Oregon Potatoes partnership with OSU Beaver Sports is a highly integrated campaign to inform and promote the health aspects and nutritional benefits of potatoes to college athletes and fans alike. From school kids to senior fans, the campaign touches all.
- Check out this year's partnership event photos here!
From OSU's head sports nutritionist, Toni Langhans
Potatoes are a great form of complex carbohydrates (meaning they help you sustain energy longer)
A medium potato only has about 100 calories in it so it is a fairly low calorie food, but can still provide great energy.
Try eating your potato with the skin on to increase your fiber intake! Fiber is great for your heart health and gut health, which can be linked to so many other benefits.
At OSU, all of our athletes get free breakfast Monday-Thursday. Every morning we serve a potato dish! The athletes love this and we also love knowing that we're giving them a good source of energy. Because potatoes are so versatile, they don't even get tired of it!
Another great benefit for athletes is the potassium. Did you know potatoes have more potassium than a banana? So between the potassium and the sodium if you choose to salt the potatoes, it helps reduce dehydration and cramps.
Recently I did cooking demonstrations with some of our FB athletes. They learned to microwave a full potato. We also made baked sweet potato desserts by adding some melted nut butter, cinnamon, and blueberries!
Since most moderate to intense activities burn glycogen (or carb energy stores), it is really important for our athletes to replenish their muscles stores after a long day or week of training. So we always recommend they have potatoes and other shelf stable grains in their homes so they don't have to go to the grocery as much if they are busy. Potatoes are great because they stay good for so long!
-
- One potato can help with muscle cramps! It has much more potassium than a banana.
- Potatoes are a wonderful source of energy for activity. We encourage our athletes to include carbohydrates as part of their pre and post competition meal. This usually includes potatoes!
- Most energy for training comes from carbohydrates. Being deficient can cause injuries!
- Potatoes are a great source of fiber. This is really important for both gut and heart health
