Sports Nutrition 234: Four Ways To Avoid GI Distress On Race Day, Frequency of Fasting and Carb Refeeds, and To Wash Your Veggies or Eat ‘Em Dirty

July 8, 2016
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On this show with Ben Greenfield:

What’s the deal with Veggie Wash and washing our produce?

  • Are spray fruit washes to better-clean produce worthwhile? Does it remove pesticides more than hot water would? Is it worthwhile? Pros and cons.
  • In choosing organic vs. non-organic the rule of thumb to go by (hint: does it have a protective layer of skin that is edible or not?)
  • Do we really need to be so anal about washing our produce? For example, there are many benefits of soil-based probiotics. If you’re buying from a reputable source like a Certified Organic Farmers Market vendor, or growing produce in your own backyard how does the need to wash food change?

On intermittent fasting (IF) and carb refeeds:

  • What are the suggested guidelines for IF frequency for males and females.
  • How to schedule in carb refeeds for endurance athletes to avoid chronically too low carb, and using carbs strategically.
  • With a carb refeed every day:
  1. Women need 100-150 gram/CHO a day
  2. Men need 150-200 g/CHO a day
  • This is assuming the athlete was LCHF in prior meals that day.
  • With frequent carb refeeds, is this ok for athletes looking to improve health and blood sugar management? It comes down to GLUT 4 Regulators and insulin management.
  • Supplements to manage BG and/or make you insulin sensitive:
  1. Ceylon Cinnamon
  2. Bitter Melon extract
  3. Apple Cider Vinegar (before meals)
  • Then in your year or season if you’re an athlete in training and racing aim for cyclic ketosis, not year-round ketosis.

For fat-adapted athletes, how do you “train the gut” for longer endurance events

  • Is it different than “traditional” sports nutrition approaches?
  • Practice once every 2 weeks or so, or at least 3-4 times total before an A race
  • Tips to mitigate gut permeability (i.e. leaky gut) and maintain gut barrier function during training and racing so it’s not compromised and we absorb our nutrients and fluids while feeling ok.
  • Upregulating nitric oxide production as a way to reduce GI issues commonly experienced, i.e. if gut is experiencing lack of blood flow that is common during exercise and this is causing severe GI problems as a result, then manipulation of blood flow to the gut by upregulating nitric oxide production could be a way to reduce symptoms according because nitric oxide amy cause vasodilation in the gut according to some research out there. The use of glutamine–arginine–citrulline or nitrate supplementation could help.

4 Ways to bulletproof your gut before a race (starting 2 weeks in advance):

  1. Load with probiotics (get 10% off Sound Probiotics with code “enduranceplanet” here)
  2. Pair with colostrum
  3. Take Restore for Gut Health
  4. Avoid NSAIDs

More resources on upregulating nitric oxide in the literature:

One Comment

  • cherrytomatopie says:

    Hi Tawney,
    I wanted to thank you again for the nutritional info in the podcast and to give you an update on my progress (I left a comment several weeks ago letting you know I had decided to switch to LCHF and get fat-adapted after listening to your podcasts). I have struggled with exercise recovery and endurance and high A1-C readings for some time now (and an auto-immune thyroid disease). Listening to your podcast I realized that I really needed to address my metabolic issues immediately. I ate a HCLF diet for years which worked for a while (namely because I cut out grains) but I didn't understand that I was insulin resistant. Long story short I am working with my endocrinologist on my thyroid issues and we're also looking at my auto-immune issues (she's concerned I might actually be manifesting Adult Onset Type-1 Diabetes, but it could also be my thyroid is really out of whack and is throwing everything off. I'm doing fasting bloodwork in a few weeks when my thyroid med levels settle down a bit). Anyway to my main point – I did stick it out with the LCHF diet and I'll be honest that the first 4 weeks were ROUGH but my metabolism was pretty broken. (I also tried going on metformin and that did not go well at all, even my doc admitted she was relieved when I went off of it). I've felt pretty rotten for the last 6 weeks or so, partly due to my thyroid levels being all over the place and party due to the "hard reset" I went through getting fat adapted. I'm happy to report however that last night I went for a slow run (with some walking, which is ok) and it dawned on me about an hour afterwards that I felt just as good as I ever did on my usual carb-loading pre and post run routine! I did buy a glucometer that measures ketosis and I was definitely in ketosis when I measured (the strips are pretty pricey and I'm on a budget so right now I can't measure everyday). I also need to give my metabolism some time to get settled and see if I need any other treatment depending on what we determine is going on, but I am very glad I made the switch to LCHF. It's like all the puzzle pieces finally came together — I've had so much blood work in the last 10 years trying to figure out why I was so tired (and hungry) and unable to recover well from exercise and now I get it that it's my metabolism. OH — and I'm also happy to report that my GERD is almost gone and so is most of the indigestion and, um, gas that I experienced on a HCLF diet. I'm still having some GI-liver issues which could be due to my currently overactive thyroid. If those don't clear up when my thyroid settles down then I'll pursue that as well since if my liver isn't converting my thyroid hormones properly then I will just continue to have issues. I wasn't able to tell my doc I was on the LCHF diet since she warned me from getting on "one of those crazy diets" and she handed me a pamphlet that basically advocated the HCLF diet I had been on for years, so I'm not going to pick that battle with her, but so far I pretty convinced that I've made the right choice (although my hands still shakes a little bit when I add fat to the saute pan). Thank you again, I'm not even an athlete but you helped me put the pieces together and I hope more folks get the message. If anyone is worried about becoming fat adapted I can testify that you might feel pretty uncomfortable for a while but ultimately you will reap the benefits and probably feel better than you did before. Thanks again and keep up the good work! I will give you another update in a few weeks. Rhonda Webb, North Carolina

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