Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition

The other day I received an email regarding gluten-free diets and athletes. The emailer wanted to know if there were any performance benefits of a gluten-free diet. Here's my thoughts, which are strictly based on my thoughts and experiences from athletes except for the info regarding celiac disease which is from my Medical Therapy textbook: As far as the gluten-free diet, most people who are advised to adhere to a gluten-free diet suffer from celiac disease. Celiac disease has a lot of symptoms including diarrhea, anaemia (due to poor absorption of iron, folate and B12), indigestion, abdominal pain, bloating, weight loss, fatigue, and infertility. When celiac disease athletes suffer from these conditions a gluten free diet can help alleviate the symptoms. However, for the majority of athletes who don't have celiac disease, a gluten-free diet may or may not improve performance. First off, the symptoms of bloating and stomach distress are common in athletes who consume a lot of s...

Fish is a must have in the diet of non-vegetarian and non-vegan athletes. I recommend fish after a hard weekend of training or after an intense workout. The omega-3 fatty acids in fish (particularly EPA) have a tremendous positive affect on inflammation. Since you train your body in order to strengthen the heart, omega-3's are also helpful to lower cholesterol, triglycerides, LDLs (bad cholesterol) and BP, while increasing good HDL cholesterol. Since we exercise for heart-health, in addition to performance gains, it is important to eat to keep your muscles, tissues, bones and heart healthy through healthy food choices. The healthy fats in fish can also help prevent stroke and heart attack. Although you may consider yourself healthy for exercising on a daily basis, a clean diet filled with healthy fats is critical if you want to keep your arteries and veins healthy. No point feeling confident in your exercise routine if you eat unhealthy (trans fats, saturated fats) and your insides...

I needed this weekend. I am exhausted. Glad it is over but enjoyed it all. Enjoyed the mental obstacles, the sore body, the worries that my injury would come back and the happiness when I finished the workout. Saturday would be the big day. Therefore, I was mentally prepared...much more than last weekend. As for a week ago, there's just something about a 10am 100 mile bike ride which is not mentally exciting. However, my plan for yesterday was to leave at 6:30am for a 6 hour/110 mile ride. Karel and I woke up at 5am to get the morning started. Coffee, my oatmeal mix (banana slices, blueberries, honey and raisin) and wasa cracker w/ PB. Not as much as I will do for IM but enough to keep my tummy happy for a few hours. I also had a different plan for my nutrition. Due to my extreme hunger last week, I decided to go with Sustained Energy from Hammer rather than only heed. I am not a big solid food or gel eater when I work out and I prefer getting my 220-240 calories/hr from sports dri...