Fueling for Life
Don’t just fuel for an event, fuel for life.
Last week, Synergy Worldwide ran a webinar presented by Morag McDowell, an age group GB triathlete, on fueling for endurance. If you missed it, you can access the recording, which will be live for a limited time, by clicking here:
https://vimeo.com/678117640/4a380927c1
It was really interesting to hear how Morag overcame chronic fatigue, having eaten (and drunk - she described going to the pub after training!) very unhealthily for years, by changing her nutrition and adding in targeted supplements to improve her gut health, but also to fuel her training and racing.
Although I loved the webinar and it had some great information in it, I was wondering throughout, why just fuel for endurance and because you want to win a race or get a PB or qualify for the Olympics? Why don’t we all just want to fuel well for good health, optimum health, life?
Well, I for one, do! And it’s what I encourage all my clients to do on a daily basis - to fuel, exercise, rest for optimum health, so they can live life to the fullest for as long as possible. So they can continue to do the things they love as they get older. So their healthspan is as long as their lifespan. To live well longer - not just to live longer! And all this, without the use of medication wherever possible - by using what is naturally available to us to keep our bodies and minds at their best.
There is new research being done all the time on epigenetics - the switching on and off of gene expression due to things other than the DNA sequence. Epigenetics can determine whether a gene which is hereditary is expressed or not. And switching on or off of genes can be related to hormone balance, nutrition, the balance of microbes in the gut, stress, sleep, and probably a whole host of things we don’t fully understand!. It can determine whether you get sick or not, as a result of these genes, and so, by association, what you eat, your sleep quality, how you cope with stress, your microbiome, what exercise you do etc will all be either instrumental in maintaining your health into old age, or can work against you and contribute to ill health.
And this is the basis for my work. Wouldn’t you like to feel and look great into old age? Wouldn’t it be great if you could continue to climb mountains, ride your bike, compete in half marathons, play with your grandchildren, dance late into the night, fasten your shoe laces right into your 70s, 80s or even 90s? And you can, if you look after the body you have - give it rest, nourish it, learn to control your stress response, exercise, stretch, meditate, use cold water therapy, engage in human interaction, stroke your dog, get your hands in some dirt.
Fueling well is central to this. Food can either be medicine or poison - it can nourish you or it can make you sick. It isn’t something to only think about if you are an athlete, every one of us should be feeding our bodies on the stuff which promotes good health now and as we age. Here are my top 5:
Brassica vegetables. Broccoli, sprouts, kale, cabbage, cauliflower are all brassicas and they are central to a properly functioning liver in packaging and eliminating toxins from the body. Toxin build-up makes you feel rubbish! And promotes disease. Eat some very day!
Lean, good quality protein. Again, necessary for the elimination of toxins by the liver, but also for growth and repair of tissues so essential for maintaining muscle mass as we age which supports the skeleton. I’m a great fan of mixing a small amount of organic grass fed meat with your vegetable proteins - lentils, chickpeas, beans - in order to get all the amino acids necessary for good health and the collagen needed for good joint and gut health.
Essential Fatty Acids. These are the fats which are necessary for good brain, nerve and cell wall health (our brain is made up primarily of fat so doesn’t work well without it in your diet). If your cell walls are built with the wrong type of fat, found in processed foods and vegetable oils, then the cells can’t access fuel for their metabolic processes or excrete waste products, and toxic build-up occurs. We are generally talking omega 3, although there is some good omega 6 fat. Omega 3 is also a great anti-inflammatory. Eat chia, flax, oily fish, walnuts and olive oil.
Water! You can’t function well if you are dehydrated! 8 x 8 oz glasses of water a day is about right, with more if you are active, sweating or the weather is hot. Much of our toxin elimination is through the kidneys and we excrete about 1.5 litres of urine a day, and good hydration also keeps the bowels regular - essential for waste elimination. Dehydration also makes you feel lethargic and reduces performance, both mental and physical. If you can, drink spring water from glass bottles. If you can’t, get a really good water filter.
Colourful veg and dark berries. Phytonutrients are compounds produced in the main by plants which produce numerous health benefits in the body. They include antioxidants which repair damage from oxidative stress. This happens on a daily basis simply from metabolic processes taking place, but is increased if you exercise hard, are under stress, or don’t sleep or eat well. Other roles of phytonutrients are in blood and heart health, maintaining good immunity, reducing inflammation and the prevention of disease. Eat peppers, radishes, oranges, aubergine, blueberries, pomegranite, blackcurrants. Make delicious salads, add them to smoothies, eat them with a breakfast of oats and chia seeds soaked overnight in unsweetened almond milk.
So this is a good place to start - notice I haven’t talked at all about cutting things out, although obviously that is a major part of nutrition for a long and healthy life! But I’ll save that for another post and not blind you with too much science all at once! However, one thing I will add, is try to choose organic and local wherever you can - remember, your health and the health of the planet are inextricably linked! And don’t make life too hard for yourself. Pick one of these this week and try to include a variety of them in your meals. Variety is the spice of life after all!
#onehealth.