Nailing your nutrition and staying hydrated is like rocket fuel for your performance. However, we are all very different when it comes to hydration, genetics, build and ethnicity all have different sweat rates. That's why the sweat test is your secret weapon to fine-tune your race day nutrition plan. I'm here to show you how to do your own sweat test so you can rock your runs and rides. Firstly, you want to do the test on a day with the same temperature and humidity to your race day, this will give you the best results & accuracy for race day. Let's Go! This is what you need to do: Now for the maths to calculate your sweat rate: Sweat Rate (L/hr) = (Pre-workout weight - Post-workout weight + Fluid Intake) / Workout ...
Be a Marathon Rockstar: Fuel Your Success from Start to Finish
I work with a range of running levels from novice to the well-seasoned ultra-athlete. This blog has information for all runners; however, it is intended for the newer marathon runners. I ran my first half marathon with no knowledge of running, nutrition or recovery. I went in 100%, I trained at 100%, every run was at effort, I thought if I ran every run as fast as I could, I would naturally start to run faster, wow, was I wrong! I was under fuelling, not intentionally, I truly believed I was eating well at the time. I trained with an old school phone (way before owning a Garmin) that shouted out when I had hit another “k” that I for some strange reason decided to not take to the event. This all led to a bucket load of excitement at the ...
Is Breakfast Really the Superstar?
Breakfast has often been referred to as the most important meal of the day and for pretty good reason. It’s a common story in clinic for patients to experience afternoon energy crashes, sugar cravings, fatigue, difficulty meeting protein goals and binging throughout the day. For many people it can be as simple as starting the day fuelling the body with the right nutrition. Eating a balanced breakfast that includes all three macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, and fat) can help stabilise blood sugar, help with meeting protein goals, sustained energy throughout the day, performing better, less injury and not getting sick, sounds pretty good right? Breakfast is especially important for people experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned, ...
7 Benefits of Creatine Supplementation for Lean Muscle & Perimenopause
Creatine is a supplement I talk about often in consults with my perimenopause clients and clients wishing to gain lean mass and currently undertake resistance training. I realised I haven’t included a social post, which is not helpful for those of you reading here and not yet working with me directly! What is it? It’s an amino acid made up of glycine, methionine, and arginine. which you can gain from diet (meat & fish) or via supplementation. Increasing creatine intake increases phosphocreatine levels. Why is this important? When we exercise, we use ATP, when this runs out the body builds its own ATP, which we do this better at rest. We use phosphocreatine to build ATP, so if you have additional stores, you can make ATP a little ...
Red Witch Immune Tea
Supporting the immune system via food has been in place for centuries and there are simple ways to do this here and now in 2022, shocking, I know :) Supplementation holds a valuable place in supporting the immune system and easing symptoms, however, it is important to know you can't out supplement a bad diet! This tea is a great one to sip on at the first sign of cold, flu, or viral symptoms. Ingredients 2 cups boiling water1 fresh lemon, sliced3 cloves garlic, crushed2 tsp apple cider vinegar2 tsp fresh ginger, grated1 tsp fresh turmeric, grated1 pinch cayenne pepperSweeten with raw honey or Manuka honey Add all ingredients (excluding ginger & turmeric) into a saucepan and bring to a boil with the lid on. Simmer for 5 ...
Can health be packaged into a convenience product?
Can health be conveniently packaged into a product we buy off the shelf? No. Health is multifactorial and essentially, we often need to make changes to improve health. The old “doing the same thing produces the same results” is kind of true. Health requires change. Change can be hard and we tend to make changes when the current reality becomes too uncomfortable. Change can be initiated from a health diagnosis, mental health decline, job change, meeting new people, being inspired by others, so many factors that can initiate change. And change is constant, we grow, we learn and we change I turn 47 this week. I used to be well known for celebrating “birthday month”, however, this has toned down a little over the years. Perhaps age and ...
Coco-Green Smoothie
Smoothies can be an alternative way to increase your vegetable intake if you are finding it hard to increase vegetables in the morning. They also can be a great option post-workout/long runs when your digestive is not quite ready for whole foods and you need to refuel, this is particularly important if a second session is scheduled for later in the day. Adding vegetables to your smoothies increases the nutrient profile in the meal and also over the day. Remember to chew your smoothies - sounds odd right? Slowing down and chewing allows time for digestion to work as it should, this is super important if you tend to experience bloating. Ingredients 1 small lebanese cucumber30-40g vanilla protein powder1/2 cup chopped fresh pineapple1 ...
Ginger Digestive Tea
In many of my discussions around digestion, I talk about constipation being one of the factors commonly associated with bloating. Ginger acts as a laxative and prokinetic to aid with gastrointestinal motility and moving of the bowels. Ginger can be added to cooking, teas, or taken as a supplement. Ginger is also beneficial for easing nausea and in relation to sport, eating lollies such as Buderim Ginger Bears can be a great way to gain glucose and ease any nausea in endurance races. And the cute little ginger bears won't have a therapeutic amount of ginger to increase laxation, so you won't need to run to the loo! Ingredients Instructions Other Tips ...
Square Breathing
What is square breathing? It is breathwork that works within a framework and can be used similar to diaphragmatic breathing which I often recommend with my clients. I generally recommend a form of breathwork for clients with digestive issues, anxiety, and stress. In fact, we can all benefit from it! It can increase feelings of calm by minimising stress, it achieves this through moving a shift from the sympathetic nervous system ("fight or flight") to the parasympathetic nervous system ("rest & digest"). It is referred to as box breathing, square breathing, 4x4 and essentially is about breathing in counts of four as illustrated below. How to start square breathing It is a good idea to sit in a chair, the earth or the ...
Beef & Broccoli Stirfy
This is big for me, I have only recently been including red meat in my diet after not eating red meat from circa 2002! And when I say including, I've eaten it about two times this year as I simply just don't fancy it that often. I don't have rules around what I eat and tend to eat what my body feels it requires. Although I am very aware if I've not taken a break all day and suddenly feeling the need to devour "all the things" but mostly the things with a hefty sugar punch that I've likely left eating too long rather than a desperate physiological need for my body weight in sugar. I was going to include a post for iron using plant-based foods, however, I thoroughly enjoyed this dish, super simple and worth a share. Ingredients (serves ...
