Mentoring in nutrition – extracts from communication

During this month we’ve been running a nutritional mentoring program based on a holistic approach to nutrition, exclusively for new customers of nutritional supplements. Our goal is to give participants a taste of the work we do with our elite athletes globally. The program has involved webinars, forum exchanges, one-on-one-phone discussions etc.  The following is a taste of some of the written exchanges.

On nutrition for training…
My recommendations regarding feeling the body pre, during and post training, revolve largely on the timing of the trading relative to the last meal or snack. So if you day changes and the time between the last intake and the commencement of training changes, you can adapt.  Let's go over this in more detail on the next webinar!

On adoption of the current dominant trends…

I look forward to learning more about what your needs are and cross-referencing that to your current intake. One thing that stands out to me is the 'popularity' of your current intake. I may be different, but my philosophy is that if you are doing what the majority are doing, it's not good enough. I'm either concerned for you or excited for the opportunities this presents, depending on whether you want the half glass empty or half glass full perspective! (Or perhaps depending on whether you are my athlete or an athlete my athletes will compete against!)

On diversity in food selection…

Great to see you are aware that if you lower your blood sugar levels too much you tend to make poorer food decisions. So I agree eating the same thing regularly may be better than missing food altogether and entering this risk. However we will review your food log and ensure your food variety is adequate, as to optimize whole food based nutrition, breadth of food type is important.

On fruit…

1. A piece of fruit on its own does not constitute, in my opinion, a balanced snack.

2. Look to have your daily serves of fruit less than or at less no more than your daily serves of vegetables.

3. If you are looking to lower body fat to extreme levels and find carbs are not conducive to this goal, you may have to reduce or remove fruits.

4. If you are not subject to reducing your bodyweight or bodyfat, or if you are in energy system sports, you will value fruits more.

5  If you have concerns about the glycemic index of fruits, review the options and select fruits from the lower end of the index.

6. Look to vary your fruits, both within the day, and within the year.

7. One way to ensure diversity in fruits is to eat seasonal fruit.

8. Watch out for the source and preparation of fruit. Much of it ranks in the foods with the highest contaminants.

9. Wash your fruit before eating it.

10. When travelling and you have concerns about GI risks, select only fruit that has a skin.  On the flip side, when you trust the fruit, sometimes the skin (where edible) has the most fiber!

On snacks….

From our review of your food logs and discussions with you during our webinar calls, we will reflect and advise on your meal frequency and food selections. There are few things that stand out already, and this includes the apparent lack of reliability regarding the snacks. For me a snack just means a smaller intake, however not a lessor importance in terms of consistency. Your value of a snack may benefit from further review.

On water consumption…

Water is also an interesting aspect. There is more debate about the value of water and the optimal intake of water than there is actual water consumption! In my opinion and experience it is unlikely you are taking in enough water. In environments with varying seasonal temperatures, I find the cooler months leaving you unaware that you are not taking in enough water, and the hotter months leave you not being able to consume enough to replenish anyway!

On micro-waving food…

Its difficult to imagine that there are no implications to the heating process used by microwave ovens on the food. So at least minimise it's use as you are

I know many who like you have become wary of microwaves and perhaps rightfully so.  On the flip side some say they struggle to find evidence of the dangers of microwaving. I suggest that the evidence has to be over whelming to overcome the resistance by commercial interests to suppress the risks. Take vaccination for babies - how hard does the medical community work to criticize and ostracize anyone who challenges the health risks of the child vaccination regime? Try not complying fully with a child’s vaccination schedule and you will find out first hand…

On travel…

Some key things to consider nutritionally speaking when travelling:

* Have melatonin or similar in your kit should you have challenges getting sleep in a new environment or time zone

* Increase your probiotic and or digestive enzyme use when eating foods you are not usually eating.

* Plane food is getting worse, so look to carry your own nutrition on the plane where you can. Use your preferred choice of meal replacement bars on long haul flights where it is not practical to carry on other whole foods (if you are travelling overseas you will have less challenges bringing commercially produced bars into counties than you will have with whole foods. If you have whole foods in your possession when entering a new country, I suggest throw it out before entering customs!)

* Ensure your fluid consumption is high when travelling. Your fluid loss is increased in the dehydration of the plane cabin at altitude and in compressed air e.g. it is believed you can lose up to 1.5 liters of fluid in the average 3 hr flight. This is rarely addressed adequately, and in the fine tuned world of elite sports can be the difference between winning and losing.

