Show Notes

• Career as a firefighter
• Surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals
• Growing up without Jif® Peanut Butter
• Maureen’s mission as a dietician
• The #1 priority when you’re looking to make a significant change
• Improving vs. restricting
• Carbs + lean protein + veggies + healthy fats
• Why sleep is important for overall health
• The role of nutrition in Major League Baseball

Connect With Maureen Stoecklein

BRAWNY Paper Towels Campaign #StrengthHasNoGender – https://vimeo.com/157396795 
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/maureenstoeckleinrd 
LinkedIn – https://www.facebook.com/people/Maureen-Stoecklein-RD/100006919562459

Summary

As an accomplished athlete and Registered Dietician, Maureen Stoecklein understands the importance of solid nutrition for optimal performance. Maureen discusses her career as a firefighter, her mission as a dietician, and how you can incorporate the same nutrition strategies as professional and elite athletes.

Full Transcript

Brian:

Welcome to another episode of Life Excellence with Brian Bartes. Join me as I talk with amazing athletes, entrepreneurs, authors, entertainers, and others who have achieved excellence in their chosen field so you can learn their tools, techniques, and strategies for improving performance and achieving greater success.

Hey everyone, I’m super excited to have firefighter, paramedic, and registered dietitian, Maureen Stoecklein on the show today. Maureen has served as a registered dietitian for over 25 years and has been a full-time firefighter and paramedic in Canton Township, Michigan for 21 years. She’s a consulting performance dietitian at both the Barwis Methods Training Facility—home to collegiate, Olympic and professional athletes; and Mercy Olympic Sports Performance, which specializes in athletic development through physical therapy, performance training, and sports medicine. Maureen also served three seasons as team dietitian for the New York Mets baseball team. As an accomplished athlete, Maureen certainly understands the importance of solid nutrition for optimal performance. She was selected as one of four women in the US to represent Brawny Paper Towel’s Strength Has No Gender campaign and has been featured in Crain’s Detroit Business magazine. Maureen’s passion for nutrition and fitness together with the many athletes, coaches, mentors, and colleagues she’s met along the way, inspire her to share her love of healthy food and insights to help others succeed. Welcome, Maureen. It’s great to have you on this show today.

Maureen:

Hi Brian, and thank you for having me. It’s an honor to be on your show.

Brian:

Thank you. It’s great to talk to you today. I can’t wait to talk about nutrition and health, but let’s start out discussing your career as a firefighter. When was it that you decided that you wanted to be a firefighter? Tell us about that part of your life.

Maureen:

Well, initially I went to school for nutrition and to become a dietitian. I practiced as a dietitian for about four or five years. I was a clinical dietitian, and I think there was still something inside me that missed being a part of a team, although working in a hospital, you do function as a team. I was looking for a more physical job that was still helping people, but still had the team camaraderie that I was missing from being a collegiate athlete. So the fire service was really attractive to me for a number of reasons, primarily because it’s a helping profession, but also because it was a way to challenge myself and to also    keep me in check with my physical activity. I love being active. I love working out and I love training. And so as a firefighter, especially now as I age in the fire service, fitness is a priority for me. The profession in the fire service has just been a really good fit for me. It’s also really cool because I’ve still been able to mesh in my nutrition and still, hopefully, have an impact on the fire service as far as nutrition goes as well.

Brian:

You mentioned it being a challenge. You’re a woman, obviously. I think it’s obvious to people who are watching this on YouTube and probably even people who are listening to us on the podcast. And in preparing for the interview, I read a couple articles about firefighting and in particular women in that profession. In one statistic I read was that only 10% of career firefighters are women. What’s it like to live and work in a world that’s dominated by men?

Maureen:

I’ve never really even looked at my profession from that lens. I went to an all girls private high school, and I think it was sort of ingrained in us there that, similar to the Brawny campaign Strength Has No Gender, I really never thought of being a woman as something that would prevent me from doing any of the things that I wanted to do. I was also raised that way. My parents had always… “I can’t” was not a phrase we were able to use at home. And so entering into the fire service, that was never even a blip on my radar. I think that staying in physical shape has been a real priority for me because of that. I don’t ever want to be looked upon as someone who can’t perform their job because they’re not physically capable of doing it. So that has been a really positive part of my job and really helped to keep me in line. I also feel like I’ve had a really great platform as a female firefighter to hopefully inspire other girls, even though I never saw it as something that would be detrimental. I’m hoping that other girls who may see that barrier might glean something from me and maybe feel inspired to do the same thing. But the other thing is I think that because of the way I’ve approached my career, and because of the way that I’ve really focused on making sure I’m physically capable of doing the job, has been important. And it’s gained me a lot of respect within the profession.

