Key Topics Covered
This is the eighth Q & A podcast we have completed since beginning the Ideal Nutrition Podcast. We love answering nutrition questions of various topics and have some great ones to unpack today:
What Are Your Thoughts on Things Like Up N Go Poppers, Particularly the Protein Version, as a Go to Option for People Like Myself Who Are Chronically Disorganised in the Morning. Noting It Is a Fairly Processed Food and Has Extra Sugar, Do You Recommend Using These Types of Food Options in Your Practice?
- Yes, we recommend products like this all the time.
- The important thing to consider is that nutrition is context dependent.
- If you have a whole food based, well rounded diet, something like this that is processed does not necessarily have downsides in this context.
- Products like this make nutrition more simple.
- Having an Up N Go popper that is calcium and protein rich as opposed to nothing, has benefits.
What Are Your Thoughts on This Article?
Eating too much protein is bad for your arteries, and this amino acid is to blame | ScienceDaily –
- Summary is that they interpreted this based on a mouse study that eating >22% of calories coming from protein could theoretically increase the risk of atherosclerosis. Leucine in particular was proposed as the trigger based on mechanisms.
- The first step is to zoom out and look at this in the context of research as a whole.
- I’ve never seen increasing plant-based protein intake as being something that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease risk. Obviously that has the problem of leucine often being lower. But at minimum it means that >22% of calories coming from protein as a whole wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
- Looking at research on animal based protein intake is skewed a lot by factors such as saturated fat intake.
- It’s worth being aware of the proposed mechanism, but at this stage it’s not something I’m overly concerned about, particularly without human research in large sample sizes.
- We know there are a lot of things to focus on to minimise risk of cardiovascular disease. I wouldn’t be focusing on this when there are a lot of other easy wins for most people that have been very clearly identified.
Are GI Symptoms From Creatine Common? Is There Anything That Can Be Done to Help?
- In research, this is uncommon, there appears to be no general trends to suggest GI issues.
- However, in practice, this varies.
- Individuals could try reducing or splitting the dosage of creatine.
- Supplementing with creatine HCl instead of monohydrate.
Would You Recommend Creatine for Somebody Who Is Under 18 but Semi Elite?
- We don’t see any reason not to.
- There is a lot of research supporting the safety of creatine.
- If all nutrition is prioritised, training is prioritised, they are semi-elite, we don’t see any downsides to supplementing it.
How Is High Protein Yoghurt Like Chobani Made, as Opposed to Other Yogurts That Are Low Fat With Less Protein?
- Chobani is made with a straining process that removes a portion of the liquid and lactose, leaving a higher concentration of protein left.
- The straining concentrates the yogurt’s protein content so the end result is a higher protein content without having to add other ingredients like protein powder.
- Other lower protein yogurts undergo less straining or none at all.
How Can You Lose Weight While Breastfeeding?
- Similar rules apply except with the added challenges e.g. lack of sleep, responsibility for looking after a child etc.
- Energy expenditure is likely a bit higher than otherwise expected e.g. 300-500kcal higher.
- It is best to avoid going super low calorie, to reduce the risk of breast milk supply dropping.
- But in many cases that is less of an issue than you would expect, partly because the body does seem to prioritise that over other stuff when calories are lower. But it still makes sense to avoid for that reason and others.
What Are Your Thoughts on the Dietary Inflammatory Index Score?
- The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) is a tool used to assess the inflammatory potential of a diet.
- It scores food components based on their ability to increase or decrease inflammation in the body.
- Foods are classified as either pro-inflammatory – like saturated fats, sugars, and refined carbs.
- Or anti-inflammatory – like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats.
- Overall it’s technically the closest system we have to an evidence based system. It’s based on a LOT of research.
- But it has its flaws. The main things I’d say are that there is likely some level of individual variation AND the overall dietary pattern likely plays a big role.
- It’s not a tool we use in practice. But it’s helpful to know it exists.
Does Your Metabolism Slow as You Age?
- My go to answer for this is… yes.
- Your metabolism tends to slow as you age due to factors like muscle loss, and decreased physical activity. And this gradual decline can make it harder to maintain or lose weight.
- HOWEVER regular exercise and strength training plus optimising nutrition to maintain lean mass can help counteract these effects.
- If we actually account for variables like lean mass & activity there is not a significant difference in BMR as you age until you are ~ >70 in which case the decline in the function of organs can be somewhat noticeable in the BMR.
Summary
We hope you found these answers helpful. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, feel free to reach out to us on Instagram.
Relevant Blogs/Research
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