Cook Eat Compete

Home
Cook Eat Compete

Evidence-based nutrition insight and culinary inspiration to help you fuel your body for health and athletic performance! By Stephanie Miezin, MS, RD Welcome!

My name is Stephanie and I am a Registered Dietitian focusing on sports and culinary nutrition. Cook Eat Compete was founded to combine my passions for cooking, sports nutrition, and helping others. My mission is to use my education and experiences in dietetics and culinary arts to help you live a healthier life and reach your performance goals through real, delicious food!

01/12/2022

I just need protein after my training right??💪🏽😍🔥
⠀
Well, probably not just protein…🤔
⠀
Challenging training sessions = carbs used for higher intensity efforts. Longer duration at moderate to higher intensities also use lots of carb energy.🥖🔋
⠀
Having protein after training is definitely helpful to get muscle repair recovery started, but is generally only half the picture. Having carbs after training (along with protein) is important to support refueling muscle carb (glycogen) stores.⚡️
⠀
This becomes more of a priority with less time between training, such as training twice in a day or training again in 24 hours time. People doing higher intensity and/or longer duration activity require more carbs to fuel up and replenish spent glycogen stores. Waiting too long to get carbs in following training and/or eating too little carbs during a recovery period can hurt performance of the next training session, especially with shorter recovery periods. 😞
⠀
What carbs are good for refueling? Pretty much all of them! Pasta, breads, potatoes, noodles, rice, quinoa, tortillas, beans, corn, fruit, and more provide great sources of carb energy. 🥔🌽🍞🍌🍎🍠🫓🫘🍜
⠀
This meal here provides great carb energy via soba noodles to refuel muscles after a hard training session. Plus, there is some chicken to get muscle repair started, a salty broth to help rehydration, and cucumber salad for foundational good health.
⠀
Carbs: not the devil, and they just might be your missing answer 🤷🏼‍♀️🥯✨

24/11/2022

Wild to think about marketing and cultural pressures that makes it feel like eating is a bad thing.
⠀
If we listen and absorb without reflection, it’s easy to start to believe that we are simply not good enough if we aren’t meeting predetermined societal ‘ideals’. This often means feeling pressure to be as skinny or lean as possible. As if the presence of body fat is some metric for our worth, attractiveness, or says something about our character or morality.
⠀
It sounds ridiculous if we talk about it objectively, but these are real thoughts and feelings that drive behavior around food and eating for many people. Operating from this perspective is something I have been talking about as Restriction Mindset. This is not a positive way to view food and doesn’t set us up for a healthy relationship with food and eating.
⠀
One interesting trend I’ve seen many times over that seems to have roots in Restriction Mindset is the rollercoaster between purposely trying to not eat, getting so ravenously hungry, and then binging on food because physical and emotional hunger are so strong. This pattern includes feelings of fatigue, guilt, confusion, and frustration. It is a cycle that makes the person feel worse at each turn and perpetuates poor relationship with food and self.
⠀
The alternative is to believe it is indeed okay and actually a really good idea to eat food. A Nourish Mindset operates from the view that the self is inherently valuable and deserves self compassion. Therefore, nourishing the body with food regularly is important to keep feeling energized, happy, cared for, and level. It is okay eat. It is okay to take care of the self. It is okay to be healthy instead of as skinny or lean as possible.
⠀
Dealing with this mindset shift goes way beyond nutrition. I think it’s important to recognize these patterns around food and eating to start to realize the need to address where these behaviors are coming from and get the appropriate support. Just trying to learn more about nutrition doesn’t really help this situation, as we’re talking about food, but we’re not really talking about food.