Brian:

You mentioned being a model for young women and I’m aware of the high school that you went to. And their motto obviously, is raising young women to be leaders in the world. And you’ve certainly done that in at least the areas of health and nutrition and probably other areas as well. You mentioned the Brawny paper towel campaign and I mentioned that in your intro. What advice do you have for young women who might be entering professions that are—and it’s maybe a stereotype and maybe it isn’t—but they’re professions typically dominated by males. Expanding beyond that, what advice do you have for people who are getting any kind of negative feedback or friction or conflict around something they want to pursue in their lives? 

Maureen:

I really feel that one of the most important things you can do is surround yourself with like-minded individuals. So for me, I’ve been fortunate to have other females reach out to me that are interested in being a part of the fire service. And I think that that’s something that’s important really with any profession. And I’ve done that in the nutrition realm as well. I think initially we think we have these steps that we have to follow in our career in order to achieve our ultimate goal. And certainly there’s merit to that. You certainly have to follow some certain steps, but I also feel like your path is your own individual way you set it up. And so for me, that’s reaching out to, let’s say a firefighter–if that’s your goal–to someone who is female, who has succeeded. In the nutrition realm I know we have a mutual friend, Lisa McDowell, who’s also the Red Wings performance dietitian. And so I’ve encouraged other nutrition students that if sports nutrition is what they’re looking for, or if that’s their ultimate goal, reach out to those dietitians that have got that position that they’re looking for and find out exactly what they did. Because you draw so much strength and so much inspiration just by talking with other people. And then I think also the circle that you keep. So if you surround yourself with people who see the good in you, who believe in you and who truly believe it, that you can do great things, then that’s the path you’re going to take. So I’ve tried to do that both within the fire service and in the nutrition area as well.

Brian:

What about when that doesn’t happen? So sometimes…I’m a big proponent, as you know, of surrounding yourself with success. It’s one of the reasons we’re talking today—you’re that kind of person that I want to be around and learn and grow from. But you also know that there are people, whether in our families or in our workplace, who aren’t those kinds of people. They’re not as supportive as we’d like them to be. So how do you persevere in spite of that sometimes, and what suggestions do you have for others to do that?

Maureen:

Well, I feel like there’s always going to be people that maybe don’t see things obviously the way that you do, especially when you’re aspiring for greatness. And I think you have to just acknowledge that those people are going to be in your life, but still relying and depending upon that core group or that small but mighty circle that you have—whether that’s family, whether that’s a couple of friends, whether it’s workout partners or whether it’s people that are, like I said, in the similar profession that you’re looking to be in or have already accomplished, maybe some of the things that you’re looking to accomplish. I certainly think you have to acknowledge these people, but you don’t need to spend much time with them either. And I think maybe limiting your circle is something, setting boundaries is something that is really hard to do. But I also think in order to be successful, that it’s absolutely essential to set those boundaries.

Brian:

Absolutely. I totally agree. I like the small but mighty circle. That’s a great one. Maureen, let’s switch gears now and jump into nutrition. Out of curiosity what was your diet like growing up and how did that contribute, if it did, to your decision to become a registered dietitian?

Maureen:

Well, I think that contributed significantly. So, growing up in the eighties, nutrition was not necessarily in the forefront as it is now. We didn’t have access to the social media propaganda that comes through on a daily basis. My dad had hypertension and high cholesterol. So probably from the moment I was born, my mom was making everything from scratch. We never knew what Jiff peanut butter was. We only had that [inaudible] oil and I thought, this is so bizarre. We never had any cheese that was wrapped in plastic. So what I thought was a disadvantage growing up really turned out to be, I think in the long run, a huge advantage because that was all I knew. And so nutrition has always been a core value at home for us just because of my dad’s health. And then once I got into college, or even high school, playing sports, I saw…I started to see what an impact it had on my performance. And so that’s really what led me to the career. Initially, when I went to college, I wanted to be a physical therapist, but once I started playing volleyball and found out that the school I was at had a nutrition program, I really just submerged myself in it.

