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Sunday, September 20, 2009
Engineered Sports Foods: Convenience or Necessity?
I'm not one to buy into the hype of specialty drinks. For instance if you look at what is suggested for post workout replenishment a good glass of chacolate milk has the right combination of protein and carbohydrates. And the cost is reasonable. But to listen to the hype of Muscle Magazines and produt Advertisements you'd think you'd have to spend a lot on specially formulated bars and/or protein mixes, that quite frankly don't always taste so great, especially NOT for the price.
And I'm a mom with a kid in private college so I'm not going to throw away my $$$ on hyped up products anytime soon. I've spent some time with Nancy Clark at various conferences over the years, I've read her books and followed her columns, she's my kind of researcher and sport nutritionist (RD actually)! She gives you the facts and gives you the options and makes no claims to support products that scews the research to support their products. I like that. I admire that. So I'm sharing with you some of her info on on the big business of sports foods.
Nancy Clark is a highly respected professional and a much sought after Dietician for athletes and everyday sports enthusiasts. I value her opinion and her knowledge.
sAquinnE
By Nancy Clark, MS RD CSSD
To look at all the ads for sports drinks, energy bars, electrolyte replacers and sports candies, you'd think these engineered products are a necessary part of a sports diet, particularly if you are doing endurance exercise such as training for a marathon or a triathlon. When my clients ask for advice about how to use these products, I first assess their daily sports diet to determine if they can get—or are getting—what they want from standard foods (carbs, sodium). In most cases, they can get their needs met with a wisely chosen sports diet.
While there is a time and a place for engineered sports foods (particularly among people who train at a high intensity), many athletes needlessly waste a lot of money misusing them. The purpose of this article is to help you become an informed consumer, so you can wisely spend your hard-earned money.
Pre-Exercise Energy Bars
While fueling with a pre-workout PowerBar and Gatorade ($2-$3) is one way to energize your workout, you could less expensively consume 300 calories of banana+yogurt+water ($1) or pretzels+raisins+water (50¢). Any of these choices are carbohydrate-rich and will offer the fuel your muscles need for a stellar workout.
The best pre-exercise snacks digest easily, settle well in your stomach, and do not talk back to you. Standard supermarket foods can do that as well as engineered foods. Experiment to determine what settles best in your body.
Energy Drinks
There's little doubt that Red Bull and other energy drinks are popular, particularly among folks who use them for alcohol mixers. The 110 calories of sugar “helps the medicine go down” (for those who don't enjoy the taste of certain alcoholic beverages). The resulting problem is wide-awake drunks who think they can drive themselves home—but then get into accidents.
For athletes, energy drinks are the source of enough sugar and caffeine to give you a quick energy boost. The problem is, one quick fix will not compensate for missed meals. That is, if you sleep through breakfast and barely eat lunch, having a Red Bull for a pre-workout energizer will unlikely compensate for the previous inadequate food intake. If you can make the time to train, you can also make the time to fuel appropriately, rather than rely on a quick fix.
Caffeine
A known “ergogenic aid”, caffeine enhances performance by making the effort seem easier. A pre-exercise caffeine-fix—especially if accommodated by carbs—can energize your workout. Here’s how the options compare:
Option Caffeine (mg) Cost
Coca-Cola, 20 oz 60 $1.59
Red Bull, 8 oz 80 $2.19
No-doz, 1 tablet 200 $0.33
Starbuck's, 16 oz 300 $1.94
Sports Drinks
Many athletes believe the sodium in sports drinks is essential to replace the sodium lost in sweat. Wrong. Sports drinks are actually relatively low in sodium compared to what you consume in your meals. Sodium enhances fluid retention and helps keep you hydrated, as opposed to plain water that goes in one end, out the other.
