#014 Katie Mark (Part 1)

In this episode of the Decoding Excellence Show, I am speaking with Sports Nutritionist and Owner of On Your Mark Nutrition, Katie Mark.

Katie Mark, MS, MPH, (On Your Mark Nutrition) lives in Miami, Florida, where she trains as a competitive cyclist and works as a sports nutritionist, an R&D consultant and a writer. Katie's written works are nutrition-centered, evidence-based and intended for those who are sport performance or fitness-driven. She has a strong understanding of investigating nutrition science research and applying the science in the real world.

Her nutritional philosophy for optimal performance focuses on helping athletes achieve being fit and healthy by using nutritional strategies that target long-term training adaptations and long-term health. She holds a Master of Science in Nutrition Communication from Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition and a Master of Public Health from Tufts School of Medicine.

This summer, Katie will start her dietetic internship (focusing on Sports Nutrition & Entrepreneurship) so she can become a Registered Dietitian-Nutritionist by early 2018.

Katie and I discuss:

• Gut Microbiome – Preventative Nutrition that Goes Beyond “Fueling”
• Hydration & Sports Drinks
• Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps

You can catch up with Katie on Twitter at @OnYourMark_NUTR. You can also navigate to Katie's website, KatieMarkNutrition.com, and browse the many great resources she's posted. Check it out!

This episode of the Decoding Excellence show is brought to you by Vald Performance, the makers of the NordBord, DashBord, and the GroinBar.

They can be found at ValdPerformance.com

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Key Takeaways

• Mark discusses the gut microbiome and preventative nutrition that goes beyond just fueling, with an eye on long-term training adaptations and health.
• The conversation covers hydration and sports drinks, and what the evidence actually says about exercise-associated muscle cramps.
• Mark brings an evidence-based lens to applying nutrition science in the real world for performance-driven athletes.

About the Guest

Katie Mark is a sports nutritionist and owner of On Your Mark Nutrition, holding a Master of Science in Nutrition Communication from Tufts and a Master of Public Health from Tufts School of Medicine. A competitive cyclist herself, she focuses on nutritional strategies for long-term training adaptations and health. She and Adam discuss the gut microbiome, hydration, and muscle cramps in this first of a two-part conversation.

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Episode Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated. While we strive for accuracy, some words or phrases may be misheard.

[00:00:00] PubMed, which is where you find all the, you know, research studies is my home page. And I'm, I'm always on that reading studies. I'm always trying to find a way to, you know, what's that 1% performance benefit?

[00:00:15] Sports science, strength and conditioning, high performance coaching. Welcome to the decoding excellence show. Today's episode of the decoding excellence show is brought to you by VOD performance. The makers of the Nordboard, the dashboard, and the growing bar, whether it's returned to play rehabilitation or performance testing and training, VOD performance has the tools you need.

[00:00:42] So who's actually using VOD performance technology? I don't know something like 14 NFL 19 NCAA 15 English Premier League, seven English championship, five NBA teams and six MLB teams. They have the tools you need to get the best out of your athletes. Check them out at VODPerformance.com.

[00:01:05] Today on the decoding excellence show, Katie Mark from Miami, Florida, joins me to talk everything about sports nutrition. Katie operates a business called on your mark nutrition, where she trains as competitive cyclists, works as a sports nutritionist and R&D consultant and a writer. Most of Katie's works center around nutrition, centered evidence base and is intended for those who are sport performance or fitness driven.

[00:01:34] Katie has a strong understanding of investigating nutritional science research and applying the science in the actual real world, which is important. Get out of the lab and actually into the field. This is a monster of an episode. And we're going to talk about a lot of different things her time at Miami University, her former mentors and people that helped provide a career path for

[00:01:58] Her and gave her some direction in the world of nutritional science and everything as it comes to sports nutrition and the latest research and what's actually works and what doesn't. You will not want to miss this episode if you're trying to improve your health, improve your athletic performance and utilize the latest nutritional evidence led science to impact your athletes' health and your athletes' well-being.

[00:02:25] So without further ado, here is my conversation with the one the only Katie mark. Katie, welcome to the show. How are you? Good. How are you, Adam? Thanks for having me.

[00:02:40] Hey, I am, I'm doing really well. I've been excited to have you on the Decoding Excellence Show because I know we've scheduled this out for a couple of weeks now. And as we've trickled in the notes and the outlines and the thoughts of where you wanted to take this thing, I am just absolutely looking forward to your discussion and what you're going to share throughout the day.

[00:03:04] So it's been well anticipated on Mayan. How are things going for you with you? Everything's great. So I graduated from Tufts last December with two master's degrees, one in nutrition communication and the other in public health. And then I moved back to Miami where I was born and raised.

[00:03:27] And so for the past few months, I've been working part time in research and development. So nutritional consulting with various nutritional companies. I also work as a sports nutritionist doing a lot of general non-medical nutrition therapy. And I'm also doing a lot of writing and nutrition. And in some of it's been a ghost written like some white papers.

[00:03:51] And I'm also training a lot part time. I guess you could call it. I'm a competitive cyclist. So I'm an endurance athlete and I do a lot of training. I'd say between like 10 and 15 hours a week. So that that cuts into a little bit of my my working schedule.

[00:04:08] But that's that's what I've been up to as I'm waiting to start a diatetic internship. This upcoming summer, I'll be doing, I'll be a diatetic intern for wellness work days. It's a diatetic internship program out of Boston. And I'm focusing on sports nutrition and entrepreneurship. And I'm really excited for this because I have a lot of cool rotations. So I'll be doing for the next six to seven months.

[00:04:37] In fact, I'll be working with the registered dietician at University of Miami athletics. I'll also be going out to Colorado to work with one of my favorite sports dieticians, Bob Cibohar. He's the former director of sports nutrition at the University of Florida. He's also served as a sports dietician for the U.S. Olympic Committee. This guy is just phenomenal. And I'll talk a little bit about him later on the show.

[00:05:03] And also next year, I'll be doing some work with the Miami Marlins under a registered dietician. We'll be working with them as well. So I've been staying pretty busy. Needless to say, and I'll be even busier as the year goes on. But I'm really excited because next year, I'm hoping to then take the registered dietician nutritionist exam and be a registered dietician and start working in pro sports.