And it all reflected back to the way I grew up in the principles that my mom instilled with us with monitoring sugar—she was really before her time too—but being mindful of sugar, incorporating a lot of fiber, using whole grains. We rarely…it was a really special treat to go out to eat, especially to a fast food restaurant. So those are the sort of the things that have carried with me through life and really been my core principles as far as nutrition goes. And then once I got into school, I think that’s where I really started to realize that my mom, like I said, was ahead of things. And so I credit her with really sparking my interest and my passion for eating healthy and how great you can feel when you do.

Brian:

You mentioned growing up in the eighties, it does seem to [inaudible] led a sheltered life If you didn’t get to avail yourself of the opportunity to eat Kraft cheese slices…[laughter]

Maureen:

Cheese that’s in the aisle, it doesn’t have to be refrigerated—what is this? I’ve never heard of it. In fact, we would have grilled cheese sandwiches–I can remember it–on Koepplinger’s Health Nut bread, which I think was homemade, and every time I see it, I have a chuckle in the aisle. And then we’d have Swiss cheese and no butter, like you could not butter that bread. It was just a little bit of spray, probably canola oil back then. [Laughter]

Brian:

So you had the kind of grilled cheese sandwich that is now served in restaurants, gourmet grilled cheese.

Maureen:

Yeah, gourmet, that’s the truth.

Brian:

That’s funny. You’ve worked in nutrition now for going on 25 years. How has nutrition awareness—you mentioned social media. How has nutrition awareness changed during the time that you’ve been involved in nutrition and as a registered dietitian? And what are some of the things that still haven’t changed in spite of the information that’s out there?

Maureen:

Well, I think nutrition has really evolved in a lot of good ways, obviously, because as there’s more research then we’re able to really fine tune things with nutrition. However, I also think that thanks to social media and the media, period, it’s also gotten really complicated and overwhelming. So I think that’s where people now get lost. Like where do I start? What are my core values with nutrition? Where do I really need to focus? What works for one person doesn’t always work for everybody else. And every body, literally, is individual and needs an individual kind of approach to their nutrition. So there isn’t a one size fits all for everyone, which I think is where people, like I said, get lost in the shuffle.

But I think when you break it down to the really simplistic baseline core nutrition values, it’s a really a matter of eating less processed, ultra-processed, refined food and sticking with food in its most basic form. And if we could do that and can reduce sugar, increase our fiber—the same principles my mom said, really—eat lean proteins. I just feel like there are so many individuals that walk around, have no idea how good they can feel. And I often will identify them when I’m out walking around myself. I think, oh, if I could just have two weeks with them to really give them a little bit of an overhaul to get them feeling good, I think it would be contagious, but there are just so many individuals that have no idea how great that they can feel. And that’s really become my mission as a dietitian is to get people there.

Weight loss is hard. It takes a lot of hard work. And I think that’s primarily when folks seek out a dietitian, is when they’re looking to lose weight, which is great that they’re doing that. However, it takes a holistic approach to get there. Your sleep has to be right, your movement, whatever that might be, has to be right. Your nutrition has to be, for the most part, right. And without that harmony of all of these things…stress management…it’s really hard to get your body in line. So my approach is really holistic. I try and look at all of those things and really just try to achieve a level where the individual is feeling better. Because once you’ve got that, then they’ll want to continue and they’ll want to keep doing what they’re doing.

Brian:

I think part of the problem is people just knowing how they should be eating. I mean, it seems like every time you turn around, there’s a new diet. And all the diets that are out there today—Keto, Keto Alive, The Immune System Support Diet, Paleo, The Dash Diet, The Mediterranean Diet-the list goes on and on. And there are proponents of low carbs, like Atkins, which of course has been around since Robert Atkins came up with it back in the 1970s, probably prior to that, and there’s a Whole Foods diet. And even for non-meat eaters, it seems confusing—you have vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, pegan. With so much seemingly conflicting information out there what do you recommend is the right way to eat? I always…I think success in everything comes down to about half a dozen things, and I could be off one or two either way on the number, but what are the half a dozen things that encompass healthy eating?

