The Plews on racing LCHF

Last week I detailed Kona Ironman age-group champion Dan Plews’ daily and training nutrition using a LCHF approach. How does this change in the lead up to an event, and what does he do on race day?

Like conventional sports nutrition principles, there is somewhat of a carbohydrate loading phase pre-race. This isn’t the 500-600g of carbohydrate that is recommended for most athletes in the three days before (which generally leaves an athlete feeling lethargic and bloated), however it is more than he would generally eat. Don’t forget that tapering for a race is, in effect, carbo loading, as the muscle glycogen stores are not depleted during training and it allows them the chance to be replenished and not in the deficit they normally are. Based on Rowlands paper which showed that a higher fat diet with a preload of carbohydrates, he’s dialled in his approach that Dan now feels works really well for him. He lifts his carbohydrate intake from the 80-100g he typically eats in the days prior. On the Wednesday (for a Saturday race), he will include additional potato or sweet potato in his evening meal, taking him to ~125g carbs per day. This increases to ~175g per day on Thursday and Friday (the two days before the race) – including fruit alongside the potato or sweet potato. In addition, he makes sure snacks etc on hand are low carbohydrate so  not to be caught out during the lead up period with having to rely on the petrol station or four square options. If you do have to rely on these, and are looking for lower carbohydrate, then biltong, cheese snacks, even lower carbohydrate protein bars can be good stop gaps. On race morning before Dan’s Kona race he opted for was porridge: oats with a bit of Super Starch added, which is a slow release carbohydrate to not inhibit fat burning, and is a higher molecular weight carbohydrate, so it is easier to digest.

During the race:

Despite research studies in this area using a ‘train low glycogen, race low glycogen’ model to determine the efficacy of a LCHF approach for sports performance, in practice Dan follows what practitioners advocate: a ‘train low, race high’ model. Ideally, the train low approach has enabled you to increase your efficiency to burn fat as a fuel source in addition to using carbohydrate that you have stored or take on board, thus maximising the amount of fuel you have available. Dan takes in around 50g carbohydrate per hour;  because he is very efficient at burning fat, he doesn’t need as much carbohydrate as he would otherwise. A real benefit of this is that it minimises the likelihood of gut issues many endurance athletes experience during a long event – the more carbohydrate fuel you have to take on board, the more opportunity there is to get the dose wrong. Importantly though, the more fatigued you become, the more your body will divert blood supply away from the gut to the muscles, and thus impacting on your ability to digest the fuel.  During Kona Dan used energy blocks with gels on the bike, and a couple of gels with some swigs of sports drink or coke during the run. His paper Different Horses on the Same Courses outlines how to take this individualistic approach to fuelling, as will his online course that you can sign up to by clicking here.

Finally, post-race, Dan gets back on board the LCHF approach fairly swiftly, as he has seen the impact that a higher carbohydrate fuelling day has on his blood glucose level across the course of the following week. It certainly doesn’t reduce down to normal levels the day after, and it’s likely that inflammation and muscle damage impacts on this too. Your best bet is to (as soon as possible) get back to your LCHF diet and help your recovery process.

LCHF for the top end:

Whilst LCHF is increasingly more accepted in the endurance space as part of the approach, what about at that top end – does it limit performance there? There is very little quality research on this, however Dan’s research group found that there was no detriment to perform high intensity intervals (as I blogged about here), but the jury is definitely out on this point and I wonder if, like many things, it is individual. A person’s ability to metabolise fat as a fuel source and use it at a higher intensity is trainable for sure (that’s what fat adaptation is all about), but there could be individuals who are less able to produce ketones to be used for energy – this is speculation though on my part. Yes, there is a down regulation in pyruvate dehydrogenase which helps turn stored carbohydrate into glucose for energy, however the importance of this is questionable given the increased availability of fat for fuel, and there may be other enzymes upregulated to counteract this change in the fuel use. A potential way around this issue (and to ensure glucose metabolism is continued on your LCHF approach) is to do higher intensity efforts in training that force liver to convert glycogen to glucose – thus keeping glucose oxidation pathways high. I’m also beginning to recommend that people take on a small amount of glucose pre-high intensity sessions if they are beginning the fat adaptation phase during a training cycle that incorporates higher intensity efforts. Ideally your fat adaptation phase will occur during base training when we can keep intensity low. But that isn’t always possible. Fifteen-20g glucose prior to training for these high intensity sessions can keep output high but is unlikely to be enough to “ruin” your adaptation process. Again, there is no research behind these numbers, but from a practice perspective I’ve seen this work well.

Finally, you know I’m an advocate of ketones to help support training whilst lower carbohydrate, and it certainly has helped me and many of my clients. We don’t at this point know enough about ketone utilisation in the body and whether taking exogenous ketones downregulates the body’s ability to produce them. This is an emerging field we are looking at with interest with regards to dosage, timing, type of ketone supplement etc. There has been decades of research into carbohydrate as a performance enhancer, and we can probably expect that it will take a few years of research for these questions to be answered in the science research space. Trying them yourself is likely the best approach to see how they impact your own performance (and I can help you with that).

Plews at Kona (PC http://www.trizone.com.au)

Does HIIT take a hit on a ketogenic diet?

Much of the research points to the utility of a keto diet for increasing fat oxidation for longer, slower training. After a period of adaptation, athletes are then able to tap into an alternative fuel source which affords them an extensive supply of fuel at a steady rate, unlike carbohydrate (glycogen) stores which are limited and easily depleted in a moderate-long training session. Thus, it stands to reason athletes are able to go for longer than if they are straight carb-burning athletes in an endurance event – something that Maunder and colleagues discuss in this most recent paper outlining the practical application of a low carbohydrate diet for athletes of varying abilities. However many of the recent randomized trials (such as this one here) have found that performance, particularly at the top-end of the spectrum, is compromised when athletes switch to a lower carbohydrate approach. Further, the relative effort at a given heart rate is increased. You go slower, but it feels harder. Ouch. This understandably makes an athlete’s coache a little nervous to recommend their athletes go on a lower carbohydrate diet.