[00:05:31] Yeah, that is a busy as an understatement. And it sounds like you have literally taken on so many different things right now. And especially as you are planning to go through those rotations, we just had a phenomenal young lady go through our university in completion of her rotations before she takes her RD. So I got to sort of vicariously live through the challenges of multiple site locations

[00:06:04] And the various stops that this individual did. But yeah, so busy is an understatement for you. But hey, I, and that's certainly a great comprehensive update to what you're up to and where your various stops are going to deliver you here in the next couple of months. But I love to hear a little bit. And I know certainly this is sort of a central theme on the Decoding Excellence Show is

[00:06:35] To really start to understand the intangibles and maybe the why statements surrounding each professional as they get into their various sort of performance pursuit. And I'd love to hear from you sort of what was maybe the idea that Genesis that started your pathway down nutritional science and wanting to work within professional sports. But via the vehicle of nutrition. Well, it's kind of funny.

[00:07:03] I got into nutrition in college and was I don't really remember exactly how I got into nutrition. I think I just got into really healthy eating and I was also an athlete. I grew up as a competitive tennis player and I played volleyball and basketball and everything. And now I've been a competitive cyclist for the past few years and I got really passionate in nutrition. And I think it was also kind of a way or an excuse to go down the nutrition path instead of having to go to medical school, which was my original plan.

[00:07:36] And just the ability to combine my passion for sports and always being an athlete and currently training as an athlete and combining that with my career has been the coolest thing for me and has been my biggest goal because I'm a firm believer that you make your hobby, your career, you won't work any day of your life or won't feel like work. So that's kind of how I got into it was just being an athlete and then all of a sudden becoming really interested in healthful eating. And I also have gotten really interested more so in the

[00:08:15] Nutrition science aspect in the past, you know, one to two years when I was in Boston and graduate school because I started to see that at the elite level of sports, how there's so many things in nutrition that you can manipulate whether it's, you know, certain foods, certain, you know, carbohydrate intake or, you know, certain supplements that could really make a difference between getting silver or gold in something like the Olympics or, you know, winning a race by one second. You know, there's certain things out there nutritionally that can do that.

[00:08:54] To me, that's what's so exciting and that's what I'm really passionate about and I think that's why I'm just so, you know, for instance, PubMed, which is where you find all the, you know, research studies is my home page and I'm always on that reading studies. I'm always trying to find a way to, you know, what's that 1% performance benefit? And so that's, you know, from a nutrition aspect, what I really love more so than, you know, a lot of times people traditionally see a sports dietitian or a regular dietitian, you know, working in the kitchen and, you know, doing recipes

[00:09:29] And everything, but I like to step away from that and go, you know, a different route, the more sciencey route and, you know, try to get into the trenches, the trenches with athletes and work with them and try different things to get performance benefits. So that's more my passion and really how I got into nutrition and how I've kind of evolved with my goals in nutrition and sports. Yeah, and I think, you know, one of the things and certainly you were in a part of a geography, a part of the United States that certainly lends itself to some really influential and progressive

[00:10:11] Thinkers and that's sort of kind of where I first was exposed and kind of gotten contact with you because I know that we share a mutual colleague that is quite a spitt fire himself with Carl and love the guy. And that's where I think just some of the conversations you two were having. I sort of maybe interjected myself and joined the dialogue, joined the conversation with you. And then for me, just as an aside to that, that I started to see more and more of your material and obviously followed you and for the audience that are listening, I highly recommend following you and it's on your

[00:10:56] Mark underscore in UTR nutrition for Twitter. And then your Instagram on your mark nutrition, which is sort of an equal combination, one part science and research, one part at least in my perspective, bike envy when I get to see the bike that you certainly ride in the paths. And some amazing, amazing sort of not just product reviews from you, but really a scientific understanding. It looks like you do a lot of sort of testing and work with sort of putting what companies sort of claim nutritionally for what they do, but actually putting it to the test, which I highly respect that

[00:11:48] There's a resource like yourself that's doing that. So again, I guess from one person to another, thank you for the materials that you share, it's incredible. I'd love to maybe start to dive into some of this because I know we have, as I said in the intro, we have a monster of an episode that's going to talk a lot about nutrition. And this is for the Decoding Excellence Show, this is the first nutrition emphasis that we've had. And what a better way than to discuss some of the latest research and to go down these pathways and discuss what you're going to share. So I'd love to just start

[00:12:28] To jump into it because I think you're phenomenal, and I think you have the background for it, and you're on the edge as far as what nutritional research and the product lines that are out there. So I'd love to kind of set you, set you free, if you will, a little bit, and start talking about these concepts, and I'll kind of kick it over to you to lead initially. Thanks. And yeah, you hit it on the head, Adam, with regard to all this experimentation, and this really is what's led to this outline of stuff that I wanted to talk about that's innovative

[00:13:07] And sports nutrition, because this is a lot of what I do. I do a ton of research, not just for consulting for companies and people, but just on my own to then test these products and experiment, because at the end of the day, I work for the athlete. I don't work for a particular company. I always work for the athlete, and I always want to find the best nutritional strategy or the best product for them. And so this really is what's led to the set of themes, if you want to call it, that I came up with, and the first one focusing on the gut microbiome. This I can't even begin

[00:13:45] To emphasize how big this is right now in terms of research. And just I see the gut microbiome as a way of training the gut. So training the gut is a nutritional strategy that's really come out recently, and it's been pioneered by a world-renowned sports nutritionist. His name is Dr. Asker Eukendrup. He's also a phenomenal athlete cyclist. And essentially, he describes training the gut as different ways to get the GI system to adapt to carbohydrate intake and fluid intake, with the goal of reducing GI complications, which, of course, a lot of athletes get, as well as

[00:14:29] Improving performance. And so kind of going along with this whole training the gut idea, I've kind of taken it and looked at it through different lens, and that's through the gut microbiome, and training the gut that way through good gut bacteria to then have good gut health, which is so important, because, like I said, the gut microbiota research on it has really picked up, and we're seeing how much our gut and having good gut bacteria can really impact different parts of our health, from immunity, local inflammation and chronic inflammation throughout the body,

[00:15:10] Metabolism, mood, disease, metabolic disorders, and even right now brain health. I mean that, and I'm going to get into that a little bit later, but that is just some really cool stuff. And granted, yes, some of the researches in its infancy, but from what we do know, it's quite obvious that we need to focus on maintaining our gut, and many people, especially athletes, don't even think about this. I mean Adam, just out of curiosity, how many of your athletes show up to practice or game day sick, or they train sick? Yeah, yeah, I think it was certainly in the collegiate world,

[00:15:51] It is a common idea that if it's a cold, if it's sick, if there's something going on, that you still sort of show up for practice. And that's the thing is, you know, it's like, how do you prevent that in athletes? Well, I mean, when your gut is the home to trillions of bacteria, which are good and bad, the goal really is to have enough good gut bugs to outcompete the bad gut bugs. And relating to this to illness is that they can really strengthen the immunity. You know, a lot of people might not know this, but 70% of your immunity is in your gut.

