NUTRITION CORNER: WATER

Your body is just like your car’s engine; if you can’t cool it off, it won’t perform. Overheat your body and you run the risk of breaking down entirely. That’s why it’s important to monitor your fluid intake during workouts and games to avoid dehydration and heat exhaustion. Be especially watchful on hot and/or humid days. To make sure that you stay hydrated, drink before and during practices/games and drink often. Remember, if your thirsty, you’re already dehydrated.

Your body is approximately 65% water. During games, drills and workouts, you lose body fluids through sweating. It’s not unusual for some athletes, especially pitchers and catchers, to lose four pounds of body weight (about two quarts of sweat) each hour. At this rate, you could lose 10-12 pounds in a 3-hour game. A 10-pound weight loss for a 200-pounder is a 5% loss in body weight. A 5% loss can be extremely detrimental to both your health and performance. Research indicates that even a 2% decrease in body weight due to dehydration can reduce performance by 8-10%. You’ll feel tired and drained. You won’t be able to train or compete at your best and you’ll significantly increase your risk of heat illness.

To determine dehydration status weigh yourself before and after practice and games. Replace each pound of weight lost with 24 ounces of fluid. Also monitor your urine. If it’s clear, you’re OK. If it’s dark and smells like ammonia, you’re approaching or have reached dehydration.

Coffee and alcohol are diuretics; they can cause you to lose water. Caffeine makes you feel more alert. Alcohol numbs the sense of fatigue and pain. Both cause you to lose body water. Drink each in moderation. Drinking 3-4 cups of coffee before and during a game contributes to dehydration. Beer also contains carbonation, which gives you a sense of fullness and tends to limit fluid consumption at a time when fluid consumption should be high.

You don’t have to be gasping for water to be dried out. One of the earliest signs of dehydration is fatigue. Other signs include red skin, loss of appetite, dizziness, muscle cramps or spasms and urine that is dark yellow and has a strong odor.

Alcohol Slows Down Muscle Growth

Some of the great weight lifters and boxers from the early 1900s trained in the back saloons. Typically, they would drink beer, do a few reps or box a round, then drink some more. While this makes for a great story, it’s lousy way to train. Dr. C.H. Lang and colleagues from Penn State University found that even moderate drinking decreased the rate of protein synthesis by 20 percent. Alcohol interferes with the way amino acids are lined up to make specific proteins. It also blocks the action of the powerful anabolic hormone, insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1). This is important information for athletes and other weight trained athletes. Even a few drinks can erase all the work you did in the gym.

A 'Balanced Diet' Isn't So Balanced

I recently got an article written by John Berardi from Precision Nutrition. In this article he covers a variety of issues and research to explain what a true balanced diet is and what it's not. I was surprised by a recent study he mentions where over 70 diets were analyzed and evbery single one was deficient in 3 or more nutrients, as well as some diets being deficient in about 15 nutrients. Hope you enjoy the article.

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/members/showthread.php?t=13018

Sports Hydration

by Dawn Weatherwax of Sports Nutrition 2 Go

Just one extra yard can mean the difference between an exhilarating win or a devastating loss. At any level of competition, an athlete performs his or her best through a winning combination of mental focus, practice, strength and conditioning and most often overlooked sports nutrition.

When it comes to gaining the competitive edge, Sports Nutrition and its impact on an athlete's performance is a well kept secret. Coaches are just becoming aware of the fact that proper hydration is one of the easiest, inexpensive and most important tools an athlete can use to enhance performance?

Why Is Fluid Intake So Important?

Athletic performance can decline as much as 10% with as little as 1% body fluid lost. i.e., A 200 lb. athlete only has to lose 2 lbs. of body fluid for a 10% performance decline to occur.

Every 2.2 lbs. of water lost during exercise results in the following

1. Heart rate increases eight beats per minute - With an elevated heart rate the body has to exert more energy to do the same job.

2. Cardiac oxygen output declines by 1 liter a minute - This means less oxygen is going to the person's muscles which can lead to a decrease in athletic performance.

3. Core temperature increases .3 degrees Celsius - When the body experiences this rise in temperature it has to work harder to cool down. In an effort to cool down, the body pulls fluids away from the working muscles and redistributes the fluids to vital organs. Since muscular movement is dependent on the presence of water, low concentrations of water in the muscles can cause muscle weakness and loss of the critical control needed by an athlete for peak performance. In the body, water works as a shock absorber. If water is deficient, even for a brief period of time, there's less fluid present to protect the joints. This can make an athlete more susceptible to injury.

