Feeding the Young Athlete GIVEAWAY!
CONTEST CLOSED. Thanks everyone.
I’m so excited I could dance a jig! We’re giving away TWO copies of this fresh new book.
My publisher, Philip Lee of Readers to Eaters, recently asked me to identify five reasons why I felt the book is important. Here’s my list:
- Simple do-able directions -for when and what to eat to play your best; what to shop for and pack in your bag; how to choose the most nutrient rich foods, how to eat on the road and more. There are short lists on EVERY page.
- We encourage whole foods eating and cooking. This is not a book about powders, pills and neon colored drinks. Why young people need real food is spelled out clearly and lip-smacking recipes using those foods are plentiful.
- Teamwork is emphasized on so many levels. Whether we’re talking about how nutrients work together as a team, how your body and food work together as a team or how team meals can enhance camaraderie, this thread is woven throughout the book
- Understanding how food affects body and mind is tantamount for health. Applying better eating to sports is immediate, palpable and has the potential of affecting the way kids will eat during their whole life.
- There’s nothing quite like this book on the market. This book addresses a young person’s relationship to food through their immediate concern – wanting to play well in today’s game! And it does so in a cheerful, visually exciting way. Go food!
Don’t currently have a young athlete in your house? No problem. The concepts and recipes in the book apply to all ages. Philips’s children compete in music competitions and they found the advice in the book works well for that too! Also, we learned that COACHES are very influential people - more so than parents. Consider giving a copy to your favorite youth coach.
Here’s how to win one of the two copies we are giving away:
1. Be a subscriber of Cookus Interruptus Not a subscriber yet? Type your email address in the subscribe box right up there on the right above the blue navigation box. There’s also a place to subscribe on our home page (upper left).
2. Be a friend on Cookus Interruptus facebook. Not our facebook friend? Easy. Go to the Cookus Facebook page and click the thumbs up “like”. (also consider friend-ing the Feeding the Young Athlete FB page pretty please)
3. This brought back memories for me - What was your favorite piece of playground equipment when you were a child? I was a terribly uncoordinated child. Couldn’t even turn a cartwheel. When two kids turned the big heavy jump rope and we were supposed to gauge when to go in I was terrified. I knew the heavy rope would smack me and everyone would laugh. But SOMEHOW I figured the timing out and could play the jump rope game. It became my favorite because I had conquered a fear, and mastered a scary skill that seemed so easy for everyone else. Okay. Your turn. Type your answer as a comment to this post.
4. Contest ends at 5pm on September 23rd. Check your email on the 24th. The winners will be chosen by random.org. If you don’t respond to your “winner” email within 48 hours, we will choose a new winner (tough love…).
Tags: book giveaway, contest, Cynthia Lair, Feeding the Young Athlete, Readers to Eaters, te
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Loved the swings and big slides. We lived dangerously back then! Now most schools don’t have swings and big slides. Book?? It was Charlotte’s Web in elementary school.
Comment by Kathy — September 18, 2012 @ 5:53 pm
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Comment by Jewell — September 18, 2012 @ 6:22 pm
I lived the bouncy wooden bridge!
Comment by Ryah — September 18, 2012 @ 7:07 pm
Loved the monkey bar action! Always felt tough and hardy after completing the monkey bars, especially since I was always the smallest girl in all my elementary classes. The blisters on the hands were an added tough girl bonus!
Comment by Karla Tobey — September 18, 2012 @ 7:30 pm
No doubt - the good old tire swing my Dad tied up high on a branch of a tree! It was on a slope, so half of the fun was trying to bring the thing up the hill, hold it as best as we could and jump on hoping we had a strong grip on the rope to make it through the ride! BEST TOY EVER!
Comment by Fernanda — September 18, 2012 @ 7:40 pm
i loved the monkey bars. fun to see my own daughters (only 2.5 years old!) starting to enjoy them too.
Comment by melissa — September 18, 2012 @ 7:41 pm
Skip rope by far! Double dutch was my favourite!
Comment by Tracey — September 18, 2012 @ 8:00 pm
The big open field where i would run and enact some scene from a book i was currently reading. I also have vivid memories of standing on the blacktop and leaning into the Juneau Taku wind and imagining being blown away.
