fat

Optimal Fueling For Young Athletes (Karate et al)

July 27, 2018 by Claire Fitzpatrick

The following is a copy of my notes from a presentation I gave at my favorite karate dojo in the world, Ryokubi Karate Dojo in Stamford, CT, in 2012. The information is still relevant, and for adults as well as kids. Enjoy!

Karate, along with requiring strength, speed, skill and agility, requires endurance

You need to train right and eat right. Building a body equipped for strength, speed, skill and endurance will require plenty of protein, good fats, fruits and vegetables. You and your child need to lay off the junk food 90% of the time.

Optimal Fueling Notes — Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/peta-de-aztlan/3519424024

Example: Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee’s height and weight: 5’7 ½” (1.71 m) tall and 140 lbs (63.6 kg).

Don’t have to be large to be strong and fast. Bruce Lee had a strong interest in healthy eating, especially when it came to high protein drinks and nutritional supplements. He is reported to have drunk 1-2 protein drinks every day, along with homemade smoothies made from fruit and vegetable juices and plenty of fresh green vegetables.

Bruce Lee’s waist was between 26 and 28 inches (66-71 cm) throughout most of his adult life. The average male’s waist size today is about 38 inches (97 cm).

By the way, the most telltale (and worrisome) indicator of diabetes and heart disease is a preponderance of abdominal (gut) fat.

Problems with inadequate energy

World Champion team in 2014 – Demonstration of a perfect Kime. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kime#/media/File:Karate_WM_2014_(2)_173.JPG

Problem maintaining existing lean mass
Lowering of metabolic rate
Lower energy / nutrient intake
Reduction in athletic performance
Increased risk of injury

Energy inadequacy clearly has problems associated with it.

Inadequate energy intake reduces the benefit athletes derive from training.

Energy inadequacy also makes it difficult for athletes to maintain existing lean mass, probably because muscle is being consumed by the body to provide some of the needed energy that was not consumed through food. A lower metabolic rate is commonly seen in people who consume inadequate energy, and is probably linked to a lower lean (metabolic) mass.

The less you eat, the lower the nutrient intake and, for young developing athletes this could dramatically increase developmental problems. A poorly developed skeleton from inadequate calcium intake is at far greater risk of developing, for instance, stress fractures now and osteoporosis later. There is ample evidence that shows that inadequate energy consumption is associated with reduced athletic performance.

Finally, athletes who consume too little are at increased risk of getting injured. Some studies suggest that these injuries are most likely to occur at the end of practice or competition, when energy inadequacy causes both mental and physical fatigue.

First and Foremost: WATER!!!

Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/clean-clear-cold-drink-416528/

Water is a food. We do not get enough of it, especially during workouts

Fluid loss during exercise can equate to weight loss just after the workout. You do not want to lose water weight directly post-workout! If you weigh 2 pounds less just after exercise, you have lost 2 pounds (907 grams) of water.
Sweat rate is heavily influenced by:
- exercise intensity
- ambient temperature (rm. temp)
- humidity

Proper Mineral Balance and Hydration

A direct threat to heart health is electrolyte imbalance, which can occur when your child is dehydrated and not eating enough of the right nutrients. Muscle, including the heart, is over 75% water.

The heart, in particular, has its own electric circuitry that is regulated by proper hydration and electrolyte balance. Children become dehydrated much more quickly than adults, and the dehydration and electrolyte deficiency that can occur during athletic training and sport events can be dangerous, even life-threatening.

Water levels and minerals like sodium, chloride, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and phosphate in proper quantities and ratios are all necessary for the heart to function properly.

Normally, we should drink ½ our body weight in ounces of water a day. For example, a kid who is 86 pounds should drink 43 ounces (1.22 kg) of filtered water a day – not juice, not coffee, not sports drinks.

In both children and adults, higher exercise intensities slow the rate at which fluids and fuels are digested. However, this occurs to an even greater extent in children who are exercising at high intensities, and the maximum amount of fluid that a child can absorb per hour while training will be about 20-24 ounces.

