Nutrition Academy '11

Nutrition Academy Notes – this is simply a outline for folks who were in class, you can follow along with what we discussed and fill in the gaps. Be sure to view the Sunny Blende video in the above post, good review of concepts.

First off, who are you? 1. Multiply your weight by 10 to determine the number of calories needed to exist – resting metabolic rate.

2. Add half that number to #1 for general daily activity like working shopping, and
add + 100 calories for folks who chase toddlers.
Subtract – 100 calories for sedentary folks

3. Add calories for purposeful exercise. One hour of exercise may burn 400-600 calories depending upon activity and intensity.

4. Example: 120# person needs 1,200 in line 1, add 600 for activity in line 2, add 400 for their run in line 3. Total for daily intake equals 2,200 calories. 

You are going to see some wide swings in ratios of macronutrients: Sunny Blende might say 60 carbs, 25 fat and 15 protein for one athlete and 50 carb, 30 fat, 20 protein for another.

Some elite ultra runners like Dean Karnazes use 30% protein, 30% fat, & 40% carbs and are running more than 100 miles/week

Dr. Gangemi might say 25% protein, 25% fat and 50% carbs, with these including all plants and fruits.

Paleo Diet (very popular with Ultra Runners) will say Carb 40%, Protein 35%, Fat 25%

Dr. Phil Maffetone may not give you a percentage at all and tell you that you need to be informed to decide. While all of this looks like sounds advice by the numbers you need to consider your own makeup, body type, and fitness regimen in order to hone in on a ratio for macronutrients.

Calorie intake pre and post event

The average person (metabolically speaking) will require approximately 2-3mg of additional carbohydrates/kg/minute in order to sustain moderate levels of exercise. An example would be that a 70kg person would need 10-15g of additional carbs for each hour of moderate exercise. You get your weight in kilos or KG, by dividing your weight by 2.2 so I am 155lb or 70.45Kg

15g of carbohydrates = 8oz of glass of skim milk, OR 3 graham crackers, OR 4oz of orange juice, OR 2 teaspoons of honey, would all fit the bill here – so we are not talking about a lot of food, maybe 60 Kal

When and what do I need to eat

Daily needs vs. running needs
five servings of fruits and vegetables daily and at least one of these should be “raw”. 200ml of unsweetened juice may replace one serving

three servings of whole grains & legumes daily – runners add one extra serving for each hour of exercise. Sport food (60-90g serving) may replace one serving

Four servings of Milk/Dairy/Meat/Fish/Eggs daily (100-120g raw weight) – same as regular pyramid

Three Servings of oil/fats/nuts daily (2-3 teaspoon) daily- Runners add ½ a serving for each additional hour of exercise, may be from any type
If we are exercising in the sweet spot for pace (60% or less of maximum heart rate) then we are metabolizing fat as an energy source. We carry far more of this than we do simple sugars. Further the essential vitamins A, D, E and K are all fat soluble, meaning that in a low fat diet you may not be getting all of these nutrients that you need. Omega 3 and 6 (you need a lot more of 3, most of us get plenty of Omega 6) have anti-inflammatory properties and this can be very useful in recovery as well. Look for your fats to mono or poly unsaturated and these come from plant sources, seeds, nuts and cold water fish.

Only in moderation Sweets/salty snacks/sweetened drinks (includes alcohol) – Runners should consume with a meal & need to consider that these items may slow recovery by taxing the livers resources and adding “empty calories”. I say choose the day you want to “fall off the bus” and keep it to less than 20% of your meals!

Nutrient timing cycle

Seek to plan your micro-meals or your portions size and calorie density around your day so that you have a “powerband” of energy that coincides with your workout or your daily needs. What you eat in the morning you’ll run on that afternoon and what you ate last night, along with a starter of breakfast, is what you run on in the morning. Try to have a long fast each night and schedule nutrient timing to match what you’ll need when you need it. Small meals help this challenge as we tend to not overeat and be too full to run or sleepy from all the blood that goes to our stomach and intestines to move a giant meal.

Sunny will also tell you that “she with the highest metabolism, wins” and this is regardless of age or athleticism in most cases. So by eating micro-meals and watching WHEN you eat them, along with regular exercise – you can raise your metabolism.

Pre-run body weight divided by 2 equals the number of grams of carbohydrates you’ll need to replenish yourself for recovery. There are 4 Kal/Gram of carbohydrates. 4:1 Carb:Protein ratio works best.

