Key Topics Covered

Today, we are joined by an Accredited Practising Dietitian who is a part of the Ideal nutrition team, Tyler Brooks. We will be unpacking several nutrition-related questions asked by the listeners.

Do you need to have pre-training carbs for a short high-intensity session e.g. <30 minutes of sparring

• It is unlikely during a session of 30 minutes or less that you will run out of energy or stored muscle glycogen IF you are relatively fuelled going into it.
• While findings are mixed, research suggests that simple carbohydrates may have more central effects such as on your brain or central nervous system.
• This can help reduce the perceived effort of exercise.

I’ve Started Running. At What Point Does Nutrition Need to Be Planned More Carefully Around Runs?

• >10km/ > 60 minutes of running, is where we should start targeting nutrition for running.
• Also, depending on how hard the run feels, intra-run carbohydrates could be explored.
• Carb loading could be effective for >10km and high intensity runs.
• Electrolytes could also be considered for longer runs.

How Do You Feel About the Correlation Between “Fixing” Gut Health and Autoimmune Conditions Like Rheumatoid Arthritis?

• There is clearly a link.
• If you look at research in this area you will see differences in gut health.
• In terms of “fixing” gut health – that’s a complicated topic for a variety of reasons.
• Gut health is only one variable in the big picture too.
• Another angle to contemplate about things looking too good to be true is that no protocol has been found that consistently resolves rheumatoid arthritis. If something was found that consistently works, it should be able to be shown in conditions like a randomised controlled trial. 

Is It Normal to Gain Weight if You Start Strength Training but Don’t Really Increase Calories?

• If you are building muscle mass, it is likely that the scale weight may change.
• HOWEVER, without increasing any calories in your diet, you are unlikely to gain a large amount of weight.
• Taking supplements like creatine may cause additional water weight.
• You might have fewer fat stores and more muscle mass stores as you recomp at the same amount of calories.
• Therefore, you may see a redistribution of body weight.
• Potentially, if calories don’t change and you are lifting more weights, you could result in a calorie deficit due to additional calories being burned in your session, causing weight loss.

What Do You Think of the Correlation Between ADHD and Eating Disorders?

• Binge eating can be caused by multiple factors, such as forgetting to eat during the day, medication suppressing appetite, hyper-fixations leading to restriction, and dopamine / impulsive-related factors.
• Other forms of disordered eating could also potentially occur related to hyper-fixation too.

What Are Your Thoughts on Carb Cycling? For Deficits, Maintenance or Bulk Protocols?

• It can be effective if completed correctly.
• However, there are no benefits over other methods of eating.
• Restricting carbohydrates may affect your high-intensity lifting sessions, which can affect how hard you train, potentially affecting muscle mass gains.
• Theoretically, a carbohydrate cycling approach may fit people’s lifestyles more and inherently enhance certain training sesions.
• Therefore, increasing carbohydrates on difficult training days is worth considering.

If I Keep Protein High Can I Still Keep Cutting After Surgery?

• Potentially still a recipe for muscle loss due to a lack of stimulus.
• If you are in an acute recovery phase, you are in a hyper-metabolic state.
• This means during the recovery phase, you have a greater caloric need due to your body focusing on healing and recovery.
• We would lean to maintenance calories as a suggestion to avoid muscle loss.

Creatine Gummies – Yay or Nay?

• Nay.
• They offer a less controllable dose.
• They are the same thing just 3x the price.
• Potential extra calories consumed if sugar alcohols are present.
• Risk of gut upset unrelated to creatine from sugar alcohols.

Why Do People Say That Sleep Is Important When Trying to Lose Weight?

• Physical changes if calories and exercise are matched.
• Changes in hunger/cravings longer eating window and also may affect your desire to work towards your goals.
• Fasting leptin concentration was reduced only in calorie restriction and sleep restriction only.
• Leptin is a hormone that plays a key role in regulating body weight and energy balance, primarily produced by fat cells and acts on the brain to signal satiety (fullness) and reduce appetite.

What’s the Difference Between Artificial Sweeteners and Sugar Alcohols?

• One has calories and the other one does not.
• Artificial sweeteners are what we typically refer to as non-nutritive sweeteners.
• Artificial sweeteners typically have no calories.
• Sugar alcohols have a different chemical structure they have carbon and hydrogen atoms and they can be broken down and used for energy.
• Therefore, sugar alcohols have a caloric value.

Relevant Blogs/Research

Relevant Blogs:

Carbohydrate Loading – What It Is and How To Do It

Intra-Race Nutrition for Marathon Runners: Everything You Need to Know

Nutrition for Endurance Athletes: Everything You Need to Know