Comment by Jason Pitt — September 18, 2012 @ 8:15 pm
The book question is gone. Oh well, I answered it! Speaking of books, I really want this one!
Comment by Kathy — September 18, 2012 @ 10:01 pm
I loved the swings…. still do. My sister and I would get going so fast and high that we were both sure we’d flip over the bar… but never did. The feeling of the wind in your hair and the little flip your stomach would do if you closed your eyes while you flew forward. It’s such a shame that my daughter’s elementary school banned swings because they were too “dangerous”. What has the world come to when swings aren’t allowed?
Comment by Becky — September 19, 2012 @ 3:34 am
Climbing to the highest part of the playground and watching everything and everyone.
Comment by Tracy Ashlock — September 19, 2012 @ 1:35 pm
I grew up in the country, ski country to be exact. So my favorite was the rope tow and a ski jump.
Comment by Kim — September 19, 2012 @ 2:17 pm
Twirly bars!! I spent a whole summer learning to cherry drop.
Comment by Jessica — September 19, 2012 @ 6:48 pm
I loved the bars where I could show off my gymnastics skills, although my favorite trick I learned from a friend at school: start sitting on the bar and then, with no hands, swing backwards by the knees, under the bar and fly off to land standing. I felt like a professional gymnast!
Comment by Kelli — September 20, 2012 @ 11:35 am
My favorite playground activity was playing marbles every day at recess with a few friends. I enjoy the actual playground equipment much more now (with my kids) than I ever did when I was a kid…and they love that their Mama climbs with them instead of sitting on the bench
Comment by Sandi — September 20, 2012 @ 11:41 am
I loved the climbing structure that we called “the rainbow.” It was like crossbars that when two directions in the shape of two rainbows. We liked to hang upside down from it and swing one, two, three! and flip off of it and onto our feet. We called these swinging flips penny drops. I would love to do one right now.
Comment by Elizabeth Ladd — September 20, 2012 @ 11:42 am
I would have to say swings. Learning to pump your legs and fly high felt so freeing with the wind in your face! The fun part was putting you head back and closing your eyes while you were swinging.
Comment by Shari — September 20, 2012 @ 11:46 am
I loved our swing, hung from a branch of one of the many maples in our yard. If it hadn’t fallen apart, we’d still be using it today with our kids!
Comment by Sara — September 20, 2012 @ 11:46 am
Do we have to pick just one…? I loved the pogo stick where I would just hop around all day but also the monkey bars, swings, jump ropes…and the list goes on!
Comment by Julie — September 20, 2012 @ 11:48 am
I love the playground ball, which makes it possible to play wall ball, kickball and 4-square. All were games that I loved as a kid and continue to play to this day. I am actually lucky enough to work for a wonderful non-profit called Playworks, that is dedicated to creating safe opportunities for kids to play every day. On the playground! With balls and jump ropes and positive social skills! Hooray!
Comment by Maya — September 20, 2012 @ 11:55 am
The Merry-Go-Round. It would always make me sooo dizzy, but I would go back for more!!
Comment by Kelli Abrahamian — September 20, 2012 @ 11:55 am
Hmmm…I guess I wasn’t very sporty. The swings made me dizzy, the monkey bars gave me blisters, and the fireman pole seemed implausible as a way of reaching the ground. That being said, we did have one of those moveable, accordian like bridges that you could bounce on, but which you can’t find on playgrounds anymore, probably because they resulted in lawsuits over lost fingers. Really, where’s the fun of there isn’t the potential for getting hurt? Those bridges were really great. I am sooo excited for this book. Good thing my daughter is much sportier than me. I love anything Cynthia does- am I just imagining this, or did she do a similar book some time ago? Whatever the case, it looks great!
Comment by Erin Macfarland — September 20, 2012 @ 11:57 am
I like you on both FB pages, subcribe to e-mails and follow on twitter. I try to promote you any chance I get. I LOVE what you do. So very creative and full of great content.