Interesting though, this is not the experience of many people I work with who transition to a lower carb diet. If anything, performance improves for the athlete (something I’ve written a lot about over the last few years, including this blog here). Given enough time, any reduction in power that occurs early in the transition phase appears to be reversed and the athlete comes out leaner, stronger and fitter in their endurance training. Reducing reliance on carbohydrate as a training fuel reduces the oxidative damage that occurs during training, thus inflammation is reduced. They aren’t placing their body under as much oxidative stress and therefore the athlete can train more consistently during the season with less risk of stress-related injury and illness. This may also be due to a higher presence of beta hydroxybutyrate in the bloodstream, which act as signalling molecules and increase the transcription of enzymes that encode antioxidant genes superoxide dismutase, catalase 2 and glutathione peroxidase. This helps scavenge free radicals created through training and protects the athlete from tissue damage. This may be one of the reasons why they are seeing better results with their key races.

Two of my mates felt similarly, and experienced similar benefits of adhering to a low carbohydrate diet, experiencing no detriment to high intensity training, despite what the research deemed. So they decided to test the hypothesis.

They took 18 male endurance athletes who were habitually eating a standard western diet, and randomised them to consume either their normal diet (control group), or a very low carbohydrate ketogenic diet, consisting of no more than 50g carbs per day for four weeks, and performed graded exercise tests before and after the experiment, and a HIIT session (5x3min, work/rest 2:1, passive recovery, total time 34min) before, and after 2 and 4 weeks.

The researchers found that (as expected) fat oxidation levels increased in the experimental group throughout the tests, and total time to exhaustion, performance in the HIIT session and rate of perceived exertion was no different between the groups. Ergo, the ketogenic diet did not impact the athlete’s ability to undergo high intensity training (nor make it seem harder for them). Interestingly, the level of protein in the diet was around 29%, higher than the 17% used in other studies – this could account for the level of ketones present in the blood stream that were lower at the end of the study (0.4 mmol/L), just out of the ‘nutritional ketosis’ range. The difference this may have made to the athletes’ performance, however, we don’t really know.

Many of the studies conducted that have found performance is reduced are likely too short to allow the athletes to adapt to a ketogenic diet, which is thought to take several weeks to months. Hopefully this new research makes you think twice about taking the results of a study like such as the one here, as a reason to dismiss the low carbohydrate diet for athletes.

To recap, then, of what we know is possible for athletes following a lower carbohydrate approach:

• More nutritious diet through increase of vegetables, proteins and good fats that replace the refined carbohydrates;
• Less carbs going in, therefore less likelihood of gastrointestinal distress, of which 30-90% of athletes report experiencing;
• Improved body composition;
• Able to go for longer at a higher given intensity;
• Reduced tissue damage;
• Reduced inflammation;
• Better sleep (perhaps because less sugar going in, keeping them wired);
• No detriment to HIIT type training;
• No difference in rate of perceived effort;
• No detriment to time trial performance;
• Increased fat oxidation rates; and
• No detriment to glycogen repletion post-training compared to higher carbohydrate athletes.

As a side note, lots of peeps look at the elite athlete who chows down on carbohydrate in racing and during everyday life and thinks to themselves that, if they can perform to that standard eating a higher carb approach, then why can’t I? A couple of points to note:

• The elite athlete may train from 20-30 hours per week – by default they spend a lot of time in a depleted state, meaning they are likely training low glycogen as it is impossible to replenish carbohydrate at the rate they are burning it. This is going to afford them the same capacity to train in the lower carb state that provides enhanced training adaptations. The average age grouper may have time to train 12-18h a week maximum, and don’t have the volume available to get into the low glycogen state.
• They are elite for a reason. They are able to go harder and faster than most people –psychologically they are able to hurt more and potentially go longer before they bonk – we age-groupers have more of a preservation mindset. They may also be able to train harder when in an inflamed state for this reason. I’m not saying this is ideal (far from it). I’m just putting it out there as a reason why there are professionals who are able to see results where others don’t.
• Even at the top of the field the elite athlete can suffer, and far more than an age-grouper. Years of a nutrient-poor, carbohydrate rich diet and overreaching to the point of overtraining will leave an athlete burnt out and unable to continue on at the level they previously enjoyed. It might appear that elite athletes are bullet proof but I’m sure as you’re reading this you’re thinking of someone who falls into this category. Things aren’t always as they appear, and the golden glow of success can be pretty fleeting.
• Of course, there are others who are just awesome and continue to turn up and take it out year after year, regardless of diet, training methods, lifestyle etc. Like the people who drink every day, smoke like a chimney and don’t eat vegetables, yet live to 102 years.
• Re: racing high carbohydrate – that Maunder paper again – worth a read.

Fuelling the fat-adapted athlete

On August 1st I’m releasing my athlete-specific meal plan, which is a long time coming given that I consult with many endurance athletes! It’s hard to be specific with a general plan, clearly, particularly when it comes to training nutrition, so when you sign up I encourage you to contact me to see if we need to tweak the elements of this plan to suit your training.

The goal of an athlete training plan is to provide fuel where required, be strategic about the type of fuel and when to have it. I want to help make you a more efficient athlete – so your training and recovery is optimised to enable you to get out there day in, day out in the best possible shape. This will allow you to show up to the start line (or game day) in the best position to do your best. Like recovery, nutrition is vital to enhancing fitness gains from your session – eating the wrong types of food increases oxidative stress and dampens down your immune system, leaving you susceptible to inflammation, illness and injury. If you don’t recover effectively from the previous training session, your ability to get out the next time and hit certain paces/power is compromised – therefore overall fitness gains aren’t realised and you may not reach your potential awesomeness. I’ve written about this previously in more detail here.