If you are sweat heavily, you might lose about 1,000 to 3,000 mg sodium in an hour of hard exercise. Here are options for replacing these sodium losses:
Replacements Sodium (mg) Replacements Sodium (mg)
Endurolytes, 1 capsule 40 Cheese stick, 1 oz 200
PowerBar Electrolytes, 8 oz. 65 Pizza, 1 slice 500
Gatorade, 8 oz. 110 Salt, 1/4 teaspoon 600
Gatorade Endurance, 8 oz. 200 Soup, 1 can Campbell's 2,200
As you can see, there is no need for anyone to drink a sports drink with their lunch, because the soup or cheese sandwich have far more sodium than the small amount of sodium in the sports drink. By consuming some salty food such as eight ounces of chicken broth before exercising in the heat, you can get a hefty dose of sodium into your body before you even start to exercise. This has been shown to enhance endurance. (1)
Electrolytes
One triathlete reported using electrolyte replacers throughout the day. He then admitted he didn't even know what electrolytes are. I explained they are electrically charged particles, more commonly known as sodium, calcium, magnesium and potassium. Standard foods abound with electrolytes, more so than engineered sports foods—
Sodium Calcium Magnesium Potassium
Endurolytes (1 capsule) 40 50 25 25
Nuun, (1 tab) 360 12 5 100
PBJ & milk 600 300 130 750
Pizza, (1 slice) 650 200 30 220
Vitamin Water and Vitamin-Enriched Sports Foods
Many engineered foods tout they are enriched with B-vitamins “for energy”. Yes, B-vitamins are needed to convert food into energy, but they are not sources of energy. Few athletes realize the body has a supply of vitamins stored in the liver, so you are unlikely to become deficient during exercise.
Athletes, who eat far more food—hence more vitamins—than sedentary folks, have the opportunity to consume abundant vitamins. A big bowl of Wheaties offers 100 percent of the Daily Value (DV) for B-vitamins. (Most cereals, breads, pastas and other grain foods are enriched with B-vitamins unless they are “all natural”.) Eight ounces of orange juice offers 100 percent of the DV for Vitamin C. In contrast, eight ounces of Energy Tropical Citrus Vitamin Water offers only 40 percent of the DV for C.
Sports Candy
I groaned when one runner told me she ate Sports Beans ($1/100-calorie packet) for her afternoon snack. Like sports drinks, sports beans are designed to be taken during exercise. Regular jellybeans would be a far less expensive snack! She unlikely even needed extra sodium, given she ran for only an hour. Raisins, dried pineapple or grapes would make a healthier snack option
Conclusion
Not everyone uses sports foods to enhance their performance. Research on a simulated three-day adventure race suggests otherwise (2). When the racers were given a buffet of fueling options during this event, 86 percent of their calories came from supermarket foods (candy, pizza, sandwiches, soft drinks, coffee, bananas, etc.) as opposed to only 14 percent from engineered sports foods (sports drinks, gels, energy bars, protein bars). They reported standard foods tasted better and were more palatable. As an educated consumer, do you want to do the same?
Nancy Clark, MS RD CSSD (Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics) counsels casual and competitive athletes in her private practice at Healthworks, the premier fitness center in Chestnut Hill MA (617-383-6100). Her Sports Nutrition Guidebook, new Food Guide for Marathoners, and Cyclist’s Food Guide are available at www.nancyclarkrd.com. Also see www.sportsnutritionworkshop.com for information about her online workshop.
References
1. Sims, ST, van Vliet L, Cotter J, Rehrer N. 2007. Sodium loading aids fluid balance and reduces physiological strain of trained men exercising in the heat. Med Sci Sports Exerc 39(1):123-130.
2. Zimberg IZ, Crispim CA, Juzwiak CR at al. 2008. Nutritional intake during a simulated adventure race. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab 18(2):152-68
And I'm a mom with a kid in private college so I'm not going to throw away my $$$ on hyped up products anytime soon. I've spent some time with Nancy Clark at various conferences over the years, I've read her books and followed her columns, she's my kind of researcher and sport nutritionist (RD actually)! She gives you the facts and gives you the options and makes no claims to support products that scews the research to support their products. I like that. I admire that. So I'm sharing with you some of her info on on the big business of sports foods.
