FUELING THE BODY FOR PROTECTION & OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE

I went along to a great presentation earlier this week about nutrition for getting the most out of you body. I know quite a few of from my facebook page had wanted to come along, but were not local...so I asked if anyone would like me to summarise it to at least give a an overview of the information and the answer was YES so here I go!

The presentation was called "Performance needs Protection" and looked at the blind spots in human performance and sports nutrition. It may sound like it was just for pro athletes, but the information was definitely applicable to anyone who exercises to keep fit, participates regularly in organised activity or even if you are training to reach the peak level of your sport. It was all about making smart choices about the type, timing and quantity of food to eat and how it all plays a role in realising your best.

Here are some of the notes I jotted down that I thought would be of interest...

The framework of a good diet is where it all starts - 

A good base diet:

• Provides adequate nutrients and energy to cope with training & life in general (stress anyone!?)
• Supports optimal recovery - both from training and any other physical stress
• Avoids excessive food related stress - so avoids toxins, chemicals and processed foods

Counteracting your great diet, is your exercise and training - whilst exercise is great for you it also:

• increases macronutrient need of carbohydrates, proteins and fats (higher caloric requirement to sustain performance and lean muscle mass)
• increases micronutrient need of fruits/vegetables providing all essential vitamins/ minerals (key to performance, recovery & protection of all tissues as well as general health)

The pres then looked at the nutritional and physiological blind spots is key to being able to bridge the execution gap in reaching your optimal performance. These blind spots are -

• mitochondrial density vs mitochondrial fragility
• strong immunity vs oxidative stress
• endothelial performance vs reduced inflammation

it's all about choosing the right supplementation that supports a great diet plan, and doesn't cause you harm

You can see from the above image, the difference between macro and micro nutrients. Micronutrients are often the forgotten ones, but they are so important to our health both inside and out. People always worry about how much protein they are getting for rebuilding their muscles or how much (or little) carbs they are getting in regards to glycogen stores; but without having adequate micronutrition, your body is likely to not even be absorbing enough of the macro nutrients on a cellular level. Inside every muscle cell there is a “cellular powerhouse” called the mitochondrion, whose main function is to generate energy. The mitochondria need massive amounts of micronutrients to fuel the muscles, as well as the nerves and heart. If you are even lacking a single micronutrient, your efficiency can be compromised. Starting to see the importance now?

It then started to look at the "execution gap" or why we are not achieving this required level of micronutrition. Basically it is the difference between tending to choose energy dense foods rather than nutrient dense foods. (This is a switch I made about 3 years ago after starting to take Juice Plus+ and learning about the importance of nourishing my body not just fueling it; it has made such a big difference to my overall health and training.) So recognising 'knowing' versus 'doing' - we all know we need to eat more fruits and vegetables, but actually doing that is not easy!

So where does that leave you? Well looking at supplementation of course. You probably know how I feel about supplements - that they should only be exactly that, a supplement for a good diet, not a replacement for anything. And of course a high quality, non-synthetic product that is backed by clinical research studies. Which is where my lovely Juice Plus+ comes into the equation - it is your key to the execution of bridging that nutritional gap.

My favourite slide from the presentation - macro & micro nutrients simply explained

There was also something new that I learned at the presentation actually. How to know if your current vitamin or multi vitamin is synthetic! Well I can probably just say that it's highly likely that it is synthetic, but here is how you know.

"dl-" (dextro levo) in front of an nutrient on vitamin labels means that nutrient is synthetic e.g. synthetic vitamin E is listed as "dl-alpha tocepherol". Natural vitamin E is listed as "d-alpha tocepherol". The difference is in the prefix.  

Obviously you want to chuck out anything you have with "dl-" in front of the nutrients on the ingredients list!

In summary, don't forget that your micronutrition is just as important as your macronutrition. Don't get stuck in the place of knowing what you need but not actually doing it - getting those fruits and vegetables in every single day, preferably organic, raw and a big rainbow variety! That was a very brief rundown of what the presentation covered...I didn't want to give a word for word account as it would be information overload, but I've gone through all the key points. If you any questions or want some more information, please just ask and I will hopefully be able to answer! (If not, I know quite a few sharp people who will know the answers anyway.)

choose a whole food supplement - not a synthetic one!

fueling for protection - the balance of performance / protection!

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