[00:16:31] And it's really important that, for instance, the gut barrier, which is oneself thick, so it's obviously very thin, and it separates your gut with your bloodstream. And what happens under stress, especially through exercise and due stress, little proteins in your gut lining can come apart, and things in your gut can then get into your bloodstream that shouldn't be there. So this is something called increasing gut permeability, which you really don't want. And this is where good gut bacteria can actually strengthen immunity, and they can strengthen

[00:17:14] That gut cell wall, which is really, really important, because as a lot of athletes know, I'm sure a lot of them have experienced leaky gut syndrome. And this is when you have that increase in gut permeability. And this really weakens your immune system, and it causes all these symptoms that, obviously, you know, the GI, preamping, diarrhea, nausea. I mean, all those things that you really don't want. And sometimes people think, oh, well, you know, this really only happens to endurance athletes because of, you know, their prolonged training and competing. But really,

[00:17:48] It's team sport athletes too. So basketball player, soccer players, all of this is really important to any type of athlete, because, you know, modern intensity exercise is to will strengthen immunity, but high intensity exercise will actually weaken it. And it leads to this huge open window after you do high intensity training that will really increase your risk for infection. And, you know, this will also also cause, you know, inflammation. And so this is another thing that athletes don't think about. You know, as an example, there was a study that was performed with

[00:18:29] Runners who took a probiotic of certain strains. And they found that runners had reduced inflammatory markers after running in the heat. And because of this, the runners were able to run longer in the heat without becoming fatigued. And, you know, this goes back to, okay, so how do we strengthen the immunity and prevent this inflammation that can happen from all these stressors that athletes are exposed to? And, you know, one of the ways is through probiotics. Now, probiotics will have a certain set of health benefits that they'll provide. And, you know, this can be, you know,

[00:19:10] Obviously strengthening immunity, preventing or alleviating inflammation. And they're also critical in nutrient metabolism. They can enhance digestion and in nutrient absorption. You know, some strains can increase antioxidant activity. So this is obviously really important because, you know, from exercise, there's a lot of oxidative stress. And so certain probiotics can help, you know, with recovery from oxidative stress. Also, probiotics, they can synthesize certain vitamins, like vitamin B12, vitamin K. They can enhance, I know today, you know, B-reduces becoming super

[00:19:53] Popular in sports, especially via a supplement. And because of the dietary nitrates that convert to nitrate oxide in the body. And it's been shown that microbiota and probiotics, certain strains can enhance that conversion of dietary nitrate to nitrate oxide. You know, also, they can enhance the absorption of certain nutrients like calcium, iron, vitamin D. In fact, I always like to reference a particular study. There was a study that was done that assessed the vitamin D levels of, it was the Pittsburgh Steelers. And they associated it with race and the athlete's history of broken

[00:20:36] Bones and staying on the team. It was during the 2011 offseason. And they found that vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency were quite prevalent among football players, especially the black players. And those who had a lower vitamin D level actually had a higher risk for getting cut. And so the reason why I'm bringing this back to probiotics and how this helps the athlete is because probiotics can be an attractive intervention. So not only for strengthening immunity, but also as a nutritional intervention. Because I mean, there's actually, there's been a study that

[00:21:14] Shown there was a particular probiotic strain that actually increased vitamin D levels by 25%, which is pretty, and that's a pretty good percentage. So it's, you know, these things that really makes probiotics an attractive dietary intervention to then also optimize nutritional intake. You know, just going off, you know, other things that the gut microbiotic can do, they can produce certain metabolites that will impact our health. Specifically, this is through, there's something called short-chain fatty acids. And these have an positive effect on our health.

[00:21:57] They can shape the gut environment. They can increase the acidity of the gut. And this relates back to immunity because when they increase the acidity of the gut, it actually out competes the bad bacteria. So it makes them harder for them to colonize. Also, the short-chain fatty acids can help improve glucose levels. And they also can serve as energy sources for certain cells in the body, like the intestinal cells, as well as an energy source to gut microbiota. And now we're seeing in terms of brain health, how it's, you know, metabolites from the gut microbiota are

[00:22:39] Interacting with our brain. So it's really cool, this whole interaction, how it's not just immunity. It's not just reducing inflammation, but it's also helping with our nutrient status, the athletes nutrient status. And kind of going more into the gut brain access, which is really cool research that's coming out. To me, it's just fascinating because, you know, you see in sports nutrition now, moving a little bit towards brain health, and specifically through, you know, polyphenols from the diet, which can help, you know, stimulate, you know, brain, brain

[00:23:19] Self growth and improve, you know, memory learning and syncing. But sometimes like how I like to think of it is, I really think, you know, there's another way we can influence brain health. And this is where I see, you know, the cognitive part of sports nutrition really needs to consider, you know, the physiological stress that, you know, athletes get and from exercise and training hard and how it actually impacts our gut microbiota. And then that impact on the gut will then impact, you know, different things in our brain and how we think and how we behave.