Sweat losses during 2 hours of exercise can equal 2 liters (68 ounces) of fluid or more. For this duration, your child should drink 8 oz (1 cup) of filtered water every 15 minutes! The child needs to replenish during training in order to keep hydration at proper levels.

A good rule of thumb for your child athlete is the following chart:

Water Intake

2 hours before exercise 2-3+ cups
15 minutes before exercise 1-2+ cups
Every 15 minutes during exercise 1 cup
After exercise 2-3 cups for every pound lost

Source: American College of Sports Medicine Position Paper, 2006

Keeping Up with Hydration Status

Monitor urine color (should be a light straw color).

Focus on fluids all day, not just during workouts and practice.

Adequate Fueling:

Adequate macronutrient / micronutrient intake daily – fresh, locally grown organic raw foods as well as cooked foods
Portion sizes! Look at your fist. No more 3 huge square meals: 5-6 servings of food/day the size of your fist. Eat every 2-3 hours.
Do I have a balanced plate for my training cycle needs? Good fats, useful carbohydrates, and useful proteins!
Is the way I am eating going to support my body so that I can accomplish my goals well?

After exercise, it is important to eat the proper combination of nutrients during the first 30 minutes. The meal following exercise should be very easy to digest and provide amino acids to help building and repair of muscular tissue and optimize uptake of the nutrients and minerals to the muscles, including the heart (remember: the heart is a muscle!).

A good example of a post-workout meal would be a good whey, egg, or pea/hemp drink with a teaspoon of sea salt or dulse thrown in.

Following are examples of electrolyte-rich foods (all should be organic and in the case of dairy, raw):

Sodium: dill pickle, tomato juice/sauce/soup; sea salt (1 tsp = 2300 mg sodium), dulse
Chloride: sea salt, dulse, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, olives
Potassium: red potato with skin, plain yogurt, banana
Magnesium: cacao beans/dark chocolate, halibut, pumpkin seeds, spinach
Calcium: raw dairy (yogurt, milk, ricotta), collard greens, spinach, kale, sardines
Phosphate( available in suitable quantities along with the other electrolyte foods) egg yolks, milk, nuts, wheat germ, peas, beans, legumes, mushrooms, cacao beans/dark chocolate

Carbohydrates

Primary energy source for high-intensity activity
Nutrient-dense carbohydrates provide:
- Vitamins & minerals
- Antioxidants & phytochemicals
  - Contribute to healthy immune system
- Fiber
  - Helps control appetite
  - Helps stabilize insulin levels
  - Helps resist chronic diseases

Healthy Carbohydrates

Make sure they are organic, locally-grown, bright colored, and in season

Daily Carbohydrate intake for Young Athletes (under 16)

(Key: 2.2 kilograms in 1 pound)

4 grams/kilogram for girls

7 grams/ kilogram for boys

Ex: 90 pound young female athlete would need to eat around 165 grams of carbohydrate daily, or about 660 calories of carbohydrate (165 x 4). A 90 pound boy athlete would need 289 grams of carbohydrate, or about 1155 calories.

Calorie Chart

4 calories per gram of carbohydrate

4 calories per gram of protein

9 calories per gram of fat

Make sure your child eats calorically-balanced, healthy meals consisting of lean proteins, healthy carbohydrates like leafy green vegetables, and healthy fats like omega 3 fish oil supplements, flaxseed oil, and nuts every two hours for four-to-six hours followingexercise. BTW:Children do not require extra carbohydrate intake prior to exercise lasting under 75 minutes. They require water!

Fat

Fat is very important for the development of appropriate muscle-neuron development in the young athlete, as well as in very hardcore adult trainers. Children and high-intensity trainers use 10-40% more fat stores than adults who exercise only moderately. Parents should be very considerate to provide meals that contain healthy omega-3 fats for proper muscle/neural development.

Dietary fats
- Supplies energy to the body
- Needed for structure of cells, hormone production, etc
- Regulates metabolic processes
- Transports fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E & K through the body
- Contributes to healthy immune system

*Fats should be avoided by moderately-active adults prior to exercise; they will drag them down.

