A sugar high: Professional climber's diet heavy in sweet stuff

photo Professional rock climber Paige Claassen will be in Chattanooga next week to compete in the Triple Crown of Bouldering competition, part of Chattanooga's RiverRocks Adventure Sports Games. Photo by John Glassberg

Triple Crown of Bouldering The Triple Crown event includes events at four locations: Hound Ear in Boone, N.C., which took place Oct. 4, the Stone Fort (aka Little Rock City) in Chattanooga on Oct. 25, Horse Pens 40 in Steele, Ala. on Nov. 22 and Rumbling Bald in Lake Lure, N.C. on Dec. 13. In Chattanooga, the bouldering event starts at 9 a.m. To register, go to http://triplecrownbouldering.org/registration; entry fee is $50. A warning to would-be spectators, event organizers say that, because of transportation and overcrowding concerns, if you want to watch, you'll have to pay the $50 fee, too. Paige Claasen Lead Now Tour When: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Oct. 24 Where: High Point Climbing and Fitness, 219 Broad St. Admission: Free Information: 423-602-7625

Like most professional athletes, climber Paige Claassen has a hearty appetite. But unlike most athletes, her diet is not focused on low fat, low carb, low sugar.

Claassen loves sugar.

Instead of packing protein/energy bars for a quick meal while climbing, Claassen takes dried fruit, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and, of course, cookies. Climbing burns a lot of calories, especially since she does it four to five times a week and has done it all over the world.

"As a professional athlete, I'm constantly burning energy, so I need to keep my body fed," says Claassen, who lives in Colorado. "Most of my food is homemade, but I do not follow a low-fat, low-carb, low-sugar diet. Everyone's body is different and burns fuel differently. Personally, my body operates really well on sugar."

Claassen will be in Chattanooga next week to compete in the Triple Crown of Bouldering competition, part of Chattanooga's RiverRocks Adventure Sports Games. She'll also present a slideshow and talk about her career at Southern Rock as part of her worldwide Lead Now tour.

While Claassen admits her diet is not for everyone, it works for her.

"I feel the strongest when I eat a lot of sugar, and I don't crash," she says. "Protein makes me feel tired. But, of course, this isn't the case for everyone. Sugar is a big part of my diet. I went through a phase where I cut out all sugars, but I found I had no energy and my climbing performance really suffered. So I've learned to embrace dessert as climbing food."

Her fondness for everything sweet is evident on her website, where she shares some of her favorite recipes.

Still, while acknowledging her sugar buzz, she's game for trying anything new. Except olives. No olives.

"That's the only thing I don't eat. I love to try new, bizarre foods when traveling."

Claassen says her love of food stemmed from her mom's homemade meals.

"My mom always cooked every meal - breakfast, lunch and dinner - even before I was a climber, so as a family we always ate well," she says. "Climbing just made me more hungry."

As a cook, though, she isn't limited to sweet treats.

"In the past, I mostly baked sweets, but recently I've been cooking more and baking less," she says. "Risottos are my favorite. Polenta, veggie lasagna and fresh bread are some of my other favorites."

photo Chocolate Raspberry Shortbread Cookies.

Chocolate Raspberry Shortbread Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup raspberry jam

2 cookie cutters of the same shape, one large and one small

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour and salt. In a large bowl, beat butter until smooth. Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Separate dough in half and using a rolling pin, roll each portion into /8- to -inch thick flat sheets. Place sheets of dough in freezer for 5-10 minutes. If the dough is too frozen, the sheets become brittle and impossible to cut with cookie cutters. If the dough is too soft, cookie cutters won't work, either. Refreezing the sheets for a few minutes throughout the process will help.

Cut out all the dough with the large cookie cutter. Refreeze the cut shapes before cutting a hole out of half the shapes with the small cookie cutter. Half your shapes should be whole, and half your shapes should have a hole. Freeze the cut dough for a few minutes before baking so the cookies maintain their shape in the oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until just barely golden. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Be gentle, shortbread is very delicate and crumbles easily. Spread raspberry jam on the top. Grate a bit of chocolate over the jam.

- Adapted from "Joy of Baking"

photo Homemade Pop Tarts.

Berry Pop Tarts

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar (or any sugar)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter, refrigerator temperature

1/2 cup light coconut milk, refrigerator temperature

1 egg

1/2 cup mixed berry jam (or any flavor)

2 teaspoons corn starch

Mix flour, coconut flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Chop the butter into small cubes and add to the flour mixture.

Add the coconut milk and egg to the flour mixture. Using your hands, "pinch" the dough until combined. The dough should be slightly dry but stick together, and the butter cubes should be smoothed in. Cover the dough and place in the refrigerator until ready to use. Stir the corn starch into the jam in a small bowl to make the filling.

Roll out the dough into two thin sheets, about 1 to 2 millimeters thick. Cut 2-by-2 inch squares out of the dough and place half of the squares on a baking sheet covered with wax paper. Score the sides of each square with the back of a fork, about 1/4 inch. This will help the two layers of dough seal together at the end. Spread a spoonful of filling onto each of the squares on the baking sheet, making sure to keep the filling in the middle of the squares, so as not to cover the score lines.

Cover each jam filled square with a second square of dough. Make sure the two pieces are relatively the same shape and size and the sides line up, otherwise, the filling will ooze out. Score the top layer of dough into the bottom layer, pinching them together with the back of a fork, about 1/4 inch in. Poke a few tiny holes in each pop tart for the air to escape.

Optional: Whip a second egg in small bowl and glaze the top of each pop tart with a pastry brush before baking. If you want to glaze the pop tarts in frosting, wait until after baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until barely browned around the edges.

Lemon Lavender Lust Cupcakes

1/2 cup almond milk

1/4 cup light coconut milk

1 tablespoon canola oil

2 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

1/4cup honey

1 tablespoon tapioca flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 tablespoons lavender flowers

Mix milks, oil, eggs, sugar and honey in a large bowl until smooth. Add flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda to the same bowl and mix until combined. Break up the lavender flowers to enable the release of flavor and fragrance. This can be done using a small food processor tilted at an angle so the flowers don't get stuck at the bottom. Another option is to chop the lavender with a knife. Once chopped, mix flowers into the batter. Pour batter into muffin tins and back at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Contact Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.

Upcoming Events