To be metabolically efficient, we want to be strategic about when and how we have our carbohydrate, how much we have and the quality of the carbohydrate source. That is why in the plans I focus on adding fruit, kumara or potato after training if the training requires additional carbohydrate to support recovery. By removing carbohydrate from the pre-training meal/snack, we don’t have an insulin response that will drive circulating glucose (what carbohydrate is broken into) in to your muscle cells, shutting down lipolysis (fat burning). The body will be forced to use alternative fuel sources such as fat which, as an endurance athlete, we should be primed to do. The reality is, though, the modern diet that a typical athlete follows has made sugar burning the default training state, even at low intensities. Even the leanest marathon runner has enough fat calories on board to go out and run back to back races – accessing this though is the problem! Fat as a fuel source creates a lot less oxidative damage and reactive oxidative species, thereby the inflammation you experience post-training is reduced, recovery is enhanced, and you’ll be able to hit the next session fighting fit. We need to adapt from a carb burner to a fat burner for you to go out and train and not risk bonking or running out of fuel. The switch over doesn’t happen overnight, and if you’re new to this approach then training can feel pretty sluggish to begin with – but hang in there as it does get easier!

There are different approaches to fuelling depending on your goal:

Pre-training

If body composition improvement is your goal, it is best to do fasted training sessions or use coffee/caffeine as an ergogenic aid and fuel afterwards. This doesn’t mean that you’ll lose MORE body fat than if you were just to reduce calories, but it will force your body to tap into its own reserves, which (when combined with this dietary approach) I’ve clinically seen helps accelerate fat loss in the context of this eating style. For extended, longer duration >3h+ then having some fuel (as suggested in plan) can be a good idea, or starting fasted and taking on board fuel after 45-90 minutes depending on session is optimal.

If you are happy with your body composition or do not want to drop any body fat, then you can choose to take on board some fat before training – such as cream in coffee, MCT oil powder in coffee, or ketones. By fueling before training, you will shut down your own fat oxidation, but be upregulating pathways for fat oxidation, however it will be burning the fat that you consumed. This option is also good for people who have higher cortisol levels – training in the absence of any fuel can further exacerbate the ‘stress’ response from your hypothalamus (brain). Taking on board some calories sends signals to your brain that there is no need to stress. Taking the ketone supplement has been found (compared to fasting) to upregulate fat oxidation at lower given intensities; once the intensity rises to a high intensity, the opposite may be true (potentially due to the ketones being used to spare glycogen at the higher intensities).

If you struggle to maintain your weight and need to work at keeping calories high, then adding in some additional protein alongside could also be a good option – this could be a couple of hardboiled eggs, some scrambled eggs, additional fat-based calories or a smoothie based on nuts, avocado, some protein powder, coconut milk, greens, with no fruit). Again, this will provide a minimal insulin response, meaning your body will be burning the fuel you provide it (fat calories) and therefore working towards improving metabolic efficiency.

In all instances above, 10g of branched chain amino acid powder can help fuel a longer session – just mix in water beforehand.

In a perfect world, the best type of training to do if you are new to this is low intensity training; this is because your body needs to relearn how to burn fat as its primary fuel source. The ultimate goal down the line is to become metabolically flexible (ie easily shift between both sugar burning and fat burning) – and that will happen! That means the natural switch over to burning sugar that occurs when training at higher intensities will not impact on your fat-burning capabilities at the lower intensities. Right now, though, if it’s all new to you, your default is to burn glucose at that high intensity. Any shift back into glucose burning at this stage will impact on your ability to burn fat and can leave you in no-mans land when it comes to training. What I mean is, you are following a lower carbohydrate approach to diet, so there is no glucose on board as a ready source of fuel, yet you are too high intensity for your body to use fat as a primary fuel source (at this stage). No mans land.

However, it rarely happens that an athlete is always training low intensity, even in their off season. Therefore supplementing with an exogenous ketone supplement (such as Pruvit) provides your body with fuel the way a carbohydrate gel provides glucose. Ketones are the byproduct of fat metabolism, and when you burn fat as a fuel source, your body generates these to support metabolism. At a high intensity if you’re new to this, taking exogenous ketones provide you the fuel to enhance fat oxidation before your body has the machinery in place to do it for you. Otherwise the intensity will force your body to switch back to glucose burning. Remember, in the initial phases of your fat-fuelled approach, your body has to upregulate the machinery required for fat adaptation – it isn’t the default fuelling response. Any opportunity to switch back to burning sugar, it will take it.

Taking the ketones (along with MCT oil powder) will provide the fuel you need for the training without the need to use glucose, and is recommended in this instance. Further, ketones aid in recovery from longer sessions, and most athletes I work with who use them experience reduced inflammation, less excessive hunger, and can go for longer at a higher given intensity without an increase in their heart rate or perceived effort. Most have also experienced improved body composition due to these reasons. My recommendation is to have ½ sachet of the ketones and you can include 10g of MCT oil powder with it prior to your session.

During training:

 Shorter training up to 2h, low-mod intensity

Nothing – perhaps water, or an electrolyte fluid (no carbohydrates required*)

 Medium length from 2-3h low-mod intensity

Evaluate how you feel, take some MCT mix (see below), Superstarch (30g/hour in 750 ml bottle), ketones as below (sachet in 750ml bottle, 1/3 bottle hour), otherwise just electrolyte fluid.

Longer training: over 3h

36g MCT oil powder + 20g BCAA + ¼ tsp salt in 750 ml bottle OR sachet ketones, 18g MCT oil powder + 20g BCAA in 750ml bottle – ¼ bottle per hour AND every 45 minutes have something small, solid, food based: ¼ – ½ Cliff bar, 30g cheese, hardboiled egg, small handful cashews, ½ UCAN superstarch bar, homemade bar (such as apple pie blondie).

If including high intensity intervals

Try carb rinsing: 5-10 minutes before starting effort, have a glucose tablet, thereby trickling in carbohydrate – this method tells your brain you’ve had carbohydrate onboard without taking anything on. OR have sachet ketones in drink bottle as above.

*may need something if getting into it for first time, and suggestion is the ketone supplement here to help aid the fat oxidation pathways.

 Post-training

If body composition improvements are a goal, train around your meals so you don’t need to eat in addition to them, also can create a ‘train low’ environment by withholding food for around 45-75 minutes to further enhance fat oxidation. If higher intensity effort, include 10g BCAA powder in water post-training to preserve muscle mass.

If happy with body composition, then you can do as above or add in a protein shake with around 25g protein, use unsweetened almond milk to help provide calories and preserve muscle mass. Having the other ½ of your ketone sachet here can enhance recovery. Include 10g BCAA in water post-training to preserve muscle mass.