11/11/2022

Hi! My name is Stephanie! 👋🏽
⠀
I am fortunate to know many of you, but for those who I have not met, here is my 30 second Instagram-style professional about-me:
⠀
My professional focus:
- FOOD!!!
- I was lucky enough to have a clear idea early on that I wanted to work at the intersection of great food and nutrition for health and performance. I am pretty much obsessed with delicious food, creating it, and tying it into performance fueling.
⠀
Education/certifications:
- Bachelor’s in Culinary Nutrition, Johnson & Wales University
- Master’s in Medical Dietetics, The Ohio State University
- Registered Dietitian
- Certified Specialist in Sport Dietetics
⠀
Professional experiences:
- Cooked professionally, from fine dining to fueling athletes
- One of the first two OSU sport nutrition dietetic interns, focus on football and wrestling, fueling logistics
- Performance dietitian in Malta for a minute
- USOPC dietitian, focus on fueling operations and meeting elite athlete needs at COS training center, 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, 2019 Lima PanAm Games, planning for Tokyo 2020 Olympics
- Tampa Bay Rays Baseball Minor League Dietitian, coordinating fueling and individualized athlete guidance
- Canyon Ranch Director of Nutrition, focus on team leadership, individualized nutrition consultation, and guidance on blending evidence-based health and performance nutrition with dining operations across multiple properties
- TrueSport nutrition expert, translating research to real life considerations for young athletes
- Creating recipes and educational resources for this IG page and website for Cook Eat Compete, my personal performance nutrition outlet born in 2016
⠀
What I like to do:
- Innovate and push the boundaries to make delicious performance nutrition more enjoyable and accessible for all
- Help pave the way for others with similar passions to be able to thrive and make big impacts in this space
- Have fun and make a difference!
⠀
👋🏽 Stephanie Miezin, MS, RD, CSSD

03/11/2022

10 not-salad ways to stop throwing away spinach each week (and actually enjoy these nutrient packed, delicious leaves!) 🍃

1. Roasted chicken, kimchi sautéed with onion, rice and spinach

2. Whole wheat rotini, olive oil-tahini-red wine vinegar sauce, chickpeas, red peppers, tomato, grilled chicken and spinach

3. Toasty whole wheat bagel (or English muffin) with sautéed spinach and melty mozz

4. Whole wheat penne, grilled chicken, grilled cauliflower and zucchini, Parmesan, olive oil, balsamic and spinach

5. Bagel sandwich with microwaved cheesy peppered eggs and spinach

6. Rice, roasted chicken, spinach, Parmesan, mozz, olive oil, lemon juice and zest

7. Miso mushroom soup with ginger, black garlic, rice noodles, tofu, spinach, and sesame oil

8. Seared tofu, roasted Japanese sweet potato, spinach, sweet and spicy gochujang sauce

9. Pesto with spinach, basil, garlic, lemon juice and zest, olive oil, pepper, salt, Parmesan, walnuts

10. Roasty chicken, curried red lentils, garlicky bok choy and spinach, sesame oil, scallion

Spinach is a seriously fab source of antioxidants and provides micronutrients like vitamins A, C and K, folic acid, calcium and iron. It also is rich in nitrates that convert to nitric oxide in the body, helping to improve blood flow and even reduce blood pressure.💪🏽

Adding a handful or two of ready-to-go baby spinach to meals is a super easy way to increase nutrient density, and deliciousness of meals. Hopefully these yummy ideas help make that happen more easily, and prevent food waste while we are at it! 🍃

28/10/2022

Definitely putting this one on the menu of my imaginary restaurant for athletes:

Caramelized Fall Harvest Sauté🍁🤤

Seared veg sausage with sweet red apple, crisp red cabbage, tender fennel, and toothsome dino kale all sautéed until deliciously caramelized, sweet and savory. Finished off with a steamy splash of apple cider vinegar and tangy dijon. Topped with crunchy toasty pecans and herby fennel fronds and green onion 🫠🥲

This dish provides protein for muscle repair and tons of antioxidants from a rainbow of produce to support better recovery from training. There are energizing carbs to fuel up glycogen stores from apple and the veg sausage, but definitely add more for harder/longer training days.(maybe some garlicky grilled whole grain bread on the side??)

While I have no restaurant to serve this to you in, hopefully this gives you a delicious idea for fueling and nourishment at home 😊💪🏽🔥

22/10/2022

Build muscle or strengthen bone? 🤔

Pick 2! 🤗

Why choose when you can have both?🦴💪🏽

Strong muscle and bone are supported by many of the same habits! Another reason why making the basics happen consistently over time is one of the most impactful things we can do for string and healthy foundation.👌🏽