Good Fats

Polyunsaturated:

Omega-3 Omega-6

Oily Fish Corn

Flaxseed Safflower

Canola oil Soybeans

Leafy greens Sunflower

Cottonseed

Monounsaturated:

Olive, Peanut oils, many nuts, avocado

Saturated:– animals, some plants:

*Make certain the animals lived a happy life free of antibiotics, genetic modification, and pesticide intake.

Game Birds, Wild Fish, Deer, Boar, Grass-fed beef, Free-range chicken, Free-range eggs, Raw milk/cheese/butter

Trans Fat/Bad Saturated Fat (DO NOT EAT):

Processed food, Factory Farmed Animals, Genetically-Modified Animals/Plants/Dairy —

If you see/hear about it on a commercial, DO NOT EAT IT!

Sad, Scared, Angry, Unnatural Animals/Plants + Human Belly

= Unnaturally Sad, Scared, Angry, Unhealthy Human

Protein

Provides building blocks for muscle
- Growth
- Maintenance
- Repair
Contributes to healthy immune system
May help with appetite control

Nature is smart! Many foods you need contain carbs, fats, and proteins all in one!

Avoid/limit intake of these proteins:

Okinawa Health

A very good model for eating can be found in Okinawa, the birthplace of Shotokan Karate

Okinawans Have:

Very little sickness
Longest, disability-free life expectancy on planet
Mean age of 81.2
Highest percentage of centenarians (40 per 100,000)
Use nutrient dense diet, cultural traditions, elder care, and Reiki (Healing Art) for wellness

Compared to Americans

Okinawa death rate from heart disease is only 18% that of Americans
80% less breast and prostate cancer
50% less ovarian and colon cancer
60% less hip fracture
50% less dementia
Heart attacks are only 20% as common as in the U.S. and the survival rate is twice as great

Diet and Nutrition

Diet is considered the “key” to their longevity
Plant-based diet
78% of entire food intake is comprised of vegetables
Wide variety of foods
Vegetables, rice, seaweed, sweet potatoes, fish, legumes, and turmeric
Protein comes from: fish, nuts, tofu, chicken or pork
Omega 3 fatty acids
Americans daily consume 3 times the avg. amount of meat eaten by Okinawans

Food Preparation

Meals prepared with care
Main method of cooking: stir frying using expeller-pressed Canola oil (Omega-6)
BTW: if an oil smokes when heated, the oil has become carcinogenic. Heat oils carefully!
Many garnishes such as turmeric are used that offer numerous health benefits
Meals are enjoyed, not rushed through

Hints for Meal Timing

Spreading same food intake out over 5-6 meals and snacks rather than 3 large meals or preventing the “Backlog Effect”
- More even blood glucose levels
- Lower blood fat levels
- Stimulation of metabolic rate
- Reduces “hunger spots” when on a lower energy diet

Once Again:

After exercise, it is important to eat the proper combination of nutrients during the first 30 minutes.
The meal following exercise should be very easy to digest and provide amino acids to help building and repair of muscular tissue and optimize uptake of the nutrients and minerals to the muscles, including the heart (remember: the heart is a muscle!).
Good examples would be a good whey, egg, or pea/hemp sports drink with a teaspoon of sea salt or dulse thrown in.

Fueling your child properly for training can provide your child with a performance edge and help your child develop into a strong, smart, balanced, confident adult!

A Lesson For Us All

August 26, 2017 by Claire Fitzpatrick

The following story illustrates one of two huge reasons why it’s hard to change our eating habits:

We talk ourselves into believing we are addicted to them.
We actually are physically addicted to them.

In this blog post, I am going to address #1. I’ll address #2 in a future blog post.

Food is an easy comfort.

All we do is reach for it and consume it.

Food becomes a reward we give ourselves for putting up with, and making it through, yet another dissatisfying day.

it’s the same attachment that some of us have with alcohol and drugs.

To ask ourselves to give up our eating habits is asking us to give up the one pleasure that we allow ourselves.

We are so attached to that addiction that we actually tell ourselves that our eating habit is our choice, and we actually embrace the addiction.