If you struggle to maintain your weight (or you are training hard again in next 8 hour period), then adding in the protein shake as above, plus serve of good quality carbohydrate such as kumara, potato, a piece of fruit can provide calories plus easily digested fuel to support recovery. Including the other half of your ketone sachet here can enhance recovery and include 10g BCAA in water post-training to preserve muscle mass.

In all instances, if the training is long, then I think the benefits of post-workout fuel outweigh ‘train low’, especially if you have a heavy or longer session the next day as a lot of ultra runners or triathletes do.

• Ketones: in NZ click here to order (or PM me) – a Starter pack is the best place to start, or the ‘keto challenge’ pack.
• Ketones international athletes: click here to order– a Starter pack is the best place to start, or the ‘keto challenge’ pack.
• UCAN Superstarch powder or bars click here to order
• MCT oil powder: click here to get Quest MCT oil powder
• BCAAs: click here to get ON Nutrition unflavoured BCAA powder

This isn’t definitive, and someone else will have a different approach, however these are generally the guidelines I have used that work with clients and that may work with you.

Remember, though, the best way to get fat-adapted is to adopt a daily diet that supports fat metabolism – click here to sign up to my plans and use the above guidelines to support your training.

The fuel I used pre-half marathon at the beginning of my marathon training program: 1/2 ketone sachet, MCT oil powder, coffee and PB.

Random porridge post

I have been having a bit of a hankering for porridge – it’s cold and winter, after all. But I’m one of these people who, after having oats, has a blood sugar plummet within an hour – even with a decent hit of protein powder added which should help stabilise my blood sugars and keep me full.

So over the last few years I’ve been having some porridge alternatives. Here’s five that I have found to be quite delicious that I mentioned on our Fitter Radio podcast.

(PS Have loads more like this (and completely different ones!) – sign up to my monthly meal plans and online nutrition coaching to get plans, recipes, shopping lists and access to my brain through a messaging service, emails and a Facebook member’s page 🙂 )

1. Flaxseed chia porridge: good fats, good protein and will keep you full

Flaxseed chia porridge

2. Banana chai porridge: a nice spicy sweet start to the day (you won’t notice the cauliflower)

Banana chai porridge

3. Almond butter porridge: grain free and filling

Almond butter porridge

4. Lewis’ chia porridge: fuelling an endurance athlete who has type 1 diabetes since ages ago

5. Walnut chia porridge: seriously delicious, you won’t be missing oats with this one

Walnut chia porridge

Injury-prone? Read this.

Nothing derails an athlete like an injury. We all know that consistency is one of the most important aspects to perform at your best, but getting to the start line in one piece is one of the biggest challenges that athletes face – particularly endurance athletes. For me, I have a long standing battle with my calves, and many people I talk to are similar: an old achillies injury, a hamstring problem, a niggly hip. However, this is hope! I listened to this great podcast where one of the leading researchers (Keith Baar) talked about his research that is helping athletes avoid injury and (when injured) recover more quickly. It is so practical and easy to apply that I had to share it. And whilst this is related specifically to athletes, I can’t think of any reason this couldn’t apply to anyone who may not think of themselves as an ‘athlete’ but struggles with an ongoing muscle or bone ailment.

A bit of background: Collagen, the most abundant protein form in the body, is made up of two amino acids, glycine and proline. It is found in bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments and has an almost scaffolding effect, to provide form and structure. Modern diets don’t contain a lot of glycine – it is found in the cartilage, bones and gelatinous part of animals and most people prefer the leaner cuts of meat (such as a steak, or a chicken breast). Most athletes I talk to would fall into this category; traditional sports nutrition guidelines would encourage them to fill up on carbohydrate, eat a moderate amount of lean protein and choose those leaner cuts of meat to ensure fat intake is kept low. Another easy source of glycine is found in gelatine – the wide, grainy powder found in the baking aisle used as a gelling agent in cooking. It is made predominantly of left over parts of the animal (bone, skin etc) that would otherwise not be used and has become more popular recently for its health promoting properties. Gelatine has also garnered the attention of sport scientists for its potential role in healing from injury and injury prevention.

While mere mortals wouldn’t typically think of tendon stiffness as a good thing, sport scientists have shown that the higher degree of stiffness you have in your muscle tendons, the better efficiency you’re going to have when using them. For a runner this would mean you’d expend less energy overall at a higher given intensity. And who doesn’t want that?

Tendon stiffness is determined largely by the amount of collagen AND the crosslinking of it. the collagen (tissue). Cross linking is determined by enzymatic processes that occur in the body, the expression and the activity of these enzymes increases when we are active. Baar’s research found that when they combined vitamin C (important for collagen synthesis) with glycine (one of the most common amino acids in collagen) there was an increase in strength of ligaments the engineered in the laboratory. They then conducted clinical trials in athletes to determine if this could be translated to a real world situation.

They conducted a randomised clinical trial, whereby they gave the group either a placebo, 5g or 15g of gelatine and measured the amino acids present in the blood stream over the following three hours. They found that the glycine peaked within the blood an hour after consuming the supplement. When they took the blood samples from the athletes and put it into their engineered ligament, they found an increase in the amount of collagen present in the ligament – a slight increase with 5g and a substantial increase with 15g of gelatine. Importantly, they found improved strength and stiffness in the ligaments that had the increase in collagen formation.

They then had the athletes jump-rope for six minutes (the length of time required to get a response from tissue cells in the bones, tendons and cartilage), rest for six hours, take the supplement again, wait an hour (for the peak amino acid expression) and jump-rope again. They did this three times a day for three days. The researchers found a doubling in the athletes’ collagen synthesis for those supplementing with 15g of gelatine, mostly from the bone.

What this shows us is if we want to improve the collagen response to an exercise bout, we can easily do this by adding gelatine as a supplement. Baar felt the initial study can be looked at as a bone recovery protocol. If we have an athlete who breaks a bone –  in the foot, a bone in the leg, bone in the back, what you can do is you can have them take the 15g gelatine alongside 50mg of vitamin C and then do five minutes of exercise an hour later. Now clearly this isn’t weighted activity – if you have access to an AlterG at your local university sports science lab that would be brilliant – something that is going to just direct those nutrients to where they need to go. Repeat this every 6h because it takes that long to get the cells to return to a state that they will then be responsive. The researchers suggest this is going to speed recovery time, something all athletes are interested in.