Comment by Kelli Abrahamian — September 20, 2012 @ 11:57 am
The swings and that big, metal, climbing dome-thingy.
I was really into kickball and four-square, but that’s not playground “equipment”.
Comment by Angie — September 20, 2012 @ 11:58 am
I was a big fan of “the bars”. They were like parallel bars, but a little bit further apart. All the cool girls who’s parents had enough money to put them in gymnastics used to do the bars. I wanted to fit in so I used to wear bike shorts and a giant tee shirt (tucked in to the bike shorts, of course) and spin my little heart out on those bars! “Shooting Star” was my most prized spin technique; a dazzling spin that ended with you looping around the bars and jumping off the bar and into the air!
Comment by Sophia — September 20, 2012 @ 11:59 am
My very favorite was the twirly whirly round spinner thingy!! Not sure they even allow those anymore… I know why! But I loved the surprise rush it gave as I held on for dear life!!
Comment by Libby — September 20, 2012 @ 12:00 pm
The big, scary slide, with no safety railings, that is probably illegal nowadays…
Comment by Elizabeth — September 20, 2012 @ 12:02 pm
I loved those merry go round things that one or a few kids would get going really, really fast and then jump on. Also tether ball, does that even exist any more.
I have a16 year old who was raised on healthy food and now craves junk food, and energy drinks. Hopefully it is just a stage. Super skinny kid who does not care if he eats. Can he really be related to me? Maybe I can brainwash him that this book will make him better at sports. I can only try.
Comment by Sammie — September 20, 2012 @ 12:04 pm
Whenever I approached a playground, I looked for things that spun. I wanted to spin and spin, faster and faster, until my head was all dizzy and my tummy had that wonderful butterfly sensation. Slides were tempting, but they were never long enough or twisty enough for me. Merry-go-rounds seemed great, but they always required someone big enough to push fast (and patient enough to keep pushing). Invariably, the place I’d end up was the tall swings, with those chains that you could wind together as tight tight tight as possible….then let go and to spin out fast….then start all over again…
Comment by Cindy Wambeam — September 20, 2012 @ 12:05 pm
I grew up in Panama and we had a fantastic game called “la liga” (elastic, in spanish), which I understand is also played in other Latin American countries. We would use some thick, white sewing elastic that would be looped around the ankles of two girls who would be standing around 5 or 6 feet apart. The object of the game was for other girls to take turns jumping in and out of the space left between the two inner sides of the “liga”, using it to create a variety of poses that increased in difficulty as the game wore on. Here is a photo of what it would look like: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gummitwist-1998Kinder2.jpg?uselang=es
Comment by Veronica Leonard — September 20, 2012 @ 12:06 pm
The swings by far. Touching the clouds with your toes! Feeling the wind in your hair! Jumping off the swings makes you feel like you are flying. It still makes me feel like a kid again!
Comment by Jessica Montalino — September 20, 2012 @ 12:16 pm
Anything up high — the top of the jungle gym, the top of the slide or on a bridge.
Comment by Jaclyn — September 20, 2012 @ 12:23 pm
The slides!
Comment by Sara — September 20, 2012 @ 12:25 pm
Swinging as high as possible and jumping off. Going headfirst down the big wide slide, then grabbing the side and pivoting so that I didn’t land on my head. Anyone else remember that slide at Dunbar Park in Vancouver, Canada?
Comment by Stephanie Develle — September 20, 2012 @ 12:29 pm
Merry go round!! Always tried to make it go as fast as possible to get the best ride!
Comment by Korrin — September 20, 2012 @ 12:32 pm
My friends and I loved the bars — monkey bars, parallel bars, cherry drop bars… every fall when we went back to school we had to break ourselves in with blisters on our hands!! Ah, the good ole days!
Comment by Marlee — September 20, 2012 @ 12:41 pm
It was the tether-ball apparatus all the way!
Love everything by you, Cynthia. Hope to win!
Comment by Alli Dennis — September 20, 2012 @ 12:44 pm
I love the merry go round. I have not seen one in ages at a playground. I bet if I were to go on one now I’d feel sick in a minute, but when I was a child I loved it. Pushing and running and jumping on then feeling like you were going to spin off. Such fun.
