Boston (but no marathon)

Thank you for those who tweeted "are you running?" Um no.

I’m in Boston for Dr Weil’s Nutrition and Health Conference. This is a conference I look forward to and have attended twice before in New York and also San Diego. Presenters, at any event,  are always a mixed bag and sometimes the sessions you expect to be best are not the highlights. Dr Robert Lustig opened the morning yesterday. His name may sound familiar as he figured prominently in 60 Minutes sugar segment; he’s also the endocrinologist quoted in the NYT early puberty article. Dr Lustig presented on fructose. I was really excited but not for the biochemistry lesson he started in with. There were two fun facts, after 45 minutes, first that 80% (wow) of supermarket items have some sugar. And second, Lustig’s “4 foods of the apocalypse”

Trans fats

Corn Fed Beef

Ethanol (alcohol)

Fructose

No surprises on the list but imagine if America worked on decreasing all of these…

The highlight of the day was a seminar on food and fertility by Dr Victoria Maizes who works with Dr Weil at the University of Arizona and I’ve seen present on diet and cancer before.  She is a fantastic speaker and offers suggestions versus mandates.  It startling when you look at the fertility data. Many women postpone having children to focus on work while fertility starts to decline in our 30s. As far as diet, it matters more vis-à-vis fertility as we get older, if that makes sense. So what’s been associated with decreased fertility?

1. Cereal- many foods were tested and cold cereal, likely because of glycemic index, decreased fertility more than most others
2. Nonfat milk- you know, if you read regularly, I’m not a skim fat but while nonfat milk decreases fertility whole dairy improves it.
3. Trans fats – a 2% increase in trans fats was associated with a 73% increase in infertility, think packaged products and read labels for hydrogenation. Trans fats were on Lustig’s list above and they really are about as bad for us as we thought, it not worse
4. Soda but not necessarily all caffeine

What foods improve fertility?

1. Whole Dairy
2. Fish/omega 3's- many women cut out fish due to mercury phobia and this is a mistake. Omega 3’s decrease miscarriage risk, postpartum depression and certain pediatric cancers.
3. Prenatal vitamins- I am not such a multivitamin all in one fan but feel strongly, after this presentation, that both men and women trying to conceive should be taking one (though not the same one).

What happens in utero and what women do before they conceive really, as Dr Maizes said “wires you for the rest of your life”. So I can focus on my mother and how screwed I am or I can try to pass this information on.  And finally, infertility isn’t always discussed and has to be one of the hardest things to go through. I have a sister to struggled with IVF and I tried for a long time with my older son. Dr Maizes reminded us of the compassion needed. I also think “tools” are helpful so please, if appropriate, pass this information along. And congratulations to all the Boston runners, well done.

 I have to get over to the Westin for today’s sessions. I’ll tweet @Foodtrainers about  them if you want to hear more.

Are you eating much of the apocalyptic foods? Or are you limiting fish due to mercury concerns? What do you think makes a good speaker or presentation?

Carbo Loading's Finish Line

When I was doing my nutrition training, over 10 years ago, sports nutrition went something like this: eat carbs and only carbs and before a race whatever that amount of carbs was multiply it by a factor of at least two.  Once I started counseling runners and triathletes and running marathons myself I realized that no diet, especially not one where peak performance was the goal, could revolve around one macronutrient. My sports nutrition clients eat a diet similar to my other clients with the exception theirs may be more finely tuned. You can’t eat a trough of pasta and feel good the next day (sorry if the photo misled you).

So in comes a client last week, she’s training for the New York marathon and very savvy when it comes to training foods. “Did you see the new Runner’s World she asked? I told her I hadn’t. “There’s an article on carbo-loading and a ridiculous photo with a mountain of pasta.” I told her I’d check it out. I was going on a trip in a few days and I always bring a stack of magazines to devour. The next day, the client emailed. She sent me the link to the article, minutes later she sent another email with the message “you didn’t get the lovely pasta shot, so I took a screen shot, attached!” I explained I was saving the article but I was now extremely curious.

Friday, I boarded our early morning flight to New Orleans. I flipped open Runner’s World and found  “Fill ‘Er Up. The article is love letter to the carb, specifically the white carb. It’s as imbalanced as Mount St. Pasta (pictured above). We’re told “most runners know they should eat pasta, rice, potatoes or other high-carb foods before a half or full marathon.” Immediately, I was thinking alone? What about omega 3’s for inflammation? Or vegetables for fluid and antioxidants? They’re clear though “carbs should make up 85 to 95 percent of your prerace meals.” Fruits, though high in carbs, are discouraged with the exception of bananas or peeled apples or pears. We’re warned other fruits may give you trouble. In the same paragraph the nutritionist quoted encourages her clients “to indulge in white bread and skinless while potatoes” since both are easily digested.  I’m reading and getting incensed while airborne. I’m thinking since skinless potatoes and wonder bread break down into sugar, why not make things even easier and crack open the Domino box for dinner?

Carbs are an important part of an athlete’s diet during training and pre-race. Baked potatoes (with the skin), sweet potatoes, brown rice, sushi, quinoa and soba noodles, gluten free pasta and oats are some examples my clients enjoy. They are mostly “brown carbs” or “good” carbs and though some are fibrous, it’s not as though I’m advocating 5-alarm chili. There’s also the question of portion.  In addition to the pasta picture, there’s an equally obscene stack of pancakes, caption “tall order”, and another nutritionist’s concern that we learn about carbohydrates “so you can toe the line fully fueled and ready to go.”  I don’t think most runners or Americans need an introduction to carbohydrates (we’ve met thanks) nor encouragement to mainline them. If pasta’s your prerace preference, that’s fine but some fish or chicken and even salad will not kill you, if you’ve trained with these foods. In fact, they will help.

The author makes the point that as you taper/run less in the days leading up to a race, glycogen (stored carbs) accumulates. To me, “carbo loading” (would someone explain what a “carbo” is?) happens naturally as you store more carbs (in the new millennium we dropped the “o”) when you’re burning fewer. Another good point made is that you don’t need to increase your calories, just the proportion of carbs, leading up to the race. But there’s an adjacent “good eats” sample day suggesting far from good foods such as bagels, sweetened yogurt, Gatorade, cookies, orange juice, Swedish Fish, chocolate milk oh and for some “easy to digest” fiber black beans and salsa. Now this day may put you in a diabetic coma or nauseate you but it will not make you perform better.

Though Runner’s World’s nutrition information can be a little dated, a few pages later there is a great recipe for Sweet Potato Muffins with ginger and whole-wheat flour from Mark Bittman. On page 46, Dr Weil suggests talks about fiber and anti-inflammatory foods. That made me feel a bit better, they had me worried we were back in the 90s for a minute.  Have you trained for any type of race? What is your pre-race meal? What do you do when you read nutrition information that seems off? How do you feel when you eat a boatload of pasta?