Interview With Nutritionist 

 

For my Blue Sky Project I got an interview over the phone with a nutritionist named Ashley Leonie. Ashley runs a nutrition consultancy in Toronto, Ontario and she is certified by the national olympic committee in ski nutrition. 

The first thing she started talking to me about was calories. She was saying that there is a general amount you should be consuming based off of your weigh, hight, age and activity level.  She also said that the more muscle you have, the more calories you need because you have to restore the muscle break down during your exercise.

A lot of other things she was saying are important in particular for my friend Lily when skiing, is the altitude and temperature. Higher altitudes and temperatures cause you to burn more energy so on a day like that Lily would need to consume more calories than on a regular ski day near the base of the mountain. Given that in the summer Lily and I will train higher on the mountain for our ski training, the altitude and temperature with be higher which means you sweat more and you burn more energy with the altitude, so in the summer Lily needs to consume more calories. 

The next thing Ashley went on to talk about was hydration. She was saying that hydration during exercise is just as important as eating healthy and the exercise itself. In the winter while ski training, Lily has to drink more water because it’s colder and she is taking more breaths. Just like consuming more calories when it’s hot and a higher altitude, the same goes for water. Ashley said that Lily should have a cup to a cup and a half of water before and after working out. Lily should also have from a half a cup to three cups of water during her workout per hour. 

I talked to Ashley about the research I did on carbohydrates and how important it is after working out, and she said that it’s is definitely true. She said that Lily should consume around fifty grams of carbohydrates after dryland training. Possibly more if the workout is more intense or she does multiple workouts a day. 

Some of the things Ashley said are good to eat after dryland are a few pieces of bread and a banana, a yougert drink or chocolate milk. She also said that protein is important to eat before your workout such as a few glasses of milk or a bowl of Greek yogurt.