Post Workout Caffeine

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You might hear a PT say, "don't drink coffee after training because it will stimulate the release of stress hormones and stop you from recovering from training, which is bad because you want rest and digest mode". 

While there may be an element of truth to this. There are a few things wrong with it. 

The level of difference is so small it's not worth even mentioning in almost all situations. If you train first thing and like a coffee after, go for it! You have bigger things to worry about. 

We know consuming caffeine pre-training is a good idea to drive better training outcomes leading to 'better' adaptations. However, caffeine takes several hours to clear the blood levels after ingestion. So even if you didn't drink a coffee after your morning workout, the one you drank before it is still lingering for after you finish well into the 'post workout window'. 

Post-training caffeine might be a good strategy for athletes. Caffeine has been shown to promote greater rates of glycogen resynthesis after exercise when ingested with carbohydrate. Basically, this means if you train hard, then drink coffee and consume carbohydrates together you'll store more glucose in your muscle and at a faster rate. While this isn't massive for training adaptations and certainly not important for most folks. It is worth noting for best recovery, especially if you're doing repeated bouts of hard competition level activity within very close time proximity of each other. [1,2]

Take home points. 
Drinking coffee, and consuming caffeine after training isn't something to be afraid of. It may even be a great idea for certain situations.  

[1] High rates of muscle glycogen resynthesis after exhaustive exercise when carbohydrate is coingested with caffeine.

[2] Caffeine ingestion does not impede the resynthesis of proglycogen and macroglycogen after prolonged exercise and carbohydrate supplementation in humans.

Carbohydrate Requirements for Athletes

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High-level athletes are often the most disciplined people you'll meet.

6 hours of training 6 days a week isn't an uncommon thing, and it's often accompanied by a 'laser focus' style of strict nutrition. 

Because the energy requirements of such high amounts of training are so great. You'll need to eat a lot of Calories and a lot of carbs to avoid states of low energy availability relative to requirements in order to perform your best and not impact your health. 

So what are these requirements, how much carbs do you actually need to eat if you train multiple hard hours day?

5-8g of carbs per kilo of body weight per day. [1] 
For a 75kg athlete, the range is 375g- 600g of carbs a day

Once you know what 600g of carbs looks like in terms of physical food. You'll realise that achieving such high requirements through exclusively 'clean foods' isn't viable.

To consume 600g of carbs you'll need to eat...  

6.2 kilos (raw weight) of sweet potato. [3]
Or
1.2 kilos of (raw weight) rolled oats. [3]

... I think it's safe to say that's not really viable on a consistent daily basis. 

So if you're training 6 hours a day and eating only 'clean carbs' to hunger satisfaction or even fullness. It's logically doubtful you're getting even a small portion of your carbohydrate requirements on a regular basis. You're likely in a state of chronic low energy availability which can have massive implications. This state and it's negative outcomes is termed RED-S (relative energy deficiency in sport) [2]

Health consequences of RED-S include bone, metabolic, endocrine, menstrual, cardiovascular, immune health and more. 

Performance consequences of RED-S include injury risk, impaired judgment, cognition, strength endurance performance and more. 

The magnitude of the above consequences can be utterly shocking. 

So if you want to perform your best and not negatively impact your health you might want to eat some 'junky' carbohydrate dense foods. There are many ways to easily consume high amounts of carbs. Typically calorie dense, super tasty, low fibre foods are great. 

For example, 680g of Coco Pops will give you 600g of carbs. 

While still a massive amount. It's far less than the aforementioned 'clean carbs', and you need to consider taste, and the fibre content to get a better idea of actual ease of consumption comparisons. 

So if all of the above is relevant to you. You might want to consider;

Swapping the oats for white rice, and putting honey and jam on top of that. Drinking fruit juice and full-calorie cordial with your meals. Swapping the whole grain bread for bagels with jam, and maybe having a full tub of sorbet for dessert. 

Thinking you 'need to eat only clean' might not only be causing you to perform sub-optimally but it might be seriously harmful to your health. 