Comment by Leah — September 20, 2012 @ 12:54 pm
I loved the uneven bars. I used to pretend I was a gymnast even though I was never allowed to take gymnastic lessons. I played on them every chance I got!
Comment by Emily — September 20, 2012 @ 12:54 pm
Hands down my favorite was a school yard game called square ball. Yes it had an oxymoron name but actively included a sense of strategy and power if you could master the game and be the lead controller of the ball!
Comment by Leigh-Ann — September 20, 2012 @ 12:55 pm
The really big, long, slippery metal slide that went all they way down the hill between the upper and lower playground at the school. It seemed so BIG then…I would love to see it now!
Comment by Cynthia Bartok — September 20, 2012 @ 12:59 pm
Definitely the monkey bars. I remember the blisters I’d come home with from the monkey bars. My girl does gymnastics now and she loves those bars too.
Comment by L — September 20, 2012 @ 1:07 pm
It’s hard to choose, but I’d have to say kickball!
Comment by Faith — September 20, 2012 @ 1:08 pm
I loved playing tether ball in elementary school. For some reason I liked doing things with the boys, I guess it made me feel tough. I went on to play volleyball in middle and high school, so maybe it all started with tether ball.
Comment by Chrissy — September 20, 2012 @ 1:08 pm
I loved to climb so I loved trees best but if it has to be a playground thing then it would have to be the monkey bars. I remember plenty of calloused hands and tucking in skirts to the knickers
Comment by Natasha Berta — September 20, 2012 @ 1:14 pm
Swings…loved going so high you felt like flying, playing frogger, doing crazy flippity dismounts. Now my 4 and 2 year olds spend most of their park time on the swings!
Comment by Christina — September 20, 2012 @ 1:20 pm
Hula hoops. My friends and I would hula hoop all recess long.
Comment by Michelle — September 20, 2012 @ 1:21 pm
I just friend-ed the Feeding the Young Athlete FB page.
Comment by Christi — September 20, 2012 @ 1:23 pm
What was my favorite piece of playground equipment when I was a child? The large round flat metal spinning disc type ride. It had several bars/handles to hold onto. Several kids could be on at once and it usually took several kids to push and get it spinning really fast.
Comment by Christi — September 20, 2012 @ 1:26 pm
Going around and around on those spinny things was fun, but I could only handle so much of the spinning before it was to much
BTW I’m subscribed to your newsletter & FB page.
Comment by kristine — September 20, 2012 @ 1:28 pm
thank you!
Comment by Cynthia — September 20, 2012 @ 1:29 pm
There was a cute snail that you could climb on top of….very fun.
Comment by Bonnie SOLENSKY — September 20, 2012 @ 1:40 pm
Must be the bars - that metal thing on the padded black-top place that the girls would spin around on. Seems death-defying when I think of it now!
Comment by Kristine — September 20, 2012 @ 2:27 pm
The swings for sure and still now I can sit and swing for a long time… if only I had one in my backyard!
Comment by Lina — September 20, 2012 @ 2:42 pm
I loved swinging high on the swings. I loved the wind in my hair and pumping to get higher.
Comment by Chere — September 20, 2012 @ 3:40 pm
Haha! The MErry Go Round - My brother would always get sick!!
Comment by Stacy — September 20, 2012 @ 4:43 pm
I loved the merry go round. Dizzy, dusty, and fast! Sitting in that sweet spot and just holding on.
Comment by Katrina — September 20, 2012 @ 5:05 pm
My favorite was the monkey bars
I always had blisters on my hands from playing on them.
Comment by Colette — September 20, 2012 @ 5:25 pm
Definitely the Monkey Bars!
Be Blissful!
http://www.meditationisforyou.org
minute4peace.org
Comment by Prajna James — September 20, 2012 @ 5:27 pm
I am a subscriber to this blog, it rocks! But I don’t belong to facebook.
I loved the uneven bars at my school. Hanging upside-down, doing skin-the-cats and Cherry Drops!
