Functional Athletes Need Carbohydrates

TOPIC:

The world of carbohydrates can be a difficult one to manage. They can leave you in a sweet spot of proper fuelling and recovery as an athlete, or crashing and burning when it matters most. This simple guide will hopefully give you a better idea of how best to incorporate carbs properly into your nutrition plan.

What Do Carbs Actually Do?

Carbohydrates (carbs) are our main source of energy for creating adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which our muscles run on. Made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, carbs are the fuel in the combustion engine (respiration) that drives us as athletes. Each gram of carbohydrate contains 4 calories. Carbs should make up about 55-60% of a person’s daily calorie intake, but this varies depending on a number of factors, including how active you are.

Carbs can be simple or complex (just like any good relationship) and each form has its uses.

Simple carbs are basic sugars. Complex carbs are chains of sugars strung together. Fiber is a form of complex carb that our body doesn’t digest, but instead acts as roughage in the digestive system.

It’s worth noting that all carbohydrates are broken down into sugars during digestion and the rate of digestion is affected by everything else we eat (not just carbs). Your requirement for energy changes throughout the day and varies a bit by training sessions. Keep in mind that complex carbs, digested slower, might not provide sufficient fuel source for some activities, though in some circles they’re considered “healthier” options.

There is some debate about sugar consumption and insulin secretion, and it’s fair to say that consuming too much sugar over long periods of time can have negative effects when improperly maintained (diabetes, hyperglycemia, mood swings, energy dips etc.).

Loading up on too much sugar immediately before exercise can cause a sudden rise in insulin levels which, combined with the body’s need to utilize sugars during exercise, can lead to hypoglycemia (low blood sugars) and your energy crashing after an intense session. Realistically, so long as your calories are balanced and you’re not binging huge amounts of sugars before and after training, you should be fine.

Carbohydrate Requirements for Athletes

So what, as an athlete, does my body actually need? It’s worth asking yourself a few questions at this point…

1. Do you take part in a sport that is predominantly in an aerobic or anaerobic training zone?
2. Does your current training block require greater aerobic zone training?
3. Do you have body composition considerations to make? Do you want to lose weight, gain weight, etc?

Athletes who train for greater lengths of time in an aerobic zone (roughly 60-75% max heart rate) require large amounts of carbohydrate for fueling training (soccer players, runners etc.). However, given the different properties of carbs, some athletes can benefit from changes in body composition that might be manipulated by changing carb consumption, particularly fiber and sugars.

What About Keto?

Controversially (if you’re a keto warrior), a functional athlete’s requirements for carbohydrates are not really different to anyone else’s. Carbohydrate requirements are largely dictated by time and intensity of an athlete’s training sessions and training week. The more intense or longer the sessions, the more carbs you need to function optimally.

Those who feel like they benefit from a low carb diet, in my experience, are simply benefitting from shorter-lived boosts in energy and performance related to weight loss. They might also feel some benefit because any carbs they do eat are more quickly absorbed due to a lack of sugar in the bloodstream.

Really the best (and most delicious) way to find out what suits you is to experiment. If you’re training hard and regularly and are suffering from being tired, poor performance and chronic delayed onset muscular soreness (DOMS) then increasing your carbs is a good place to start.

Here’s a rough guide of how many grams of carbs you might need relative to your body weight.

Eating Carbs Around Exercise

Eating carbohydrates around exercising is crucial as they serve as the body’s primary energy source, replenish glycogen stores, regulate blood sugar, and enhance endurance.

Before You Train

Athletes are recommended to consume 200-300g of carbs 3-4 hours before training. This can work in fluid form 90 minutes to 2 hours before if you train early in the morning, preferably with some salts. Otherwise compromises will just have to be made. 60-80g of sugars in one liter of water (6% solution is commonly available in the shops) 1 hour before training has also been shown to help performance.

During Workouts

Isotonic drinks are a useful way of consuming carbs during exercise, particularly because they appear to reduce the amount of liquid required to replenish water lost through sweat and urination. >600ml of fluid containing 60g of carbs per hour of exercise is recommended.
It’s worth trying this in training before you go downing loads of drinks during a competition, in case your body doesn’t immediately tolerate this hydration/fuelling protocol.

Post Exercise

Around 1g per kilo of body weight of carbs is a good start immediately post exercise. This will help with recovery, DOMS and glycogen replenishment (this is helped further by adding in 30g of protein post workout).

Some would even suggest repeating this protocol 2 hours after exercise where appropriate (i.e. if you’re not training again), during which time you might eat meals as normal.

By now, if you’ve been doing the math on how much carbohydrate you’ll have consumed just around training, you might be feeling very full. It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on these numbers to make sure they still fall within your macronutrient targets, tailoring meals outside training to suit whatever is left. In an attempt to quickly summarize what can be an over complicated subject, it’s best to start big and work small in many ways.

In order of priority:

• Build your main meals around larger more complex carbohydrate sources, this should include 7-10 portions (roughly 80g) of fruit and vegetables.
• Aim to eat sufficient carbohydrate on a daily basis, relative to your body weight, training goals and requirement (see table).
• Use sugars and isotonic drinks to supplement carb intake before, during and after exercise.

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Mohammad “Coach Mo” Nourani is the assistant track coach at Cal Poly specializing in sprints, jumps, and hurdles. A former NCAA athlete himself, Mohammad has experience working with youth, collegiate, and professional athletes from a variety of backgrounds. Here he gives a quick overview of Ramadan and provides training and nutrition solutions for observing athletes.

What Is Ramadan?

Ramadan is a holy month in Islam: a time of remembrance when the Quran was first revealed. During this month, most Muslims observe Ramadan by fasting from sunrise to sunset.

This fast not only consists of abstaining from food and water (yes, both!) for 12-18 hours, but also abstaining from worldly pleasures to gain self-control and a closer relationship with God.

Understanding the Hijri Calendar

Ramadan doesn’t fall on the same month every year, making it easy for non-Muslims to miss. Most of the world follows the Gregorian calendar, which is based on the Earth’s rotation around the Sun. The Islamic (Hijri) calendar follows lunar cycles, with every new moon signifying the start of a new month.

The average lunar cycle is 29.53 days, meaning that months in the Hijri calendar alternate between 29 and 30 days. Because of this, the exact start/end dates of Ramadan are estimated beforehand, but usually not confirmed until the month is upon us.

Ramadan is the ninth calendar in the Hijri year. But since Hijri and Gregorian months don’t align, Ramadan starts about 10-15 days earlier than the prior year (on the Gregorian calendar). This also makes it possible for Ramadan to happen in every season!

Fasting: Suhoor and Iftar

As far as fasting goes, most Muslims end up eating/drinking twice a day: one meal before dawn (Suhoor) and one after sunset (Iftar).

Depending on where you live in the world, Suhoor is usually anytime from 3AM – 5AM, and Iftar from 7PM – 9PM. The daily fast commences just before the morning Fajr prayer, and ends right after the evening Maghrib prayer.