[00:23:56] Because maybe some people don't know, but the gut microbiota can actually talk to our brain. And they can influence different parts of our physiology, and brain function and behavior. And there's different ways they can talk to the brain. I know this is going a little too in depth. And I actually have a really cool article coming out on this soon. So I would recommend people reading about reading it because I mean, it's really just fascinating. But they can talk to the brain through, you know, the vagus nerve that connects the

[00:24:29] Brain stem to the digestive tract. They can talk to the brain through gut hormones and molecules. Like I mentioned earlier, the short-chain fatty acids. They can talk via immune signaling. So different cytokines, which are pretty much just like protein communicators if you want to call it. And all of this is really, really important. Especially since, you know, relating this back to brain health and the athlete, fatigue and mood, mood, which is obviously a critical performance factor, mood disturbances like, you know, anxiety, lack of motivation, depression, all these things

[00:25:11] Are common among athletes. And what's really cool is that the microbiota can work by synthesizing and, you know, kind of modulating different neurotransmitters and hormones that can then influence an athlete's mood, motivation and, you know, feelings of fatigue. In fact, you know, there was a study. Sorry, I like to bring in studies. No, I love studies. So please don't hesitate by any means to withhold the research. Yeah, because I know sometimes you're like, oh, you know, you say something and then, you know, what do you have to back it up or whatever. But, you know, a study found

[00:25:50] A supplementation with two particular strains of probiotics. I can't remember off the top of my head. Obviously, these probiotic strains have really long genes. But they reduce the psychological distress and they lowered cortisol levels in humans. Granted, also, another thing to really consider with this research is a lot of it's done in rats. And when I talk about these things, I really only focus on stuff done in humans, because obviously a rat is different from a human. And, you know, the effects could be similar or not. But really, going back to that study, you know, they kind of,

[00:26:31] The authors talked about, you know, potentially that the gut microbiota, you know, they were able to kind of reduce the effects of these pro-inflammatory cytokines or, you know, cell communicators, whatever you want to call them. And oxidative stress, which really helped with reducing psychological distress. And even another study found that a different probiotic treatment that had, you know, multiple strains, significantly lowered negative thoughts that were linked with sad mood. So even though the research is in its infancy, I really think that targeting the gut microbiome,

[00:27:11] You know, with this probiotic, you know, therapeutic approach really could help alleviate or prevent some of this, you know, disrupted brain circuitry if you want to call it. In addition to, you know, the dietary approach of sports nutritionists incorporating, you know, polyphenols in the diet, it's ultimately the brain isn't just powered by food. And, you know, this is where I see, you know, especially, you know, with myself and other athletes that I work with and in my philosophy, when I work with athletes is where I try to focus on a gut enhancing diet. And, you know,

[00:27:48] Now I kind of see it as kind of a type of nutritional psychiatry that could really help prevent the dysregulation that affects the brain. And it's really by optimizing good gut microbiota and preventing something called microbial dysbiosis, which is pretty much a shift towards, you know, more bad bacteria rather than good bacteria. You know, that's the goal to try to prevent that. So that's really a lot of, I know that's a lot of information. It's a lot to chew on initially, but incredible information number one. Yeah. I think in not to, to, to enter Jack, but, you know,

[00:28:35] And the reason I love that you started off with the gut microbiome is, you know, like it was maybe two or three years ago, where I first got exposed to you biome. And again, I would love for you to shed light and whether it's good or bad or whatever, but, and actually had my gut biome assessed. And I think they've now probably in the last couple of years advanced that. I think they have like the smart gut and is doing a little bit of some DNA synthesis of it. But the gut microbiome was completely, you know, like for me was out of my sort of picture as far as the influence on

[00:29:17] Inflammation and in my immunity. And like you said, the nutrient metabolism was completely not even on my radar. And since then has at least started to raise my sort of cognition of the various influencers of nutritionally, what can go into actually positively and negatively affect the gut. And I would imagine that most galactic athletes A probably isn't necessarily as aware as they should be, but B probably doesn't know the first steps as far as what they should do to actually get a better understanding of, of how to assess that. And it's funny you, you mentioned the U

[00:29:59] Biome. I actually looked into that recently. I mean, I've heard about it for a while. I haven't, I haven't done it. I believe Karl is doing it. But I checked into it about a week ago and I saw that they were doing a study with it. And so me being the cost effective person, I was like, oh, I want to jump in on this and I can get my, I can send in my fecal samples for free and get analyzed. So I have looked into that and I'm hoping they contact me back because I would love to do it. And that would be, in my opinion, a great way to track what your gut microbiome is.

[00:30:36] And I think, to me, that would be awesome. So hopefully I can do something like that because I'm all about incorporating different types of technology when working with athletes to, obviously, optimize anything that we're doing nutritionally. But even going off of what you said about, you know, athletes not really realizing it. And it's like, how do you prevent that? I mean, diet is a huge factor. And I can tell you right now that the processed highly refined carbohydrate, that's going to have an impact on your gut microbiota composition. And of course,

[00:31:16] You know, not all athletes have the greatest diets. But interestingly, jet lag is really cool. And I, and how it affects the gut. And I have an article coming out on this as well. And you know, this is really important, especially in pro sports, we're seeing how travel demands have changed. I mean, you're seeing NBA teens one night going on the East Coast and then going to the West Coast and having to play the next day. And now we're seeing how sleep is so important. They're bringing in you know, sleep scientists, which is totally cool. But it's like, you know, what are the consequences

[00:31:54] Of athletes doing this besides obviously, you know, their performance might drop a little. But, you know, and I feel like what I think there was a study that just came out talking about, you know, nutritional interventions to improve sleep or sleep strategies, you know, that athletes can use. And they didn't mention probiotics. And I thought that was really interesting. So I don't remember the title of the study off the top of my head. But it was literally just came out, I think, a few weeks ago. But, you know, the research is showing that abnormal sleep activity cycles

[00:32:36] Can actually lead to abnormal microbiotic composition. And this goes back to microbial dysbiosis, which is what you don't want. And when you're circadian, clock is disrupted as with traveling. And jet lag, so is your gut composition and function. Because the gut are like us. They follow, you know, these changes in in daylight just like us. And they are actually controlled by our feeding schedules and sleep, which is obviously influenced by our circadian clock. And when this is disrupted and were misaligned, you know, it causes this microbial dysbiosis. And, you know,

[00:33:18] This has other effects where it could lead to metabolic disruptions. You know, I think the study was looking at obesity and glucose intolerance over time. But also, it's not just jet lag. It's also something there's a new term called social jet lag. And it has a similar effect. And to explain social jet lag, it's essentially the difference between social and biological time. So if you want to see it this way, like you have your typical work week where you're waking up at a certain time every day and going to bed at a certain time every day.