We submit.

We succumb.

We release the struggle for a better way, and we accept — for better and for worse — the way we have.

I want to tell you a story.

It is a terrible story.

Last week, a man I know lost his girlfriend to heart disease.

She was not obese. She was not “obviously” ill.

She was relatively young, she was financially successful, and she died — shockingly and instantly — in her lover’s arms.

Let me fill in the details.

I’m going to change the names. We’ll call him Paul. We’ll call her Joyce.

Paul is 43 years old. He is an acquaintance.

He is in the “acquaintance” camp because he’s kind of unbearable.

He’s judgmental. He makes ugly jokes that are designed to hurt, then he says he didn’t mean anything by it.

He’s sneaky. If he can get away with manipulating a situation to his benefit, he will.

He talks about people behind their back, and then when that person is in front of him, he will shower that person with praise.

We all have our stories…

He has a story about that. He suffered abuse at the hands of an ex-spouse, who took everything – his money, his child, his dignity – and moved to another state.

Since then, he’s become a bit unbearable.

Don’t get me wrong. I am sympathetic. However, that doesn’t mean that I am willing to suffer his abuse.

So I don’t.

About two years ago, Paul re-met an old lover of his from his college years, Joyce.

Joyce had her own story.

She was smart – too smart for her life choices.

She had once worked as an editor for her local newspaper. The newspaper was purchased and went in a direction in which she didn’t agree, so she moved on.

Eventually, she got a job that paid very well but was extremely unrewarding. She was the director of a bunch of managers at a company whose mission she disagreed with.

She made a lot of money but was never satisfied with her life.

She had had long-term lovers but never married. She was sensitive about what people thought about her, but she didn’t hesitate to tell others what she thought they were doing wrong with their lives.

If you tried to engage her in discussion, she accused you of being insulting. If you tried to respond to one of her criticisms, she told you that you were being defensive.

Joyce and Paul had one thing in common. Food.

They each had allergies. He has allergies to dairy and wheat. She had allergies to nuts and legumes. For their allergies, they listened to their respective doctors and were on a great deal of many different drugs.

They also both hated vegetables and they both loved sugar.

So, they spent a great deal of their time and energy together searching for and sharing sugary, starchy foods that met their allergic profiles. When they ate meat, it was processed meat, as cheap as they could find.

That’s actually quite a niche, isn’t it? That’s not easy – finding sugary, starchy foods that are dairy free, wheat free, nut free, and legume free, while at the same time avoiding fresh vegetables. That takes effort!

Neither smoked; that’s one good thing.

However, neither exercised. They didn’t even like to walk around the neighborhood. They drove to the corner store.

They complained of this ache and that ache, of this or that trip to the doctor.

They complained that the doctor could never “find anything,” and would take the pain killers that were prescribed.

But, whenever I tried to tentatively suggest natural, lifestyle changes in answer to Paul’s complaints, he would chuckle at me and say, “I know that’s what you do for a living, but I don’t want to be bothered; and sorry, but I just don’t believe in that stuff.”

So, we didn’t see much of Paul after he started dating Joyce. When they were together at a party or a function, we chatted politely for a few minutes and moved on.

On the few times we saw Paul when they weren’t together, Paul would grumble about Joyce.

He would complain and tell unflattering stories about her habits. Afterward, he would declare, “Well, it doesn’t matter. She’s as good as I’m getting. But I’m sure as hell never getting married again. She can forget that!”

It is difficult being close to people like that. It is not emotionally rewarding.

Time went on.

I haven’t seen Paul – or Joyce – for the better part of a year.

Last week, it was reported to me that Paul and Joyce were in the kitchen, putting together a meal. According to Paul, they were having an argument. “Nothing out of the ordinary,” he reported. “We were just pecking at each other, you know,” when she stopped short and grabbed her chest.

He ran to her and caught her in his arms, just as she was falling. They both tumbled to the floor.

She died in his arms.

She was 42.

Friends say that Paul is a wreck right now.

The last thing I understand he said to a group of people he visited was, “I wasn’t very nice to her. I wish I had treated her better.”