The above study can also be used as an injury prevention protocol, as the overall goal is to improve the mechanics of the connective tissue, reduce fatigue-related damage and optimise its strength and resilience. The protocol is the same; consume the 15g gelatine and 50mg of vitamin C then perform 5 min of activity that is going to load the area they are most concerned with. Long distance runners, for example, could supplement and then an hour later do 5-6 minutes of jump roping as this is going to load the hips, Achilles tendon, calves, tibia and femur – all areas of concern. For our long distance runners, they do five to six minutes of jump rope because if you have a history of tibial stress fractures or hip stress fractures or Achilles problems or plantar fasciitis, all of those structures are going to be loaded by the jump rope. They’re going to get just enough of a stimulus in that six minutes to have a response. Unlike muscle, bones and connective tissue don’t have a great blood supply – therefore providing nutrients then doing the exercise is like wringing out a sponge – suck the water out and it will suck up what’s left in the environment. The exercise impact is like wringing out the sponge, therefore the tissue will be responsive to up taking the nutrients.

Currently they’ve just tested the 5g and the 15g of gelatine – and while anecdotally the 5g has received favourable responses, the 15g amount was significantly more effective. The researchers don’t know for now if this is better scaled to body weight, but studies are underway to determine this. The study that is discussed here is in review and is about to be published.

In summary:

Bone healing / injury prevention protocol

1. 15g gelatine + 50 mg vitamin C* (either added to smoothies, glass of water etc)
2. Wait an hour for peak amino acid presentation in the bloodstream
3. Undertake 5-6 minutes of activity that loads the area of interest (can be non-weighted) to direct nutrients to that area. For an ankle injury, this can be simply (carefully) tracing the alphabet with your ankle
4. Do this every 6h
5. (for injury prevention) – can do this anytime – or take the gelatine + vitamin C an hour before training if the training is including drills/warm up that targets area of interest.

*a little bit less than the amount of vitamin C found in a kiwifruit, most vitamin C tablets are over 250 mg, but you could easily have this instead.

Gelatine: I use the Great Lakes Gelatin, this is definitely pricier than what you’d find in the supermarket. This (and the I Quit Sugar brand or Vital Proteins brand) are marketed as being derived from either pig or beef that have been sustainably farmed and pasture raised. They are also free from additives and preservatives. You can purchase either the gelatine that will gel, or the collagen peptides which is the collagen broken down into smaller amino acid peptides. I haven’t seen any New Zealand gelatine – our cattle industry is one of the best. The brand in the supermarket I’ve seen (Mckenzie’s) includes a preservative which wouldn’t make it ideal for anyone wanting to use it for gut healing purposes (it’s 220, sulphite dioxide – many people are sensitive to this) and they don’t make the same animal and environmentally friendly claims. Further, if you do have an injury then the levels of inflammation in your tissues will likely be higher, and while the inflammation may not stem from your gut, it can affect your sensitivity to constituents in food such as preservatives and additives you would otherwise be fine with. In terms of the injury prevention effect though, I’ve seen nothing to suggest they wouldn’t be on par – so choose the one you can afford.

PC: http://www.primalpalate.com

Nutrigrain does not build Iron Men (or Women) + an Up and Go isn’t breakfast

(But I’m picking you know that).

By default, I’ve been in the sports nutrition world more than usual over the last couple of weeks. The Eat Well Live Well topic at New World (where I’m on hand to give nutrition advice and share good choices for foods), a sports nutrition talk during the week to a bunch of athletes and my first experience of Saturday morning kids winter sport this weekend. Well, first adult experience, as being your typical kiwi girl I was an enthusiastic netball player when I was in my early teens, and remember 9am starts at Kettle Park, playing on an ice-white netball court that had been frosted over the night before.

These experiences have reminded me that the ‘real food’ nutrition choices are not mainstream yet. And have a way to go before they will be. It’s still common for athletes to smash food straight after training (to make the most of the ’30 min window of opportunity’, to base their meals around processed carbohydrates (cereals, breads, pasta, rice) and to follow an eating style that didn’t allow for adequate delivery of fat and protein across the course of the day, so they are left irritable, tired, and hungry. The problem isn’t carbohydrates per se. It’s that processed carbohydrate has pervaded the diet to the extent that we now view it as an essential part of every meal at the expense of fat and protein which provide essential fatty acids and amino acids for healthy growth, development and recovery. This is especially true for children. It can get confusing though when cereal companies spend the big bucks persuading the consumer that products such as Nutrigrain or Special K are a nutritious, substantial start to the day. Such examples include:

1. They fortify their cereals with micronutrients and can then sell them as a substantial source of vitamins and minerals, whereas we don’t know how effectively these are absorbed in the body. Nature is really smart at packaging nutrients in the correct ratios for maximum absorption when we eat, say, an apple. There’s so much about nutrition we don’t know, I doubt that Kellogg’s has cracked that nut yet.
2. They pump their products with additional gluten and soy and can then promote them as being ‘high protein’ and ‘plant based’. A lot of people are sensitive to gluten and processed soy is far removed from the soy which is attributed to the many health benefits of a traditional Asian diet. And ‘plant based’ is bandied around so much these days, as if to insinuate it is nutritionally superior to a diet that contains animal protein. The opposite is true, given that many minerals and vitamins aren’t able to be as readily absorbed because of the phytic acid and other anti-nutrients which bind them.
3. They put dried fruit and ‘ancient grains’ in their products, call them ‘Nourish’ and then sell it as real food. All this does is load them up with additional sugar.
4. They pay sports stars and other influential people good money to front their ad campaigns. Even if you can do 12 Weet-bix in one hit, I’m picking that you’re not going to be able to do much else for the rest of the day if you make a habit of it.
5. They compare a product to something else that we perceive as being  healthy or nutritious – for example, Up and Go being marketed as having as much ‘fibre, energy and protein as 2 Weet-bix and milk’. For the record, 2 Weet-bix and milk doesn’t have much fibre, protein or energy – but you wouldn’t know that from this claim which is what Sanitarium is counting on. There is 4.3g of fibre in a 250ml serve of Up and Go, and 19.3g of sugar. And a bunch of other additives, preservatives and vegetable oils to go with it.
   