When Should You Drink Water Vs. A Sports Beverage? Prevailing wisdom indicates water is just fine when a practice or a game lasts less than 60 minutes. If practice or a game lasts 60 to 90 minutes or longer, a 6-8% carbohydrate solution sports drink is recommended. Preliminary studies involving athletes shows energy levels remain within optimal levels if these carbohydrate beverages are consumed throughout the activity. Examples of these carbohydrate drinks are Gatorade, Powerade and LowOz. Whether you're drinking water or a sports drink, follow the drinking regimen listed below.

Guidelines For Determining Your Optimal Fluid Needs

* 2-3 hours before a workout or competition drink 2 cups of fluids.

* Then 1 hour before a workout or competition drink 1 cup of fluid.

* 15 minutes before the workout or competition drink ¸ cup of fluid.

* Immediately before the workout or competition weigh and record your weight.

* Every 10-20 minutes during the workout or competition drink ¸ cup of fluid.

* Then right after a workout or competition weigh yourself. Then, drink 3 cups of fluid for every pound of weight you've lost.

* Experiment with this formula and then adjust accordingly for each athletic activity you engage in until you find that your weight remains the same from the start of the activity through to the very end. To achieve peak performance, your goal is to consistently replace any fluids you're likely to lose.

What Age Group Or Type Of Athlete Benefits Most From Proper Hydration?

No matter what your age, sport or level of competition, proper hydration will maximize your performance potential. When it comes to the competitive edge, fluids are a critical part of the sports nutrition "mix". Other areas to pay close attention to include: pre-game and post-game meal planning, daily training menus, use of supplements and the athlete's optimal proportion of lean muscle mass to percent body fat.

How Liquid Calories Can Make You Fat

by Tom Venuto

At least 7 scientific studies have provided strong evidence that energy containing beverages (i.e., "liquid calories") do not properly activate the satiety mechanisms in the body and brain and do not satisfy the appetite as well as food in solid form.

Epidemiological research also supports a positive association between calorie-containing beverage consumption and increased body weight or body mass index.

The primary source of liquid calories in the United States Diet is carbohydrate, namely soda. Now running a close second are specialty and dessert coffees. Did you know that a 16 ounce Frappucino can contain 500 calories or even more! That's one-third of a typical female's daily calorie intake while on a fat loss program.

A recent study at Purdue University published in the International Journal of Obesity set out to learn even more about this bodyfat - liquid calories relationship.

Researchers compared solid and beverage forms of foods composed primarily of carbohydrate, fat or protein in order to document the independent effect of food form in foods with different dominant macronutrient sources.

Based on previous research, some experts have recommended targeting specific beverages as being "worse" than others. High fructose corn syrup and soda has been singled out the most and you've probably seen that yourself in the news. There's no question that soda has been on top of the "hit list" for some time now, by virtue of the amounts and frequency of consumption alone.

However, this recent study says that from a pure energy balance perspective, we should be cautious about ALL liquid calories, not just soda and not just carbohydrates!

Fruit juice for example, appears to be an obvious improvement over soda, so many people have swapped out their soda for fruit juice. However, when fruit juice is compared to an equal amount of calories from whole fruit, the whole fruit satisfies appetite better (largely due to the bulk and fiber content), and so you tend to eat fewer calories for the day.

[On an interesting side note, soup does not seem to apply; soup has higher satiety value than calorie containing beverages, possibly for mere cognitive reasons.]

If you were to meticulously track your calories from beverages and you made sure that your calories remained the same for the day, whether liquid or solid, there would probably be little or no difference in your body composition.

But that's not what usually happens in free-living humans. Most people do not accurately track or report their caloric intake.
Our mistake is that we tend to drink calories IN ADDITION TO our usual food intake, not instead of it. Men are especially guilty of this when they drink alcohol - Men tend to drink AND eat, while women tend to drink INSTEAD OF eating.

This new research found that with all three macronutrients - protein, carbs or fat - daily calorie intake was significantly greater when the beverage form was consumed as compared to the solid. Yes, it's true! Even protein drinks did not satisfy the appetite the way that protein foods did!

While you would think that protein drinks are purely a good thing, because protein foods have been proven to reduce appetite and increase satiety, if you turn a solid protein food into a protein drink, it loses it's appetite suppressive properties in the same way that happens when you turn fruit into fruit juice.