[00:33:58] And then obviously on the weekend, that schedule is going to switch a little, you know, take for consideration athletes going out on a late Friday night. And, you know, the next morning, they may not be able to sleep longer, sleep in and wake up, you know, they kind of end up with sleep debt in a way because they're so used to their normal circadian wake up time. And this is what's, you know, also called social jet lag. And this, this is really important because this is going to affect your gut microbiotic composition. Now going back to, you know, typical jet lag

[00:34:38] Through traveling, you know, our microbiota can show a time shift change. And it only takes 24 hours. So it's not like it's a long time. And this really, I know there was a study that looked at the effects of air travel. So they looked at jet lag, sleep and well-being. And it was from Australia to Brazil in a professional soccer team. And it was right before the 2014 FIFA World Cup. And essentially without going too much into detail, you know, obviously they found a lower overall wellness that was observed, you know, after travel compared to the week before travel.

[00:35:20] Sleep duration was obviously quite reduced during travel. And it really, it took a while for the players to then, you know, get back to being, I guess, in a prepared state. Because essentially, it showed that, you know, once they, you know, arrived in Brazil, you know, they had lower player preparedness. And it's like, you know, one of the things to consider is, okay, with this, what also happened to their gut microbiota, essentially since, you know, we know that the, you know, time shift change like that only can take 24 hours to then shift the gut microbiota composition.

[00:36:01] And this is where, once again, microbial dysbiosis comes into play. And, you know, it's so important to keep the gut in line because they are involved in our circadian control. And so to me, this is where obviously, once again, as a nutritional intervention, probiotics can come into place. Because as we see, disruptions in the circadian clock during jet lag and even social jet lag, this is obviously going to cause irregular pattern of food intake and it's going to change your sleeping. And it's really going to affect the gut. And so how I see it is that, you know, maintaining the gut

[00:36:47] Then allows us to, and our gut microbiota to work together. And then, you know, they can synchronize their physiological activities together. And this really will help maintain gut health. Because as we've seen, chronic time shifting hurts our gut. And, you know, this is kind of going back to the latest study that I talked about that, you know, discuss different nutritional interventions that athletes can use in terms of sleep. And I am really starting to think that probiotics really could have come into play. So yeah, I think, you know, just a bridge on top of that when

[00:37:25] Athletes and people start to think about sleep strategies, probiotics very rarely comes up in the conversation. And it seems like from what you're sharing. And you're not the only one. I mean, I know I had Dr. John Sullivan from the brain always wins on the show. And he talked a lot about fueling for brain health. And it seems like while he didn't mention necessarily the gut as far as that. But certainly about the influence of what we eat and how it influences our physiology and how that can influence sleep quality and sleep recovery. And we had Dr. Nick little little hills on as

[00:38:07] Well from the R90 to come on and talk about sleep. But I think that's a fascinating sort of interplay between sleep and how we're actually fueling and what we're actually eating to help in positively affect the gut. So which kind of lends me to probably my next sort of

[00:38:31] Next sort of process or pathway here. When we start to look at probiotics, whether it is for athletic power for performance or even recovery or sleep, I mean, where should athletes be looking? What is the initial things that the takeaways when we start thinking about things that they can do to help positively affect their gut microbiome? What can they do? So that's a great question. And it comes down to food versus supplements, which I know is a big topic. And don't get me wrong, I am a food first approach type of person. I think food can be

[00:39:11] Medicine. But then you have to go back to, you know, sometimes you have to consider, okay, you know, you want a particular benefit. So it comes down to efficacy. And as you know, it's like the same thing with supplements, like you can take a particular supplement, but is it going to be efficacious? And so, you know, based on whatever, you know, performance, you're variable you're looking at. And so how I see probiotics is that it's really hard to get the effect of amount of what you need from just food alone. Especially if you want to take

[00:39:46] Advantage of certain health benefits. So just as an example, you know, there's a certain probiotic strain that can help those who are lactose intolerant because that strain has the lactase enzyme that can help break down lactose. So obviously you would want to have the right, you know, a amount or dosage of the probiotic if you were looking for that benefit, right? And so sometimes many foods don't tell you the amount of probiotics that they have in their product. And the units for probiotics is something called colony forming units or CFUs. And so sometimes products

[00:40:29] Don't even tell you that or they don't tell you the strains that they use. Or you know, or yeah, they don't they don't tell you some of those things. And so it's like, you know, I think a lot of the times food companies want to bank off of this, oh, you know, put the probiotic stamp on their product label because everybody's like, oh, probiotics, it's good for you, whatever. But you need to step back and think about, okay, this product might have it. But do they have the right amount where it's going to help our health? And you know, sometimes, you know, probiotics in a cup of

[00:41:03] Yogurt is not going to meet the needs of a foreign athlete. And it's like, no, if you, you know, I think some yogurt, it's like one billion CFUs of probiotics, right? So it's, you know, let's say, I mean, I typically tell athletes 25 billion CFUs, even though you can go around like 15 billion. So it's, you have to step back and think, you know, how many cups of this yogurt do I have to eat? Am I going to eat 15 yogurts to get the, the right amount of probiotics? I mean, if you look at holistically of a nutritional plan, that doesn't make sense, right? In terms, especially in terms of

[00:41:37] Weight management. Yeah. Really fascinatingly. There was a study that just came out, it came out of Toronto. I can't remember what lab, but they looked at probiotic products in grocery stores and they looked at, you know, different studies of these probiotic strains and they, they pretty much compared that, you know, the probiotics in the grocery store and in certain like yogurts and, and all these things, they really didn't have the right amount of a particular probiotic strain to really give that health benefit as to what was seen in a study. So for example,

[00:42:19] If a study found that a particular probiotic strain, you know, provided some, some such and such benefit, but they used like let's say 10 billion CFUs in that study. Well, in the grocery store in a product, you know, that's using the same probiotic strain, it's like 1 billion CFUs. So there was a big discrepancy on what a study showed in terms of, you know, how much of the probiotic was needed compared to what was actually in a food product. So it kind of goes back to, okay, and this is where, you know, I do with my athletes and myself, we supplement with probiotics.