01/09/2022

Ultra umami bowl with chewy noodles, soy sauce caramelized red onion and garlic, crispy seared tofu, earthy dino kale, and a super savory black garlic vinaigrette 😍🤤
⠀
Or…
⠀
Vegan bowl with fiber-rich whole wheat noodles, protein-rich tofu, antioxidant-packed vegetables, and a sauce with healthful fats 🧐🫤
⠀
How we talk about food matters! Especially when trying to encourage healthful, balanced food choices and behaviors. Focusing on the nutritional benefits or health aspects of food *does not* sell us on a dish in any way remotely close to focusing on the flavor and sensory aspects of food. This is important!
⠀
A study in 2019 by Turnwald et al. showed just how powerful language and labeling of foods can be. In several college dining hall settings, they looked at how basic, health-focused, or flavor-focused wording for vegetables altered amount chosen and consumed.
⠀
There was a 14% increase in choosing veggies with flavor-focused wording vs. basic wording.
The crazier part was the 29% increase in choosing veggies with flavor-focused wording compared to health-focused labeling.
And, they found a 39% increase in vegetable consumption with flavor-focused vs. health-focused labeling.
⠀
This tells us that getting people to eat more healthful foods likely doesn’t happen by telling them a food is good for health. What if we put more focus on how delicious a food is, or the cooking techniques used to develop flavor, or the great texture a food has? We are much more likely to reach that person in their moment of choice where taste is top of mind.
⠀
RD and Chef friends and colleagues: how can we challenge ourselves to better ‘sell’ great nutrition by writing menus, signs, etc. that appeal to all-important taste?

26/08/2022

It’s hot!! 🥵
⠀
That means extra attention is needed to stay well hydrated to feel your best and support performance in the heat. Hydration is often thought of as just fluids, but electrolytes are an essential piece of hydration too. Specifically, sodium is the main electrolyte we should be thinking about getting enough of. It helps retain fluid in the body and is needed for proper muscle contraction. 💪🏽
⠀
Yes, sports drinks are a great way to get sodium (and of course fluids and carbs), but there are tons of easy food-based ways to get sodium too. Below are some of the most common high-sodium foods to think about as delicious tools to support great hydration strategies.💧

24/08/2022

Summer may not seem like meatball season, but I would challenge that idea.
⠀
Yes, it might feel too hot to turn the oven on to bake them, and especially too hot out to simmer them in a big pot of delicious tomato sauce.
⠀
But, who says we can’t take meatball cookery outdoors? Yes! Turns out these guys grill up great. (They really are just like small, spherical hamburgers after all). And, they help switch it up deep into grilling season when it’s hard to think about what else to grill besides chicken, burgers and sausage.
⠀
These garlicky grilled turkey meatballs were great with grilled broccoli (yes, also an excellent grill option), pesto pasta, and a splash of soy sauce.
⠀
Make a batch of delicious grilled meatballs and future you will thank you for the high quality, ready-to-go protein source that you can use in tons of different dishes. 😋

21/08/2022

Sherry!! 🥰 that’s the post

31/07/2022

Wish your weekday meals could be as delicious as the ones you make on the weekends?? 🤩
⠀
They can be! It’s as simple as planning to cook a few more servings of those amazing foods you are making this weekend. Then, enjoy these intentional leftovers/meal prep for upcoming meals. Future you will thank you 😉
⠀
That’s all! Happy weekend! 🥳

25/07/2022

Spending time in each of these roles, and also doing both roles at once, it is clear that while there is a lot in common between priorities of chefs and of dietitians, there are priorities that aren’t always shared.
⠀
That is neither good nor bad. Each role has their own set of objectives, even if the shared medium ends up being a plate of food or a menu. It is important though to be aware of these differences in priorities between each role, especially when you find yourself in one role trying to work with someone else in the other role.
⠀
There are far too many situations where chefs and dietitians work together towards a shared objective of nourishing and fueling people towards their goals, and the collaboration is not great, to put it nicely. There are many common reasons for that (and perhaps could be another post).
⠀
Instead of building tensions, it is far more productive to build trust and relationships. That starts with understanding where the other person is coming from and what really matters to them. That’s what this visual attempts to summarize. Even if you don’t place the same value on the priorities of the other person, it is essential to respect them and keep them in mind when communicating. Use the same language whenever possible.
⠀
Dietitian friends; imagine if a chef colleague asked about the macro and micronutrient targets that you would love to see for the target person/team/etc.
⠀
Chef friends; image if a dietitian colleague asked you about what food experiences or dishes you would love to create and share.
⠀
While great collaboration is often challenging between two such passion-filled roles, it is very possible and starts with understanding and respecting each other’s point of view.👌🏽

Address

85701-85775

Website

http://cookeatcompete.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Cook Eat Compete posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Cook Eat Compete:

Shortcuts

Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic?

Country:

City: