Brittle Bones

Osteoporosis. What is it? Osteoporosis is a bone disease where the body is unable to form new bone. It is the thinning of the bone, or the reduction of bone density. Having coeliac disease I am aware that the risk for osteoporosis is relatively high, doubly because I am a women, and triple because the chronic disease already runs strong in my family. I am therefore very interested in preventative steps I can take towards living an unbroken, fracture-less, and healthy life.

Now, coeliac disease increases the risk of osteoporosis because it decreases the body’s ability to absorb nutrients. In fact, a healthy individual has a surface area of roughly 250 square feet of small intestines, which is all used for the absorption of minerals and nutrients into the body. After a 'coeliac attack' the intestine surface area shrinks from damage to the villi, resulting in the malabsorption of nutrients, and a weakened immune system.

You may already know that calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D is essential for bone health. Well, in a body that suffers from coeliac attacks a little too frequently, these nutrients can be hard to obtain. 99% of Calcium is held in the skeleton of the body, which keeps the bones strong and healthy. Unfortunately when dietary calcium is insufficient, calcium is drawn from the skeleton to increase calcium levels in the blood because it is unable to increase absorption from the intestines. What does that mean for those with coeliac disease? Well, it means you need to be getting a lot of calcium into your diet during those unfavourable sieges of gluten's invasion!!

The RDA recommends an intake of 1000mg/day of calcium for individuals aged 19-50. However, due to malabsorption, I generally increase that to 1300mg/day, the same amount suggested for growing individuals aged 14-18 years. It is important to note that the supplementation of calcium should be taken throughout the day, as the body is incapable of absorbing more than about 400-500mg at a time. By supplementing vitamin D in conjunction with calcium, you will also assist the absorption process, as well as assisting the re-absorption of calcium from the kidneys. Important? I think so!!

References:

PubMed Health : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001400/

http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/smallgut/anatomy.html

Protein Happy

I did a very interesting research paper on protein powders for my sports nutrition class today. It was based around the four most commonly consumed protein powders: whey isolate, creatine, casein, and soy.

I was interested to know that creatine is not actually very good for you; the idea behind it is that it packs creatine and phosphocreatine into your skeletal muscle with the hopes of creating more energy (adenosine triphosphate or ATP) for the muscle to consume. However, creatine can actually have the opposite effect; taken in large doses that do not match the intensity level of the exercise, or the weight of the individual, creatine supplementation can prevent the body from manufacturing natural creatine and phosphocreatine. It can also result in kidney dysfunction, gastrointestinal pain, muscle cramping, as well as increased dehydration!!

But do not fret, fortunately the sports industry has provided us with a great variety of protein powders derived from whey isolate! When looking to bulk up, tone up, and shed any unwanted fat, and are keen to use a protein powder to do it, hydrolyzed whey isolate definitely seems like it’s the way to go! Containing essential amino acids, including branched-chain amino acids, protein powders from hydrolyzed whey isolate contain the highest concentration of protein than any other supplementary source, without the nasty side-effects of creatine. Having said that, before you decide to go out and buy a whole wack of whey: do your own research and find out what is right for your body in regards to portions, price, and of course taste.

……Happy bulking!!!

Sweet, Sweet Stevia

Glycemic index (GI) is a scale from 0 to 100 that refers to the carbohydrate content in food, according to the post-consumption rise in blood sugar. Foods with a high GI are foods that are rapidly digested and cause pronounced instability in blood sugar levels. Such foods include most kinds of white rice, white bread, glucose, maltose and maltodextrins. Foods with a low GI are foods that have been proven to benefit health; with slow digestion and absorption that produce gradual rises in insulin and blood sugar levels.

In a recent chemistry lab for my Sports Nutrition class, we tested the sweetness of a variety of sweeteners. On the table below we see the name of the sweetener and the sweetness level, rated on a 1-5 scale (1 being the least sweet, and 5 being the most sweet). We also see the numerical GI rating of each sweetener, and low, medium, and high rating according the following chart.

Sweetener Tested	Relative Sweetness	Glycemic Index (GI)
White Sugar	1	64 (moderate)
Brown Sugar	1	64 (moderate)
Coconut Sugar	2	35 (low)
Stevia	5	0 (low)
Sucralose	3	80 (moderate)
Sugar Alcohol (xylitol)	1	13 (low)

http://www.mendosa.com/

Glycemic load (GL)is a measurement that is, in fact more applicable to a regular meal. GL represents how much carbohydrate is in the food you are eating, and how much each gram of carbohydrate in the food raises blood sugar levels, in relation to the GI.

As you can see in sweetener table the sweetness of the substance does not necessarily corolate to the glycemic index. For example I found the taste of stevia to be sickly sweet and was surprised when I found it to have a GI of 0. Unfortunately the American FDA (food and drug administration)has not approved stevia as a recognized sweetener, however the FDA does not object to its use. The only sweetener that had a visible correlation to its GI was the sugar alcohol Xylitol, which I gave a sweetness rating of 1 and had a GI as low as 13.Both white and brown sugar had a sweetness rating of 1, however they were both on the high side of moderate on the GI, with a rating of 64. Sucralose, found in artificial sweeteners such as Splenda, Equal, and Twin, which had a medium sweetness level, had the highest GI rating. Lastly, coconut oil had a lower sweetness rating (2), and had a GI of 35 (low).