[00:43:01] Obviously, there's so many factors to look at and, you know, as a perfect example, athletes really don't know what to get. And I don't blame them. They don't know. And I think of the islet whole foods and how overwhelming it is with all the probiotics. I mean, Adam, I'm sure you've looked and you're like, you know what, I'm probably just, I don't even know where to start. So like paralysis by analysis almost. Yeah, yeah. And it's, it's tough for the consumer, especially the athletes. It's like, okay, what the heck do I buy? And probiotics supplements differ in so

[00:43:36] Many ways. And that all goes back to efficacy. You know, obviously a amount of probiotics. And the types of species and the strains because not all of them have the same effect. It's like, you know, I think of it like humans. We're all the same species, but we're all different. And so, you know, bacteria in the same species, they can share common characteristics. So offer, you know, core health benefits as an example, strengthen immunity. But their functions can vary by strain. And just as an example, like some can synthesize vitamin B12, some can enhance

[00:44:13] Vitamin D absorption, but it's not all of them. So it really depends on what you're looking for. So you really have to find one that's right for your needs. And also there's this, you know, you have to take into consideration additional ingredients in the product. So I like to make sure that the product has prebiotics with probiotics. So prebiotic, like, it's essentially fiber. And the prebiotics, they feed the probiotics. So when you combine them together, it's like this, it's called a symbiotic. And the prebiotics work better with the probiotics. So as an example,

[00:44:53] In the probiotic that I use, I'm just going to go ahead and give a shout out to sound probiotics. They're awesome. Mark Stefani, he is a doctor and a former competitive cyclist. And sound probiotics is a sponsor of like five different team USA's team and Philadelphia Eagles. And it's certified. But in that probiotic supplement, there's a prebiotic. And they specifically use beta-glucan. And that's been shown in a study to actually enhance the health benefits in conjunction with probiotics. So, you know, it's just another thing to consider, you know, all these

[00:45:36] Different factors when you're trying to choose a probiotic supplement. And, you know, this is also going back to, you know, taking probiotics has to be easy, which, you know, taking, you know, a probiotic supplement pill is not very difficult. But it has to be habitual. You know, probiotics are living organisms and they die off. And, you know, athletes have to take it every day if they want to see, you know, the benefits. Like, it's not just a once in a, you know, once a week type of thing. So, it really comes down to, you know, being consistent and taking it.

[00:46:14] So, that's really important. But, you know, so just in a nutshell, you know, if an athlete's interested in taking a probiotic, they really need to make sure they're getting the right amount. The supplement should really say on it, like, how much I would shoot for between 15 billion CFU and 25 billion CFU per day. And, you know, if there's particular things, you know, like I said, the lactose intolerance, you know, if there's an athlete who's looking for something like that, then look for a supplement that has the strain that has, you know, that's shown to help with

[00:46:48] Lactose intolerance. And you can do an athlete can do a simple Google search of that, making sure the prebiotic is with the probiotic and taking it every day. And really just, it's a huge, huge impact on your health. And it's simple. And to me, this is like the next level fueling. I see it as, you know, a gut-enhancing diet because obviously, you know, food and supplements, the impact are gut-microbial composition and function. And this is just a small piece of it that has a huge, huge impact sound. Yeah, no. And no doubt. I'll make sure that sound probiotics,

[00:47:29] Or sound probiotics, gets a little bit of a write-up here at the show notes so that if athletes or coaches are looking certainly for resources that they'll be directed in the right position. And you mentioned in that, and not to necessarily segue away from the gut, but you're starting to talk about how the probiotics can be sort of the next level of fueling. And as maybe a prelude to that, if we were to look at sort of what might be potentially what is perceived as the current level of fueling and whether that's hydration or sports drinks or things like that,

[00:48:11] I think might be a nice little segue into talking about just some of the general ideas and your knowledge about what hydration and just some of the behaviors that might surround what athletes are choosing from a hydration standpoint and start looking into sports drinks as a fueling sort of strategy. Yeah, so hydration sports drinks. This to me, I've done a lot of work with this, especially since I've worked with a few companies who are trying to break into the sports drink industry, and I have some other companies that reached out to me regarding this. And obviously,

[00:48:52] People know the importance of hydration. I don't need to explain it. It's pretty obvious. And don't get me wrong, education is instrumental in preventing dehydration. And obviously educating athletes on hydration and why you need to do it and drink and everything. But what I've really noticed is that despite this knowledge in reality, knowledge does not equal behavior. It really doesn't. Even the most well-educated athlete who has fluid available can become dehydrated because a lot of times athletes underestimate their sweat loss or voluntarily they don't consume

[00:49:32] Enough fluid. And so to me, a lot of times athletes, they typically don't rehydrate enough during exercise. And this is a lot of times due to personal choice. And so this kind of goes back to the sports drink concept. And sometimes people think that, oh, getting an athlete to drink, you know, it helps if it's a sports drink because of the taste. And, you know, I have my own opinions on sports drinks. I think it comes to context. And I think a lot of the times people don't, especially athletes and coaches and athletic trainers, they really don't consider

[00:50:13] The context of the sports drink because I mean, Adam, I don't know how many of your athletes are drinking Gatorade or Powerade or well, I mean, I think certainly within each sort of demographic and the with respect to athletic departments and fundings and sponsorships that, you know, a lot of the times the decisions are made not necessarily always in the best interest of what's nutritionally relevant and important for the student athlete, but they're made more from a financial standpoint, which is, you know, advertising and marketing and the combination of that.

[00:50:49] Right. And so that's why, you know, and I understand that completely, but, you know, do athletes really need a sports drink. And I think when, you know, you have this, this marketing aspect and it obviously makes them the drink accessible and available to the athlete, they drink it even if they don't need it. And, you know, just touching upon, okay, what's the purpose of a sports drink? And it's obviously for hydration, you know, getting an energy boost from carbohydrate and replacing electrolytes specifically sodium, loss through sweat. But really, context is key when

[00:51:27] It comes to sports drinks. And like you hit it on the head, I know it's a lot of times this context is not addressed due to marketing and, you know, some financial reasons. But because of that, I really think that sports drinks, they're marketed to 99% of the population when really maybe like half a percent to 1% actually could use it. And it's just because it's sugar water, it really is sugar water, and there's a certain time and place when you need it, which is perfectly fine. But it's really, to me, and this is going to go, you know, relate to something later on that I'm

[00:52:04] Going to talk about, which is athletes who are fit but unhealthy. It really leads to this, you know, excessive carbohydrate intake that's really unnecessary. And so this is why, you know, in my work, I've transitioned towards working with companies and kind of helping them. I guess you could say I as like a nutrition attorney, and these functional beverages who are trying to get into the sports drink market. And I really think it's, we're now getting a new generation of sports drinks because I think also at the same time we're seeing athletes who want to be healthier and they

[00:52:40] Want to go, you know, less artificial colorings and, and, and they want to go with more natural ingredients and and functional beverages, essentially, they're going to offer more benefits. So they're going to be a more helpful alternative. And, you know, this is a way to move away from just the sugar water. And so how I like to see it when I'm looking at a sports drink, I like to consider the nutrient density. So I explain it as, you know, getting more nutritional bang for your book. So getting a lot of nutrients in that product, you know, for maybe lower amount of calories.