Want to learn more about how to improve your performance in training?

[1]  https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-018-0242-y  

[2]  https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/11/687

[3] http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/science/monitoringnutrients/afcd/Pages/foodsearch.aspx

Shifting Away from "Burning Calories"

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'BURNING CALORIES/FAT' IS NOT A GREAT PURPOSE OF TRAINING.

SHIFT YOUR TRAINING MINDSET AWAY FROM FAT LOSS.

Fundamentally fat loss or weight maintenance is a game of energy consumed through food and drink versus the energy expended through living, lifestyle, and activity. 

Training with weights has it's benefits and plays an integral part of fat loss for health, human function and muscle retention with a strong argument, and reasoning behind why it should be prioritised (not exclusively) over cardio style training...

But you won't burn a whole lot more Calories doing it...

Therefore there is a strong argument that weight training to 'burn fat or Calories' is not an efficient approach, as the amount of extra energy you'll expend isn't anything requiring great attention at least ahead of diet and general activity levels. [1] 

If you had to unblock a river, it would make sense to worry about removing the big boulders before the little pebbles right. If we apply this mindset towards fat loss, it's not the say weight training deserves less thought and that it's effects aren't worthwhile or vitally important. It's just to say that diet and general activity deserve more emphasis, and the why behind training for a fat loss goal should be shifted away from 'burning Calories', and focused towards muscle retention, health, mood, stress-relief and function.

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport

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What is RED-S?

Red-s stands for relative energy deficiency in sport.

In simple terms it is under-eating and the impacts can be severe in athletes who are burning heaps of energy through training and competition.

A more in-depth explanation is: RED-S refers to the physiological effects of chronically low energy (Calorie) availability, relative to requirements, which includes large reductions in resting metabolic rate and severe health implications.

RED-S started as a focus with female athletes but the same issue is being seen in male athletes and potentially this could extend to general population.

What are the health implications and dangers of RED-S?

RED-S can negatively affect many aspects of health including:

• menstrual function

• bone health

• immune function

• cardiovascular health

• psychological health

• growth and development

• increased injury risk

What are the signs of RED-S to look for?

Some of the signs of RED-S are:

• decreased strength

• decreased endurance performance

• decreased training response

• impaired judgment

• decreased coordination

• decreased concentration

Consider RED-S as a possibility if you are trying to lose weight but despite restricting food intake, despite reducing your calories you are not losing weight AND you are exercising a lot or you are an athlete.

What can you do if you suspect Red-S?

When a large disparity between actual resting metabolic rate and ‘healthy’ metabolic rate is identified, the course of action to solve it, is much the same as ending a planned diet. Working out estimated maintenance calories, taking into account how activity levels, then consistently consuming roughly that amount of calories.

For those who suffer severe health effects of RED-S, slowly increasing calorie intake under the guidance of a qualified medical professional may be necessary.

Bottom line; if you exercise a lot and trying really hard to diet, consider if you may be eating too little and under-fuelling your body. If you feel like crap, you’re showing signs of poor health, you notice changes in your menstrual cycle, libido, mood, training performance, strength, coordination - you may be suffering from low energy availability and/or RED-S.

Strongly consider increasing your calorie intake and speaking to a medical professional.

Does RED-S refer to a broken metabolism?

The idea of a permanently damaged metabolism or starvation mode has been debunked, however acute down-regulation of metabolism known as ‘metabolic adaptation’, or ‘ adaptive thermogenesis’ is accepted to be true.

The reason that it’s accepted as an adaptation rather than damage is that metabolic rate will return to a healthy, ideal baseline at some point after returning to maintenance eating, eg - eating enough Calories to maintain body weight and support individual activity levels.

If you want to read more about fuelling exercise, training and athletic performance, check out our blog on:

If you are an athlete, aspiring athlete or looking to boost your performance, we are here to help. We can help you work out your energy requirements and implement strategies with your nutrition to support all the work you are putting into training and exercise.