Running Needs

Individual metabolism varies but recreational runners will burn anywhere from 600Kal/hour to 100Kal/mile traveled.

Runners traveling over an hour need 240Kal/hour to avoid bonk. If you try to eat – use simple, low fiber, low residue, no dairy foods and document what agrees with you. The maximum you’ll be able to use is 240-280Kal/hr so you are not replacing everything – just trying to maintain homeostasis.

Thus you’ll likely never get ahead on fuel during exercise but further nutritionist thought (Ben Greenfield fitness.com) suggests that hyper-fit athletes can actually metabolize more fuel during exercise because they are not aerobically stressed. In other words peak physical output = placing the digestive tract on hold in a “fight or flight type response”, yet ironman athletes may often eat above the typical fuel loads on the bike because they are not stimulating this response and so the alimentary canal remains open for business. You can also consider this for your own fueling in that the longer you are out (toiling) the less you’ll be able to keep down or want to.

Sunny Blende has recommended taking your sweat rate and your calorie needs and making a chart. Use the chart as a quick planning menu for what you are going to eat and when you’ll eat it. That way, the day before you head out the door, you’ll know what you’re going to have and when you’ll eat it. I like this model because you never pack more than you need and you do not come up short. It makes all the runs go better and you can then log what worked well and add it to your regular chart of menu items. Getting to what is in your food can easily be done on the label, as well as online using the tools listed in the links.

What is bonk? Sunny Blende, sports nutritionists writes, “The brain also does not store any glucose – as glycogen, as the muscles do – and is totally dependent on blood glucose for its energy supply. In order to function normally, the brain requires a relatively normal blood glucose level. So what happens to an ultrarunner when he or she is running hours and hours with an increasing demand for glucose? If our ultrarunner does not ingest adequate amounts of carbohydrate (glucose) along the way, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) sets in. And with prolonged hypoglycemia comes central nervous system fatigue – the progressive shutdown of the part of the brain that drives the muscles. Bad news for attitude and bad news for performance.”

In one of Tim Noakes’s studies from The Lore of Running, he found that two percent of marathoners, six percent of those who ran 50 kms and 11 percent of those who ran 100 kms were hypoglycemic. He cites the symptoms as a “reduced ability to concentrate, a sudden feeling of weakness, and the intense desire to stop running. Typically, the athlete senses the impossibility of completing the race”. Sound familiar? Obviously foods containing glucose would have helped these athletes perform better, but an explanation of the mechanism of action might make this concept easier to understand. Again, Tim Noakes’s studies from The Lore of Running, “The main supplier of glucose into the blood is the liver. This happens directly from its own store of glycogen or indirectly by a process known as gluconeogenesis (the production of glucose by the liver from substances other than carbohydrates, for example, proteins). Training also helps the liver’s ability to produce glucose from circulating blood lactate. However, because the liver is so small compared to the body’s muscle mass and only stores about 250 - 500 calories of glucose, it could never keep up with the muscles’ demand for glucose when exercising hard or long. In a trained athlete, this amounts to three or four hours of running at a moderate pace. And the muscles are prevented from using too much circulating blood glucose in order to protect the brain. Fortunately our body has provided the muscles with other ways of obtaining glucose; namely a good supply stored in its own tissues and the ability to use fat as a source of energy. And remember, the supply stored in the muscles can be doubled if post-exercise carbs were consumed within thirty minutes or so. But even this generous supply will only last about five to six hours. The rate that the liver releases glucose and the muscles take it up during exercise is increased six-fold from a resting state. When tissues increase their rate of usage faster than the liver can produce it, blood levels fall and body function is impaired. In order to prevent brain drain and preserve our mind’s ability to think and strategize effectively in an ultra event, it becomes crucial to ingest carbohydrates during the race. If the muscles become fatigued, the brain will reduce the number of muscle fibers activated and in order to continue running, the ultrarunner will have to slow down. This is the body’s way of surviving. It may limit the runner’s physiological capabilities, but preserve the neurological function of the brain. Exhaustion, in this case, may be defined as a decrease in signals from the brain to the muscles, not a direct change in glycogen levels in the muscles - in other words, central fatigue.”

Maybe the best line here is again Sunny Blende’s “Start early and don’t get behind because an endurance run is just an eating and drinking contest with some scenery and exercise thrown in!” This really starts with what you ate in the preceding days up to the trial…

Bare fisted rules for eating/fueling better
Try to eat “5 colors” of food everyday – real colors from nature to give you all of the vitamins you need to keep running

Sunny says, “balanced diet from the pyramid. Wide variety of foods…for phytochemicals and trace nutrients…eat foods as close to the source as possible…eat more like a vegetarian…if you supplement, take one that has no more than 100% of the RDA…drink one liter of water for every 100calories you consume” For best effect you’ll need to be consistent about this stuff 80% of the time.

