Fiber in the athlete's diet

Carbohydrates receive a lot of attention among the endurance athlete community. Recently, endurance athletes have reported consuming well above 90g carbohydrates per hour. As a result, athletes are demonstrating impressive performances during extreme endurance exercise. Because energy needs are high and carbohydrate stores are limited in the muscles and liver, high carb intakes have provided great value to athletes who are expended a great amount of energy during continuous efforts of long duration and/or intensity.  

However, with "high carb" being all the rage these days, daily fiber intake has become an afterthought. This doesn't fair well when a significant portion of Americans consistently fall short in meeting dietary fiber goals due to diets high in processed, refined and fast food. Although we know fiber is an essential component of a healthy diet, consuming fiber around (and during) workouts is well, not so healthy. 

As with most sport nutrition guidelines, "healthy" is relative. As athletes, the food choices that we make around and during training sessions are designed to help our body perform well under intentional training stress. By reducing fat and fiber around training sessions and prioritizing easy-to-digest carbohydrates, we optimize performance and reduce the risk for GI issues. Ultimately, this provides an environment for our body to stay healthy in the stressful environment that is periodized and structured training. However, outside of training, we have nutritional guidelines that can't be ignored just because you are an athlete. 

Eating for health and for peak performances means recognizing there is a difference between how we eat around training sessions and outside of training sessions. One doesn't work without the other. You can have a very healthy diet outside of workouts but if you don't fuel your body properly before/during/after your training sessions, you put your body at risk for health issues.  Additionally, you can do a great job nailing your sport nutrition but if you don't make time to cook and plan meals in order to obtain a balanced intake of carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, fiber and adequate hydration, performance (and health) will suffer. 

Fiber may not be the first thing on your mind when you think about your athletic performance but a healthy body starts with a healthy gut and a healthy gut microbiome is crucial for athletic performance.

 

Farm tour: Bees and fiber

In addition to giving my love to all of the farm animals, two farm highlights were beekeeping and weaving.

When I learned of all the things that needed to be done around the farm, one of my bucket list farm to-do's was to dress up in a beekeeping outfit and see the bees at work. Mission accomplished.

The only downside to this was that within one-hour of arriving to the farm, I got stung by a wasp on my wrist. Not only was my hand in a lot of pain, but as the day went on (and for the next 72 hours), my hand continued to swell - big time. I could barely use my hand.

While my allergy to stings/bites is incredibly uncomfortable, I wasn't going to pass up on the opportunity to see the magic life of bees.

Julie is extremely passionate about fiber spinning and weaving. She has several looms around the farm property and plenty of furry animals to help her pursue her love of spinning fiber into yarn. Inside the Sheppard's Croft (where we stayed) there was a large floor loom. Within 30-minutes of teaching me how to use it, I was well on my way to creating my own wall hanging from a variety of fibers from the farm animals. I totally got into it and spent the rest of the evening - and the next morning - finishing my piece. It took me about 3 hours total to make my wall hanging.

Julie gave me full creativity to make it my own - making sure I had lots of shades of my favorite color pink. We even took grapevines from the farm to add to the wall hanging. I loved the process of using the loom and seeing how the final product turned out.

And here are a few more videos from our time at the farm.

Thank you Julie (and Karel) for a wonderful birthday to add to my book of life! 

Pre-workout fueling - it's not healthy eating

Within a "healthy" diet, a high-fiber diet has its many benefits such as controlling blood sugar levels, lowering high levels blood cholesterol, normalizing bowel movements and keeping the intestines/gut healthy. 

Furthermore, a high fiber diet has been shown to assist in weight loss and maintenance because fiber is associated with satiety. 

In today's society, we are heavily educated about"healthy" eating and certainly, fiber has an important role in our diet. 

High-fiber diet
Recommendations for daily fiber are:
21-25g/day for women
30-38g/day for men
Most individuals receive around 15g of fiber in the daily diet. 
How easy is it to meet recommendations with a real food diet?
1 cup rraspberries- 6 grams
1 cup cooked barley -8 grams
1 cup lentils - 15 grams
Total: 29 grams fiber

Because fiber (along with adequate fluid intake) moves through the digestive tract quickly and relatively easily for most healthy individuals, you can see why we need fiber in the daily diet. 

Healthy eating vs. fueling

When working with athletes on daily and sport nutrition, many athletes complain about GI issues in training/racing as well as stool-related problems during workouts/races (ex. loose stools, diarrhea, bloody stools, constipation, etc.)

As athletes, we must see food differently than the normal population. Certainly, healthy eating is extremely important to us athletes because we place an incredible amount of stress on our immune system, muscles, joints, organs and heart . Therefore, it is imperative that we eat a "healthy" diet to keep our body in good health. 

But when it comes to eating for performance, athletes need to recognize that certain foods can help/hinder our workouts if they are/are not timed appropriately.

Athletes, you probably understand that fiber plays a role in a healthy diet but when it comes to fueling for performance, it's ok to eat some proclaimed "unhealthy" foods before our workouts/races.

And why do I use the word "unhealthy"? Because to the average fitness enthusiast (and even some athletes who have yet to appreciate/understand sport nutrition), the foods that we want to eat before a workout are typically not encouraged in a healthy, high fiber diet. 

As a former clinical RD, I would never recommend juice, raisins, white rice or honey to a diabetic or to anyone who is struggling to control blood sugar or to lose weight. 

Why?
Because these foods digest rather quickly and above all, choosing an orange, raspberries, brown rice or lentils would pack a whole lot more valuable nutrients and sustainable fiber.
But for an athlete, the low-fiber options provide so many benefits to our soon-to-be, body in motion. 

Low-residue diet

If you ever have gastric surgery or you are diagnosed with diverticulitis, ulcerative colitis, IBS or Crohn's, it's likely that you will be temporarily placed on a low-residue diet.
A low-residue diet provides foods that are very easy to digest. Residue is the undigested food (ex. fiber) that composes stool so that essential goal of the diet is to have fewer and smaller bowel movements throughout the course of the diet. This will often ease symptoms like diarrhea, bloating, gas and stomach cramping in individuals with clinical issues. 

Think back to when you have a stomach virus or the flu. 

Certain comfort foods like applesauce, saltines, broth, white toast with jam, rice or cream of wheat with honey may come to mind instead of a veggie and fruit packed protein smoothie, chicken or steak with a salad or trail mix. 

As athletes, a low-residue diet in the 24-48 hours before a race can certainly help to minimize your GI issues on race day without compromising energy. However, when it comes to pre-workout fuel, the options on a low-residue diet list may look "unhealthy" in the daily diet but they are absolutely perfect for pre-workout fueling. 

In my next blog, I will discuss what foods to emphasize before workouts as well as how much/when to time them with your workouts.