Maureen:

Well, the first thing I always like to say is that when you’re looking to make a significant change like that, you need to seek out the right professionals to help you. Because along with all of the crazy diets or crazy patterns of eating, or products out there that are guaranteeing you some sort of success, there can be people attached to them or their motives are not in the right place. And so from a nutrition standpoint, I feel like the number one priority is to find a registered dietitian or maybe even a sports dietitian, if that’s where your interests lie. They make sure you’re getting really current, relevant, research based nutrition information.

And then from there, I think the best diet or best way of eating is one that works for the individual. Certainly I could go in and overhaul someone and have everyone eating the way you and I eat Brian, which would be somewhat, probably very, overwhelming for some, but I think if we can make small simple changes—maybe it’s just reducing refined sugar. Certainly sugar has gotten a bad rap and sugar has a place in everyone’s life, especially if you’re really active and you’re burning through it. But if you’re not real active, then you’ve really got to be a little bit more mindful with how much sugar you’re incorporating. By sugar, I mean added sugars, I’m not talking about sugar from fruit.

And I also think the other important thing is to not be super restrictive. We want to look at improving the quality of our diet rather than restricting the quality of our diet. So that means amping it up. So rather than taking the approach of, gosh, I’ve got to cut carbs, I’ve got to cut fat, I’ve got to cut sugar, I’ve got all these things I’ve got to cut out, wow, there’s nothing left for me to eat. How about taking the approach of, gosh, I need to add more color. I need to add more whole grains. I need to add more fiber. I need to try some new lean protein sources. I have to make sure I’m getting enough protein in order to build muscle and maintain muscle, especially as we age. I think taking a more optimistic approach to eating and really trying to make sure that we’re incorporating high quality food in adding more to our diet rather than restricting away is probably the best way to get success and to also start to feel better. It helps to control inflammation and inflammation can go all across the spectrum from getting a cut where inflammation is good and helpful, to chronic inflammation which leads to chronic disease. So food can have a really important role in trying to manage that long term inflammation, which can lead to long-term disease. 

And then the other thing is making it doable. So if food prep is overwhelming or preparing your food is overwhelming, then maybe we need to find ways of making that simpler for you. Because certainly every time I drive by McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, you name it, I’m always, always just shocked at how many cars are in line there. And I know the reason they’re there –it’s convenience. So how can I, as a dietitian, help make things more convenient for you—whether it’s bringing a meal prep service to your home, whether it’s coming over and showing you how to prepare your food in a more simplistic form, whether it’s taking people grocery shopping and showing them where to find great food in the grocery store. Those are the things that create long-term change in someone and really help people to succeed. But simply cutting something out of your diet is a short term route to maybe losing weight, but it’s certainly not something that’s going to be sustainable and long term. 

Brian:

The word “diet” really has a negative connotation for most people, doesn’t it. If somebody brings up diet, I think the first reaction for most people is—ugh—like there has to be some take away rather than the way you’re describing it, which is really enhancing the way you eat for optimal performance.

Maureen:

Right. And a perfect example of that—I’ll relate it back to the fire service—is one of the most common recovery meals from a fire, where you’re out there for hours and just sweating, is pizza. So pizza’s been a little bit of a…I don’t know, pizza has redeeming values. And so that’s what I’ve tried to extract is what can we redeem out of pizza, but how can we enhance that pizza to actually make it a recovery meal for a firefighter who essentially could be running two marathons for the amount of work that they’re doing during that time? So pizza has carbs. Pizza has some, probably a lot, of healthy and unhealthy fats. And then it also…the carbs are important, but it really lacks in protein and protein’s important for recovery nutrition. So maybe when you get back to the station, I can teach you how to make a really great protein shake, so at least you’re still getting that adequate protein that you need. Similarly at home. If Friday is pizza night with your family, maybe have a slice of pizza, but maybe have a salad that you make along with it that’s got lots of fresh veggies in it. So you can still have your slice of pizza, but you’re still enhancing it by adding some of those great micro-nutrients, those antioxidants, those phyto-nutrients, the fiber, and all the things that really can add to your way of eating.