* Have anti-diarrhea medication in your travel kit should your GI system be affected by food you are not used to or off foods.

* if travelling to a colder climate increase your Vit C and or immune supporting supplements and foods.

* Increase your overall micronutrient intake (read vitamins and minerals) to counteract the stress of travel.

* Use natural light or darkness to help you either stay awake or get sleepy, depending on your goal, in a new time zone.

On ‘break-out’ meals…

As for the pizza and occasional sweets, i have no issues with that. It's what we do most of the time that matters, providing that a stray down the dark side doesn't leave us straying too long!

On nutrition and energy challenges for breadwinners with dependents…

In my writings i have spoken about different stages of your career, and it appears you are moving into that stage where you have dependents, and realize that there is more to life than sets and reps. This presents an interesting conundrum. Firstly, the need to improve your financial offence to support a growing family; and the second (and sometimes it feels an opposing need) to have the quantity of time and energy to share experiences with your family. We are the original holistic company and obviously in the bigger picture there are many different aspects to this challenge, one that anyone who is a breadwinner and seeks to have a family faces.

However from the nutritional perspective alone we now excitedly enter a domain far beyond the narrow focus of whether you can do that extra rep in the gym. We now enter a short, medium and long term health focus. Do you have the energy as a relatively young person to give to your family? 

Will you have the ability from an energy and non-injury mobility perspective (and i use the word mobility in what i consider the appropriate sense - the ability to be mobile (not the misinformed and confused use of the word dominating the last decade or so as a subterfuge for the absence of appropriate stretching!) in the middle and later stages of your life! Now that's a whole new ball game, and no amount of DMA, BCAA, ABCDs and another hyped up acronym of the latest supplement to be promoted by the bodybuilding publishers who just happened to be the ones who 'invented' the supplement, are promoting!

On fiber supplementation….

the ease of obtaining adequate fiber in the diet is related to the accessibility of high quality non-processed whole foods. It is possible to achieve your fiber requirements without supplementation, but in the real world where we are time-poor and distracted, don't look down on supplementing your fiber. In the ideal world we would spend all day growing, tending to, harvesting, preparing, cooking and eating our crops and other foods sources. We don't. For the majority that era has passed.

On nutritional supplementation for pregnancy and child rearing…

Have mum on at least a high quality high potency broad spectrum multi-vitamin/mineral (if not more) during pregnancy and breastfeeding. We can talk more about the benefits to both mum and bub. For example, for mum, as the baby grows in the womb and presses more on the rectum, defecation becomes more challenged. this presents health risks in itself. A high quality high potency broad spectrum multi-vitamin/mineral such as the one we recommend will help minimize the risks in this are. This is just one example of the many and varied benefits of nutritional supplementation during pregnancy etc. Of course, seek medical advice regarding all of this. And remember if you want your kids to take vitamins, they need to see you doing it first!

On nutritional influences in the sport and fitness industry….

This industry spends too little time focusing on the legacy and lifetime works of individuals such as Linus Pauling and too much time focusing on the ranting’s of a person whose legacy will be their lifetime commitment to over-exaggerating the training effects of the latest supplement their company has trademarked! Really, some of those editors must be about 400 lbs of pure muscle by now because of all those amazing supplements that 'slapped on 15lbs in 7 days of lean rock-hard muscle mass!'

On fluoride….

During the bulk of my life dentists have insisted that amalgam (mercury) is the strongest and best filling material for teeth with no side-effects. Nice theory if the teeth were not connected to the rest of the body...

Now how does the rest of the body react to fluoride and mercury exposure?

This is the same profession that in the first few decade of the 20th century believed that removing the teeth early in life was the best way to avoid fillings later in life. Nice theory, but what is the impact on the body of having no teeth?

The advancement into the middle of this century was to drill the teeth out and fill them with mercury to prevent holes and fillings being needed. Nice theory, if you want to have weakened teeth and mercury poisoning…

On looking to the future…

We are in for a great time, and a time that is our vision will reset your mindset about nutrition for better for life, and for the betterment of the life of those who depend on you, including your children, and their children, and their children' children!

Conclusion

The above is just a sample of  some written communication. During the program we strive to meet each participants needs and answer their extensive and diverse questions. Keen to be part of our next Nutritional Mentoring Program?  Email info@kingsports.net with the following in the subject field ‘I want to be part o the next Nutritional Mentoring Intake!’ to get the ball rolling towards being part of our next intake!