Timing Is Key: Ramadan Workout Strategies

There are a few strategies that make training a bit more manageable during Ramadan. And there are pros and cons to each.

There isn’t one that’s 100% better than the rest. What you choose to do depends on your preferences, situation with your sport and team, and schedule.

Option 1: Train After Iftar

Advantages
With this approach, you’re able to train and re-fuel simultaneously, just as you normally would. You might even be able to squeeze in a small pre-workout, and then proceed with training followed by a full meal.

Disadvantages
Training will be very late in the day, and likely after dark. Facilities might be closed/unavailable during this time. Also, if you want to work out with your coach/team/training partners during this time, it’s probably difficult to convince them to change their normal routine.

Option 2: Training Just Before Iftar

Advantages
As soon as the workout is complete, you’re able to refuel and rehydrate fully. This is when I personally prefer to do workouts during Ramadan.

Disadvantages
Getting through an entire workout while in a fasted state is pretty difficult. Also, like Option 1, it’s still pretty late in the day.

Option 3: Train Just Before Suhoor

This option requires waking up at least an hour prior to Suhoor mealtime, working out, and then eating and carrying on with the rest of the fasted day.

Advantages
Like Option 2, you’re able to fuel/refuel as much as needed mid-workout and post-workout.

Disadvantages
This is a pretty mentally taxing choice if you don’t thrive well off of little sleep (but plenty of people succeed in training with this method).

An additional hurdle with this option is finding the motivation to exercise while sleep-deprived and while it’s still dark outside.

Fueling & Hydrating: The Same, But Different

The key to planning for the nutritional component of Ramadan for athletes is to understand what you will be missing, and fill in those holes.

From a calorie perspective, most individuals do not change their normal total intake during Ramadan, because realistically, it is only one meal (lunch) that you’re skipping. And let’s be honest: most of us more than make up for that one missed meal by gorging ourselves during Suhoor and Iftar.

As an athlete, your needs are different from sedentary individuals. You need to pay closer attention to your carb, protein, and fat intake (based on your weight, training, sport/event, etc.).

This doesn’t change during Ramadan. But when you’re only eating two meals each day, you need to pay extra close attention to your macros during each meal. This is what’s going to get you through the fasted day ahead and aid your body in recovery.

A common misconception is that you can eat whatever you want during Ramadan because you lost so many calories fasting throughout the day. But we all know that not every food is going to be best for your body to recover and prepare for future workouts.

It’s tempting to just eat and eat and eat as much as possible during Iftar, so planning out your plate’s distribution of macronutrients before you begin eating is crucial.

A slight amount of weight loss (or weight gain due to overeating) during Ramadan is normal, particularly in the first couple of weeks. The overarching goal is to start and end at a similar weight to pre-Ramadan.

Remember, you’re only changing the timing of nutrition, not necessarily the amount.

Getting Enough Fluids

The trickier part is hydration. If you decide to train in a fasted state, you’re probably going to be extremely thirsty come Iftar.

The temptation is to chug as much fluid as possible, which feels great initially… until you realize all the room in your stomach has been taken up, and you aren’t hungry enough to eat properly.

My advice during Iftar is to rehydrate as much as possible, but do so slowly, and in conjunction with eating food.

Suhoor is an excellent time to hydrate as well, but again, you don’t want to overdo it and not get enough food to make it through the day. As with many things, balance is key.

How Hard Should You Train?

It’s hard to push the envelope while training in a fasted state, so the goal for most is to just maintain the levels of fitness they had built prior to Ramadan.

I recommend training at your current level, and not doing too much volume or intensity.

High-intensity efforts are absolutely still needed. It’s a common mistake to think that “maintenance mode” during Ramadan means only light or easy workouts. To keep the central nervous system sharp and the muscles firing, high-intensity efforts are required. The only difference is that the volume of intense efforts doesn’t need to be very high.

Mental Health Is Equally Important

Training and fueling aside, Muslim athletes face many other challenges during this time, including social stigma, mental state, and balancing schedules with training partners/teams.

In primarily Muslim countries, allowances are often made in everyday life at schools, businesses, etc., to accommodate citizens who are fasting for Ramadan. This isn’t the case in non-Muslim countries (like the United States).

That being said, it’s normal to feel unmotivated and lethargic during Ramadan, especially in the beginning. Don’t get discouraged if you’re unable to perform like you normally do – it comes back! I promise.

So remember to practice self-compassion (or your compassion for Muslim teammates) during Ramadan, and know that your performances/workouts don’t define you as an athlete or a person.

For a more in-depth guide on managing competitions, daily training, and sleep during Ramadan, check out this guide: A Practical Guide to Training During Ramadan.

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Ryan Tomanocy is a CSCS, certified CrossFit Level 1 trainer, and USA Weightlifting sports performance coach. Here, he explains how the bulking and cutting method works, lays out the harmful side effects of this hyped-up approach, and provides an alternative solution (which he uses with all of his clients).

How Bulking & Cutting Works (In Theory)

As bodybuilding became increasingly popular in the 60s, bulking and cutting rose to the top as the BEST way to get muscular and lean when bodybuilding became increasingly popular in the 60s.

Today, nearly 60 years later, it’s still the most popular approach. (Just talk with just about any gym-goer at your local Planet Fitness, Crunch, LAFitness, or other neighborhood globo-gym and if you don’t believe me.)

So how does it work? During a bulking phase, you consume a calorie surplus to enter an anabolic state so your body is able to build muscle tissue. Because bulking often encourages eating just about anything you can get your hands on, your fat mass inevitably increases. This is why the cutting phase follows.

Cutting involves eating at a calorie deficit to create a catabolic state in the body, which leads to weight loss.

And that’s the gist. In most circles, bulking phases last around 4-6 weeks while cutting phases last 6-8 weeks.

Sounds simple and glorious, right? In theory, heck yeah!

However, modern research shows bulking and cutting can cause some real, lasting problems – particularly if your overall goals are health, longevity, and performance.

If you want to feel good, have loads of energy, be active and engage in your beloved hobbies for a long time, maintain a healthy relationship with food, manage stress, stay lean as you age, and have the vitality to play with your kids and grandkids, then bulking and cutting is NOT the best approach.

The Dark Side of Bulking and Cutting

Impact on Mental Health

Recent research shows that bulk and cut cycles are often linked with severe mental health disorders. Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity states “engagement in bulk and cut cycles was associated with the stronger drive for muscularity across the sample, and more severe eating disorder and muscle dysmorphia psychopathology among men and women.”

Simply put, folks who engage in bulking and cutting are more likely to have an eating disorder. This is no bueno.

In my experience coaching hundreds of clients, working back from an eating disorder is a long and challenging road with possible serious ramifications on health, fitness, and performance.

The bulk and cut diet pushes many athletes down a frightening path, not to mention the other serious physical and performance-related impacts outlined below.