Was it her eating habits that killed her?

Given that she had seen doctors on multiple occasions to get evaluated for “serious diseases,” I could guess yes.

But I would hazard a more nuanced guess that her eating habits were only part of the story.

You see, food habits, like any habit that hurts us, are symptoms of bigger problems.

Those problems are inside. They require self-reflection and a willingness to see oneself honestly.

So, the way we relate to food is often a reflection of the way we feel about the way we live.

You never know when the result of a life not-well-lived it’s going to happen. But in retrospect, you can always say that you saw it coming.

You never know when you’re going to die, but you can often have a direct influence on its length and quality by intentionally living well.

I am 51. These things are becoming very clear to me in my own life.

As Claire Fitzpatrick, private citizen, I have been to too many funerals of forty- and fifty-something friends and acquaintances to not notice these patterns.

As a chiropractor and nutritionist

I have seen people turn themselves around.

It is the most gratifying thing in the world to know that I have been a small part of their successes.

However, when I have a patient in my office who wants something I don’t offer – a “quick fix” – someone I can’t reach, someone who is a lot like Paul or Joyce, I shake my head and sadly move on.

I can’t help anyone who doesn’t really want help.

I can’t “walk the walk” for them.

Sometimes, the patient isn’t like Paul or Joyce.

Sometimes, the patient is someone who lives with, and takes abuse from, people like Paul and Joyce — someone who has no kind, loving support.

Sometimes, the patient is sweet, giving, lovely, shy, and lonely. Food is their intimate friend.

Sometimes, the patient is sad, depressed, anxious, and suspicious; someone who want to believe in themselves but ultimately sabotages themselves with excessive food (and, very often, with drink).

Sometimes, they want something better for themselves, but they don’t try.

Or, when they do try, when it becomes emotionally difficult to sustain the effort (as it always does), they lack the will to continue and they quit.

These are the cases that break my heart.

I have all kinds of tools to give. I can show how to use them.

For instance, as of this writing, I am hosting a 28-Day Rapid Reset Challenge (click here for details).

But ultimately, any tool I offer will fail if it is not used.

I’m not a psychologist.

I am a chiropractor. I’m sort of a “neuropsychologist” for the body.

However, I do work with psychologists, and I recommend them often. We tend to see a lot of the same people.

You know, I have seen this over and over: Physical pain is worse when we have emotional pain.

Pain — physical and emotional — is frightening and isolating, and so it often becomes part of one’s self-identity.

Physical discomfort is easier to manage and eliminate if one has faith in oneself.

I wish I could reach into your heart and fill you with self-love and belief.

We walk beside you as you heal; but ultimately, we all walk the inner road by ourselves.

The best I can do is be here, continue to tell you how much I believe in you; and that, when you’re ready, I am honored to help.

Here’s Five (Plus A Bonus!) Ways to Healthify Your Hair

July 6, 2017 by Claire Fitzpatrick

Want to healthify your hair?

I know, healthify isn’t really a word. But why would you not want to healthify your hair?

I was questioning if I should chime in on this whole hair thing and all. I don’t have naturally long, luxurious, thick hair. My hair is very fine, and as the years pass, I find I have less of it than I once did.

But I have to tell you: the hair I have now is WORLDS healthier than the hair I had when I was younger. It’s not even close.

I figured out these well-earned secrets like I have learned most of my hard-earned lessons in life: from 40 years of doing the wrong thing.

I am GIFTING YOU my 40 some odd years of trial and error here. So, save yourself a couple of decades and read on!

1. Don’t wash your hair every day

My friend on Instagram, who has GORGEOUS hair, by the way, validated this for me last week. If you wash your hair every day, you’re asking for breakage.

Do you remember the movies in which the actress would say they can’t do anything that evening because they were “washing their hair?”

That used to kill me, because I used to wash my hair every single morning. I was so paranoid that my hair would look greasy and oily that it became just the opposite.

I used to have ridiculous split ends that no amount of conditioning could fix.

It wasn’t until I became an entrepreneur that I figured out that washing my hair less frequently helped it stay healthy.

