Key Topic

This episode involves Aidan and Leah answering a range of listener questions.

Is the Mediterranean Diet the Gold Standard for Health?

  • I would be hesitant labelling anything the ‘gold standard’ but it is up there for sure.
  • If we look at it purely through the lens of reducing the risk of chronic disease and living an overall healthy life, it ticks a lot of boxes
  • There is consistent evidence that it reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Both of those are the two most common things people pass away from, so it also carries over to improved longevity.
  • It is high in micronutrients and healthy fats.
  • It indirectly makes it harder to over-consume calories, since it’s all unprocessed food.
  • That said, I don’t really view it as a performance-focused diet. 
  • There are also many other equally healthy options too.

Do Any Micronutrient Deficiencies Impact Energy Levels?

  • Iron deficiency reduces blood cell function and oxygen transport. Anemia and fatigue are obviously linked.
  • Similar with B vitamins. For example you can also have anemia from B12 deficiency
  • Magnesium is linked with a lot of functions in the body and deficiency is linked with fatigue. A small example here could also be the impact on sleep.
  • Vitamin D due to its role in mood & mitochondrial function

There can be more, but those are definitely the first ones I’d look at.

Does the Glycemic Index Matter?

  • For most people I wouldn’t focus on it.
  • It has no impact on fat loss directly, if that is a concern. The hunger side of things is nuanced, but if you prioritise fibre, this largely takes care of itself.
  • For people with diabetes and PCOS I factor it in. But even in those cases it is more about glycemic load e.g. the combo of glycemic index and total carb intake.
  • There is also a lot more individual variation with glycemic index than is often talked about. Even in the research used to identify numbers, when you look at the individual results, there were crazy differences. So it wouldn’t make sense to take the numbers too seriously, even if the concept was relevant for you.

Can Probiotics Help With Bloating?

  • Research is mixed, but the short answer is yes they have the potential to help.
  • Some strains have been found to help in some cases.
  • That’s kind of vague, but it needs to be lol. 
  • Bloating is so multifactorial. Sometimes a probiotic will help, sometimes it won’t.
  • My general advice is often to add an IBS specific probiotic option like Lifespace IBS support AND then also focus on all the other potential causes of bloating too

How Does Protein Help Fat Loss?

  • Satiety
  • Thermic effect of food
  • Muscle retention

Should Endurance Athletes Take Creatine?

  • It is unlikely to be of much help, but I will talk about this topic seriously and go through a bunch of angles.
  • Creatine is well known for helping with short bursts of activity. So obviously that doesn’t align fully with endurance stuff.
  • Some people would be concerned with water weight NEGATIVELY impacting performance, but we don’t see that in practice
    • + water weight is only really noticeable in cases where people do the loading phase
  • Creatine is helpful for resistance training. Most endurance athletes will do resistance training.
    • So you can make an argument around benefits there, particularly for rehab phases.
  • The most compelling argument I see from experts in the space is talking about specific portions of events such as sprint finishes, overtaking people or going up hills
    • For example, one study had athletes perform 30 minutes of exercise at an intensity just below lactate threshold followed by 10 fifteen second sprints. They found that creatine improved their sprinting power output by 18%.
  • There’s a lot of promising evidence in that space. How much that matters though is a different question.
  • My general consensus is that
    • a) it probably makes more sense for someone who is actively trying to gain muscle and get stronger, as opposed to endurance athletes that are doing a maintenance level of resistance training (eg. twice a week, not to failure, conservative intensity)
    • b) it may make sense for plant based people as they have a reduced dietary intake of creatine
    • c) If you want to take it, there are no downsides 

Can Certain Foods Boost Your Metabolism?

Certain foods can have a mild effect on your metabolism, but the impact is generally small and not significant enough to lead to major changes in energy expenditure.

To make it interesting though, we will mention specifics:

  • Protein has a higher thermic effect of food and can be as high as 15-25% of the energy consumed. Carbs are often 5-10% (although high fibre takes it higher) and fat is 0-3%.
  • Capsaicin, often found in Chilli Powder has been found in studies to increase energy expenditure by 50-70kcal per day
  • Caffeine has been found to increase energy expenditure by 60-200kcal. But this effect likely diminishes with regular use.

I’d say with a combination of some stuff you might see a small increase, but it’s really not an outcome worth chasing too hard. Particularly when you factor in that over time, appetite and how we feel often adjusts in relation to changes with our energy expenditure. 

Relevant Blogs/Research

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