Athletic Performance Unit: Tritons' Kitchen Recipe of the Week

Pasta salad!

7/1/2022 2:42:00 PM

UC San Diego is always on the cutting edge of innovation, and our Athletic Performance Unit (APU) is a superb example. The APU plays a major role in keeping Triton scholar-athletes healthy and sharp, both physically and mentally. Consisting of several different factions including Sports Medicine, Athletic Performance, Triton Mind, Mental Performance, and Triton Nutrition, when working in unison the APU ensures that the Tritons are prepared to be at the top of their competitive game.

In this summer series, we'll introduce you to our Athletic Performance Unit with amazing recipes, workout ideas, tips to keep you in the right state of mind, and much more.

Below is Dr. Matt Kritz, UC San Diego's Executive Director for Human Performance, with a quick welcome before we get into it!

TRITONS' KITCHEN: RECIPE OF THE WEEK

The sport nutrition branch of UC San Diego's Athletic Performance Unit aims to provide scholar-athletes with the skills and knowledge to develop lasting nutrition and lifestyle habits. Establishing these good habits during college will benefit the academic and athletic performance of scholar-athletes during their time at UC San Diego and well beyond their college years.

Today, we're offering up a delicious recipe for pasta salad. Pasta salad makes a tasty all-in-one meal when it has a grain/pasta to provide carbohydrates, protein sources, and lots of colorful produce! For anyone with a busy schedule, this makes it a great recipe to try when meal-prepping since you'll have leftovers for later in the week.

We like to use farro as the grain because it has a nice chewy texture and is a whole grain, making it a good source of fiber. Dietary fiber helps keep the GI tract healthy, can lower cholesterol, and decrease the risk of chronic disease. Farro also contains antioxidants that can fight inflammation. Strenuous exercise generates some inflammation in the body and choosing anti-inflammatory foods helps with recovery and injury prevention.

Let's go!