But certainly the word diet definitely comes along with feeling restricted or that you have to restrict. And it also gives you a short window, where as making a change in your lifestyle is obviously a long-term thing and something that’s going to last from the day you decided to do it, to the day that we no longer need to worry about it. And also it’s going to be something that the entire family can embrace, rather than you having to eat a certain way and your family eating a different way. You can always add value to what you’re eating and still have your family enjoy some of their favorite foods.

Brian:

You’ve made reference a couple of times to the challenges of dinner, the long lines that you see at the fast food restaurants around mealtime. The reality in the world that we live in today is we live these busy lifestyles. In most households, the man and the woman are both working outside the home. And it just becomes very challenging because it does take time to create healthy meals. Can you share two or three dinner ideas that people can put together, in say 15 or 20 minutes, that really contribute to health rather than contribute to disease?

Maureen:

Absolutely. I’m glad you asked actually, because it’s one of my favorite ways to teach people to eat. So I think most everyone is familiar with Chipotle or Qdoba. When you go in there, the very first thing they ask is which carbohydrate would you like? Do you want rice, would you like beans? Would you like white rice, whatever it might be. You pick your carbohydrate and that’s the base. Carbohydrates provide energy and fuel for our body so it’s important to incorporate those. The first thing you do is pick that, then they ask you for a lean protein, then they have you add salsa, maybe some veggies, and then they ask you if you’d like some healthy fats, like a quark mole on top. If you take that very same approach, when you’re at home, to building your very own nourish bowl or building your very own Chipotle bowl, it’s really an easy way to think about setting up your plate. So as long as you have a carb of some sort, and carbohydrates are very abundant, obviously, they come in the form of a pasta, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes. So make that your base. And then from there, you’re going to have a lean protein. So maybe on the weekend, you’re able to grill some chicken or maybe you grill some salmon, whatever your protein might be. Whenever you’re making it, make it in bulk so you have a little bit left for the week as well, or for lunches. And then you’re going to add your lean protein. And then from there, I always say veggies are a free food, but we want an abundance of different colors. Right now it’s really convenient because vegetables are fresh and they’re maybe growing in our garden or they’re really available at the grocery store. So maybe add whatever vegetables you like, but try and add color. And then the last thing is adding a healthy fat. So whether that’s avocados, maybe some seeds and nuts. So you can see that this meal can unfold in a cooked form or in an uncooked form. You can have it in a salad form, or you could have it exactly like Chipotle, in more of a cooked form. So piecing your meals together that way makes it less overwhelming. So it doesn’t need to be this 20 ingredient recipe that you’re throwing together. It can just be simply having rice in the fridge ready to go, having pasta cooked ready to go, having veggies cut up ready to go, so that when you get home you just piece it all together into a bowl. And now you’re set for probably a few days if you prep some things ahead of time. So I try and approach my meals that way. It can be as simple as having a chopped salad—a cruciferous blend of cabbage and brussel sprouts, and maybe some hardy vegetables, sauteing them in a pan for just a couple of minutes with a tiny bit of avocado oil, and then throwing in your protein. Your protein can be as simple as eggs. So a lot of times I have that combination and you can throw it on top of toast with maybe some guacamole or an avocado. So always being mindful of incorporating those healthy fats, protein and complex carbs when you’re assembling your meals can make preparing a meal much, much easier. And those are the three most satiating nutrition components. So protein, it takes your body a little longer to digest it. It keeps your blood sugar on a little bit more even keel so you’re going to feel satiated for a longer period of time. Same thing with healthy fats that come from olive oils, avocado oils, seeds and nuts, nut butters, that sort of thing. And then fiber of course, takes a longer time to digest. So anytime you incorporate those three things, you’re going to have a more satiating meal. The problem is that a lot of times when we do turn to fast food, or when we do turn to more convenience foods, not only are they more on the processed, ultra-processed, refined line of foods, but they lack those three nutrients. So certainly you might get some protein, but you’re probably not getting much fiber, if any, and they’re certainly not going out of their way to use those healthy fats. So I think a simpler approach is just to incorporate those three things.

