I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday season. Mine was enjoyable seeing and catching up with family and friends. The holiday season can also be quite stressful trying to meet and juggle so many expectations both of myself and of the people I care about. I do realize you have to by happy with yourself and set expectations that you can meet for yourself. However, during the holidays, if you are like me, you would like to catch up and be with all those we care about. Just not enough time in a short period of time. Onward 2014! Here we are starting a new year. The first part of January so many people look at evaluate their eating. Whether this means considering a prescribed diet plan or just trying to eat healthier for the many different reasons there are. Well, I started looking and researching this thing we call nutrition a few months ago especially because of my autoimmune issues and because nutrition is the 4th element in a triathlon. I touched on it in my previous blog. It sure can be overwhelming sorting through all the information that is out there especially this time of year. We see all kinds of miracle ads even on Facebook. Just remember if there was an "easy" pill or magic exercise, everyone would be using or doing it.
After doing a lot of research and looking into Thrive (Brandon Brazier), No Meat Athlete (Matt Fitzgerald), Paleo, Vegan (like athletes Rich Roll), Vegetarianism, Juicing, Weight Watchers (which I have tried many years ago), Nutrisystems and the likes, Low Carb, High Fat, High Protein, etc diets or eating ways of life, they all have the same basic message in their advertising. They will all help you lose weight (if that is your goal), feel more energized, think more clearly, lower your cholesterol, body fat, improve your diabetes, etc. If you think about it, anytime you eat healthier from any of the programs mentioned, your numbers should improve and you should feel more energized. Because what the bottom line is, WE ARE WHAT WE EAT! If we eat bad, we feel bad. So from that perspective and because nutrition is a big thing for me because of my Crohns and Celiacs, I wanted to know what I could do to help my body absorb the nutrition I ingest and help me feel balanced and energized to do the things I enjoy.....train for Ironman Tennessee and feel HEALTHY.
In December, I engaged in conversation and collaboration with a few doctors, holistic practitioners, nurses, nutritionalists and fellow athletes to ask the question, how do I know what is best for me, how do I know if I am taking the right vitamins or the quality of the vitamins, what works and what doesn't. I came into contact with Field to Plate to answer and help me with this endeavor as when I get something in my mind, I can't let it go until I have ALL the answers. I do know that you really can't have all the answers, but one must try. I decided to do an MRT Food Sensitivity test which tests what foods your body is sensitive to and what foods your body is reacting to. I did this along with a Nutraval test to determine what vitamins I was lacking/not absorbing from my diet, which vitamins I would need to supplement and how much to supplement and which foods I could eat to balance out what my body wasn't getting. Wow, what interesting results I found out. For instance, soy lecithin, cinnamon, and olives seem to stress my body out and I have a strong sensitivity to them. This is in addition to my gluten issues. Soy lecithin or lecithin is in almost all my protein drinks/shakes, my nutrition when I ride and run including my drinks and bars. Now what is a girl to do ???? Reading all labels on foods now is very informative and scary all at the same time especially when you don't want to carry around your reading glasses. Some of the things you thought were good for you and healthy, are NOT. The tiny print is scary. Finding new ways of getting my training nutrition has been interesting. I have recently tried and do like the Vega line of products and Pure Encapsulations for my protein drinks. You can add lots of healthy goodies to it to change it up each and every day.
There is also the big question out there that has very mixed reviews and that is about the nutrition on your bike or long runs. To eat real food and supplement with just an electrolyte drink (like Osmos, Scratch, Nuun) or to eat minimal amount of real food and go with mostly fluids that contain all the nutrition and calories (like Infinite, Cytomax, etc) you need for the length of your activity. For me this is another one of those questions that can only be determined on an individual basis. The product lines I listed are mostly clean/healthy options and have great reviews but I believe it becomes a matter of preference for each person. I do now have issues when a product doesn't openly print what their ingriedents are. They hide behind "proprietory blend" or some language like that. Infinite nutrition seems to be my drink of choice for now and seems very clean as well and I can modify the taste.
Bottom line and the key is finding a solution/program/diet/food plan, whatever you want to call it, that works for you and your body, it motivates you and fits your lifestyle. Nutrition and diets come down to that. You. Almost like religion, all are a little different, have some basics that are the same, but you need to chose what is right for you. What we do know is that processed foods, GMOs, fast foods, are not good for you. A plant based diet with or without meat seems to be the best way to go for almost everyone.
My 2014 training has begun for my IM TN Journey for the Crohns and Colitis Foundation. I started the new year off with a good old fashion puke rendering functional threshold test on the Computrainer at Kelley Acres Speed Shop. Intense!! but all so good for me.
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