Reference:
https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijsnem/28/4/article-p316.xml

Is Sugar The Devil?

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It seems that sugar is the devil in society. People think sugar turns into belly, thigh or hip fat.

But is added and refined sugar as bad as that very unqualified, very illogical Australian celebrity Paleo chef claims?

What increases 'body fatness' is not actually sugar itself. It's excessive calories compared to energy requirements or calorie (energy) expenditure over time [1]. This is also called an energy (calorie) surplus. This 'calorie surplus' is a major risk factor that leads to the development of many common diseases and poor health outcomes. Whilst it has not been conclusively proven that sugar directly does.[1]

So, sugar itself is not bad, nor does it directly make you fat. 

However, it's important to note foods with added sugar can indirectly lead to increased 'fatness' through increases in CALORIE consumption. So if a diet is high in refined sugar, its likely also high in Calories. 

This is because adding sugar to foods and beverages during processing, cooking etc. Both increase calorie density and enhances the taste. Both of which create a scenario that encourages far higher consumption of calories. 

But this isn't exclusively the case for sugar, more so any 'tasty, high calorie, lower fiber' foods and drinks. Many of which are high in fats. [2]

So despite sugar not directly leading to increased 'body fatness', and poor health outcomes. The diet recommendations of reducing or eliminating refined sugar holds great value, as it's reduction can lead to lower calorie consumption, keeping energy balance in check. 

It's also important to note that not all situations are looking to reduce caloric intake. This is where context and situation plays a role. Situations that involve the need to shuttle high amounts of glucose into the blood as soon as possible, or situations that involve consuming more calories than what an individual would feel comfortable with from 'healthy foods'.  Requires the use of foods and drinks that can be defined as 'unhealthy, or sugary' due to a high amount of refined sugar, a high-calorie density, and an appealing taste. 

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41430-019-0407-z?fbclid=IwAR2CipHPICtRz-46cRMf9JJRcYPMWrhE0_8NPmeoP-cKarWPlrMm7_hIjC4#ref-CR25

[2] https://www.ernaehrungs-umschau.de/fileadmin/Ernaehrungs-Umschau/pdfs/pdf_2014/01_14/EU01_2014_M014_M023_-_002e_01_engl.pdf

Visualise Yourself

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Visualisation is an extremely effective tool utilised by highly successful people in all fields.

Whether it be athletes or business people, they implement visualisation techniques into their life regularly.

This is a technique I also use with my clients.

It can be used in a number of ways.
 

Firstly, they can visualise themselves looking and feeling healthy, performing at their peak, being happy in their own skin; achieving their goals.

Another tactic we implement at FNC is when the client is faced with temptation, or a path with 2 choices. The 2 choices being making healthy or unhealthy nutritional choices. Whether it be binge eating, ordering take out, not preparing meals; we constantly find ourselves having to make choices.
 

How does visualisation help us make the right choice?

Step 1. The Fork In The Road.
Identify your 2 options, often the healthy and the unhealthy. Order take out or cook dinner, give in to your sugar cravings or eat a piece of fruit, sit on the couch or go to the gym, meal prep or eat out for lunch.

Step 2. Visualise yourself making the poor decision
Write down how you will feel after making that decision. Guilty, angry, annoyed. How will you feel 2 hours after that? Sad, depressed. How about the next day? Don't even want to think about it. The more upset and ashamed we are of the decision we made, the more likely we are to fall into a downward spiral of bad decisions and self sabotage.

Step 3. Visualise yourself making the healthy decision
Write down how you will feel after making that decision. Happy, energised. How will you feel 2 hours after that? Proud. How about the next day? Confident that you are able to make positive choices that will help you achieve your goals.

Step 4. Weigh up your options
Which path is aligned with your goals? Which path will get you there quicker?

The first step in the right direction is hard, but it is easier than a step in the wrong direction if you want to achieve your goals. The more often we make the right choice, the easier it is going to become.

Visualising yourself making decisions is an important step towards getting where you want to be in your life, your career, your sport and your health.