Brian:

There’s a lot packed into what you just said, but that’s [crosstalk] well, it can be overwhelming, but it’s really great advice and really pinpoints, I think, things that people need to know that will help them to live a healthier lifestyle. You mentioned meal prep and I want to touch on that because for our family, meal prep is one of the life hacks or the nutrition hacks that makes healthy eating much easier. And so, as you’re talking, I’m visualizing opening the refrigerator door—and I’m sure people listening or watching this show can relate to this. You open the door and you do the scan. You scan the refrigerator to see what’s available to eat. If we meal prep, then we have things readily available so that we can grab them quickly. And conversely, if we don’t do that, I think that’s where we fall into the temptation of maybe grabbing the bag of chips or maybe grabbing something that isn’t quite as healthy. I know we do that even with bowls of fruit. So with our kids—and we don’t have kids at home anymore—but when we did, one of the things that my wife, Heidi, did was always had a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter. And it’s the same thing. So what happens is the kids come running into the kitchen and they’re famished, and they’re looking for something to eat. If they see a bowl of clean, fresh plums, for example, or maybe some watermelon that’s cut up, that’s sitting on the counter, then they’re much more likely to grab those things and to not go for some of the unhealthy snacks. So I think meal prep is really essential. And that also helps with the difficulty during the week, the busy-ness and the harried lifestyle that everybody lives. If we take time, maybe over the weekend, to meal prep so that you at least have some of those healthy snacks available, readily available, so that you can go to them if you just have a couple of minutes to grab something.

Maureen:

I would agree with that completely. And I think snack prep is just as important as that meal prep, because snacking can really be a downfall in people’s daily plan if it’s not approached the right way. One other thing that I think is really important is to set yourself up for success in a way that you’re fueling or eating throughout the day, rather than coming home ravenous. And this means driving home too, if you set yourself up, whether you’re at work or whether you’re just running errands throughout the day, you’ve had breakfast, and then you’ve been gone all afternoon, had nothing to eat. Anybody in their right mind is going to probably stop or grab for anything that’s in sight, because you’ve just gotten beyond that point of being tolerably hungry. So I also think approaching your day, if you’re going to be gone, bring some snacks with you in the car, make sure you have some snacks at your desk at work, so that when you leave, you can have a snack on the way home. It’s like going to the grocery store hungry. You’re going to buy all sorts of things that don’t serve you, just because your mindset is that you’re starving and everything looks good. So I think certainly setting yourself up throughout the day to make sure you’ve got those three nutrition components-the healthy fats, the protein and the fiber—even in your snacks, is important. I think another dietitian, I heard her say, a protein, a color and a carb. So there’s different ways of thinking about it. But when you look at a snack, you want it to have—whether it’s hummus and veggies or whether it’s Greek yogurt and some fresh fruit, or maybe it’s a couple of cheese sticks and some almonds, maybe it’s a protein bar that you like, having that all inclusive approach and not just relying on simple sugars or just plain straight carbohydrates if you’re looking for satiety.

Brian:

Let’s delve…and you hit on snacks, but I want to expand that. So you, to me, you are a pillar of health, a pillar of fitness. You run, you bike, you lift weights, you do yoga. In a typical day all of those things happen before you even eat breakfast. What does a typical day of eating look like for you?

Maureen:

Well, for me, I guess I would be considered more of a grazer, but I also am never more than an arms reach away from my food. So I have a food bag that I travel with and that’s a priority for me because I know how I feel when I don’t have my things that I like to eat. And I know that the nature of my job and the nature of the things that I do or the activities that I’ve undertaken require me to be away from the refrigerator for a period of time. So typically I’ll get up in the morning and have some sort of a light breakfast, only because I’m usually off to the gym or doing something of that nature. But then I always have something for in between sessions, whether it’s a banana, fresh fruit–watermelon right now. I’ve actually been doing a tally. A friend of mine and I are counting how many watermelons we go through this summer and we’re already at 20. So between the two of us, we’ve already had 20 watermelons. But watermelon is so hydrating and such a great in-between snack to have. And once you have that thing cut up, I mean, it’s just like, you can pick from it all day. And it’s so great because it’s so refreshing too. So for athletes, watermelon’s where it’s at. So I usually have some of that throughout the day, cut up and ready to go in my car.

My other main focus is recovery with my nutrition. So anytime I’m done with a workout, I typically will have a protein shake or else I make smoothie bowls. Smoothie bowls are just a fun way to have your protein shake. Typically that’s just fresh fruit, a little bit of a protein source, usually a protein powder for me. And then I have some sort of healthy fats so I’ll drizzle peanut butter on it. That’s usually a go-to for after I work out. My meals–my lunch and my dinner–are nourish bowls, exactly how I described. Typically it’s something quick and easy. So I’ll saute those veggies, throw two or three eggs in there, or whatever lean protein I have on hand. And then dinner is the same thing.