Nancy Clark is a highly respected professional and a much sought after Dietician for athletes and everyday sports enthusiasts. I value her opinion and her knowledge.
sAquinnE
By Nancy Clark, MS RD CSSD
To look at all the ads for sports drinks, energy bars, electrolyte replacers and sports candies, you'd think these engineered products are a necessary part of a sports diet, particularly if you are doing endurance exercise such as training for a marathon or a triathlon. When my clients ask for advice about how to use these products, I first assess their daily sports diet to determine if they can get—or are getting—what they want from standard foods (carbs, sodium). In most cases, they can get their needs met with a wisely chosen sports diet.
While there is a time and a place for engineered sports foods (particularly among people who train at a high intensity), many athletes needlessly waste a lot of money misusing them. The purpose of this article is to help you become an informed consumer, so you can wisely spend your hard-earned money.
Pre-Exercise Energy Bars
While fueling with a pre-workout PowerBar and Gatorade ($2-$3) is one way to energize your workout, you could less expensively consume 300 calories of banana+yogurt+water ($1) or pretzels+raisins+water (50¢). Any of these choices are carbohydrate-rich and will offer the fuel your muscles need for a stellar workout.
The best pre-exercise snacks digest easily, settle well in your stomach, and do not talk back to you. Standard supermarket foods can do that as well as engineered foods. Experiment to determine what settles best in your body.
Energy Drinks
There's little doubt that Red Bull and other energy drinks are popular, particularly among folks who use them for alcohol mixers. The 110 calories of sugar “helps the medicine go down” (for those who don't enjoy the taste of certain alcoholic beverages). The resulting problem is wide-awake drunks who think they can drive themselves home—but then get into accidents.
For athletes, energy drinks are the source of enough sugar and caffeine to give you a quick energy boost. The problem is, one quick fix will not compensate for missed meals. That is, if you sleep through breakfast and barely eat lunch, having a Red Bull for a pre-workout energizer will unlikely compensate for the previous inadequate food intake. If you can make the time to train, you can also make the time to fuel appropriately, rather than rely on a quick fix.
Caffeine
A known “ergogenic aid”, caffeine enhances performance by making the effort seem easier. A pre-exercise caffeine-fix—especially if accommodated by carbs—can energize your workout. Here’s how the options compare:
Option Caffeine (mg) Cost
Coca-Cola, 20 oz 60 $1.59
Red Bull, 8 oz 80 $2.19
No-doz, 1 tablet 200 $0.33
Starbuck's, 16 oz 300 $1.94
Sports Drinks
Many athletes believe the sodium in sports drinks is essential to replace the sodium lost in sweat. Wrong. Sports drinks are actually relatively low in sodium compared to what you consume in your meals. Sodium enhances fluid retention and helps keep you hydrated, as opposed to plain water that goes in one end, out the other.
If you are sweat heavily, you might lose about 1,000 to 3,000 mg sodium in an hour of hard exercise. Here are options for replacing these sodium losses:
Replacements Sodium (mg) Replacements Sodium (mg)
Endurolytes, 1 capsule 40 Cheese stick, 1 oz 200
PowerBar Electrolytes, 8 oz. 65 Pizza, 1 slice 500
Gatorade, 8 oz. 110 Salt, 1/4 teaspoon 600
Gatorade Endurance, 8 oz. 200 Soup, 1 can Campbell's 2,200
As you can see, there is no need for anyone to drink a sports drink with their lunch, because the soup or cheese sandwich have far more sodium than the small amount of sodium in the sports drink. By consuming some salty food such as eight ounces of chicken broth before exercising in the heat, you can get a hefty dose of sodium into your body before you even start to exercise. This has been shown to enhance endurance. (1)
Electrolytes
One triathlete reported using electrolyte replacers throughout the day. He then admitted he didn't even know what electrolytes are. I explained they are electrically charged particles, more commonly known as sodium, calcium, magnesium and potassium. Standard foods abound with electrolytes, more so than engineered sports foods—
Sodium Calcium Magnesium Potassium
Endurolytes (1 capsule) 40 50 25 25
Nuun, (1 tab) 360 12 5 100
PBJ & milk 600 300 130 750
Pizza, (1 slice) 650 200 30 220
Vitamin Water and Vitamin-Enriched Sports Foods
Many engineered foods tout they are enriched with B-vitamins “for energy”. Yes, B-vitamins are needed to convert food into energy, but they are not sources of energy. Few athletes realize the body has a supply of vitamins stored in the liver, so you are unlikely to become deficient during exercise.