[NOTE: After weight training workouts, liquid nutrition may have benefits that outweigh any downside, especially on muscle-gaining programs]

Why do liquid calories fail to elicit the same response as whole foods? reasons include:

* high calorie density
* lower satiety value
* More calories ingested in short period of time
* lower demand for oral processing
* shorter gastrointestinal transit times
* energy in beverages has greater bioaccessibility and bioavailability
* mechanisms may include cognitive, orosensory, digestive, metabolic,
endorcrine and neural influences (human appetite is a complex thing!)

Last but not least, nowhere in our history have our ancestors had access to large amounts of liquid calories. Alcohol may have been around as far back as several thousand years BC, but even that is a blip on the biological calendar of humanity.

As a result, our genetic code has never developed the physiological mechanism to properly register the caloric content in liquids the way it does when you eat, chew and swallow whole foods.

Bottom line: This study suggests that we shouldn't just target one type of liquid calories such as soda. If you're trying to reduce your bodyfat, it's wise to limit all types of liquid calories and eat whole foods as much as possible.

Start by ditching the soda. Then ditch the high calorie dessert coffees. Then cut back on the alcohol. From there, be cautious even about milk, juice and protein drinks. Drink water or tea instead, or limited amounts of black coffee - without all the high calorie extras.

If you do consume any beverages that contain calories, such as protein shakes, be sure to account for those calories meticulously and be sure you don't drink them in addition to your usual food intake, but in placeof an equal amount of food calories. Those protein shakes you might be drinking are called "meal replacements "not "free calories!"

Sleep Deprivation and Fat Gain

Excerpt from Tom Venuto's "Burn The Fat Newsletter"
www.burnthefat.com

You've probably seen the magazine articles or news blurbs that
say, "lack of sleep can make you fat!"

There is a lot of confusion however, about the mechanism.
It's not uncommon for people to believe there is a cause and
effect relationship between sleeping less and gaining weight.

However, if that were the case, then you would always gain weight
if you slept less even if your food intake stayed the same.
To the contrary, if you sleep less AND eat less, rest assured
you will lose weight.

If you are awake more hours and you are more active during
those increased waking hours, again, rest assured you will
lose weight.

Almost all the research on this subject has been cross sectional
and therefore does not prove causality.

Research suggests that the likely explanation for a mechanism
is a disruption in hormones which can affect appetite and food
intake so you are more likely to eat more when you are sleep deprived.

For example, a new study published in the December 2007 issue
of "Nutrition Research Reviews" says that sleep deprivation can
reduce leptin (the anti starvation hormone, also known as an
anorexigenic hormone) and increase ghrelin, a stomach
hormone that increases hunger.

This makes total sense. Think about it: less sleep equals
more awake time. More awake time equals greater energy needs.
Greater energy needs can be satisfied by increasing hunger hormones.
Leptin and ghrelin are appetite-stimulating hormones.

The human body is incredible and amazingly self-regulating, isnt it?

In addition, when hormones are out of balance, that can affect
nutrient paritioning.

Nutrient paritioning refers to where the energy comes from when
you have a calorie deficit - fat or lean tissue - and where the
energy goes when you are in a calorie surplus - fat or lean tissue.

So, when partitioning hormones are messed up due to sleep
deprivation, it's entirely possibly that you are more likely to
add fat (not muscle) when in a surplus and lose muscle (not fat)
when in a deficit.

This is similar to what happens during stress. Stress also
does not "cause" fat gain, but it certainly correlates to
fat gain, for similar reasons. Imagine what happens when
you are stressed AND sleep deprived?

Some people seem to get by with less sleep than others. I know
many people, myself included, who excel physically on 6-7 hours
a night, so there is certainly a variation in sleep needs from
person to person.

Developing sleep habits that promote deep, high quality sleep
may also reduce sleep needs an hour or two. This includes going
to bed and waking up at the same time every night, getting to
sleep early and awake early to maximize night time sleeping hours
and daylight waking hours, sleeping in a dark room, avoiding
alcohol and stimulants prior to bedtime, reducing stress and
exercising regularly.

However, in light of past research and the new data that was just
published, if in doubt, it's surely better to err on the side of
a little more sleep than a little less sleep, if more muscle and
less fat is your goal.

Football Fuel

by Susan Kundrat, MS, RD, CSSD

Daily Training Recommendations:

· Eat a big breakfast, lean, high-carbohydrate lunch, and small snack after school to prepare for afternoon practices.

· Drink extra liquids during the day to “boost” fluid stores for workouts.

