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Showing posts from March 10, 2019

Nutrition advice - what's true or false?

People are hungry for nutrition information but how do you know if you are being fed the truth? There's a lot of conflicting advice when it comes to nutrition as the media is quick to report every nutrition study that comes out. Believe it or not, there was a time in the not-to-long past when research studies were read by scientists and collectively, only the most useful information, from the most useful studies, would make it into the newspapers. While it's great to take your personal health into your own hands by making your own nutrition decisions, being too reliant on every nutrition "fact" can lead to information overload. With so much nutrition information on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter, websites, TV, magazines, radio, advertisements, friends and family, it's easy to feel confused and conflicted. Accurate nutrition information is science-based, peer reviewed and can be replicated. Nutrition fraud is information that is not supported by science or is

Happy RD Day!!

What a fantastic day to be a Registered Dietitian! As part of National Nutrition Month, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics celebrates Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Day, which happens to be today! When you have a nutrition question, where's the first place you go? Do you check the Internet, read a magazine or ask a friend? While you may find a quick answer to your question, it may not be the most accurate, useful or personalized response. Although many people have nutritional experience, a registered dietitian is your nations qualified food and nutrition experts. Do you need nutrition help? Find a RD who specializes in a field that can be of assistance to your personal health and/or performance goals. As you may or may not know, the RD route wasn't originally in my career path. After obtaining a BA in exercise science and minor in psychology and then earning a MS in exercise physiology, I was focused on becoming a strength and conditioning coach. However, afte

Food elimination to improve gut health?

You are not alone. Everyone has that day when your stomach feels blah and you just want to feel better in your own skin. It's important to acknowledge that your body will change shape throughout the day. Sadly, there's no instant fix that will immediately change the way that your body looks or feels. In other words - don't restrict food and overexercise in order to try to escape this uncontrollable feeling. When you eat, the shape of your digestive tract changes. Your stomach may protrude and as your body breaks down food, you will retain water, develop gas and produce stool. This can all contribute to feeling bloated, "big" or heavy. Your physical weight (not body fat) can also increase due to constipation, sodium, water, hormones, exercise and medications. To optimize digestion, we want to be in a relaxed state - rest and digest. For athletes, this can be rather difficult as our body becomes rather stressed during (or in the hours after) a workout - fi

GI issues and sport nutrition

                                       A throwback to Kona '18 and Acai bowls - yum yum. Wowzer - five weeks until IM 70.3 Haines City. I'm so excited to race I can hardly contain myself. My training is slowly increasing in training volume - specifically bike and run. My typical swim distances are between 3800-4600 yards (~1-1:15hr swim) and I swim five times per week. I also bike about five times per week and there's never an easy bike workout. As for the run, I also run about 4-5 times per week and while I have some solid brick run sessions (my favorite - I love love love running off the bike), my other runs are all about efficiency right now (around 45-65 minutes). With a long season ahead (20 weeks until Ironman Canada and 30 weeks until IM Kona), I'm being patient with my run volume/intensity (per the methods of my coaches). I'm lucky that I don't suffer from GI issues in training and on race day. Neither does Karel. I believe much of this relates