Sweet Summertime Nutrition
Create a food plan that will last all summer long.
3 focus areas for summertime nutrition
With fantastic weather and long, blue-sky days, it’s easy to get caught up in summer fun and lose track of your food intake. With CF, however, you’ll need to take extra care to keep your body nourished.
Try narrowing your focus to 3 key areas to build your plan to stay healthy all summer long.
1
Snacks, snacks, and more snacks
When you’re out enjoying yourself, realize that you need more calories than the average person. A good way to get them is through snacking, especially high-calorie snacks. Before you leave the house, try slipping a bag or two of trail mix (with nuts) or cheese and crackers into your bag to eat while you’re out. If you’re around the house, you can whip up some ramen or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with chocolate milk.
Seasonal tip: summer is the season of delicious fresh fruits and vegetables. Try dipping seasonal produce in nutrient-rich spreads like nut and seed butters, hummus, or cream cheese for a robust snack that will keep you going.
2
Make it salty
When it’s hotter out, you’re going to sweat more, which can lead to dehydration if you’re not careful. One way to prevent dehydration is to eat more salt. You can do this by simply adding more salt to your food at mealtimes or put some salty snacks in your daily snack rotation.
Try these for salty snacks: pretzels, chips, crackers, ramen noodles, and pickles. After a workout, you could pair chocolate milk with crackers for a perfect sweet ‘n’ salty combo.
3
Up your fluid intake
With summer heat comes summer sweat, and you’ll need to take extra steps to keep your body hydrated. Water is always a must, but you may want to branch out for some variety. Sports drinks are a good option to help you stay hydrated and replace your electrolytes. Just remember that with CF, you may need more salt than what’s in your sports drink.
Tip: when playing or exercising outside in hot weather, you may want to add 1/8 teaspoon of salt to a 12-ounce sports drink.
That’s it, 3 simple ways to help keep your body nourished through the summer heat. Now get out there and enjoy yourself — just don’t forget the snacks!
