USDA's New MyPlate

The United States Department of Agriculture has introduced a new nutrition icon. Rather than the traditional food pyramid, they have simplified by creating a “plate”. The key consumer messages associated with MyPlate include balancing calories, foods to increase, and foods to reduce.

Balancing Calories
*Enjoy your food, but eat less
*Avoid oversized portions

Foods to Increase
*Make half your plate fruit and vegetables
*Make at least half your grains whole grains
*Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk

Foods to Reduce
*Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals- and choose the meals with lower numbers
*Drink water instead of sugary drinks

Menopause & Exercise

Exercise can help alleviate some of the negative symptoms of menopause; namely:

• Maintain weight or promote weight loss
• Decreased abdominal fat
• Improves cardiovascular disease risk factors (hypertension, triglycerides, cholesterol levels, insulin resistance, etc)
• Increases quality of life
• Decreases depression and anxiety
• May help control mild hot flashes

For more information, visit http://www.caronefitness.com

Female Athlete Triad

The female athlete triad is a condition that may occur when female athletes do not consume adequate calories to maintain good health. This often occurs in athletes that participate in long distance running, dancing, or gymnasts.

Low-energy availability is when an individual does not eat enough calories to support normal body functions such as: thermoregulation, reproduction, and cellular maintenance. It was once believed that eating disorders (ie- anorexia nervosa, bulimia) were the root cause, but now scientists recognize low-energy availability can occur with or without clinical eating disorders.

Menstrual cycle dysfunction is either a lack of menses for more than 3 months or irregular menses with cycles longer than 35 days. Normal menses can be maintained even in heavily training athletes if the energy needs and intake are balanced.

Loss of bone mineral density occurs because bone is broken down due to hormonal imbalances (menstrual cycle dysfunction), and less bone is made because of poor nutrition (low-energy availability). This results in brittle bones that have a higher risk of stress fractures, breaks, and osteoporosis.