Impact on Physical Health

Physically, bulking increases your fat stores, making it more challenging for you to lose weight in the future. It also decreases your insulin sensitivity. This means your cells become less responsive to insulin and therefore require more insulin to regulate blood sugar levels, leading to elevated blood sugar levels. This puts you at higher risk for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer, and other gnarly diseases.

It doesn’t stop there: sub-optimal insulin sensitivity over longer periods of time also challenges your body’s ability to gain muscle (the complete opposite of the goal of a bulk)!

On the cut phase side, losing weight quickly (over 1 pound per week as most bulk and cut dieters aim for), both increases cortisol and decreases testosterone production in your body.

Essentially, bulking and cutting cycles cause a cascade of changes in your body, raising levels of stress and maiming your ability to maintain and grow healthy muscle tissue.

As far as performance goes, aerobic endurance and maximal oxygen uptake often suffer during bulking, while strength drops off during the cut phase.

Risk of injury also dramatically increases as body mass fluctuates significantly: up during a bulk, and down during a cut.

Health Effects Summarized

Bulking:

• Increased risk of developing disordered eating
• Increased fat stores and number of fat cells
• Potential future weight gain
• Decreased insulin sensitivity
• Increased risk of the following diseases and conditions:
• Cardiovascular disease
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • High blood pressure
  • Sleep apnea
  • Certain types of cancer
  • Metabolic syndrome
  • Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
  • Stroke
  • Depression

Cutting:

• Increased risk of developing disordered eating
• Increased cortisol production
• Decreased testosterone production
• Decreased strength levels and greater risk for injuries
• Potential decrease in resting metabolic rate

Ultimately, the severe weight fluctuations from bulking and cutting that we often see celebrated on Instagram and across social-media-land are closely linked to an increased risk of poor health and metabolic syndrome.

Placing the health risks aside, adjusting your nutrition and training to the degree required to perform a bulk and cut is HARD. It requires a lot of time, planning and effort to execute, let alone do it successfully.

In my honest experience, folks often find themselves at the same weight and shape they were before they ever bulked and cut. Or they jump into a “dirty bulk” (mass gainer shakes, no limits, eating everything in sight), gain weight, and fight forever to get lean again.

The Clean Gain Method: Bulk & Cut Altnerative

Don’t worry, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

You CAN get muscular, lean, AND have a healthy relationship with your nutrition that supports your health, fitness, and performance goals long-term. WITHOUT bulking and cutting.

The key is to establish nutrition habits you feel good about, are consistent with, and allow you to make progress in the gym, whether your primary goal is aesthetics, strength, athletic performance-based, or something else!

As a performance and nutrition coach, I focus on getting my athletes to this point at a slight caloric surplus. We monitor this together every 4-6 weeks without stressing about MyFitnessPal, Whoop, or any other fitness tracker.

I usually recommend the “Clean Gain” method for most of my athletes.

Again, the focus is promoting a healthy, long-term nutrition approach where you see the results you want (weight loss, muscle gain, sports performance, etc) and avoid the severe weight fluctuations and adverse effects associated with the popular bulk and cut approach.

How To Use The Clean Gain Method

If you want to gain muscle:

1. Establish a longer-term period of muscle gain, 8-12 weeks, and mark an end date on your calendar.
During this time, prioritize nutritious foods and avoid processed foods and added sugars.

2. Increase calories moderately (250 to 500 calories). This prevents excessive weight and fat gain.

3. Follow a structured strength and conditioning program you enjoy and stay consistent (ideally under the eyes of a qualified performance coach).

4. Assess progress at the 8-12 week mark when your calendar reminder from Step 1 indicates!

5. If you’re happy with your progress, reset your calendar reminder for another 8-12 weeks and continue.

If you’re not seeing results:

6. If you’re not gaining muscle at 0.25% to 0.5% of your total body weight per week, increase your calories by 250 and reassess in four weeks. Once you’re gaining at the appropriate rate, start back at Step 1.

If you want to get lean:

7. Decrease your calories moderately (250 to 500 calories) and aim to lose 0.5% to 1% of your body weight per week and reassess in four weeks.

8. Once you’re leaning at the appropriate rate, set your calendar reminder for four weeks at a time and when you’re ready to gain again just start back at Step 1.

9. If you reach a weight and level of body fat you want to maintain, set your calories at a slight 250 surplus and schedule your calendar reminder 6 weeks out to reassess. This gives you the surplus needed to live a fun and active lifestyle AND allows for strength and muscle gain while minimizing any accumulation of fat.

10. If and when you’re ready to start gaining again, just return to Step 1!

Now, there are many caveats to this advice. The most common answer to health, fitness and performance questions is: “It depends.” (I’d be wary of any coach, trainer or guru who speaks in absolutes!)

The bulk and cut diet has worked for some, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only approach. And it’s certainly not the best approach.

Find a performance coach who answers your questions in a way you understand and helps you find the best starting place and approach for your lifestyle.

Coach’s P.S. If you made it this far and my article resonated with you, I want to gift you a complimentary resource to help you get started on your Clean Gain journey! It’s my Sexy Shopping List and it’s FREE for you if you click HERE!

It lays out the categories, approved foods, and healthy snacks I use with my clients. Keep on your fridge, throw it in your purse or wallet, or take it with you on your next visit to the grocery store. I normally reserve this resource for my private clients, but if it keeps you from suffering the effects of the bulk-and-cut trend, it’s all yours.

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The amount of misinformation out there on supplements is enough to make your head spin. So many athletes and coaches and influencers touting the benefits of this or that supplement, but wait! Don’t forget to use their referral code for a discount!

Which supplements are actually useful for your training? Where can you get some unbiased, science-based information?

Phil Wallace has been in the fitness industry for 10 years, working with the general population and seeing how small nutritional interventions can stack up to massive changes in people’s lives. In this blog, he takes the BS out of the industry and outlines the few supplements that actually work for most athletes.

Why Are Supplements So Confusing?

An infinite number of supplements flood the nutrition market right now. Many of them are created with questionable ingredients just to make a profit, and offer false promises to solve all your problems. Build tons of muscle? Lose fat faster? More energy? Less stress?

There’s a pill or powder for everything.

Wading through the nonsense is exhausting. I’m gonna be real here: there are very few supplements that are actually necessary for optimal health. But this article is intended to give you a foundation of those tried-and-true supplements that benefit most bodies. You may want to experiment by adding a few things, but for the majority of your training time, these supplements should have a place in your routine!

Obviously, if you have conflicting medications, diet restrictions, physiological disorders or other complications when it comes to taking supplements, ask your doctor.

Certain health issues that require more specific supplementation, but that doesn’t mean the vitamin supplement itself is magic. It’s often the lack of said vitamins that causes issues. An iron deficiency might mean supplementing iron corrects this imbalance and gives you a huge burst of energy. It helps to view it as the lack of iron was draining you. The iron supplement didn’t give you energy so much as the lack of iron took it away.

However you manage your own systems, you know the facts: these aren’t shortcuts to your dreams. Supplements may support your goals, but you’ll still have to put in some serious work to achieve them.

That being said, a scoop of whey goes a long way. Let’s get into it!

A Few Supplements Worth Taking for Performance

Vitamin D

While I don’t like supplementing individual vitamins, the exception to this rule has to be Vitamin D. It’s so chronically deficient that it should probably be present in most people’s supplement routine! It’s become a bit of a superstar in the industry because so many people are deficient, which means adding it into your diet usually yields some really good results.

Author’s Note: “really good results” is kind of an arbitrary term. You generally can’t tell when a good supplement works in the moment, but over a few months you might find you’re feeling significantly better.

Vitamin D helps with bone and muscle strength, along with immune function. It also seems to prevent depression (hence the joys of summer and the SADs of winter), and have a positive effect on inflammation. You can get D from food and of course, sunshine. For this reason, many athletes choose to supplement vitamin D in the winter months.

Dosing for vitamin D is a little difficult since it’s a fat soluble vitamin, which means it can be stored/accumulated in the body. There’s a small risk of toxicity. If you wanted to be super accurate, you could get your blood panel done to find out what your 25-hydroxyvitamin-D levels are. Here in the UK we’d classify a deficiency as anything less than 20ng/ml, with optimal levels around 50-70ng/ml. Toxicity only seems to happen when you’re routinely taking 10,000iu per day for 6+ months.

I’d encourage you to get your bloodwork done, start a supplementation routine of between 1,000-4,000iu per day. Then get your bloodwork done again in 3-6 months. If your number has gone up to optimal ranges, stick at the dose you’re at. If not, try adding another 1,000iu. If you’re not in a position where you can routinely get bloodwork, you’d likely be safe in the very conservative range of 1,000-2,500iu per day.

Fish Oil

What an interesting supplement this is! Usually I’m skeptical of anything that boasts benefits in a multitude of different areas. However, fish oils do pretty much that. From hair, to skin, to joints, to brain health, to blood pressure to cardiovascular issues — seems like fish oils are a pretty magic pill. There is a good reason for that, and it goes back to what I mentioned at the start. If you’re deficient in something, bringing it up to scratch can do wonders.

Everyone has heard of Omega 3’s (n3) by now. They’re a relatively unique fatty acid chain. Our western diets are largely full of grains/starches and distinctly lacking in oily fish. This gives us a ton of omega 6’s & 9’s but not very many omega 3’s. Taking an omega 3 supplement (such as fish oil) can restore this balance and give us a more favorable ratio of omega 3-6-9. The result is an anti-inflammatory effect.

This is why fish oils can boast such a wide range of health benefits. Inflammation can manifest itself in a wide range of ailments — too much chronic inflammation will wreck your body. So, an anti-inflammatory can help reduce a wide range of ailments.

There’s a mountain of evidence now for omega 3’s, but more specifically we’re looking for DHA + EPA. There is another n3 called ALA, but it converts into DHA + EPA so poorly that you’re better off just going directly to the source.

We’re looking for about 1,000mg of DHA + EPA combined to reap the overall health benefits. This will probably work out at around 3-4g of fish oils. Different brands have different concentrations but generally speaking 1g of fish oil will give you about 300mg of DHA + EPA combined.

Be sure to take your food consumption into account when supplementing fish oil. Consistent doses of 3,000mg DHA + EPA might affect your immune system or increase risk of blood clotting. Always best to consult your doctor, especially if you’re on blood thinners.

Creatine

Ok, so this is what you came here for — a performance enhancer. Once again, yes, it’s a performance enhancer and super well researched. But I can’t say I’ve ever gone, “damn, I can really feel that creatine working.” All of these things just contribute to you generally feeling better all-around.

Creatine is one of the most researched supplements there is — it’s essentially proven to work, so most athletes take it to improve their performance. You might get an extra rep here and there, which is pretty cool. What’s even cooler is the emerging body of evidence on creatine’s ability to stave off cognitive degenerative diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Creatine supplies an energy system known as the creatine-phosphate system, which is used during particularly high intensity/short intervals. This makes it absolutely perfect for weightlifting and HIIT training, but not so necessary for lower intensity/longer duration cardio work. It works by saturating the muscle stores so you’re capable of producing more ATP (energy).

Because we’re trying to saturate the muscle, you can run a loading dose of creatine. Which would be around 20g per day for 5-7 days. After this period you would drop to a maintenance dose of around 5g per day. Do you need the loading dose? Not necessarily. It’ll just take a little more time to become effective. It’s been reported to give as much as a 15% performance increase.

Fun fact: Increasing the creatine stores in the brain also boosts blood flow to the brain, which can help recovery following head injuries like concussions.

Protein

I’m not going to go too far down this rabbit hole — protein is generally protein. Where it comes from isn’t SUPER important, provided you’re getting it from varying sources. What I will say about protein powders is they’re super convenient. I’m not sure where else you’d be able to get 50g of protein in under 30 seconds.

My personal options are whey and beef protein. Whey protein is king, because it absorbs the fastest. But it can be kinda heavy/filling or problematic if you’re lactose intolerant. Beef protein usually comes as more of a juice which makes it refreshing while being accessible to those with milk digestion issues.

If you’re training hard, you want to be consuming an above-average amount of protein in order to make gains (between 1.6g-2.4g of protein per kg of bodyweight). Protein shakes sure as heck make getting there a lot easier!

Sticking with these basics will definitely support your training and recovery. You can embellish this with whatever you want, be it weird mushrooms, psychotic pre-workout, or whatever else might tickle your fancy. But this stack has been part of my supplementation routine forever and probably always will be.

Honorable Mention: CBD

While still in the newer stages of research and long-term testing, CBD has shown promising results as a recovery tool, sleep aid, and relaxation/stress-management supplement. Check out this blog for a solid personal account on CBD as a recovery tool: CBD Primer: The Next Supplement Frontier for Athletes (And Everyone)

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Intermittent Fasting (IF) is the practice of restricting your food intake by reducing your eating hours or modifying your meal schedule. As with most diet-related practices, there’s a lot of misinformation out there on intermittent fasting. If you’re interested in testing the IF waters, where do you start?

Cole Hergott is the head S&C coach at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC. With a master’s in coaching science and his CSCS, he’s got the passion for fitness, nutrition, and sports. In this blog, he outlines the different methods of intermittent fasting and his experiences.

What is Intermittent Fasting?

“Don’t eat after 7pm.”
“Fasting helps with weight loss.”
“Being hungry teaches discipline.”

These ideas have been pervasive in the nutrition industry and in gym culture for a long time. They’re some of the simple slogans that accompany the concept of intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting, or IF, is a form of restrictive eating in which you modify the number of hours you consume calories, often in an attempt to lose weight. One of the main themes is shortening the amount of time you allow yourself to eat.

Different IF Methods

• Time-restricted eating; 16:8 — fast for 16 hours, eat for 8
• Day-restricted eating; 5:2 — eating normally for 5 days, with a severe restriction for 2 days of the week
• Alternate-day fast — fast every second day
• OMAD — Only consuming one meal a day
• Eat-Stop-Eat — no calories for one or two 24-hour periods each week

If you want to hear a no-BS, honest assessment from a coach who has done multiple forms of IF, then you’re in the right place. While my opinions are backed by science and I may refer to it, the purpose of this article is to give you an honest first-person take on IF from a coach.

I’m the head strength & conditioning coach at a Canadian university. I coach over 350 athletes and counsel them on their nutritional habits. I’m a certified nutrition coach through Precision Nutrition as well as being a certified strength coach and sport scientist. (Plus, I have a Master’s degree). Along with these credentials, I myself have done three different protocols of IF on three different occasions, and that has given me a lot of insight into the topic.

First, a quick rundown of some pros and cons.

Pros of IF

• Fat loss
• Reducing inflammation
• Improving risk factors for Alzheimer’s, asthma, arthritis, Multiple sclerosis, and stroke
• Improving eating discipline
• Hormone rebalancing

Cons of IF

• Hunger
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Insomnia
• Muscle loss

Why Are You Considering Fasting?

The first thing to think about when deciding to try IF is your why. There are a number of reasons one might decide to fast, but for simplicity’s sake, let’s assume that the main purpose of IF is to lose weight. Restricting the amount of time you have access to food or deliberately avoiding food altogether means living and training in a calorie deficit.

So right off the bat, if you’re someone who is looking to gain weight, I don’t recommend doing IF often. I have had athletes try to gain weight on it, but they were obviously not successful. In order to gain weight, you need to consume more calories than you burn. If you’re a busy athlete burning thousands of calories per day, it’s hard to eat enough in a shorter period of time (especially in one meal).

Most athletes I work with have a hard time eating enough to gain weight WITHOUT any restrictions. So, good luck with that while handcuffing yourself to IF.

But if you’re someone who’s looking to shed a few pounds, IF can be a great option for you. I have done the 16:8, One Meal a Day, and Eat-Stop-Eat (where I fasted for one 24 hour period each week).

Each time it was in an effort to lose weight, and each time I was successful. Was there a heavy cost at times? You bet. Let’s dive into those so you get a better idea of the real deal.

What Does It Take to Fast?

Dealing With Hunger

Hunger is a very powerful force for living creatures on this planet. Without the hunger signal telling us to fuel our bodies, we die. So, forcing yourself not to eat for a period of time when you’re used to eating definitely causes the tummy to rumble.

However, that generally only lasts a short period of time (1-2 weeks). Just as your body has adapted to eating three square meals with snacks each day, it can adapt to fasting as well, reducing your hunger signals as time goes on. So if you can stick that one out, it’s short lasting.

Social Life Struggles

Intermittent fasting can also put some strain on your social life. Depending on the type of protocol you choose, you may be hanging out with friends while they eat and you don’t.

When I was doing the Eat-Stop-Eat protocol, I would fast on Saturday. Weekends were when I would hang out with my girlfriend and our hangouts would often lead us to her house for a meal. Of course, her mother was a caterer. Imagine a new boyfriend telling his girlfriend’s mom, who just spent hours making a world-class meal, that he “can’t” eat anything because he’s doing intermittent fasting.

This could be as simple as not eating food at a restaurant, or trying to shift your dinner plans to earlier in the evening so you can eat, but still make your cut-off time. It’s doable, but it definitely takes some extra effort and will power. Weird looks from friends are unavoidable.

Avoiding Disordered Eating

Disordered eating is a pattern of eating that can negatively affect one’s mental, physical, or emotional wellbeing. A common form of disordered eating is binge eating. This can become a problem with fasting, especially if you’re trying the One Meal a Day (OMAD) protocol. The OMAD is basically a planned binge every day, which can lead to chronic binge eating behaviors if you’re not careful.

As someone who has tried OMAD, it can be very “fun” to make or buy a large amount of food and consume it in one sitting. Some people may hate the feeling of going all day starving only to stuff yourself later that day. Others might love the idea and spend their starved hours daydreaming about the amount of calories they can consume “guilt-free” that night after work.

Obviously this is an unsustainable method and a dangerous slope to go down. Don’t be afraid to consult a licensed professional before you dive headfirst into OMAD.

Staying on Schedule

Meal timing and scheduling is very important with intermittent fasting. One of the common protocols of time-restrictive eating is 16:8, where you go 16 hours without food and eat for an 8-hour block. This can be as simple as skipping breakfast, then eating your first meal at 11am and stopping eating after dinner at 7pm.

However, if you are someone who trains really early in the morning, going each day without eating can cause a less effective workout and lower your recovery by not eating until a few hours later. Or if you’re coaching/teaching like I do early in the morning until later in the evening, it can be tough to go a portion of that day without fuel and still perform at your best.

If you’re a student with no morning classes and the ability to sleep in, then this may be a winner. Or if you have weekends off with no major physical task to do, then doing the Eat-Stop-Eat as I did on Saturday may work for you (if you can avoid judgment from your future mother-in-law). Overall, make sure you take a look at your schedule and when you need fuel before you jump into any IF protocols.

Should Athletes Try Intermittent Fasting?

This last section is the one I deal with the most. As I work with athletes who constantly pepper me with questions about diets they see on social media, the topic of IF frequently comes up. I’ll tell you what I tell them.

I don’t recommend it.

Why?

1. Athletes need large amounts of calories to fuel their bodies throughout a full day of training and daily life. By limiting the time you can eat, you’re limiting your recovery capacity.
2. Many athletes are trying to gain weight, which can be almost impossible while doing IF.
3. You’re busy! Between work, school, kids, hobbies and training, working in a fasting schedule is tough and can wreck your energy levels.
4. Athletes often play games or compete on the weekends, so taking a full day away from eating (like in the Eat-Stop-Eat) can either inhibit your recovery after a game or your fueling before a game.
5. Athletes need a constant source of fuel to help with their busy schedule and eating only once per day doesn’t accomplish that. Try training after you have been fasting for 20+ hours, or right after you just ate 4000 calories… yuck either way.
6. Most athletes end up doing IF anyway by skipping breakfast before morning lifting, and often struggle to make it through while performing at their best.

Intermittent fasting might not work for a university or high school athlete, but it might work for you. Consider your training style and how high your calorie and schedule demands are.

I wouldn’t recommend IF to an athlete who didn’t need to do it for other health benefits as recommended by a medical professional.

But if you’re not competitive, but want to try IF “just to see” — start with the method that makes the most sense for your schedule and lifestyle.
At the end of the day, intermittent fasting works for fat loss because it restricts the amount of time you can consume food, leading to fewer calories consumed. However, if fat loss is your only goal, there are many other ways to accomplish that without doing IF. Creating a caloric deficit can be done numerous ways.

If the other health benefits of IF catch your eye and you want to try it, just be ready to be hungry…

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Fred Ormerod is a freelance coach, army reserve medic, nurse, master’s student, and masseuse. He’s spent a decade working in healthcare and five years coaching in one of Edinburgh’s leading training facilities. Keep reading to find out his recommendations and tips for athletes following a vegan diet.

A Vegan Diet Can (and Does!) Work For Athletes

Vegan diets work for athletes across the sports spectrum. There’s a long list of high-level athletes who are reportedly vegan, including:

• Colin Kaepernick (football),
• Tim Shieff (parkour),
• David Haye (boxer),
• Venus & Serena Williams sisters (tennis),
• and Barny Du Plessis (bodybuilding).

I know lots of coaches (myself included) who are thrilled to get new clients who follow a vegan or vegetarian diet. Such a lifestyle choice requires more creativity, intention, and planning.

The obvious concern for most people is that strict vegan diets are often lower in protein (the key ingredient in muscle synthesis), as well as other essential micronutrients.

As long as you’re conscious of what you’re putting into your body and make a plan to get all of your macros/micros, building muscle as a vegan athlete is no problem at all.

Are You Getting Enough Protein?

When protein is more available for synthesis, it’s easier for your body to build, repair, and maintain muscle. Though this can vary between individuals, exceeding this amount is not always beneficial. I recommend tracking your protein intake starting at 1.8g and working up over time to see what works for you.

But how do you know what works best for you? Consider cost, digestive comfort, muscle gain, satiety, and taste. And, most importantly, you need to ask yourself, “What are my goals?”

Do you want to be a bodybuilder? A strength athlete? An endurance athlete? Or just be ripped enough that you’re happy taking your top off at the beach?
Once you understand your goal, it’s easier to build a plan around your eating.

If your goal is just to establish a solid body composition, you’ll likely see results when you’re just starting your vegan diet (even if you don’t hit your protein target every day).

If your goal is to gain some serious muscle, you need to be a little more conscious of hitting your protein target.

Vegan-Friendly Snacks for Extra Protein

Should you hit a muscle-building plateau on your way to winning the Olympia, then protein intake is one of the first places to look.Most of my athletes aim for at least 1.8g per kg of body weight. Those trying to put on muscle realistically aim for 2g+ per kilo of body weight.

If you’re struggling to hit your protein goal, check out the table below for some high-protein vegan foods that make delicious snacks.

Common Vitamin Deficiencies In Vegan Athletes

Cutting out a source of nutrition can lead to nutrient deficiencies if you’re not careful. I provided a list of the most common deficiencies among my vegan clients.

If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, try supplementing with the recommended food source. It might also be in your best interest to get a blood test to see if you’re deficient in any essential vitamins. And of course, see a doctor if anything unusual is going on!

Supplement Your Success

Studies show that creatine and beta-alanine supplementation is effective in vegan athletes, just as it is with non-vegans athletes. And in case you’re wondering – yes! Most creatine is vegan-friendly, but check the label just to be sure.

Creatine:

Creatine improves short-term performance of high-intensity exercise, muscle hypertrophy, and maximum strength. It also increases plasma volume (for a better pump) and glycogen storage (for longer training) while reducing oxygen consumption during submaximal exercise (meaning less fatigue from cardio sessions).
Loading creatine provides the best results in athletes who might naturally have lower creatine stores (vegans). So taking 20g per day for 3-7 days followed by 3-5g per day after is a good way to ensure creatine saturation.

Coach’s Tip: Creatine powders are a much safer bet when going vegan as many capsules are made from bovine products.

Beta-alanine:

Beta-alanine improves output on intense training sessions by reducing fatigue in activity lasting more than 60 seconds.
Like creatine, it is best loaded, especially if you want to avoid the feeling of itchy skin associated with pre-workouts. Divided doses of up to 4-6g per day every day for 2-4 weeks are recommended, followed by daily doses of 2-5g to maintain levels.

Vegan Athlete Sample Meal Plan

Here’s a suggested meal plan to give you an idea of what a typical day of eating looks like as a vegan athlete trying to gain muscle. Of course, change to your taste and specific protein requirements, but generally following this plan provides you with enough protein to feel full and gain some muscle.

6 Tips For Muscle-Building Success As a Vegan

To sum things up, these are the top tips for success I recommend to any vegan athlete.

1. Plan. Understand what your body needs (1.8-2g x body weight in kilograms of protein per day). Knowing what/how much you’re going to eat and how much makes life so much easier.

2. Take the time to experiment. Once you have a plan, let the results follow in time. Remember that building muscle isn’t as simple as just eating protein. It takes training, a holistic nutrition plan, and proper rest to build up over time. See what works and what doesn’t. There’s no rush.

3. Supplement. Supplementing protein works well for some, but not others. Find one you like and it will help tremendously. More than one shake or scoop doesn’t hurt either.

4. Play chef. Building a greater repertoire of recipes helps you meet all nutrition targets. Make food you like to eat and it won’t be a chore if you need to eat more of it to reach your goals.

5. Give yourself breaks. Let yourself take breaks where you don’t focus on food so much. I call these “hedonic breaks” and they massively help with adherence to a long-term plan.

If you’re having to eat what feels like huge amounts of food to hit a protein/calorie target, give yourself a week every 6-8 weeks where you eat less or more intuitively off plan. One week off isn’t going to make a huge difference to your muscle mass, and it helps you stay in muscle-building mode for longer.

6. Snack. Adding snacks to your day helps add up the protein count as well as makes digestion easier.

Though it’s not always as simple, building muscle is perfectly possible on a vegan diet. As long as you understand your goal, plan your meals, stay aware of common deficiencies, and train hard, following a vegan diet poses no threat to your muscle-gaining ability.

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Ryan Tomanocy is a CSCS, certified CrossFit Level 1 trainer, and USA Weightlifting sports performance coach. Romanian deadlifts have been a staple of his training since his collegiate rowing career at Ithaca College. In this guide, he shares best practices for eating at restaurants and on vacation so you can enjoy yourself AND continue making progress.

Treat Yo’self (Mindfully, Of Course)

When you have health, fitness, and performance goals though, this is often when things go off the rails. You go from a week of feeling good, sticking to your training sessions, and eating healthy to a wild Saturday night out, an extra three cookies, drunk pizza, and a ride home with your pants unbuttoned.

But worry not, because there ARE strategies that ensure you’re not compromising progress while still enjoying time spent at restaurants or on vacation.

The following strategies help you navigate the delicious and dangerous options at your restaurant of choice the next time you’re out on the town or when you escape for adventure on that well-deserved getaway.

When Eating At Restaurants

1. Plan Ahead of Time
Check the menu before you go, especially if it’s somewhere new.

Make it easy on yourself and pick a place that has simple whole food options, like BBQ or Mediterranean.

2. Stay Hydrated
Drink a glass of water before getting to the restaurant. Having a bit of liquid in your stomach curbs gnarly hunger cravings and aids in digestion. No more food babies!

3. Don’t Show Up Ravenously Hungry
Try having a small healthy snack beforehand: a handful of nuts, carrots or berries. If you show up starving, you’re going to overeat.

4. Limit Alcohol to Special Occasions
Drinking has a STRONG correlation to choosing unhealthy foods. If you have to, pick one or the other: One or two drinks OR the cowboy hamburger and fries.

5. Request a To-Go Container When You Order
Before you start eating, pack away 1/4 of what’s on the plate and save it. (You can always eat some later if you’re still hungry and saved too much.)

6. Craft a Healthy Plate
Keep it simple. Lean protein, a hearty portion of veggies or fruit, some carbs, and a healthy source of fat is all you need for a nutritionally satisfying meal.

7. Walk & Move!
Take a walk before and/or after eating, park farther away, stay on your feet while you wait for a table, or stand and eat if that’s an option! Try adding in some activity if you know you’re going to eat a big meal.

8. Avoid the “All-or-Nothing” Mentality
Treat yourself here and there to foods and indulgences you REALLY look forward to and pass on those that aren’t your absolute faves.

For example, if you really want that flourless chocolate cake for dessert, order an appetizer and a salad for your main instead of the 16oz ribeye with marshmallow sweet potato casserole. Balance is the key.

Tips for Ordering Meals & Dessert

Check How a Dish is Prepared
Is it fried, grilled, baked, or poached? Eggs are a classic example. Try to opt for poached, boiled, or baked over fried eggs doused in fat. Dishes that are described as fried, crispy, crunchy, or sautéed are likely to contain more calories.

Ask for Dressings/Sauces on the Side
This allows you to control the amount you want. Since many dressings are high in calories and fat, ask for olive oil and balsamic vinegar instead (or even opt for no dressing/sauce at all).

See if Vegetables Can be Ordered Without Butter, Dressing, etc.
Ask to have melted butter or olive oil on the side so you know how much you’re adding.

Consider Ordering Two Apps Instead of One App & One Main
Tons of appetizer combinations make a more portion-controlled choice.

If you’re still hungry after eating, you can always order more. It’s much easier to remain on track by adding more to your meal than ordering too much, stuffing yourself, and trying to clean your plate.

Share Your Meal with Someone Else!
My wife and I often order a salad, an appetizer, and a main to split! Most times this ends up being WAY less than 2 mains and an appetizer.

Avoid Creamy Sauces
Opt for a tomato sauce or another lower-calorie option.

Opt for Espresso, Fresh Fruit & Whip Instead of Dessert
Oftentimes we’re full from the actual meal and know we don’t really need a dessert, which will come laden with sugar and high in calories. If you do want to join in on dessert, look for a sorbet, fruit-based or lighter option.

You Can’t Go Wrong with Protein & Veggies
Protein helps you feel full, and vegetables are nutrient-dense and fewer in calories than most other side options.

Reminder: Vegan, vegetarian, and organic don’t always mean healthier. Consider the dish as a whole: does it contain a balance of protein, carbs, and healthy fats? Many vegan dishes are made up of nut substitutes, which are often higher in calories.

Easy (But Difference-Making) Food Swaps

French Fries: Swap these out for an extra portion of veggies or for potatoes that are steamed, baked, or boiled.

Fatty Meats: Try a leaner cut like sirloin or opt for poultry or fish.

Creamy Sauces: Look for a tomato or vegetable-based sauce.

Soda: I love sparkling water with lemon or lime. Ask if the bartender can make you a lower-calorie version of a drink you want.

Alcohol: Ask your bartender for soda water with bitters. Bitters are great for your digestion and give that herbal, alcohol-like flavor.

Fried Foods: Ask for baked, boiled, or steamed alternatives.

When Spending Time on Trips & Vacations

2. Stay Hydrated
Make sure you’re well hydrated. Many times, hunger can disguise itself as thirst.

3. Limit Alcohol to Special Occasions:
You might not need to grab a beer every time you stop at the gas station or go to visit your neighbor’s house.

4. Eat Breakfast
Include a serving of lean protein and veggies if possible.

5. Make Sleep a Priority!

6. Get Your Fam & Friends on the Same Page
Tell those with you that you’re trying to be mindful of your nutrition and want to make good decisions during vacation. They love you and support you!

7. Sneak in Some Exercise When You Can
Twenty minutes of movement makes a HUGE difference. Squeeze in twenty air squats and a MAX plank hold before you shower, 20 pushups and 20 situps when you wake up, etc.

How to Eat with Intention

2. Set Your Utensil Down Between Bites
Similar to the above, by giving your body time to recognize fullness and send signals upstairs to the brain, you’re much less likely to overeat.

3.Alternate Between Food & Drink
Take one or two bite of food and then a small sip of water. This helps slow you down and draw out the meal.

4.Enjoy Your Company!
Typically we eat out to enjoy time with people. There’s no need to rush! Make the most of your time together by having conversations, taking your time, and savoring the meal.

5. Pass On the Bread Basket
Unless it’s special bread (of course), these are often just empty calories that add up quickly.

6. Take Breaks Here & There to See if You’re Full
This is definitely easier said than done. Every three to four minutes, try taking a brief pause, setting your fork down, and silently asking yourself, “Am I still hungry?”

More often than not, people tend to eat unconsciously and try to finish everything on their plates. Listen to your body and try to stop eating when you need to. Get the rest of your plate to go! Boom, tomorrow’s lunch!

By following these tips, you won’t compromise your progress in the gym by spending much-needed time with friends and fam.

Remember that connection to others is an important aspect of overall health, so don’t isolate yourself when it comes to vacations and/or meals out! The only thing more unhealthy than binging on unhealthy foods is refusing to spend time with loved ones because you’re scared to fall out of routine.

Bookmark this page for the next time you’re dining out or planning a trip and want to stay on top of your fitness goals!

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What exactly is the relationship between insulin and blood sugar? What are those wearable patches you’ve been seeing and why are they popping up on athletes of all sports these days?

If you’re not a diabetic or living with someone who is, you might have missed the exposure to blood glucose management. But as a human with a body, especially an athlete, these are things you should actually know. Managing your BG isn’t just for people with diabetes.

Take this article for a spin to get a primer on understanding your body’s response to food during the Wild West of holiday eating.

It’s Not the Turkey Making You Sleepy.

Ah, the Thanksgiving buzzword: tryptophan. How many times have you heard it — “all that turkey made me tired!”

Yes, tryptophan can make you sleepy if you consume a lot of it, as it’s a precursor to melatonin, but the amount of tryptophan in turkey is no more than other meats. Have you ever eaten a turkey leg at the fair, or a turkey burger at a restaurant and needed to pass out right afterwards? Nah.

So what’s actually going on? Why does everyone get cozy on the couch and start snoring through the football game or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?

In actuality, it’s the huge load of heavy fats, sugar, and carbs that make you feel sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner or Friendsgiving lunch. Think of the comfort foods served at most American holiday meals:

• Bread rolls
• Stuffing
• Mashed potatoes & gravy
• Casseroles
• Pies & sweet treats

With that combination of carbs and fats, it’s no wonder the post-meal nap has become an acceptable part of the tradition. Throw a little alcohol in there and grandpa will be hitting the recliner right after the pumpkin pie.

