Julie Burns, owner of SportFuel and Eat Like the Pros meal delivery service, talks about the importance of making every bite count for young athletes (hungry jocks). This is why Eat Like the Pros features family size portions...so that the whole family can eat well!

Check out her great tips in Spoiler Alert: Feed Your Hungry Jocks Foods That Rot at the PDF version, the Chicago Tribune link, or find it in today's GOOD EATING section of the paper! (May 25, 2011)

Count how many symptoms apply to you:

Digestive
o Weight trouble
o Nausea
o Constipation and/or diarrhea
o Bloating and/or gas
o Iron deficiency anemia

Immune System
o Cancer history – you or your family
o Celiac disease – you or your family
o Autoimmune disease – you or your family
o Arthritis (any type) – you or your family
o Get infections easily

Neurological
o Joint pains/aches
o Memory problems
o Fibromyalgia
o Brain fog
o Headaches and/or migraines

Hormonal
o Depression, anxiety, and/or mood swings
o Fatigue
o Sleep problems
o Menstrual problems
o Infertility
o Thyroid problems
o Osteoporosis or osteopenia

RESULTS of Gluten Sensitivity Self-Test:
1-3: gluten sensitivity may be playing a role in your health problems.
4-7: definite possibility that you are suffering from gluten sensitivity.
8+: likelihood is strong that gluten sensitivity is having a negative effect upon your health.

To get screened for gluten sensitivity or Celiac disease, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Here is a great article on how to start a gluten free diet from Jen at www.gfreelife.com (voted best Gluten Free Lifestyle blog!!)

10 Easy Steps to Start a Gluten Free Diet

Sportfuel offers Gluten Sensitivity testing and nutrition consultation on gluten free living. Eat Like the Pros is also all gluten free (Note: the food is not prepared in a certified gluten free kitchen, so would not be 100% safe for those with Celiac Disease)

By Stephanie Arellano, Virtual SportFuel Intern

We see the labels everywhere - low-sodium crackers, low-sodium soup, low-sodium bacon. The list can go on and it is no wonder with the USDA's dietary guidelines on sodium. With a recommended intake of no more than 2300 mg of sodium or 1500 mg for people 51 and older or with certain medical conditions this equals out to somewhere around a teaspoon of salt a day. Looking at it this way it is no wonder our nation finds it difficult to stick to the recommended amount. What is even more astonishing, though, are the repurcussions of people who can stick to this recommended amount or lower.

On Monday, February 14th, the Weston A. Price Foundation made it crystal clear on what these low sodium recommendations are doing to our nation especially in relation to the obesity epidemic. Morton Satin of the Salt Institute spoke of obesity in our nation stating the reduced salt guidelines will only worsen the now ongoing epidemic. This sounds confusing, but look at it this way. When people start to reduce their salt intake there will be an increase in calorie consumption as they strive to satisfy their innate salt appetite. This holds true for a lot of other healthier alternatives we have seen in the past years. When we switched from regular beer to light beer we only consumed more of the latter. The same went for the switch from regular drinks to sugar free drinks as we compensated by drinking even more low-calorie beverages. So striving to follow a "puritanical" diet devoid of salt will only lead us to seek out more food just to satisfy our appetites. Less salt. More food. More calories. Obesity epidemic. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Not only was the role salt plays in the obesity epidemic brought out, but it's relation to another epidemic was brought out. One that seems to be put on the back burner, but effecting roughly 8.3 percent of all Americans is the Diabetes epidemic. Estimated to effect more than half of all Americans by 2020, diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States and leading cause of kidney failure, lower-limb amputation and new cases of blindness. Cited was a recent Harvard study linking low-sodium diets to increased insulin resistance, a symptom that precedes Type II Diabetes. The study found that healthy people placed on a low-sodium diet developed this insulin resistance within only seven days. May it be that these new guidelines instituted by the USDA are promoting an epidemic of diabetes? Read the study here (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21036373)

Finally noted were studies showing the various negative effects of those put on a low-sodium diet - cognitive impairment, lower birth weight, higher rates of falls and fractures among the elderly - which again seemed to have not been taken into consideration upon the development of the 2010 USDA dietary guidelines.

None of what has been considered seems to back up the USDA's call for a low-sodium diet. In fact, looking at these results it seems Satin was correct when stating that our guidelines are a product of ideology and not a product of science. To see the full Western A Price Foundation press conference click here (http://www.youtube.com/TheWestonAPrice)