. And I do also teach this one as a story or as a game using some motivational interviewing.
01:08:31
Speaker
So my storytelling is about three different people, three different voices driving in a car together on a road trip. Voice number one is the inner bully. Voice number two is a curious detective.
01:08:44
Speaker
Voice number three is a wise guide, not wise guy, but like wise guide. Now, the problem is every human, this is really helpful. When I learned this, I was like, oh, this makes so much sense with mental health.
01:08:57
Speaker
Humans default mode is the inner bully. Humans have a built-in negativity bias. We're extremely sensitive to criticism. to nitpicking our flaws.
01:09:08
Speaker
When someone like points something out that isn't that we're not doing well, it magnifies and gets bigger. So why, why did nature keep that around? Cause I like to explain that, especially for teens who are struggling with mental health.
01:09:21
Speaker
It's because the human that was always a little paranoid. Is my tribe mad at me? Did I take too much food over someone else? Wait, is that a lion in the bush? Like what's that Russell? That little bit of like paranoia and rumination actually kept that human alive because then they would repair the damage with the tribe. They were a little bit vigilant of like, is there danger? Do we have enough food supplies? Is there a predator coming to get me?
01:09:44
Speaker
The person that's just like chill in the moment, happy, relaxed, calm. Often they didn't make They got eaten. They got attacked. They did run out of food, whatever the case might be.
01:09:56
Speaker
So I like to remind people that when you get in your car and you're not paying attention, probably the person behind the wheel is the inner bully. It's the one that tells you you're not good enough. It picks apart your appearance.
01:10:07
Speaker
It thinks your skills aren't high enough. It's always sort of on you being like, I'm never good enough or everyone's looking at me. Everyone's judging me. Someone's making fun of my outfit. It's just very self-conscious and very aware of like threats.
01:10:22
Speaker
That's what the bully does. And it tends to make you feel really bad about yourself. So what we just do is we gently go, You're not a responsible driver. We're going to you know take you from behind the wheel, kind of like an intoxicated driver.
01:10:34
Speaker
We're not going to let you drive this car because you might drive me off the cliff. So then, thankfully, we have a two against one scenario. The curious detective and the wise guide can gently get the bully from behind the wheel.
01:10:46
Speaker
Now, before we put the right driver in place, the correct driver is the wise guide, we use our friend, the curious detective. The detective just surveys the scene and has a little notepad, and all the detective does is make observations.
01:11:01
Speaker
I notice when doom scroll to 1.30 in the morning, I can barely get out of bed and make it to school on time. I notice that when I under pack lunch and then I have to eat what's at the cafeteria, my pimples break out worse because all that oil makes my acne look worse.
01:11:17
Speaker
I notice that when I get together with a friend and we do the practice cooking a meal and divide it up, I have a really fun time and I like having those meals in the freezer that I eat at 8.45 after a super late practice.
01:11:29
Speaker
I noticed that when I bring my water with me to school, I drink water all day because I have a big water glass. So it is just noticing patterns, not good, not bad, just observations.
01:11:40
Speaker
And then it can take its little notebook and like give it to the other wise guide and go, here's everything I noticed. If it gives it to the bully and goes, here's everything I noticed, all the bully does is go punch, punch, punch, punch.
01:11:54
Speaker
And you're left more broken, more dejected and more beaten down. So the bully is never going to serve us as a vantage point of solving problems. But if I give my little notepad to the wise guide and go here, just things that are true about me.
01:12:08
Speaker
i I don't like these foods. I don't like cooking or I you know enjoy whatever the guide might go. Huh? okay, you don't really like cooking. Maybe it's by yourself, but when you cook with a friend, it's more fun.
01:12:22
Speaker
Or when you, you know, maybe there are some healthy meal delivery services that have these really nutritious meals. And maybe you can talk to your parents about keeping a few in the freezer and we save those because, you know, every Thursday you don't get home till 930 from practice.
01:12:37
Speaker
So those are meals we save for those nights. um You know, so the wise God is looking at what can we do right now based on the truth and the patterns of your life. And so I would much rather have a wise guide behind the wheel of my car.
01:12:51
Speaker
And so I'll do that for teens as a prompt. And I'll say, Hey, what voice is talking right now? Like what voice is driving the car of these decisions? And often they'll be like, Oh, oh gosh, it's been like the bully for the last week. No wonder I feel so down and so terrible about myself. And were like, okay, little bit of a drunk driver behind the wheel, creating some problems. We're going to move that driver out.
01:13:13
Speaker
First, let's have your detective sweep the scene. What do you notice? What are the patterns? What's been going on, right? Even that hot water air balloon game is just your detective comes in and goes,
01:13:24
Speaker
What are we noticing? And then we don't let the bully go. This was bad. This was bad. This was bad. We go to the wise guide and we go, Hey, if we were to turn a yellow into a green, what would you do differently?
01:13:36
Speaker
How could you help me improve that? And the guide is just like, i always think of it like a Sherpa climbing a mountain. It has a big pack on. It's just going to go the same pace. You can walk the mountain and your guide pack is full of tools.
01:13:49
Speaker
So if it's slippery terrain, it might have those little spiky crampons that go on the bottom of your shoes. If you're doing a river crossing, it might pull out its poles and go, hey, these poles are going to help us get through fast flowing river.
01:14:00
Speaker
you have blisters on your feet. Let's sit down and rest for a minute. Let's take care of these blisters. It seems like you shouldn't be pushing harder right now. Seems like we need to slow down and do some foot care.
01:14:11
Speaker
And those are metaphors again, but the idea of the wise guide is it's there by your side, helping you climb your mountain to your goals, but it's going to pull out different tools based on what you need moment to moment.
01:14:24
Speaker
And that is how I teach teens to talk to themselves and solve nutrition. That self-awareness. And a lot more once they have that toolkit in place for future decisions they got to make.
01:14:39
Speaker
Exactly. i love it Jen, Jen, this is awesome. All, all great stories, experiences and tools applicable that people can easily communicate and articulate to apply to their team.
01:14:52
Speaker
If people want to continue to learn from you and you have ah so many resources out there, where should they go to learn more? um Thank
Conclusion and Contact Information
01:15:00
Speaker
you. You know what? I just want to get more free education out there.
01:15:03
Speaker
I have a totally free masterclass on nutrition coaching. I love to give to coaches and any sort of authority figure working with youth. It's called Lift Off. If you go to prospernutritioncoaching.com slash freebies, be like a kid in the candy store.
01:15:20
Speaker
Lift Off is right there at the start. It has the rainbow game. So you can keep this resource and download it and use it as your own. um There's two other coaching games included. have all these fun metaphors of how to teach nutrition to others.
01:15:34
Speaker
So yeah, prospernutritioncoaching.com slash liftoff or sort slash freebies. And you'll be able to grab liftoff. And then you can always just send me a DM on Instagram. So I'm over at prosper underscore NC, and I'm happy to help a parent, an athlete, a coach, anyone, you know, level up their nutrition and perform their absolute best.
01:15:56
Speaker
Awesome. Jen, thank you again for your time. I imagine this won't be the last time we're going to connect every year. ah run into more challenges, problems, head scratching moments because the supplement and industry is just making everything look like kids cereal.
01:16:13
Speaker
So I'll, once I go through another season and tackle some more problems. I'll, I'll ping you back here to have you just unlock them all. That sounds awesome. Thanks for having me today.
01:16:26
Speaker
Cool. All right. Bye. Bye guys. See you.