Note From The Author: Until I started dating an athlete with Type 1 diabetes (they exist!), I hadn’t really grasped the impact of BG (blood glucose) fluctuations on your daily life. Even if you’re not diabetic, your BG fluctuates within a normal range every day.

Your metabolic health affects your hormones and vice versa, which affect everything from your energy levels to your mood, motivation, and emotional state. It’s incredibly valuable to know just how your body handles food once you’ve swallowed it.

ELI5 (Explain Like I’m 5): How Do Blood Sugar & Insulin Work?

Once you eat that big meal, the carbs (bread, potatoes, starches, etc) break down into glucose, a sugar that acts as your body’s go-to source of energy. The glucose in your bloodstream signals to your pancreas to start pumping out insulin.

Insulin is a growth hormone produced by your pancreas that shuttles glucose into your body’s cells where it can actually be used as energy. Without insulin, glucose just hangs around in your bloodstream, making you feel like sh*t. If your pancreas or insulin pump doesn’t respond, it can lead to hyperglycemia.

For people with a working pancreas, eating high carb foods means sending that thing into overdrive. After tons of repeated overdrive without adequately using those carbs for energy (like a carb-heavy, sedentary lifestyle), your pancreas basically gets exhausted. This can lead to insulin resistance, a precursor to Type 2 diabetes.

• Type 1 diabetes: the pancreas breaks for seemingly no reason, usually at a young age (my fiancé was 8), and the athlete needs supplementary insulin for life.
• Type 2 diabetes: often a result of being overweight with a sedentary lifestyle and high-carb diet; can be reversed by lifestyle change.

For diabetics, it’s a constant battle for homeostasis — a balance between eating food, raising your blood sugar, using the right amount of insulin, and expending that energy to stay in a normal BG range.

The important thing to grasp here is that glucose is an energy source. Meaning: when you eat it, you need to use it.

A Note on Fats
We mentioned fats above, but what do they have to do with the metabolic process? Like protein, relatively little fat can be used for immediate energy, so it doesn’t spike your blood sugar as readily. BUT combining fats with carbohydrates at meals slows down the rate of absorption for the food. This can affect the insulin timing/dose for diabetics.

For non-diabetics, it generally means a couple hours of feeling sluggish while digesting Thanksgiving din. But guess what? It doesn’t have to be that way!

The Metabolic Cycle

Symptoms of Hyperglycemia

(too much sugar in your blood)

• Drowsiness (hello, post-Thanksgiving nap!)
• Irritability
• Extreme thirst
• Frequent urge to pee
• Dry mouth & sweet-smelling breath
• Stomach cramps
• Feeling like your blood has turned to sludge*

Symptoms of Hypoglycemia

(not enough sugar in your blood)

• Headaches
• Hunger
• Dizziness
• Sweating & shaking
• Blurred vision
• Extreme fatigue & paleness
• Mood swings

*Added by actual diabetics.

Fun(?) Fact: Before modern medicine, diabetes went by a number of dark names like “sugar sickness”, “wasting-thirst” and “honey urine” (because your pee tastes sweet 🤢).

Small Changes Help Manage Your BG at Meals

If you’re an athlete and already have an eye on your nutrition, it doesn’t take a huge, dramatic change to your holiday meals to blunt your body’s insulin response. A few key adjustments will make it so you don’t feel gross and immediately want to pass out after eating.

1. Load Your Meat & Veggies First

Portion control is everything. Focusing on the meat and vegetables at the meal will make you feel fuller, so you can avoid overeating the starchy stuff.

2. Smaller Portions of Bread, Sweets & Starches

Again, portion control. Try cutting your portions of high-carb/high-fat foods in half, or skipping one in favor of another instead of having both.

3. Pick One: Sugar or Alcohol

Alcohol can do crazy things to your BG, especially when combined with food. I still have trouble figuring it out based on the research and reports from diabetics I know. It seems the basic idea is alcohol by itself tanks your blood sugar, but alcohol and sugar combined jacks it up. Alcohol + sugar + fat = ??? Logic would say it’s not a great combination.

To keep things simple: if you’re gonna have both, limit your consumption of each.

4. Stay Hydrated

Water is life. Turns out having a small bowl of clear soup before a meal or drinking some hot green tea is an easy trick to dodging a massive insulin response (if only because it makes it harder to over-eat).

5. Take a Walk After the Meal!

This is probably the most effective way to keep your blood sugar from skyrocketing after eating a carb-heavy meal. By using the biggest muscle groups in your body (your posterior chain) to take a ten minute walk, you’ll be doing what you’re supposed to do with all that glucose — using it.

If you do one thing on this list, let it be this one. Take a walk around the block. Bring the dog and do 10 air squats every time he takes a pee. Grab Nancy & Greg’s new baby and take it for a stroller walk. Whatever it takes, make the post-meal walk a priority.

A Note On Holiday Traditions

Are you the one in charge of making green bean casserole just like grandma made it? Does it actually need those fried onions on top, or can you claim the store was out and make a slightly healthier version with olive oil and lemon juice instead?

In her book, Salt Fat Acid Heat, professional chef, Samin Nosrat, notes that the blandness of traditional American comfort food makes it easier to eat a ton of it. What’s usually missing is the mouth-watering tangy/sour zing of acid, which is only really found in the cranberry sauce.

“What acidity does in our cooking is it provides a contrast. Contrasts are what we find to be so delightful and give us so much pleasure when we’re eating. Everything on the Thanksgiving table tends toward the salty, the starchy, or the rich, or sometimes even the bland. Often, the only acidic thing on the entire table is cranberry sauce, which is why most people just keep spooning cranberry sauce onto their plates.

Even in a lot of the most traditional dishes, there are simple ways to work a little bit of acid in. For example, in Thanksgiving stuffing, which is probably my very favorite part of the whole meal, I often will make a little bit of ground-up sausage meat with some white wine in there. I’ll soak prunes or any dried fruit, which is a little bit acidic, in white wine, which adds a little bomb of acidity. I’ll use sourdough bread, which is naturally sour.

I’ll work crème fraîche or sour cream instead of cream and butter into mashed potatoes. When I’m making the gravy, I might add a fresh little splash of white wine. Pickled shallots on top of green beans.”

We’re not here to take away your usual holiday traditions, but maybe you can come up with some creative ways to make them healthier. If you wanna go HAM on some sweet potato casserole this year, have at it. But if you hate the way you feel afterwards, consider switching up your recipes… or at least skipping the bread rolls or that second glass of wine to curb the metabolic effects.

If there’s one point to drive home here, it’s this:

Sugar and carbs are not the enemy. They’re tools.

If you want a deeper understanding of exactly how your body responds to food, ask for one of the new CGM (continuous glucose monitor) devices for Christmas. (I am.)

Oh, and take that post-meal walk!

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