Comment by Brooke — September 20, 2012 @ 6:34 pm
My brilliant Dad, built us a tree house, with a big rope that was tied with huge knots, that we climbed several stories to our tree house between three Douglass Firs, on a high bank that looked over Puget Sound, towards Mt. Baker, in the Northeast. We would swing out on the rope, over the bank, or use it to climb up to our cool tree house. We were the three happiest girls in the world, enveloped in our father’s love, and in the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. We were fearless, and I can’t believe our Dad trusted us enough (but he did) to allow us to develop the kind of self confidence that we had to play in nature’s playground. He was the one who engineered, not only the tree house, but our confidence in getting there. Rebecca Chamberlain, raised on Whidbey Island, by the coolest parents in the world. (PS: I REALLY need this cool book.)
Comment by Rebecca Chamberlain — September 20, 2012 @ 7:32 pm
Playing four square!!
Comment by Ava — September 20, 2012 @ 8:03 pm
Tether-ball! A great way to get out the agression of having to sit inside all day.
Comment by Lisa — September 20, 2012 @ 8:53 pm
I loved the swings (still do!)
Comment by Brenda — September 20, 2012 @ 9:11 pm
My favorite were the bars that we did tricks on - going around & around with both one & two legs on them. LOVE your brooks, my little ones are starting to grow into little athletes and I’d love your book! Thanks!
Comment by Lisa M. — September 20, 2012 @ 9:20 pm
Definitely swings… the bigger, the better!
Comment by Angie — September 20, 2012 @ 9:23 pm
I loved the swings.
Comment by marilyn — September 20, 2012 @ 9:51 pm
Tetherball!!! We just purchased one for our kids and my husband and I had to play. He won, clearly because I was laughing so hard. It felt so good to act like a kid again!
Comment by Julie — September 20, 2012 @ 11:15 pm
I loved the seesaw. We would try and go down hard, and try to bounce the person on the other side! Seems kind of dangerous now…I do not know how I would feel about my own kids doing that. Looking forward to the book. I have a big baseball player in the house who also decided to try cross country this fall. Thank you.
Comment by Jennifer — September 21, 2012 @ 5:45 am
I really loved the swings. I would swing as high as i could go and sing my heart out!
Comment by ann — September 21, 2012 @ 6:00 am
Swings! Still swinging–yesterday at Lewis Creek Park in Bellevue in the sunshine.
Comment by Susan T — September 21, 2012 @ 8:15 am
I was all about the monkey bars. I think I can still do a penny drop, but it might hurt me a little more these days!
Comment by Diane C — September 21, 2012 @ 8:54 am
My friend and I started a tetherball competition at our elementary school. We had a girls bracket and a boys. Since we were the only girls she took first and I took second.
it was a lot of fun!
Comment by Chandin — September 21, 2012 @ 9:52 am
Tether ball, baby! I played, recently, and it’s a lot more difficult at 50 than it was at 8. I would love your book. I have a 15 year old son that I need to nourish!
Comment by Laura — September 21, 2012 @ 10:52 am
Mentioning Tether ball on your FB page is what brought the memories back for me! I loved it! And when your a girl who is taller than most the boys in 4th grade you can dominate! My family and I LOVE your other book. I suspect some future athletes in my little girls. I already subscribe AND “like” you. Fun fun!
Comment by erica — September 21, 2012 @ 11:49 am
I loved the see-saws, but I don’t see them on playgrounds anymore. We used to “bump” on the ground to try to make each other fall off! Maybe that’s why.
Comment by PattiH — September 21, 2012 @ 12:29 pm
Twirly bars!
Comment by Jenni — September 21, 2012 @ 1:06 pm
I loved the monkey bars. When I was in about third grade, another kid told me that the ones on our playground were called “Dead Man’s Drop” and that every year a little kid would get seriously injured on them and the principal would lower the bars another foot. I completely bought it hook, line, and sinker and was always in a bit of dread on them.
Comment by Danielle — September 21, 2012 @ 2:27 pm
I wasn’t the most coordinated kid, but I could run. My favorite part of the playground was the big open cement square (providing many a skinned knee). Some of the boys asked me to chase them around the playground during recess.