So I think part of success, when you look at your lifestyle eating, is routine, and I know that you’re a strong advocate for that. I think you and I together are two of probably the most routine people with our food and with our training, all of it. We both know how great we feel when we stick with that routine and we both know how off we can feel when we don’t have that. So, like I said, I think making the food a priority, and for me it means every night before I go to bed, I prep my food. And so some people might sit down and scroll through their Instagram for an hour. Some people might obviously have kids to manage. But I carve that time out every night so that the next day I have my cooler bag ready to go, whether it’s to go to the fire station or whether it’s to go about my day for whatever I’m doing. I think about my day and I program out my food. What do I have in between my workouts? What do I have while I’m traveling between clients? What do I have after I work out? It’s all thought out. And that’s something that I think a dietitian can really help you to do. If nothing else, they can help you program your day and pick out some suitable food choices that will help you to just have a really successful day.

Also one last thing, Brian, I know I’m rambling a little bit, but it’s really important, is sleep. I think if you don’t get right with your sleep, all of this other stuff really is, to a much lesser degree, important. I think that in my time spent with the Mets there was a lot of emphasis put on that. Sleep is where our brain is able to really develop and, similar to after you work out, it’s where all the recovery takes place for our muscles and for our brain and for our body. So I think that that’s been probably the other thing that I’ve really worked hard on trying to manage and dial in more recently, is how much sleep do I need to feel my best and how can I program that in around my meal prep to make sure I have a hard cutoff time for going to bed and shutting it down. And it’s made a profound impact on me. And I think with a job as a firefighter, I can definitely see the difference on days when I’m up all night on flooded streets or days when I’m able to get my solid seven to eight hours of sleep.

Brian:

So what’s a good general rule for that? Is it seven to eight hours? Does it vary for people? What do you recommend?

Maureen:

Some of it varies on age. Obviously, children, teenagers need more than that, but for, I would say middle-aged to older folks, it would be around seven, seven and a half to eight hours of sleep. But I also think everybody knows their sweet spot with that. Some people need more than that. I know for me, I’ve really, like I said, worked over the past year to figure out what that is and anything less than seven hours, I feel like I’ve been out all night partying minus the party. Maybe that’s age, I’m not sure, but I think you have to find that sweet spot for yourself. I do think that there’s sort of this stigma where people feel like they’re in this rat race and “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” used to be the mentality. And I think lack of sleep will kill you if you don’t embrace that part of it. So when you look at your overall health, it’s all part of this performance plan that I try to really focus on with individuals—yeah, let’s work on your nutrition, but let’s also, if you’re not losing weight or if you’re having some sticking point with things, let’s talk a little bit about your sleep because maybe that’s where the problem might be situated.

Brian:

I appreciate you sharing that. Let’s talk about…I can’t go get through this interview without talking about nutrition in major league baseball. And I have to tell you, we work with elite athletes, professional athletes, and you invested three years working with the New York Mets baseball organization. I totally understand nutrition in professional athletics with Olympic athletes, swimmers and runners, or even in professional sports with hockey players, basketball players, even football players. But when I think about baseball in relationship to nutrition, it strikes me as being almost an oxymoron. My picture of a baseball player, and it’s a stereotype, but like a Babe Ruth or current day, we live in the Detroit area so we have Miguel, and Miguel Cabrera is a great hitter. He’s a first baseman. He, when I look at him, he doesn’t look like the pillar of health in nutrition. So talk to us about that. What was it like working for a major league baseball team and what are some of the misconceptions or the stereotypes, and then maybe what are some of the things that actually are true about baseball players and nutrition?