[00:53:22] And the thing is with, with these functional beverages, and I'm just going to throw out an example, I know there's a lot of watermelon beverage companies who would love to get into performance hydration and in sports performance. And they're competing with Gatorade. And, and a lot of the times these companies also need to consider that their beverage needs to have a formula that balances palatability and function. Obviously, you know, the drink needs to be something that's palatable that athletes want to drink because that's going to stimulate them

[00:54:00] To then hydrate. And it also has to have function in it. It needs to hydrate, needs to show that it hydrates, you know, provide carbohydrate if, you know, it's warranted. And one of the biggest things is that, really, I see functional beverages as helping with long-term health and longevity in the athlete. Because like I mentioned earlier about athletes who are fit and unhealthy and, you know, it's really due to this excessive carbohydrate intake. But it's really messing with their blood glucose levels. And a lot of these athletes are seeing, you know, pre-diabetic levels

[00:54:43] Of blood glucose, which I'll talk about later on. And this is, you know, a little part of it where sports drinks and consuming so much of it is really maybe contributing to it. And so, you know, I kind of consider this. There was a study that came out, I think, out of Cornell. And they looked at how people privilege certain nutrients when, you know, identifying their risk for certain diseases. And this is a perfect comparison to a typical sports drink right now. Because what they talked about in the study is that people have a nutrient-centrism approach. So, what it is is that they believe

[00:55:26] That certain nutrients, so for example, let's take potassium, are critical to preventing disease. Instead of taking a whole food-centrism approach, which is that whole food, so comparison of banana, that contains these nutrients in their natural context are more beneficial. And so, just as an example, the study talked about, and you'll see this with cereal boxes, how food companies advertise vitamin and mineral content of their products, based on certain scientific evidence that, you know, micronutrients in their product are associated with, you know, certain positive health outcomes.

[00:56:05] So, just as an example, they talked about how Kellogg's cocoa crispies had, has 25% daily value of antioxidants and nutrients. And then next to that claim, they put to support your child's immunity. But if you look at Kellogg's cocoa crispies, it's often in nutrient-poor products overall. So, I consider this, I compare it, I took the study and I thought about it in the context of sports drinks, how sports drinks companies advertise, you know, electrolytes and carbohydrate in their products, you know, in the use scientific evidence how, you know, these are, you know, important for,

[00:56:43] Obviously, like carbohydrate can be seen as an organic aid. And, you know, positive performance outcomes, so hydration and electrolytes for, you know, preventing muscle cramping. But really, it's a sugar water and lots of sugar that really is a lot of the time unnecessary. And so, what they kind of do is, what they do with, you know, like cereal grains. It distills the performance aspect of that drink down to, you know, selected set of, you know, performance enhancing nutrients when in actuality, if you look at the product on average, it's a really nutrient-poor product.

[00:57:22] And so, it's like the same thing with the cereal, you know, promoting a nutritionally poor product as something that's healthy or in this case, that's going to help performance. And so, that's how I kind of see it. And that's why I follow the whole food-centrism approach. And I relate this back to functional beverages, because I really believe that, you know, taking, you know, I'm just going to take as an example of how I'm ahead watermelon water, or watermelon juice. You know, that's a whole food, you know, it's just the watermelon. And it's been shown to help hydrate

[00:57:58] Athletes. And there's other nutrients in it, you know, that can help with athletes. So, there's vitamin C, there's, there's something called el citroneine, which, so that's like a whole other topic, but, you know, there's some evidence that, you know, it can help with muscle recovery. There's more lycopene in this beverage than a tomato. So, there's all these different, you know, nutrients in it that really makes it, and it still hydrates and it still provides some carbohydrate. So, it still has the, you know, the purpose of what a sports drink is supposed to be. And so,

[00:58:34] I look at, you know, gatorade and, you know, watermelon, or, you know, if there's another alternative in terms of, like, some type of fruit drink, I look at both of them objectively and I see, okay, is this going to, you know, based on what we're looking for, hydration, some carbohydrate, electrolytes, which I'll get into a little bit, you know, is this going to meet the needs of an athlete, but be a better, more nutrient dense product and really, you know, contribute to their health and essentially, you know, fit into a healthy nutrition plan. And so, that's kind of where I go

[00:59:10] With sports drinks and I don't think gatorade's going to call me after this, but I don't think they're going to want to sponsor me after you said that. But, they're not, they're also probably won't sponsor the show either, which is fine, which is fine. Maybe we'll reach out to watermelon water and see what their advertising budget looks like as well. But, you know, going back to these functional beverages, and I know, you know, for instance, coconut water is really and promoted. And a lot of these companies will say, you know, we have electrolytes and don't

[00:59:40] Get me wrong, watermelon water and coconut water, they have a ton of potassium, which is fine. And, but a lot of the times, you'll see that people will argue against those drinks in favor of gatorade and they'll say, well, there's no sodium in those products. And you're right, there isn't. And obviously, it's important to, for the athlete to take in sodium while they're exercising. But, how I see it, once again, from a more objective perspective is that they're really then not looking holistically at an athlete's nutrition plan. If you're really so concerned about

[01:00:14] A sports drink, that really can be a more helpful alternative. And your main problem or setback as to why you won't choose it over gatorade is because of the sodium level. It's not looking. And I'm telling you, there's been so many, are you? I've seen it with sports nutritionists out there. And I'm just like, well, okay, so if you look at an athlete's nutrition plan, are they eating before practice or competition? Are they eating during a race? Who's really sodium depleted? I mean, this states they're sodium everywhere. It's like looking at a supplement line or something

