Today on coffee & questions I answered Shane & Bec's questions on alcohol and its place in the week when it comes to exercise and performance.

Can I have a drink after my race? 🍻

Is there a way to be sensible with alcohol intake? 🍸

What effects does alcohol have on exercise performance? 🚴🏻

I'm not here to say don't ever drink but from the perspective of a dietitian... Alcohol is a toxin. 

We don't store it anywhere - it gets processed in the liver and burnt off in preference to anything else as we try and get rid of it out of the body

It's used as a social lubricant and is a socially acceptable toxin

My advice will differ depending on who you are and what your overall goals are. Find a balance between drinking and exercise performance depending on who you are and what your goals are

Alcohol equals energy - calories or kilojoules

Alcohol = 29kJ/gram

It also depends on what calories you're drinking it with - e.g. soda water or full-fat coke

And what food choices you make...

Today on Coffee & Questions I answered a great question - How do you Carbohydrate Load?

Watch the replay for all of the gold nuggets, or read the quick summary below.

I've been up to my eyeballs in Carb Loading plans recently with everyone doing Cairns 70.3 or Ironman this weekend. A common theme is that nobody has known how to do it properly

Want to know how well you've mastered the skill of Triathlon Nutrition? 

Have you got lots of areas for improvement? 
Are you on the right track? 
Or are you nailing the fourth leg?

Download the ULTIMATE Triathlon Nutrition Checklist and find out!

What is Carbohydrate Loading?

Where you load or store more carbohydrate in our muscles - muscle glycogen

Just like you fill up your car with petrol, you can fill up your fuel tank (glycogen)

This process takes time - 24-48hours

So eating a pasta meal the night before is not going to be particularly useful. 1. it's not enough carbohydrate and 2. the timing is a little late if you haven't been ...

Today on Coffee & Questions I answered your question - Is caffeine good for endurance performance?

• Where can you find it?

• Is there evidence for the use of caffeine?

• What are the effects of caffeine?

• How much do you need to take? More is not better
  
  

Below is a brief summary but please watch the replay to get all of the gold nuggets on caffeine use!

Caffeine is a widely used, socially acceptable stimulant.

Where can you find caffeine? 

Find it in tea, coffee, cola, energy drinks, chocolate and supplemented sports foods like gels and bloks/chews.

Caffeine content varies widely

Here are some examples: 

What does the evidence say?

There is a solid body of evidence that supports caffeine use to enhance endurance exercise performance, with studies dating back to the 1970s.

It was removed from the WADA doping list back in 2004

In the AIS supplement framework, it is a group A supplement with evidence-based protocols

Caffeine's Effects

Major benefits achieved t...

With Cairns Ironman just around the corner, I’m deep into writing race nutrition plans for our athletes. This morning on Coffee & Questions I wanted to share with you some strategies to assist with training and racing in the heat.

One of the biggest impacts of heat exposure when exercising is its effects on the gut. This is exacerbated when our core temperature gets >39°C

What happens to the gastrointestinal tract (GIT)?

• Redistribution of blood flow away from the GIT towards working muscles and peripheral circulation
• Results in decreased perfusion of organs in the abdominal cavity causing GIT ischemia (lack of oxygen)
• PLUS sympathetic activation – fight or flight response – you don’t want to spend energy digesting food when you’re trying to run away from a lion
• Suppressed gastric emptying, digestion and absorption

All of this happens with exercise – the longer and more intense – the worse it is. And it is exacerbated by heat exposure

• We rely more heavily on muscle g...

Today on Coffee & Questions I explain what the heck a sports dietitian actually is?

And why I get offended and will always correct you when you call me a nutritionist 😉.

There is so much confusion around the titles so I want to explain what the difference is between a Nutritionist, Dietitian and Sports Dietitian and show you some quick and easy ways to check you're getting your nutrition advice from someone that's qualified to be providing it.

Because you don't go to an Optometrist for a sore foot or your cardiac surgeon for a runny nose...

So it makes sense to get your nutrition advice from a qualified Dietitian right?

