Your Food Choices Matter; So Does Your Attitude

You go to practice to learn and perfect new skills, whether you are aiming for a basket, hitting a ball, or increasing your speed on land or in water. We’ll be watching other athletes who have taken the steps to master their skills at the 2021 Olympics over the next two months.

While perfecting the motor skills are important, so are attitude skills:

  1. Start where you are, not where you think you should be.
  2. Develop a growth mindset and ditch your limits.
  3. Practice. Practice. Practice. Patience!
  4. Get to know your learning process.
  5. Seek expert advice and be open to it.

As we’ve been sharing tips about nutrition in sports the past 8 months, we hope you’ve used the expert advice we’ve shared on how to fuel yourself so your body gets to its optimum performance.

Nutrition is important for mental health, too, and your mental health will impact your attitude.

So take that positive attitude and take on this challenge: learn another new skill that will serve you through your lifetime – using the grill to prepare delicious and nutritious food!

Here’s a simple recipe for tasty Cuban Pork Tenderloin. You need to do some early work so the marinade really flavors the tenderloin (but remember that “patience” piece).

Photo courtesy of the National Pork Board, Des Moines, Iowa.

Pork tenderloin is high in protein (which helps to repair and build muscle) and low in fat and calories. You can also make sandwiches and salads from any leftover tenderloin, and that makes re-fueling that much simpler on those days you’ve had a tough workout or competition.