Athletes, who eat far more food—hence more vitamins—than sedentary folks, have the opportunity to consume abundant vitamins. A big bowl of Wheaties offers 100 percent of the Daily Value (DV) for B-vitamins. (Most cereals, breads, pastas and other grain foods are enriched with B-vitamins unless they are “all natural”.) Eight ounces of orange juice offers 100 percent of the DV for Vitamin C. In contrast, eight ounces of Energy Tropical Citrus Vitamin Water offers only 40 percent of the DV for C.
Sports Candy
I groaned when one runner told me she ate Sports Beans ($1/100-calorie packet) for her afternoon snack. Like sports drinks, sports beans are designed to be taken during exercise. Regular jellybeans would be a far less expensive snack! She unlikely even needed extra sodium, given she ran for only an hour. Raisins, dried pineapple or grapes would make a healthier snack option
Conclusion
Not everyone uses sports foods to enhance their performance. Research on a simulated three-day adventure race suggests otherwise (2). When the racers were given a buffet of fueling options during this event, 86 percent of their calories came from supermarket foods (candy, pizza, sandwiches, soft drinks, coffee, bananas, etc.) as opposed to only 14 percent from engineered sports foods (sports drinks, gels, energy bars, protein bars). They reported standard foods tasted better and were more palatable. As an educated consumer, do you want to do the same?
Nancy Clark, MS RD CSSD (Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics) counsels casual and competitive athletes in her private practice at Healthworks, the premier fitness center in Chestnut Hill MA (617-383-6100). Her Sports Nutrition Guidebook, new Food Guide for Marathoners, and Cyclist’s Food Guide are available at www.nancyclarkrd.com. Also see www.sportsnutritionworkshop.com for information about her online workshop.
References
1. Sims, ST, van Vliet L, Cotter J, Rehrer N. 2007. Sodium loading aids fluid balance and reduces physiological strain of trained men exercising in the heat. Med Sci Sports Exerc 39(1):123-130.
2. Zimberg IZ, Crispim CA, Juzwiak CR at al. 2008. Nutritional intake during a simulated adventure race. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab 18(2):152-68
Stop the Insanity! Health Care Reform is NEEDED!
The uproar about this Healthcare Reform is so infuriating! The lies and deceptions will cost us dearly down the road. The nay sayers against reform are listening to the fear producing rhetoric and basing their opinions on their fears and not the facts.
Americans aren't willing to listen and do the right thing. They are always looking for the easy, quick fix irregardless what those short term fixes do to us in the longrun. HMO's controlled Health Care costs for a few years by merely DENYING coverage. But that only lasted a few years. It worked in the short term, but has hurt us dearly in the long term, We're a sick nation.
On one hand we don't want goverment involvement. Then on the other hand if you lose your job, where do we look for handouts, safety nets and fixes. We don't want goverment involved with banking..oh but when they fail we do. When natural disasters strike we want goverment involved and fast. When our food safety is jeopardized we want goverment involved. When wide-spread illnesses invade we want goverment involved.