   How many ways can you say sugar? There’s 5 right here.

The cereals I’ve mentioned above are as good (or bad) as junk food. But, do any of my points really matter if your kid is super active? They can’t just eat more of it, right? Hmm.  I’ve recently been reminded that there is a real culture in sports that suggest people who are active can ‘get away’ with eating high sugar junk food, and kids especially can eat sugar (I’ve heard some suggest they NEED sugar) as they can ‘burn it off.’ Nothing is further from the truth. Despite what the sports nutrition resources tell you, or what you might learn in a nutrition talk at the sports club, or see advertised on television, they don’t need additional sugar to make up for energy burnt during their practices or games. Sports drinks, white bread jam sandwiches, 2-3 jet planes aren’t necessary straight after exercise and are best left out of a young athletes menu. The ‘window’ of  opportunity of replenishing carbohydrate stores has been a convenient theory for sports nutrition products to justify their use, but we have since discovered the body can adequately restore carbohydrate up to 48 hours after a match or training. Unless, of course, there is a multi-day or multiple events on one day that requires a quick refuel, but even then there are options that allow for quick refuelling that are real food options.

A calorie is not a calorie, and active kids need more attention paid to their diet because of the heavier demands placed on their growing bodies. This expands their micronutrient and energy requirements. However, because we use body size as the main marker (or for some, the only marker) of health, we look at kids who are active and thin as ‘healthy’ without giving consideration to other equally (if not more) important indicators. I’ve worked with a number of adults who are prediabetic, yet have been fit and active their whole life, and a blood sugar screening reveals their metabolic state is probably worse than if they didn’t do any activity at all. A contributing factor to this is the carbohydrate-dominant diet that has fuelled them through the preceding years, and not just the additional treats they may have eaten because they could ‘eat what they liked.’ To the body, a high carbohydrate load is a high sugar load, regardless of where those carbs come from, because it’s broken down to the same single glucose unit.

So to save your active kids from the same fate, we need to set them up right from the get go.

Now I got a bad rap last year when I suggested that the new Weet-bix campaign that provided a ‘better brekkie’ was anything but. Weet-bix have long been the staple kiwi breakfast and growing up in winter, I had mine with hot water, warm milk, raw sugar, (because it was healthier*) and the aroma of a Gregg’s instant coffee with a freshly lit cigarette (it was the 80s, after all). Even now that combo conjures up that warm snuggly feeling of familiarity in me. The problem is that Weet-bix, or any cereal, isn’t typically a great vehicle for a nutrient dense, energy filling breakfast. Even with the campaign to make them a ‘better brekkie’. Most of the recipes on Sanitarium’s website sound amazing, but better breakfasts they are not.

So I offer a few suggestions**.

1. Better breakfast shake: swap out the dates for an egg and add a tablespoon of peanut butter or tahini ( for a nut-free variety). We’ve lowered the sugar content and upped the fat, protein and calories. This will at least keep them awake for a little longer.
2. Power porridge: swap the apple juice for grated apple. Use actual coconut milk (and not coconut flavoured milk), up the amount of rolled oats to a cup and add ¼ cup sunflower and pumpkin seeds. We’ve added more fibre, protein and lowered the sugar content.
3. Weet-bix winter warmer: swap the trim milk for full fat (so much better for growing kids and adults alike actually) – or coconut milk, up the oats, add a few tablespoons of sunflower or pumpkin seeds and ditch the dried fruit. Stir through an egg before taking off the heat.
4. Hot Weet-bix apple crumble: add ¼ cup shredded coconut, ½ cup roughly chopped mixed raw nuts – which you microwave with 1 Tbsp butter or coconut oil to make a crumble-type mixture.

Any of these would be okay if your kid feels a bit nervous before an early weekend sports game and just wanted something small. Otherwise, they will probably need some more food to go alongside the ideas above. Some good examples would be:

1. Leftover cooked sausages or other meat leftover from dinner
2. Scrambled eggs
3. Hardboiled eggs (you’ve boiled these the night before)
4. This tahini chia loaf with some nut butter spread on it
5. Kumara ‘toast’ – slice and toast as you would your bread and top accordingly (mine took a couple of goes on high to get it to a cooked but still firm stage. So easy!)
6. Three ingredient pancakes made with banana and eggs
7. Peanut butter or tahini with chopped fruit
8. Baked kumara or potato with butter
9. Chicken drumsticks
10. Glass of full milk and a banana

For more awesome ideas, click here for individualised nutrition advice or sign up for online nutrition coaching.

Kumara toast spread with fennel pesto and topped with tasty cheese.

*it’s not healthier, but it the 80s we thought it was. Sugar is sugar is sugar. Including dried fruit, rice malt syrup, fruit juice and coconut sugar or coconut nectar.

** Weet-bix optional

14 reasons to ditch the toast and jam (and 7 key tips to help you do this).

After feeling like I’d taken a trip back to 2003 with some of the sports nutrition posts and articles I’d been reading lately, I got tagged in a cool picture from a listener of our Fitter Radio podcast  – a triathlete who has switched from the traditional higher carb, lower fat diet approach to eating lower carb, higher fat, real food whilst training and commented she ‘didn’t know her 41 year old body could be the best body I have ever had’ (Woot! high fives all around!!) This coincided with finishing Mark Sisson’s Primal Endurance book.

Mark outlines 115 reasons why athletes should train and eat the Primal Endurance way. I concurred with pretty much all of them. I have added my own 2c worth, added some literature below (and cut it down to 21 for brevity’s sake). While geared towards athletes, hands down this is applicable to everyone. Everyone.

So if you’re currently eating toast and jam pre OR post training (or in general), I’ve outlined the 14 reasons why you need to ditch that junk and become a fat burning beast, and 7 key tips to help you get there.