Maureen:

So that’s a really good question. When I first took the job with, got the position with the Mets I thought, oh man, I really am going to need to brush up on my nutrition skills because these guys are going to be so dialed in. Now, if you look at hockey, and if you spoke with Lisa, I’m sure she would agree with that–that they are dialed in because their sport is directly related to their fueling and how they feel before and after a game. Baseball, similarly, it’s a grind. So what I learned is that they may look a little bit different, but each position has a purpose with their body composition. So you might have a first baseman that may look a little bit heavier. Maybe he doesn’t look like the ideal professional athlete, but they hit home runs almost every time they go up to bat. So there’s an element of power and strength behind how somebody is, how their body comp is. But I also think that the other important thing that I learned is that because the baseball season is such a grind—they play 162 games, they play every day essentially, sometimes they play twice a day. When they have a game, the game starts at seven, they’re showing up at the field at noon. So it’s an all day event. So the approach to fueling a baseball player is pretty elaborate. Most of the meals are served at the stadium. So they’re getting three meals, maybe even sometimes four meals, there at the park. So we’re looking at how can we get these guys prepared to be on the field, not feel overfed, also be very well hydrated because that’s directly related to injuries. And then how can we bring them off the field at 11 and 12 o’clock at night and get them recovered and ready to flip around and do the same thing maybe twice, if it’s a double header, the next day. So it’s really challenging to do that. And on top of that, you’re dealing with probably 40 different palates. So you have to find food that culturally is a fit for them. And also some of them are picky. So that’s also a challenge. And then you also have to do a lot of convincing of how important nutrition is because a lot of them are so young. And so they haven’t hit that point where they feel the impact that maybe you and I feel when we don’t eat a hundred percent on point like we’d like to. So I think those are some of the challenges that I was presented with.

Also, I think now versus the Babe Ruth years, there’s more computer science behind the sport. And so they’re able to track injuries and they’re able to relate injuries to certain things and certain modalities, and nutrition plays an important role in preventing injury. Oftentimes maybe that’s when a player might be ready to receive really great nutrition information is once they’ve been threatened with an injury and now they’re willing to do whatever it takes. I think that’s fairly prevalent, but I also think from an administrative standpoint in professional sports, they’re looking to the dietitian to prevent injuries. So certainly making sure you’re providing a lot of anti-inflammatory type food, making sure they’re getting enough food and not under fueling, making sure that we’re limiting the processed foods, or the foods that may attribute to inflammation, is important. So really, those three years were just eye-opening to me on how important nutrition is and how much pressure is put on a dietitian to make sure that those elements are covered.

Brian:

I appreciate you sharing that because I don’t think people have perspective really, related to professional athletes at all. But again, it’s interesting to me to look at a particular sport and a sport like baseball, where, I mean, I gave the stereotype and we find that really it might be position specific, but the team is looking at that for everyone, whether everybody needs to do exactly the same thing or not, they’re certainly looking at it. And you and I know that professional sports today is a big business. It’s a multi, multi-million dollar business. It’s very scientific in a way that it hasn’t ever been before. And so teams are looking at that. A lot of players are looking at that because their performance this season determines whether they get to still do that next season. In many sports it is year to year. You don’t become a professional athlete and automatically get to play for 20 years. You get to play for a year or maybe a couple years and then the continuation of that is dependent on performance. Obviously nutrition is related to that.

Maureen:

And one other really interesting thing is that, regardless of what the performance staff does, the modalities that they provide, the amazing food that we would provide, these athletes make a lot of money. And so they have extensive resources at their fingertips. You could provide the most amazing food ever, but if they want Shake Shack, they’re going to go get Shake Shack. [Laughter] Sometimes you just have to throw your hands up and say, okay, let’s just roll with this. Let’s hope for the next meal to be a little bit better, or there’s going to be pizza or Dodger Dogs or another thing. But I had to really just—I don’t know—walk past it and think, okay, maybe the next meal will be better. But that’s the reality of it. These are human beings, too. These are people who have their favorite foods and they’re going to include them regardless of the $30 a pound sea bass you provide. [Laughter]

Brian:

Awesome. Maureen, thanks so much for being on the show. I love talking to you about health and nutrition and really appreciate the valuable information that you’ve provided today.

Maureen:

Thanks for having me, Brian, this was fun.

Brian:

It was fun. Thanks for listening to Life Excellence. If you enjoyed my show today, this wonderful conversation with Maureen about health and nutrition, and you’d like to support the show, please share it with others, post about it on social media and leave a rating and review. You can also learn more about me at BrianBartes.com or I invite you to sign up for my weekly newsletter and receive a free copy of my book, Coach Yourself For Success. Until next time, dream big dreams and make each day your masterpiece.