This blog entry is dedicated to outlining my experience at the Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association Conference this past week in St. Louis, Missouri. This was my first time to attend the event, and I must say I was anxiously anticipating the learning opportunities, the speakers, and the opportunity to speak with other professionals about nutrition and fueling. I arrived Monday night after an all-day affair of travel, delayed flights, long car rides, and the like, however I was pleasantly greeted by the doorman and the lady at the front desk. My roommates, whom I had never met before, made plans for me to pick up my key while they attended the opening social. I met my roommates on the CPSDA forum after accepting their invitation for a fourth roommate at the conference to help with expenses. They were three graduate students from the University of Utah. My roommates were all extremely generous, and I felt very fortunate having the opportunity to experience the conference with them.
The first two days were dedicated to speakers and learning opportunties, while the last half day of the conference centered around the business meeting and a special presentation about motivation and influencing behavior. In this entry, I will discuss the first topic presented on Nutrient Timing as well as Low-Carbohydrate Fueling for Athletes. The presentation on Nutrient Timing was given by Dr. Ivy from the University of Texas and Dr. Saunders from James Madison University. Now we have all heard of nutrient timing and the benefits of fueling with simple carbohydrates before and after training sessions as well as protein consumption to expedite protein synthesis and aid in muscle repair and recovery. So, in listening to this presentation, I hoped to hear some new information as to help the athletes I train have an advantage with regard to fueling type and timing.
In essence, what I took away from this presentation was based on the duration of exercise - the time affects the quantity of carbohydrate needed in recovery. Meaning, if the athlete endures a longer training bout - they need more carbohydrate in order to maintain their exertion level. For the majority of those reading this blog, we work with strength/power athletes, and we teach them the art of acceleration and deceleration, how to utilize their power and how to recover in order to use it again. Unfortunately, the speakers focused on endurance athletes, and the effects that carbohydrate supplementation had on their peformance over the course of 1.5-2 hours. However, the presentation did reaffirm what the majority of us do know in that, carbohydrate and essential amino acid supplementation does improve cognitive brain function, protein synthesis, glucose storage, body composition, and performance.
In the closing portion of the presentation, the speakers presented their concerns for lower carbohydrate fueling. I will share those concerns below as well as their recommendations for fueling athletes post-exercise.
The following are practical concerns for low-carbohydrate fueling:
1. More difficult to train (RPE increases)
2. Alters electrolyte balance and limits glycogen storage
3. No clear benefit to performance
4. Side effects: bad breath, constipation, hair loss, dry mouth
5. Limitations on food choices to stay keto-adapted
6. Evidence of poor compliance to adhere to such rigid dietary guidelines
7. Lack of evidence to support dietary weight loss with CHO restriction
8. Increased risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, colon cancer
9. Increased loss of calcium and lowers bone mineral content
Recommendations for fueling
Optimal daily glycogen storage - 7g/kgBW/per day
Rapid post exercise replenishment of muscle glycogen 1.0-1.2 g/kbBW/repeated each hour
High Intensity (less than 1 hour) - small amounts
Moderate Intensity (greater than 1 hour) - 30-60g
Prolonged Exercise (2 hours or more) - 60g-90g
As stated before, these are the findings and the arguments for nutrient timing as presented by Dr. Saunders and Dr. Ivy. These are not my opinions, but I do hope this stimulates conversation and discussion as to the benefits and timing of specific fueling practices following certain types of exercise. In the coming weeks I will follow up with the strategies of low-carbohydrate fueling for athletes as presented at the conference.