1. Western diet is based on excess grains and sugars (and low fibre) which stimulates excess insulin production, leading to lifelong insidious weight gain, chronic inflammation and elevated disease risk factors.
2. A high carb, grain-based diet can leave endurance athletes nutrient deficient (due to phytic acid effects on minerals), inflamed and more susceptible to the oxidative damage of the stress of training, general life and poor nutrition.
3. The way that most people consume modern grains (cereals, breads, pasta) ends up being a cheap source of calories which are immediately turned into glucose upon ingestion and offer minimal nutritional value. There are no good reasons to consume these types of grains and many good reasons not to, especially for those who are sensitive to gluten and other anti-nutrients found in wheat.
4. Everyone is sensitive to the health compromising effects of grains at some level, especially the pro-inflammatory effects of gluten and the propensity for the lectins in grains to cause leaky gut syndrome.
5. Even lean people suffer from the consequences of carbohydrate dependency, such as chronic inflammation, oxidative damage, and accelerated ageing and disease risk factors.
6. Carrying excess body fat despite careful attention to diet and a high training load is largely due to carbohydrate dependency caused by a grain-based diet and chronic training patterns.
7. Carbohydrate dependency cycle looks like this: consume a high carbohydrate meal – elevate bloods sugar – stimulate an insulin response – shut off fat metabolism and promote fat storage – experience fatigue and sugar cravings – low blood sugar elicits stress response and we consume more carbohydrates – stimulate the fight or flight response to regulate blood sugar – dysregulate and exhaust assorted hormonal processes, and end up in burnout and weight gain (potentially lifelong)
8. Weight loss through portion control, low fat foods and calorie burning is ineffective long term. And while we think calories burned through exercise stimulate a corresponding increase in appetite – research might not back this up. I tend to think that people are more likely to eat more because they ‘reward’ themselves OR the long slow training allows increased opportunity to eat sports ‘junk food’ and the amount of calories burnt through training is far less than you think – and overestimated more so in females in certain instances. At any rate, the secret to weight loss is hormone optimisation, primarily through moderating excess insulin production.
9. Endurance athletes can begin to dial in to their optimal carbohydrate intake by asking themselves the question ‘do I carry excess body fat?’ Any excess body fat calls for a reduction in dietary carbohydrate intake to accelerate fat burning.
10. Endurance athletes who already have an optimal body composition but are looking to optimise training and recovery should choose high nutrient value carbohydrates. These include a high volume of vegetables, a moderate fruit intake, kumara/potatoes and other starchy tubers, dairy for those that tolerate, wild rice, quinoa and small amounts of dark chocolate.
11. Endurance athletes with high calorie needs who also have an optimal body composition can enjoy occasional treats, but the habit of unbridled intake of nutrient-deficient carbohydrates should be eliminated in the interest of health and performance.
12. Primal style eating (or eating minimally processed foods) is fractal and intuitive, and when escaping carbohydrate dependency and becoming fat adapted, you don’t have to rely on ingested carbs for energy. Eating patterns can be driven by hunger, pleasure and maximal nutritional benefit.
13. Escaping sugar dependency and becoming fat adapted gives you a cleaner burning engine, since glucose burning promotes inflammation and increased oxidative stress
14. Ketones are an internally generated, energy rich by-product of fat metabolism in the liver when blood glucose and insulin levels are low due to carbohydrate restriction in the diet. Ketones are burned efficiently by the brain, heart and skeletal tissue in the same manner as glucose. You do not need to be on a ketogenic diet to upregulate your ability to produce ketones – you can do this via a lower carbohydrate approach.

HOW TO DO THIS: 7 KEY TIPS

15. Step one: omit sugars, grains, industrial seed oils for 21 days. Step two: emphasis highly nutritious foods such as meat, poultry, vegetables, eggs, nuts, fish, fruits, some full fat dairy, seeds, and kumara/potato.
16. 100g or less of carbohydrate promotes fat loss, 150g is around maintenance level and over this could promote lifelong weight gain and over 300g could promote disease patterns.
17. While transitioning to primal there are some struggles initially due to lifelong carbohydrate dependency and the addictive (for some) properties of sugar and excess grains and wheat. Headaches, dehydration, lower blood pressure and ‘dead legs’ are all initial side effects when removing processed food. Trust me – this too will pass.
18. To minimise side effects, start the transition in a base-training phase of your training where training occurs at an easy pace. The transition phase can take anywhere from 2-12 weeks initially.
19. Consume salt. Don’t underestimate the importance of this! Lower circulating insulin affects your body’s ability to retain sodium (and other electrolytes) – so we need more, particularly as processed food (of which you are no longer basing your diet around) is where you got around 70% of your sodium from.
20. You can accelerate the process of fat adaptation by instigating some of the tactics used by athletes who opt to ‘train low’ – i.e. in a low glycogen training state. Some of these are naturally undertaken if you train without eating in the morning, or work out after dinner in the evening and don’t consume anything post-workout. If you’re new to this, have a read through to establish which might suit you best, and start instigating 1-2 x per week. Don’t undertake all of them as this aggressive approach could cause too much additional stress, derailing your plans to become a fat-burning beast.
21. The FASTER study and Peter Attia, Sami Inkinen suggests any endurance athlete can become fat adapted and deliver performances that may be superior to carb-fuelled efforts all of the way up to anaerobic intensity. This is a new and growing research space, one AUT is testing, among other Universities around the globe.

Strong, lean and awesome at 41y.

 

PS What the Fat Sports Performance – currently an ebook, about to be published is one I can’t WAIT to read as well – sure to be a goody.

An endurance athlete’s ‘real food’ success story: making it work for you.

I got this email this week from a client that I have worked with since just before mid-year. She is an endurance athlete that came to me as her overall energy levels were low and she was carrying a few extra kilograms that she wasn’t used to.

We chatted through not only nutrition but lifestyle-related changes that she could make to help support her busy lifestyle. This included changes to her diet, additional supplemental support, working on sleep-related behaviours and finding the middle ground between ensuring adequate energy levels and losing body fat to a level that was sustainable and achievable. You can appreciate this is a delicate balance! I discussed with her that when we sorted her energy levels, the body fat loss would take care of itself – she was aware of this and that her energy levels were the priority.