When we lose our healthcare coverage then have an accident or a life threatening illness we want goverment involved. Oh it's OK then. But heaven forbid that they find a way to make it not only accessible, but affordable. That's not OK. I don't get it!
SO now the goverment is saying that we pay way too much for drugs, we can get a better price if we consolidate and bargain (i.e. that's what wal-mart/walgreens does). Can you really say private insurance companies have said yes to paying the price of your drugs? Have we not understood that private HMO's have prospered BECAUSE they have DENIED converage. Health care providers don't provide health they pay for it. They pay for it with your money!
DO you realize that many people can't afford the medicines they need to survive. I lost and old lover this year for that very reason, it sucks! We spend more on healthcare, pay more for healthcare and we're NOT healthy! Shit not even close. The goverment wants to fix that. And you don't think that is a good idea?!
The goverment wants to step in and lead the way to be sure everyone not only has coverage, but it's affordable. And you want to bitch and moan and believe the fear raising lies from OH...the insurance companies and the phamaceutical companies who have for years been making money off of you but not helping you be healthy!?
Wake up people! The system is broken and only a few folks are getting rich because of it and you wanna believe these folks. You want to put our life in their hands?
We, as a nation, don't take responsibility for our health until we are sick, so doing things to maintain our health, like eating well, preventive screenings, exercising regularly, not smoking, managing our emotional and mental health, finding work that is fulfilling, finding something in your life that is fulfilling. No we'd rather over eat, eat crappy food, smoke, sit on our asses, run around like chickens with our heads cut off, stress about our jobs or no jobs, stress about just about anything that takes work to achieve, avoid the doctor, and then sue someone for our choices.
We want to mess up our heads, live without faith in some higher power, waste our bodies, undervalue our lives and then blame it on someone else. It's the American way. Where's the accountability?
Yeah, people who do all the right things get sick. And some live their last few years on this earthly plane doing everything they can to survive. Some live well even though they will lose their fight way too early. But those who chose to live well spiritually, mentally, emotionally during that time really LIVE! They may even live more fully then they ever have before because of their illness.
Does medicine have all the answers, NO. Will we live forever, NO, not on earth. My faith tells me I'll have everlasting life in another way. I trust and believe in that. I realize that not everyone does. Too bad for that. BUT Private industry can't promise you everything either. Neither can the goverment.
Private industry needs a Goverment FOR and BY the people to do right by ALL the people. And that's what Health Care Reform is all about. Taking care of ALL our people.
As an athlete, I was always taught that we were only as strong as our weakest link. So we made sure our weakest link got stronger. I believe that to be true about our community and our world. We're only as healthy as our weakest link.
That IS the bottom line folks. Everyone wins when people do the right thing. The only people who lose when a nation gets healthier are the companies that get rich on us being sick. MMM who's that Insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, even the supplement industry. All survive on our "unhealthiness".
We cannot "regulate" ourselves. We can't let's face it. As long as we value the all-mighty dollar more than integrity we can't regulate ourselves. Checks and balances need to be put into place.
I don't 100% trust the goverment, nor do I 100% trust the private industry. But in combination sometimes they both, together can perform amazing feats.
Let's, together fear less and do what is necessary to really make this country great. Support Health Care Reform. In fact take it even further. Support Health Care Reform with more Preventive Health measures.
"You want to lower your health care expenses, get healthy." Eat well. Exercise regularly. Manage stress. Don't smoke. Live with lovingkindness.
The goverment needs to be more proactive in healthcare to push private industry and private citizens into being healthier. The old way aint' working and it needs to be fixed!
Stop letting fear of change scare you into believing lies. Fight for change, NOW!
Americans aren't willing to listen and do the right thing. They are always looking for the easy, quick fix irregardless what those short term fixes do to us in the longrun. HMO's controlled Health Care costs for a few years by merely DENYING coverage. But that only lasted a few years. It worked in the short term, but has hurt us dearly in the long term, We're a sick nation.