Snacks on hand, micro meals and ready to eat foods avoid a fueling disaster. Folks often eat when they are thirsty… In counting calories for best efficiency think about a drink at least, before eating and fuel moves better with water.

Examples:

Whole wheat bagel with peanut butter                                 carrots and hummus

Apple with peanut butter, almond butter                                             cheerios and milk

½ of a Powerbar or similar                                                                            vegetable juice (V8 or like, but read for sodium level)

Low fat cottage cheese with fruit                                                            
coconut water (new & trendy as it contains sugar. Potassium & no fat)

Low fat chocolate milk, 8oz glass

rice and bean burrito w/ salsa

salmon and brown rice

tuna fish and veggies wrap

hummus and veggie pita sandwich

fruit and yogurt smoothie (freeze @ night, thaw morning of run)

Foods high in water are great after a run, satisfying hunger and offering hydration along with reduced calories.

On water and hydration

Responsible Drinking on the Trail (Dr. M Hoffman, Ultrarunning, March 2010) states that this condition has been responsible for five fatalities in the US and UK they also write that 30% of the runners at 2009 Western States 100 mile run, who participated in the author’s research, were positive for signs of hyponatremia.

Dr. Hoffman list a number of Danger signs: [additions mine] “Your body would not lose the 2% of its weight you would expect on your longest run but would stay the same weight or gain weight during the run. Your body’s water is changing location and you’ll see swelling, [all over], but especially hands, feet, face – [rings and shoes may be tight.] You would see mental status changes as fluid causes brain cells to swell too. [This would look like stumble; mumble, fumble and you would have to look at their other symptoms to ensure you did not think - dehydration. Recall that people call this condition water intoxication because of the mental status changes you see in people.] This person may also feel sick, [feel nausea and be sloshing from all the water they are hauling in their stomach. Urine output would be beyond the “clear, constant and copious” realm that we expect in hydrated folks as the kidneys are now doing all they can to solve a fluid overload condition.] This is an emergency medical condition that requires immediate attention and complications can include kidney failure.” [They need medical intervention and you take them off of water while you get them help.]
 

Dr. Tim Noakes has now said that elite runners in longer races have been shown to lose 4-12% of body weight over the course of the race with no ill effect (bear in mind they are winning the race as well, thus no performance deficits). Studies on the US military, where hyponatremia has been more common than in the race community, shows that infantry can be found reliable to follow their thirst and that their blood sodium levels were identical to when the began a 40 mile march in full gear with 100 degree temps. In other words, their bodies were regulating salt on their own if they were allowed to follow thirst as a means of hydration throughout the activity. New research asserts that the vasoconstriction and salt retention systems in the body are adequate for hydration needs and just as we now (again) view the foot as not broken, we reexamine that perhaps the kidney is not imperfect either. My rhetorical question to the reader remains; are you an associative process runner? Do you stay in tune, listen to the body and strategize your run or event. If so, then your kidneys can be trusted to regulate salt and water levels in the body. The dissociative runner, who is having a train-wreck day, will still need a hydration schedule to maintain performance. Noakes discusses in an interview at Ben Greenfield Fitness, the hydrations recommendations have increased in the past twenty years and he largely attributes this to the drink mix industry promoting consumption of their products. While this sounds a lot like the Nike shoe story - one significant point of merit is that Dr. Noakes is the preeminent researcher on running physiology in this generation and he has gradually changed his mind over time on this issue, all of which is in print in the research journals. He points out that 20 years ago there were not any water stations on marathon courses, including the largest events such as Comrades, in South Africa, where more than 30,000 competitors ran without fluids. If you desire a formulary a moderate formula (one of many) looks like this:

This chart is just an estimating tool and I got it here. http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-302--10084-2-1-2,00.html

Weight 100
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 3.0 60°F: 3.2 70°F: 3.3 80°F: 3.6 90°F: 4.1 100°F: 4.7

Weight 120
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 3.6 60°F: 3.8 70°F: 4.0 80°F: 4.3 90°F: 4.9 100°F: 5.6

Weight 140
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 4.2 60°F: 4.4 70°F: 4.6 80°F: 5.0 90°F: 5.7 100°F: 6.5