As an endurance athlete she often trained at both ends of the day and came home late, stayed up a little later than she thought she should, and relied quite a bit on carbohydrate-based choices such as bread and cereal to boost her energy levels during the day. While she didn’t recognise it, I immediately flagged this as one of the reasons she was feeling exhausted. She was also hungry a lot, eating at multiple times during the day. This was another indicator that her food choices were not geared towards an optimal balance of good quality carbohydrate, protein and fat. A detailed discussion on her diet proved this to be true.

This client was very motivated to feel better, and took the suggestions that I made and found a way to work them into her lifestyle. We had four sessions together, the last being just before a race that she was doing – the first one for her in a while.

I asked if she minded if I shared her email – she was happy for me to do so.

“Thanks for the item on Thyroid on Fitter Radio this week – it was really helpful. Good to know low thyroid is not something you are necessarily stuck with for life.

Following our catch-up at the end of September I just thought I’d update you with how things have gone since then, and where I have found a really comfortable place with training and nutrition.

Update:

So in summary, I performed well at my last race and was very happy with my placing in my age group. I really noticed that getting extra sleep made a big difference to how I felt, two nights before the race I had 9 hours and felt amazing the next day.

My weight has stabilized at around 53kg so I think this is possibly the happy place for my body, and it’s the same as it was a couple of years ago when I was running at my best.  I feel good at this level and I’ve figured out how to keep it there – for me it’s:

• at least 7.5 hours sleep;
• not eating late; and
• doing some kind of activity in the evening, even if that’s just a walk.

Food wise, what seems to be working and manageable is:

Prep: (crucial to ensuring that I’ve got options available during the week):

• Bulk making a week’s smoothies at the weekend, then freezing and using during the week
• Ordering Primal Kitchen for weekday lunches and weekend main meals
• Making a few wraps at the weekend for weekdays when I do something straight after work. For example, Farrah chia wrap* with Vital Vegetables Slaw, lemon juice, a flavour (Thai spice mix, peanut butter or salsa) + a protein such as smoked salmon or chicken

*yes I know it’s has wheat in it and is a carb but it seems to give me enough energy/and is practical – if I eat fewer carbs than I am I don’t seem to have enough energy.  I have tried other things instead of a wrap like cabbage leaves/sushi sheets/… but they just don’t work as well, they fall apart. The thing that does work is the Vietnamese rice paper wraps but they are very fiddly so I would tend to buy the Farrah wraps instead – very good place in central Wellington to get them! 

Breakfast – usually 5:30-6:30 depending on day

• Smoothie and a hot drink + a spoon of peanut butter – I usually make the smoothie quite thick and eat it out of a bowl with a spoon!
• If I’m doing something hard-ish like a swim squad or a run/bike then I have something else too. This tends to be either a sachet of plain oat porridge with the smoothie on top, or 2 hard-boiled eggs with some salt (or on a race day 1-2 x banana depending on length or race).

Mid morning – usually have a coffee with rice milk but don’t need to snack much now. If I do it’s 1-2 Brazil nuts

Weekday lunch – usually eaten around 11am-noon

• Primal kitchen – 1/2 a warrior size shared with partner + handful baby spinach
• 2 squares of dark chocolate and maybe a couple of strawberries.
• Raspberry white tea

Mid afternoon – usually have a Redbush tea with rice milk but don’t need to snack now. If I do it’s a carrot and maybe a few almonds.

Weekday dinner – on days when I do something around 5 or 6pm in the evening, I just eat this around 4pm which seems early but it gives me fuel for the activity then I don’t need to eat a meal later. This way I get a semi-fasted thing happening (as per train-low principles) without it feeling hard. And it means I don’t eat a bunch of rubbish in the afternoon. So it works!

• Wrap
• 2 squares of dark chocolate
• Redbush or green tea

Evening – Usually have a hot drink (not caffeinated), and maybe a swig of wine or my partners beer, but I don’t need to snack as much now – if I do it’s because I’ve just been for a hard-ish training session or MTB ride, and, something like a gold kiwi and few nuts does the trick.

Weekends, similar but we have Primal Kitchen in the evening but I try make sure we eat early, like by 6. For lunch something like sardines on toast if at home with salad, or eggs on toast if we are at a cafe.

Overall

It’s working well and although probably to you getting Primal Kitchen for most of our main meals will probably seem like a bit of a cop out!! But actually takes the stress out of everything – otherwise I would end up doing all of the thinking ahead/planning for both of us on food and basically end up spending more of my free time on it which to me wouldn’t feel fair! (My partner is wonderful but he just isn’t as organised as me and has lean genes and the fastest metabolism on earth so can eat anything. To him, super healthy food isn’t so much of a priority). I think it also works out the same cost or cheaper, definitely frees up some time and makes logistics easier. I’m sure at some point in my life I’ll enjoy doing more food prep and cooking more but this works right now and keeps the balance of effort fair!**

I am planning on giving up triathlon after this summer and just focus on running, mostly trail running and doing other stuff I enjoy for fun.

So, that’s it! Thanks for everything and your podcast, the whole experience of getting nutrition consultation has been a really positive one and the result for me has been to shift a good couple of kilograms and change my mental attitude in a very positive way.  🙂 ”

You can see from the discussion of her food choices, her diet isn’t low carbohydrate per se – though it is definitely LOWER in carbohydrates than it was. There is a lot more protein here than what she was having, and overall the nutrient density has improved.

Overall I think this is such a good ‘real food’ success story and that’s why I asked if I could share it. Does she eat ONLY non-processed food? No – however it’s all about context and finding the middle ground with what can be achieved in the context of the individual’s lifestyle.  That, to me, is success. 🙂

Merry Xmas.

 

**to be clear, I don’t think that getting meals from a place like Primal Kitchen (or ordering through My Food Bag etc) is a cop-out at ALL. I think it’s a smart strategy to help people meet their nutrition goals and not fall back into bad habits that could contribute to poor overall health status. It’s really interesting here that it works out MORE cost effective too. It saves on buying food that they would have to throw out as they haven’t found the time to cook it. It also saves the temptation of just having toast or cereal in the evening, or a sandwich that doesn’t provide enough protein and important nutrients. Primal Kitchen is a great choice.