Comment by Maggie — September 21, 2012 @ 2:44 pm
Hula Hooping!!!!!
Comment by Carrie @ Rhubarb Sky — September 21, 2012 @ 3:19 pm
I don’t even know what to call it anymore! It was just a bar a few feet off the ground that we used to spin around! I spent hours on that thing…
Comment by Lisa Smith — September 21, 2012 @ 4:32 pm
Swings! I loved (and still love) feeling like I’m flying through the air.
Comment by Lisa K — September 21, 2012 @ 4:35 pm
I used to love hanging upside down on the monkey bars with my friends. We all had long hair, so when we were hanging upside down we used to create a “Hair Forest.” Then, our other friends on the ground would run through the “forest.” I remember lots of giggling!
Comment by Julia — September 21, 2012 @ 6:35 pm
The geodesic dome climber, now banned from playgrounds (because of danger, I guess!).
Comment by Elisa — September 21, 2012 @ 8:21 pm
Hard to pick just one!
I have so many fond memories of swinging at the playground, I would imagine I was flying to the clouds, my hair flying in the wind. I loved it so much that I actually would try to swing in the midst of winter in my snowsuit- growing up in Vermont you can imagine how much snow there was
My grandfather even built a swing for me in the cellar so I could swing year round! My 1st bloody nose came upon a playground- when I was 5, I hit the monkey bars, it terrified me for a long time!
Congratulations on your book- it sounds amazing! I have your other book ” Feeding The Whole Family” I have four children so it’s put to good use- we LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!! . I subscribe to your newsletter and on FB
Best wishes!
Comment by Jen — September 21, 2012 @ 8:55 pm
Swings! My parents even put one in our basement furnace room so my brother and I could swing in the winter.
Comment by Katie — September 21, 2012 @ 10:02 pm
Believe it or not, the plain old straight metal slide. My brothers/sisters and I would play “king of the slide” the point being to be the one who could stay on the slide the longest without touching the ground. This required lots of monkeying around on each others backs, play fights, etc to try and make others touch the ground first. Lots of fun and a great use for the playground toy that wasn’t often a favorite.
Comment by Nicole — September 22, 2012 @ 8:36 am
My favorite was the tetherball pole! I LOVED swinging or pounding the ball as hard as i could and watching its rope wrap around and around and then untwisted itself. Fun memories!
Comment by Jill J. — September 22, 2012 @ 10:28 am
I loved the swing set, and still do. I always try to drag my daughter to them instead of the slide.
Comment by Amy G — September 22, 2012 @ 7:54 pm
I loved the merry-go-round. Remember those? If someone spun them fast enough you could fall off? So politically incorrect now but SO much fun!
Comment by Michelle — September 23, 2012 @ 2:26 am
Swings. I like swings. They’re so swing-y.
Comment by Eileen — September 23, 2012 @ 8:53 am
My favorite piece of playground equipment had to be teeter totters. We played so many games on them and, looking back now as a parent, I’d probably cringe and worry about my children getting hurt if they did the same thing.
Comment by Amy — September 23, 2012 @ 9:41 am
I loved the swings (still do!). The higher you got, the more your stomach would flip … so much fun!
Comment by Cathy — September 23, 2012 @ 9:58 am
Ths merry-go-round, which they no longer have on play grounds, likely due to safety concerns; though I never saw anyone get hurt on one. Second was the see saw, which I did get hurt on, almost broke my ankle.
Comment by Lisa — September 23, 2012 @ 10:19 am
I loved swings! But something happened to me after having babies that made them intolerable for me. YUCK! But now my kids love swings. I could never never get across the monkey bars, but now that I am almost 40 I am trying them out.
Comment by Nirinjan — September 23, 2012 @ 4:03 pm
The equipment where you spin it round and round and leap on to get totally dizzy and hope not to fall off!
Comment by Jane — September 23, 2012 @ 4:04 pm
Swings have always been a favorite and still are!
Comment by Kasia — September 23, 2012 @ 4:39 pm
Either see saw or swings. Or hiding under a tree, in a “nest” made out of pine needles…
Comment by Jami — September 23, 2012 @ 4:41 pm