Weight 160
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 4.8 60°F: 5.0 70°F: 5.3 80°F: 5.8 90°F: 6.5 100°F: 7.4

Weight 180
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 5.4 60°F: 5.7 70°F: 5.9 80°F: 6.5 90°F: 7.3 100°F: 8.4

Weight 200
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 6.0 60°F: 6.3 70°F: 6.6 80°F: 7.2 90°F: 8.1 100°F: 9.3

Weight 220
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 6.6 60°F: 6.9 70°F: 7.3 80°F: 7.9 90°F: 8.9 100°F: 10.2

Weight 240
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 7.2 60°F: 7.6 70°F: 7.9 80°F: 8.6 90°F: 9.7 100°F: 11.2

Dr. Noakes now says that 400mL/hour would be sufficient for any climate conditions or any body weight.

What inputs do you think might be harmful? Vices, caffeine, OTC meds, alcohol, salt, other lifestyle habits
Coffee – contains additional antioxidants but caffeine in particular stimulates early breakdown of body fats into free fatty acids and triglycerides which are substances that are used as fuel. It may also have a small effect in bronchodilation and stimulates respiration for some runners. USA Track and Field calls caffeine a legal performance enhancing substance, but you can get too much of this as well. Limit caffeine use, as more than 500mg daily is a diuretic and will dehydrate you and more than 200mg daily can affect cardiac function. The key words are small to moderate doses…You can get a table of how much caffeine is in your beverage, and further explanation of the chemistry here: http://runningdoctor.runnersworld.com/2010/01/

The Average American consumes approximately 3.6 grams of salt daily and current federal guidelines for sodium intake is 2.3 grams per day. The American Heart Association recommends 2 grams. What many folks miss at the cellular level is that both sodium and potassium are the two ions that your body uses every second of the day at the cellular level. While it is relatively simple to get your daily supply of sodium most folks do not get enough Potassium and you need 4.7 grams daily in order to function optimally. Having the optimum ratio of these elements lowers the incidence of cardiovascular disease and allows optimal membrane potential at the cellular level. Bananas, peaches, prunes, apricots, honeydew melon or cantaloupe, and OJ all contain good sources of potassium.

Alcohol is something that is commonplace in our society and while it is a lot of fun for many, timing can be everything. This substance gets converted to sugars ultimately, but in the meantime it is a lot of additional work for the liver. Thus if you are in recovery mode, when nutrition is being used to repair healing tissues, this may be counterproductive and lengthen recovery times.

Inflammation and the body

It has been said that if aspirin (in use before America) had to pass the FDA it would be deemed too dangerous for human use. With this in mind it is sometimes astonishing to see runners trusted with NSAIDs or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like Advil, Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Alleve and others. These medications have great efficacy and yet have a number of far reaching effects on the body.

They contribute to increased tissue frailty if used long term.

By limiting prostaglandins that normalize blood flow you may tax your kidneys.

Biochemical’s called prostaglandins do a great number of things in the body – including dilate the blood vessels to your kidney. Remember that your kidneys are something that you need, and rely on, to maintain the electrolyte balance in the body, maintain fluid balances and eliminate wastes. These NSAID’s (by blocking prostaglandins) may increase your blood pressure at a dangerous time to do so – when running – and this could trigger a TIA or CVA (stroke). NSAID’s block the enzyme cyclooxygenase that protects the heart and thus may pose greater risk to the cardiovascular system as well.

Cyclooxygenase helps protect the stomach lining from digestive acids and so when NSAID’s block the enzyme you may experience nausea, cramping, diarrhea or bleeding. Studies indicate that NSAID’s may increase the risk of Hyponatremia or “water intoxication” a problem with electrolyte imbalance.

On the subject of inflammation be advised that there is a lot of research out now about the idea that saturated fats and fried fats or fats destroyed by heat, can be inflammatory in the body. While looking at ways to increase good macro-nutrients in the diet we should examine how we are getting them and in what types.

Other resources:
A good calorie counter formula for running is available at http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-304-311-8402-0,00.html
A tool for how many calories/proper portion size is at http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-304--11628-0,00.html
A recipe database for quality runner’s dishes is at http://recipes.runnersworld.com/homepage.aspx
A site with good food tools (calorie counter by food, nutrient facts, food journal) is at http://www.thedailyplate.com/ and this site has been further enhanced at livestrong.com
You will see Mark Bitman’s link and a vegan kick start link on the website as well and these offer recipe tools as well.