When you work for yourself, you delegate all your time very judiciously. There’s no one else to do it for you, so you have to really regiment your time well…right down to the amount of time it takes to make a meal, to work out, to commute to work, to get ready for bed.

In the beginning, when I wasn’t yet very good at it, my choices started to look like this:

I can either shower or eat breakfast.

When faced with that choice, if I showered/washed my hair the day before, unless I did something extremely body-intensive that morning, breakfast won.

My hair started to get healthier without my even noticing.

I wash my hair two…maybe three…times a week now. I actually schedule my high-intensity exercise around my wash days so that I don’t have to wash my hair more.

2. Make sure your diet is healthy and includes healthy fats and proteins.

I know. So obvious, but it has to be stated.

If your body doesn’t have proper fuel for its nervous system, your bones, muscles, etc…It’s going to conserve its energy and allocate resources from “expendables,” like your hair. Less effective nutrition = nasty hair (skin and nails, too).

Before I really knew something about nutrition, back in the 80s and 90s, I used to get my eating tips from popular books and vegetarian magazines. It’s not that they were wrong all the time – a lot of their advice I still use today. But back then, fats – all fats — were considered evil.

The covers of these magazines almost always featured a big plate of pasta tossed with colorful nightshade vegetables and silken, “low fat” tofu.

Make sure you get a healthy balance of Omega 3-6-9-7, fats and foods rich in proteins in your diet. If you work out, use undenatured minimally processed whey protein or, if you’re a vegetarian, use an appropriate pea-hemp protein.

Run from saturated, processed, hydrogenated fats and deep fried carbs.

Here’s an overall lifestyle tip: if you’ve seen it in a commercial, chances are that you shouldn’t eat or use it.

3. Use hair products that are all-natural, and sourced organically.

You have to do your homework here. It’s hard to find products that don’t have cancer-causing chemicals in them. Two brands I can recommend off the bat are Acure and Aubrey Organics.

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If you want to geek out on this stuff like I do, this is a MUST USE source: Environmental Working Group.

I refer to this site all the time. They have a database that details exactly how toxic a chemical is, so you can go to the store armed with knowledge. YOU MUST make this one of your go-to pages!

4. When you wash your hair, towel dry it BEFORE putting conditioner on.

This has been huge for me. I don’t know why, but one day it dawned on me that my hair was so wet, the conditioner just thinned out. So I towel dried my hair before I put the conditioner on, in the shower.

While my hair was in a towel, I shaved my underarms. I took the towel off, I saturated my hair with the conditioner, and I went about shaving my legs while the conditioner was on my head.

That leads to # 5:

5. Leave the conditioner on for 5+ minutes, then rinse for 10 seconds.

Don’t just do the 60-second wait. Schedule your shower tasks around the conditioner. Leave it on for at least 5 minutes, and when you rinse, don’t rinse your hair until it squeaks! Rinse for 10 seconds (give or take a second). You know… one Mississippi…two Mississippi…etc…

Here’s a bonus round:

Bonus:

[pullquote align=”normal”]Let your hair dry about 85% before you put a dryer to it. Use a high-powered ionic hair dryer and dry it completely. [/pullquote]

When you’re out of the shower, towel-dry, brush your wet hair, and go about putting your lotion, deodorant, perfume, makeup…let your hair dry on your head.

When its about 85% dry, use a hair dryer that is over 2000 watts strong. If you want straight hair, use the flat head funnel adaptor; if you want curls, use the round knobby adaptor. Dry your hair COMPLETELY. Then use the cold-shot button to set your hair with the cold air.

If you do these things, you’re going to see immediate improvement and obvious results in 3-6 months.

I know you have a tip. Please share!

Get Rid of These Fats!

October 2, 2016 by Claire Fitzpatrick

Fats. It is almost upon us, peoples…the tide is turning and we’re heading into winter before you can say “who drank all the pumpkin spice lattes?” As we age, it’s important to give our skin proper nourishment to survive cold, dry air that winter winds deliver. Luckily, we can start with something we all like to do.

fat