On one hand we don't want goverment involvement. Then on the other hand if you lose your job, where do we look for handouts, safety nets and fixes. We don't want goverment involved with banking..oh but when they fail we do. When natural disasters strike we want goverment involved and fast. When our food safety is jeopardized we want goverment involved. When wide-spread illnesses invade we want goverment involved.
When we lose our healthcare coverage then have an accident or a life threatening illness we want goverment involved. Oh it's OK then. But heaven forbid that they find a way to make it not only accessible, but affordable. That's not OK. I don't get it!
SO now the goverment is saying that we pay way too much for drugs, we can get a better price if we consolidate and bargain (i.e. that's what wal-mart/walgreens does). Can you really say private insurance companies have said yes to paying the price of your drugs? Have we not understood that private HMO's have prospered BECAUSE they have DENIED converage. Health care providers don't provide health they pay for it. They pay for it with your money!
DO you realize that many people can't afford the medicines they need to survive. I lost and old lover this year for that very reason, it sucks! We spend more on healthcare, pay more for healthcare and we're NOT healthy! Shit not even close. The goverment wants to fix that. And you don't think that is a good idea?!
The goverment wants to step in and lead the way to be sure everyone not only has coverage, but it's affordable. And you want to bitch and moan and believe the fear raising lies from OH...the insurance companies and the phamaceutical companies who have for years been making money off of you but not helping you be healthy!?
Wake up people! The system is broken and only a few folks are getting rich because of it and you wanna believe these folks. You want to put our life in their hands?
We, as a nation, don't take responsibility for our health until we are sick, so doing things to maintain our health, like eating well, preventive screenings, exercising regularly, not smoking, managing our emotional and mental health, finding work that is fulfilling, finding something in your life that is fulfilling. No we'd rather over eat, eat crappy food, smoke, sit on our asses, run around like chickens with our heads cut off, stress about our jobs or no jobs, stress about just about anything that takes work to achieve, avoid the doctor, and then sue someone for our choices.
We want to mess up our heads, live without faith in some higher power, waste our bodies, undervalue our lives and then blame it on someone else. It's the American way. Where's the accountability?
Yeah, people who do all the right things get sick. And some live their last few years on this earthly plane doing everything they can to survive. Some live well even though they will lose their fight way too early. But those who chose to live well spiritually, mentally, emotionally during that time really LIVE! They may even live more fully then they ever have before because of their illness.
Does medicine have all the answers, NO. Will we live forever, NO, not on earth. My faith tells me I'll have everlasting life in another way. I trust and believe in that. I realize that not everyone does. Too bad for that. BUT Private industry can't promise you everything either. Neither can the goverment.
Private industry needs a Goverment FOR and BY the people to do right by ALL the people. And that's what Health Care Reform is all about. Taking care of ALL our people.
As an athlete, I was always taught that we were only as strong as our weakest link. So we made sure our weakest link got stronger. I believe that to be true about our community and our world. We're only as healthy as our weakest link.
That IS the bottom line folks. Everyone wins when people do the right thing. The only people who lose when a nation gets healthier are the companies that get rich on us being sick. MMM who's that Insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, even the supplement industry. All survive on our "unhealthiness".
We cannot "regulate" ourselves. We can't let's face it. As long as we value the all-mighty dollar more than integrity we can't regulate ourselves. Checks and balances need to be put into place.
I don't 100% trust the goverment, nor do I 100% trust the private industry. But in combination sometimes they both, together can perform amazing feats.
Let's, together fear less and do what is necessary to really make this country great. Support Health Care Reform. In fact take it even further. Support Health Care Reform with more Preventive Health measures.
"You want to lower your health care expenses, get healthy." Eat well. Exercise regularly. Manage stress. Don't smoke. Live with lovingkindness.
The goverment needs to be more proactive in healthcare to push private industry and private citizens into being healthier. The old way aint' working and it needs to be fixed!
Stop letting fear of change scare you into believing lies. Fight for change, NOW!
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