· Use salt and eat salty foods during the day to help prevent cramping and enhance hydration.

· Get in a high-carbohydrate snack with a little protein within 30 minutes of every workout to boost muscle recovery.

· Eat a high-carbohydrate dinner with at least 1 good serving of quality protein to refuel energy stores.

· Take in a good snack before bed to continue to boost recovery.

Athletic Nutrition 101 - Part II

This is Part II of a conversation on sports nutrition and supplementation for athletes with Jan Debenedetto of VitaQuest. Hear are some of his thoughts and recommendations on a supplemental nutritional regimen for athletes. Everything is safe, legal and has scientific support.

... Depending on the sport and training demands 1.4 > 2 grams/kg bodyweight of protein daily. That is too much to get by just eating. Also that much protein requires other nutrients to balance it out for over all health as well as effectiveness.

Post workout they should take a protein shake mixed in fruit juice that will also supply sugars. The body is in a very receptive state to protein and simple carb’s for a short period of time immediately following exercise vs. an hour or more afterwards. In other words the effects are substantially greater to do it immediately. It is like buying a stock, timing is critical. Whey protein is best for athletes owing to the higher concentration of the amino acid l-leucine. It is quite anabolic. The amounts depend on the athlete, but a rule of thumb is a~20 grams of protein and about 80 grams of simple carb’s. Then two hours after that eat dinner or a meal.

Protein will acidify the body and potassium and magnesium help to alkalize the body and are deficient in the American diet. They should either eat a bunch of fresh veggies and fruits for the K and Mg or supplement with potassium as potassium citrate (up to 1 gram daily) and magnesium as magnesium malate (~400 mg daily).

Glutamine is great stuff for a variety of reasons. Animal studies showed that it can block the effects of glucocorticoids (stress hormones) that stimulate myostatin (a protein in the body that catabolizes muscle tissue.) i.e. glutamine can block myostatin and that is a good thing. Intense exercise increases glucocorticoid production. I would recommend at least 5 grams prior to workouts. It also helps to boost immunity as it is fuel for immune cells.

Creatine is very important for short burst exercise. The ones I would recommend are EAS’s Phophagen Elite because it contains beta alanine which is a muscle buffer for fast twitch fibers. Another good one is TRAC by MHP (not the TRAC Extreme – I don’t like caffeine for daily consumption at that level) and also Magnesium Creatine. Literally hundreds of studies have shown the safety and efficacy of creatine.

Athletic Nutrition 101 - Part I

I recently had a conversation on sports nutrition and supplementation for athletes with Jan Debenedetto of VitaQuest. Hear are some of the thoughts and recommendations on a supplemental nutritional regimen for athletes. Everything is safe, legal and has scientific support.

The BASICS
A good multivitamin mineral supplemental
If you live in the US you are not getting an adequate amount of vitamins and minerals; even if you are a couch potato. Folic acid and other B vitamins are critical for anyone consuming high protein diets since high protein also increases homocysteine and folic acid (along with other B vitamins) reduces homocysteine levels.

A good multi for an athlete should have about 3-5 x the RDA of most of the vitamins. Dr. Bruce Ames at Berkeley has strong rationale for this for the population as a whole, let alone the demands an athlete generates.

Antioxidants – a variety Lipoic acid (the R isomer is best and available through (www.geronova.com)

Polyphenols – green tea, grape seed, berries, quercetin, ginkgo (good stuff -EGB 761 extract), pine bark extract, cruciferous veggie extracts. Carotenoids lycopene, lutein, beta-carotene acetylcysteine – similar to lipoic acid in some respects.

Probiotics

• Healthy bugs – lactobacilli and bifidobacteria at least 5 billion per serving.
• These ferment carbo’s into high energy short chain fatty acids in the colon. Also help regulate bowel movements and enhance immunity.
• Recommended product is called Culturelle; good clinical studies, high potency and available at drug stores.
  

Omega 3 fatty acids (i.e. fish oils)

• 1-3 grams per day.
• Make sure they are high purity as contamination is important especially as respectable dosages. Great for blood sugar and anti-inflammatory.
  

Fiber

• At least 30 grams per day.
• This helps to control blood sugar, blood lipids and colonic health.
• Plus since our nearest animal kingdom pals – apes- eat so much fiber and pound for pound are so much stronger than us, I can’t help but think that there are other properties of high fiber diets that we have not touched upon, including the fact that gut bacteria ferments fiber to high energy short chain fatty acids.