Nutrition

Nutrition is becoming a passion of mine. This is partly because of the amount of misinformation that exists out there. The diets, the supplements, the plans. The health and fitness industry is a billion dollar business, yet the actual amount of quality information is a very small fraction.

Once I gave a lecture to a group of women. I held up a big white pill and I told them the following:

"By taking this pill every single day you will lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks. You can eat whatever you want. You don't have to exercise. You will never gain it back. The only caveat is that you have a 75% chance of dying. Who would take it?"

Nearly every hand in the room went up. I thwarted high hopes by telling them it was a lie. It was just a simple calcium pill. They were disappointed. This was a group of mothers, wives, daughters and sisters.

The women in this group were willing to take a chance on dying to lose 10 pounds?

Take a look at all of the different websites out there. Woman A eats nothing but rice cakes. Woman B eats nothing but protein. Woman C wonders what to do. Sally eats rice cakes, so maybe that's for me?

Nutrition is made to seem very difficult. In fact however it is very easy.

The best food to eat is food with little to no ingredient list. Whole foods. The way nature produced them. The more you process a food the more nutritional value it loses. The less you process it, the better the quality.

The right amount of food, calories is individual. Jennifer Hutchinson, a renowned Registered Dietician, Sports Nutritionist and USAT Triathlon coach suggests that athletes use the following guidelines for calorie, carbohydrate, protein and fat consumption:

15-30 calories per pound of body weight
3-5 grams of CHO per pound of body weight per day (45-70%)
0.6-0.9 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day (10-20%)
10-20% of dietary fat per day.

Notice that all of these values contain ranges. Not exacts. If you are looking to make nutrition overhaul begin to investigate these ranges and see how they apply and affect you.

The amount of training you complete each day will play into this range. Begin somewhere in the middle and see how you feel. You might need more, you might need less.

If you are aiming to lose weight … again play with the ranges. See what begins to work. Avoid going too low or you risk depleting your body of valuable nutrients and predisposing yourself to illness and injury.

Carbohydrates do not cause you to gain weight. Excess calories cause you to gain weight. It does not matter those calories are carbohydrates, protein or fat, excess calories in any form lead to weight gain. So stay away from the high protein low carb diets. Simply… they are unhealthy.

Your common sense is really your best guide.

Balance is the real key to nutrition. I advise to be careful of the "all or nothing" promoters. A good diet has a lot of variety, and to mean that mean's things like fruit, vegetables and chocolate. Color your plate like a rainbow. The more color, the more nutrients.

Seek the advice of a professional. As much as I admire Natasha Badmann I would not ask her for nutritional advice. Why? Because I am 145 pounds and she is likely 100. Our nutritional needs are different. Just because Natasha does it, it does not mean it is a good thing for me to do.

While I am a Registered Nurse and while nutrition was a vast portion of my education I don't consider myself to be a nutritional expert. The person you are looking to talk to is a Registered Dietician.

A Registered Dietician specializing in Sports Nutrition is your best ally in the game of nutrition. Look for someone who understands athletes, who understands the distances you are training for. Look for someone who has a good reputation and ask for references.

Look for one who can allow flexibility in your diet and who can help you rather than lecture you.

In addition to nutrition the health and fitness industry includes supplements.

Many bogus nutritional products exist out there. Believe it or not, A PRODUCT THAT IS ADVERTISED AS EFFECTIVE DOES NOT HAVE TO PROVE IT IS SAFE TO BE NAMED A DIETARY SUPPLEMENT. Look at the bottle of your supplement, is it FDA approved? Is it approved by ANYTHING? Look at the “studies” that have been performed on this product. Are they real? Did they include pieces of the results, or were the results real?

Everything that we think we need from a supplement we can get from whole foods. Products that claim they can increase the oxygen content of your blood, or than claim they can increase your V02 max, are flat out FALSE.

A product that claims it is safe and effective because it is natural…… well tobacco is natural. But is it safe or effective?

This is not to say that all supplements are bogus. Many are. Do we as age group athletes need them? Likely not. I am trying a new product Called Veema, which I was introduced to by Camp HTFU member Leslie. I liked the research, I like the product, and I will tell more about it later.

Bottom line….. research the supplements you choose.

I do suggest people take a multivitamin. I think that is a good resource to try to plug the holes of what our diets may need. For our general and training purposes I think that many supplements are a waste of money to be quiet honest. But remember that is purely my opinion, not a fact.

Remember nutrition is an inexact science, it is continually evolving. By basing your nutrition decisions and habits on the above ranges, you will create a good environment for your body to train and to get healthy.