June is National Dairy Month, so it’s the perfect time to pay homage to a glass of milk, and all the nutritional benefits it provides.

In particular, in this video I explain how its benefits deserve a second look for building muscle and improving performance.

Dairy tends to get a bad rap due to allergies and lactose intolerance, and this is a legitimate reason to avoid it for people who have these issues. For those of you without this sensitivity however, and if you’re an athlete trying to gain muscle and boost your training or performance, dairy should have a place in your diet!

As an excellent source of calcium, protein and carbohydrates, dairy has a full amino acid profile of the 9 essential branch chain amino acids. These are needed for building muscle, in particular leucine, and can only

Similar to dairy, sugar has gotten a bad rap, and many people now avoid it like the plague. See my blog which raises a glass to The Benefits of Milk for Building Muscle.

Yes, there’s good reason to avoid too much refined white sugar, for all the health reasons we’re familiar with. However, there are different types of sugar that actually provide nutritional benefits.

Nature provides us with other delicious options to choose from and less need for artificial sweeteners.

Do you know the two natural sweeteners that contain antioxidants, vitamins and minerals? And which one also has anti-cancer properties?

Watch to learn more about these better options to white sugar, and which option has a lower glycemic index.

Want to improve your diet to support your performance goals in your sport? Reach out to me by scheduling a free

Every summer I work with young athletes to help them understand their hydration needs, and to establish a hydration protocol for parents to help their athlete implement.

It’s a “hot” topic every summer (pun intended!), because it’s such a critical component of their health and performance, and the consequences of dehydration are so serious. Just a 1% body weight loss from dehydration is enough for a young athlete to feel the effects, and any other medical condition they might have can increase their fluid loss even more.

You might be surprised to learn that young athletes don’t cool down the same as adults do. Rather than by sweating and evaporation, they cool down more by radiation (transferring their heat to something else such as a cool towel). Tip – take a cooler with cold towels and cloths!

Radiation aside, drinking enough fluids