My diet does not include much refined, or processed sugar. In fact, going back to the very first blog; my goal for this semester was to avoid refined and processed sugars all together. With some 'cheat' days here and there (I enjoy cookies), I have adhered to my goals fairly well. I do not plan to return to eating refined and processed sugars, however I do plan on being slightly more relaxed when the semester is over at the end of April. My no sugar diet has made me feel much lighter, less bloated, and generally more energetic!

My body: the greatest nutrition advisor!

On occasion individuals from my community will approach me, with the knowledge that I am a health and exercise enthusiast, asking me the dos and do not’s about nutrition, weight loss, and how they should go about their personal fitness goals. To date, the most important thing I have learnt regarding nutrition and exercise is the importance of getting to know your body. I am not yet under any certification of a ‘health professional’ so leaning on me for the ultimate decision about your nutrition is neither shrewd, nor wise.

Whether it is through movement, like in yoga or running, or what you eat, or even when you eat, the best thing you can do without paying a high price for a nutritionist is to determine what works for you. For instance, for an individual trying to lose weight while maintaining as much muscle mass as possible and improving body composition it is recommended that protein intake should be around 0.2g/kg/day. However, this recommendation does not tell you when, or how you need to be taking it in. In my personal experience eating too much protein before heading out for a run causes gastrointestinal discomfort, and generally ruins my run, so I tend to eat protein after a workout. This may not be the case for everyone though! Also, I prefer to frontload my mornings with my daily caloric needs so that I can workout in the afternoons, eat a simple meal, and go to bed feeling ‘light’. Again, if you are an individual who tends to workout more in the morning, this is not an option; frontloading your calories would not give you enough energy to workout early the next morning!

There are a many different suggestions as to the best way to nourish your body for weight loss, but there is no magic formula, and no perfect recommendation that fits everyone. Know your body, and find what works for you, no one else has your answer… least of all me.

Training-to-Train: Diet like sister-dear?

Last weekend my fantastic little sister, Casey, ran a 4 X 400m rely with her teammates, Danielle, Maggie, and Anastasia. The race was at the Olympic Oval in Vancouver, against other teams at a University level. Casey’s team won by 100 meters, they ran the whole thing in 3.56 minutes, and according to her, they could have done better on an outdoor track. They are currently the 2^nd best women’s relay team in the country.

Casey trains constantly, and our fridge is always being emptied. The most common discussion in our household is between 7:00am and 9:00am regarding who gets to take last night’s leftovers. Usually Casey wins. She struggles to maintain her energy during her crazy weeks of training, and often comes home exhausted. The most difficult part of Casey’s training comes when she has two or more sessions, or events, in one day. For all elite athletes getting proper nutrition on these intense days becomes a challenge. Athletes should be eating small to moderate sized meals with some easy to digest proteins well before each training session.

To be sure, Casey is a top-notch athlete, who trains at very intense levels. Her nutrition is insanely important for her athletic ability. What does that mean for the rest of us though?

For those of us “normal” folks, nutrition is important, but there is no need to stress over it! Even if you are like me, training-to-train, with no real purpose or objective beyond fitness and peace of mind, stressing about the perfect portions of protein, carbohydrates, and fats is really not worth the trouble. The major question that pops into my mind when someone asks me if I am getting my protein in after a workout: “If I’m going to the gym as a stress release, than why on earth would I stress about my nutrition afterwards?”

To be sure, I need to eat well-balanced meals throughout the day, maintain my blood glucose levels, and sustain adequate hydration levels. But let us be honest my one ultra-sweat session per day for general fitness is not a reason to amp up the macronutrients: not in sport drinks, post-exercise meals, protein drinks, nor supplements!

Sport Star Strategy

Over and over the dietary requirements needed by young men and women get set aside for various dietary desires. We crave more food, sweeter food, and saltier food; or we desire to eat less, control what we put into our bodies, and seek out ways of minimizing our calorie consumption. Either way our bodies are not getting what they deserve: adequate nutrition.

Athletes are no different. I was surprised to learn today that athletes are among the worst when it comes to evading the body’s needs. No, the desires of an athlete are not the same as the yearnings of an average Jane, but they are similar. Athletes requiring leanness for their sport, such as track runners, marathon or triathlon runners, endurance cyclists, and many more can teeter dangerously on the edge of malnutrition. Not being an elite athlete myself, I was always under the impression that high level sports stars had a similar level of nutritional education, and that they would know how to feed themselves correctly to sustain the amount of energy they output. Sadly, this is not the case.

In our behaviour fitness class last year we learnt about various mentalities, and processes that people go through as they become more active. We also touched on the mentality of a pro athlete: what drives them. Highly motivated and extremely competitive, some athletes would do anything for a bit more of an edge and more of a lead to dominate their event. In class today we revisited this mentality, and learnt how it can have a massive influence on eating habits. For instance, if leanness and less weight have a greater advantage in a marathon race, would more leanness, and even less weight not make those advantages even higher? The consequences: stress fractures, vitamin deficiencies, fatigue, immune failure… and, of course, the failure to achieve success in the desired sport.

The opposite is true for sports that require a specific weight, such as martial arts competitions, wrestling, or Olympic lifting; highly motivated and competitive people doing what it takes to make it into the top level. However, the top level is not #1, and their nutrition will make the difference.

Having written about the nutritional woes of the athletic community, it may now be time for an update on how my own nutritional goals are doing. Hmm, refined sugar. It is not that difficult for me to stay away from refined sugar, well, not in the typical candy, or baked goods anyways. No, my clutch is gluten free cookies, dipped in Starbucks’ very own soy chai lattes. And I LOVE my cookies. Oh well, day by day… and avoiding the cookie isles and S-bucks’ at all costs!!