Bodies By M.E.

Here is a recipe to recover more quickly from exercise: eat a meal rich in complex carbohydrates and wash it down with five or six cups of coffee. Glycogen, the muscle primary fuel source during exercise is replenished more rapidly when athletes consume a carbohydrate rich meal and caffeine following exhaustive exercise, new research from the Journal of Applied Physiology shows. Athletes who ingested caffeine with carbohydrate had 66% more stored glycogen in their muscles four hours after intense exercise compared to when they consumed carbohydrate alone.

It has already been established that consuming carbohydrate and caffeine prior to and during exercise improves performance; this is the first study that reports consumption of post-exercise carbohydrate and caffeine improves muscle recovery.” If you have 66% more muscle glycogen available the next day there is no question a athlete will be able to perform better” states the study’s author Dr. Hawley.

It is not yet clear how caffeine aids in muscle recovery, higher glucose and insulin levels were likely to be a factor or caffeine may increase enzymes that increase muscle glucose uptake before and after exercise. Caffeine is present in many foods, some examples are coffee, cola, and chocolate.

I have two doctors, my left leg and my right.  ~G.M. Trevelyan

Constant training can take a toll on the immune system, leaving athletes susceptible to upper respiratory tract infections. New research suggests that live cultures found in yogurt may help keep you healthy. A new study of 20 endurance athletes published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that probiotics enhanced the athlete’s immune system by boosting T- cell activity, cutting respiratory infection symptoms in half.

You’d have to eat a lot of yogurt to reap the benefits that the athletes did in this study, Consuming a probiotic capsules may be better choice. Still yogurt has a balanced mix of carbohydrate and protein; it still is a great recovery food.

Food is a big part of an athlete’s advantage in order to fuel the body for optimal performance. Loading up on steak, cheese laden pasta dishes can not only weigh you down, but exacerbate the inflammation that often accompanies high- intensity exercise. Developing a different way of eating that replaces inflammation-stoking saturated fats with healthful unsaturated fats can have such benefits as improving performance, raising energy levels and lowering caloric intake.

When measuring how much fat and carbohydrate a person uses for energy an elite athlete will always burn more fat than someone who exercises occasionally. The more conditioned an athlete is the more the more fat they are able to store and use for fuel. This training adaptation allows fat to be stored closer to the muscle cell wall in order to be used quickly and seamlessly as carbohydrates.

Healthful fat in the form of intramuscular triglycerides not only provides a source of sustainable energy, but also improves taste without adding calories.

Bottom Line: Food can make or break your performance especially if you are carrying around extra weight.

A cool wedge of watermelon on a hot summer day? Refreshing, for sure.

But watermelon is more than just a seasonal treat. Here are three great health reasons to dig into this juicy fruit:

1. It’s loaded with lycopene. Watermelon juice actually gave tomato juice a run for the money in a recent study of lycopene levels. That’s good news for your body, because early research suggests that lycopene may be a cancer crusher. (Here’s a trick for unleashing more lycopene from your tomatoes.)
2. It can make your skin pretty. Watermelon is loaded with a key compound credited with helping skin’s healing and regenerative processes. Say no more — bring on the melon! (Find out what other foods support youthful skin.)
3. It’s practically calorie-free. With fewer than 50 calories in every cup, watermelon is one smart way to satisfy a sweet tooth. And with a whopping 141 grams of water per cubed cup, watermelon will keep you hydrated, too. (Here are 10 more low-calorie treats to try.)

Which is better for your watermelon — chilled or room temp?

RealAge Benefit: Eating a diverse diet that is low in calories and high in nutrients can make your RealAge as much as 4 years younger.
References Published on 07/21/2008.

Consumption of watermelon juice increases plasma concentrations of lycopene and beta-carotene in humans. Edwards, A. J. et al., Journal of Nutrition 2003 Apr;133(4):1043-1050.

Watermelon consumption increases plasma arginine concentrations in adults. Collins, J. K. et al., Nutrition 2007 Mar;23(3):261-266.

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A study funded by the dairy industry found that chocolate milk help tired endurance athletes recover faster and better than many popular sport drinks. In the study, nine cyclists rode until exhaustion, rested for four hours then biked again. During the rest period they drank either chocolate milk, Gatorade (a fluid/ electrolyte- replacement drink) or Endorox (a carbohydrate replacement drink). The cyclists who refueled on chocolate milk were able to bike 50 percent longer than those who drank Endurox and as long as those who drank Gatorade.