The problem

Australia currently does not regulate the professional titles ‘nutritionist’ or ‘dietitian’, leaving a wide market for misinformation if you don't do your own research.

The media also tends to use the two terms interchangeably, making distinctions between qualifications increasingly difficult. And only causing more confusion

So let's break each title...

Today on Coffee & Questions ☕️ I answered Maggie's question on RED-S

"I Currently have RED-S for the second time while marathon training - is this something I'm prone to?"

What is it?

Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S)

The syndrome refers to impaired physiological function including, but not limited to:

• metabolic rate,
• menstrual function,
• bone health,
• immunity,
• protein synthesis,
• cardiovascular health

caused by relative energy deficiency - either by inadequate energy intake and/or increased energy expenditure

We need energy to support:

Daily function, growth and exercise. The body fuels exercise first - so if you're not eating enough to support training, you don't have enough energy to support daily function and this can have long term impact on our health.

RED-S is a continuous spectrum ranging from the healthy athlete with optimal energy availability, regular menses and healthy bones to the opposite end of the spectrum characterised by amenorrhoea, low EA a...

Today on Coffee & Questions ☕️   I gave a brief overview of the...

It is an EPIC, evidence-based resource from the great minds of Sports Nutrition. As a globally recognised framework, I think it's important to showcase. 

You can check it out HERE

Before you reach for your supplements though, I want to share with you my philosophy.

My philosophy

As a Dietitian, my philosophy is always “food first”. Focus on eating unprocessed, real foods as the foundation of a good evidence-based sports nutrition plan. It's not until you've nailed the foundations that you would consider adding supplements. They should be used as a supplement to a great diet. Not the first point of call. 

Remember to build your nutrition cake or pyramid in the right direction. I talked about this in more detail last week. If you missed it, check it out HERE

HOWEVER, some supplements and sports foods can play a small (sprinkles) but valuable role in your plan ONCE THE FOUNDATIONS ARE LAID

The AIS Supplement F...

Every week I have clients ask me if they should take a particular supplement. It's a new, sparkly product with unmatched results, "clinically proven" and taken by all the pro's.⁠ ⁠ ⁠

But often they're looking for the 1% performance gains without the solid foundations first. They take an expensive supplement, yet don't fuel training properly or under recover or eat crap on the weekends ⁠🥂🤷🏻‍♀️⁠

Today on Coffee & Questions I talked about a specific supplement that seems to be prolific in the endurance space at the moment. Modex.

I’ve had a number of people ask me about it recently so I thought it would be useful to share with you in case you’ve got a mate raving about the benefits or you already take it.

I’m going to explain what it is, and walk you through the process I go through when looking into a new supplement/product with the critical eye of an Advanced Sports Dietitian. I don't simply google it, read it's website or a blog. 

On the Modex website, this is what they say it ...

Today on Coffee & Questions I talked about race nutrition during the back end of an Ironman, in particular the run.

With Cairns IM only 8 weeks away, now is the perfect time to be perfecting your Ironman race nutrition plan. 

Here are the key points I talked about today:

1. Success in an IM comes from minimal fatigue from the swim and bike

2. The types of foods suitable for running - eating on your feet

3. The importance of practising with on-course nutrition

4. Train your gut! This includes both nutrition AND hydration

5. Do Sweat Testing to understand your individual hydration needs

6. Explore any cramping issues

7. What Caffeine options are there on the run?

8. Don't try anything new on race day!
   
   

If you're interested in Sweat Testing (and are located in Brisbane), register your details HERE to get notified about our upcoming sessions.

Should you eat before exercise? And if you do what should you eat?

Coffee & Questions is back!!

One of the biggest issues faced by the Dietitian Approved crew is fuelling for their training. Today I give you a few key pointers for fuelling before training. When it's a good idea to do training fasted versus when to fuel before training.

Sorry about the poor image quality - on the to-do list this weekend is to buy a new webcam!

If you need help with meeting your fuelling needs, invest in a Sports Dietitian to develop a customised plan for you!

www.dietitianapproved.com.au/services

If you're looking for a more cost-effective option, check out one of our Online Courses for a great place to start.

See you next week! ☕️

Taryn