Bottom line: You don’t need a sport drink after a long endurance work out. Milk, regular or chocolate may work just as well. However before a workout a carb/ electrolyte drink may be a better choice.

What researchers do know about protein is that it is critical for recovery after intense exercise. Protein consists of 20 different amino acids, nine are essential, which means we must get them from our food, and 11 the body can produce on its own. Athletes who eat a protein containing meal within a few hours after intense exercise actually produce more protein than they actually breakdown. The end result, repairing damaged muscle fibers and actually gaining more muscle.

We do not know which amino acids are better for muscle repair and growth or which protein based product is better for recovery. The message athletes need to get is to eat a protein based meal post work-out. It could be milk, tuna or a protein bar. The best advice that we can give at this time is to eat real food.

How much protein do we need? Benefits come with as little as 6 grams of protein. The recommended protein intake is 0.4 per pound of body weight and about 1 gram of protein if you lift like Arnold Schwarzenegger. A word of caution, some recovery shakes have as much as 50 grams of protein, which the body will not profit from. All that extra protein will be processed as all excess calories, stored as fat.

My advice: Do not over do the protein; add some fruit, vegetables, and whole grains to your post – workout meals. Complex carbs also offer many essential vitamins and minerals necessary for growth and repair and free up protein so that more is available for optimal muscle recovery..

Recent research suggests that carb blends (foods containing fructose and glucose) may be superior to straight glucose for boosting energy during long endurance events. Before you reach for sports drinks, consider honey, it naturally has equal parts of glucose and fructose, plus the added benefits of antioxidants and vitamins. The darker the honey the more disease fighting compounds it contains.

Is food the ultimate performance enhancer? More and more, athletes, nutrition experts, and fitness buffs are saying yes! The right mix of carbohydrate, protein, and fat can mean the difference between an Olympic gold medal in Beijing and going home empty-handed.

CARBOHYDRATES FOR GOING THE DISTANCE:

Since the 1920’s, researchers have known that eating carbohydrates enhances performance. Carbohydrates are still being recommended to athletes and active individuals, but the amounts needed depends on the individuals sport, health and weight goals. While the body can store large amounts of protein and fat it has a limited capacity for storing carbohydrate. Athletes can store between 400 and 600 grams of carbohydrate (1,600 to 2,000 calories). Most endurance athletes can burn through glycogen store in 90- 120 minutes, once glycogen is depleted the next energy source available is fat, which muscle can not burn at the same rate as carbohydrate. The result is fatigue that can be so debilitating an athlete may have a difficult time moving.

Fueling up mid-workout is a science. If the body can only absorb 240 calories of carbohydrate an hour, if you eat to much the carbohydrate stays in your gut which can lead to cramping. to little leads to poor performance. What’s the solution, a lab in the UK found that a blend of fructose and glucose allows the body to burn 108 grams of carbohydrate an hour as opposed to 60 grams for straight glucose. Researchers concluded that chemicals in our digestive system transport sugars from our stomach into our intestines to be absorbed into our blood to be used for energy. These chemical transporters respond differently to different types of sugar. Utilizing different types of sugar enhances energy absorption into the muscle for improved performance.

Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt

Its 95 degrees in the shade and you need ice cream now. But not just any ice cream will do. You’re thinking a 4-oz scoop of Baskin-Robbins Baseball Nut ice cream. That’ll hit it out of the park, with 270 calories and 14 grams of fat.

“You have to pick nonfat or low-fat yogurt to get any kind of decent calorie savings over ice cream,” Switch to a 4-oz scoop of vanilla nonfat yogurt – though probably not as much fun – for 150 calories with 0 grams fat. Another option: “Try a fruit-flavored frozen treat,” A fruit-flavored treat on a stick has about 60 calories.

If you simply must have real ice cream, turn to the more virtuous – but still tasty – varieties, says Elaine Magee, RD, MPH, a nutrition expert for WebMD. “The good news is that you can now find almost any flavor you might desire in a low-fat version. And the better news: Many of these ‘light’ ice cream brands are great-tasting.”

Some of the newer “slow-churned” ice creams are particularly tasty, she says, without an overdose of fat. Dreyer’s and other companies claim their new churning technologies make ice cream taste like it has more fat than it does. The Double Fudge Brownie by Dreyer’s (called Edy’s on the East Coast) has 120 calories and 4 grams of fat per 1/2 cup serving, Magee says.

For ice cream shoppers, read the labels, since not all “light” varieties are created equal. Magee suggests going by this guideline: a 1/2 cup serving should have no more than 4 grams of fat, 120 calories, and 15 grams of sugar.