[01:00:49] Else and being like, wow, you know, this supplement just doesn't have enough process carbohydrates in it. Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna guess that there's probably enough of that in there. Otherwise, nutritional diet. Right. And so that's how I think of it. I'm like, okay, I'll still go with this product because there's so many other ways you write as a sports drink. Yes, it's a setback. There's no sodium in it. But let me tell you something. It doesn't take a lot of, you know, brain power to figure out, okay, if the athlete wants to use this, how can we get some sodium in their diet or I mean, you know,

[01:01:24] Do they really need any extra sodium? Like how I think of it is like, you know, when I'm riding 100 miles, which I do quite a bit. I do a lot of century rides. And obviously sodium is important. But, you know, I could take apple slices and put some salt on it and also drink, you know, my healthier sports drink. And I'm still getting my sodium because most of the time athletes are eating while they're racing or they've eaten before practice. And it's not like you really need to add more sodium. So like, once again, it comes down to context. I mean, obviously if you're an

[01:01:57] Iron man, it's a little bit of a different story. But still there's different ways you can still get salt. I mean, I know there's a company called that base electrolyte or a sodium or something like that. And, you know, they have a little vial and I've even used it on long rides. And I'd just take it out, put my finger, get some salt in it and put it on my tongue and look, I just got sodium. So it really goes back to what these sports drinks, you know, looking at, I try to find more helpful alternatives that, you know, obviously also fit into an athlete's nutritional plan.

[01:02:30] And, you know, if you want to argue on sodium, which I know a lot of, you know, sports nutritionists out there have because they're promoting, you know, some of these other bigger names, you know, you just have to think holistically that athletes diet, you know. Yeah, I think, you know, two things in that that really, really resonate with me to maybe summarize a little bit of that is that there's nothing more frustrating when we run or an athlete runs through essentially a tactical, technical, physical, psychological profile for us. And we recognize that

[01:03:03] There's a physical rate limiting factor. And whatever we might want to call it, but in this example, let's just say body composition, yet an athlete may or may not necessarily have the education or the compliance to make the nutritional intervention that they need to. And yet they're walking around, securing, you know, their hydration strategy that's filled with 60 grams of dextrose in it, and they are, you know, overconsuming what is otherwise their carbohydrate intake, negatively affecting what their body composition goals are for the sake of a rehydration strategy

[01:03:41] That might be incomplete number one. And then secondly, the thing that I think you said that really sort of resonates is, again, I think the over emphasis of a particular mineral or nutrient at the expense of what is maybe looking, you know, a little bit more of a 30,000 foot view at what the macronutrient combination of that sort of supplement or beverage strategy is. And, you know, I know you've to paraphrase that as far as potassium, but it's very easy for an athlete to walk through a grocery aisle and look at something and say, oh yeah, you know that added potassium

[01:04:18] Or it has X, Y or Z, you know, that's healthy and completely negate or not look at sort of what what the actual calorie balance of something is or what is otherwise added to it in addition to that mineral or that vitamin that they might be under the influence of being a healthy component. And maybe an isolation it is, yet it comes with the unintended consequence or cost of, you know, inadequately or over consumption of a particular factor. So that's kind of, or I was thinking, and what really resonated with me, but to maybe also, because I know you were talking about sodium,

[01:04:58] Which I think when when sort of in my aspects, when you start thinking about sodium, you start thinking about, okay, well, maybe the increase of sodium from a muscular, you know, cramping standpoint, I think that would be a great little segue of starting to talk about dehydration and maybe some electrolyte imbalance and what might be some strategies in sort of exercise associated muscle cramp prevention or at least reduction and maybe some of the nutritional research that you have in that subject. Yeah, no, this is this is a great topic. I'm actually

[01:05:34] Very, very passionate about this one because I'm someone who's as suffered from muscle cramps for the longest time, especially when I used to compete in tennis, you know, in the Florida heat and humidity. And I would drink Gatorade, you know, right and left. And this was before I knew anything about nutrition, and nothing would prevent my cramps. I mean, it was so bad. I remember I'd had like three and a half hour matches in the end. A lot of times I would lose because I cramped in the calves. And so I'm kind of going to step away from the conventional wisdom here. As I

[01:06:10] Really think a lot of the evidence as, you know, it being dehydration and electrolyte imbalance specifically to sodium has really and has really been marketed by the sports drink industry. And to me, you know, this is kind of frustrating because, you know, exercise associated muscle cramps, we don't know what causes it specifically. It's probably going to be multifactorial. So different things are going to contribute to it. And there's been nothing to show that it's specifically dehydration and electrolyte imbalance that's causing this muscle cramp. And to me, this this is really,

[01:06:51] Really frustrating because it really, how I see it is that, you know, sometimes athletes, the blame hydration and electrolytes because it's a convenient thing. And, you know, that's why they got the muscle cramp. But really, I'd say that they should be blaming more of their poor conditioning and race tactics. And this goes to neuromuscular performance, which I'll talk about. But essentially, you know, the science is really unclear on exercise associated muscle cramps. And it really could be multifactorial. And the reason behind the, you know, sodium imbalance

[01:07:25] Or the electronic imbalance specifically sodium is because lower sodium stores can cause pretty much a fluid shift in the body around muscles. And this would then lead to a misfiring of nerve impulses and then subsequently a cramp. But there's been studies that have shown no difference in the hydration status or electrolyte levels between those who are cramp prone and those who are non cramp prone. And even athletes who have experienced this muscle cramp, when they're, they've experienced it while they've been completely hydrated and have adequately supplemented

[01:08:03] With electrolytes. And so, you know, this leads to then, you know, okay, so, you know, what other possibility could it be? And I really think it's more so of a neuromuscular ideology. And I really think there's there's a lot of evidence that shows that, you know, it's a neuromuscular ideology. So really, it's coming, you know, that pain, that stiffness, that bulging muscle, which I know, I truly like cry over when I get one. And I've seen athletes are just like dying in pain. But it really comes from neuromuscular fatigue. And this is coming from an overloading of the muscle.

[01:08:42] And, you know, I like to explain this to people by starting off by saying, you know, consider this. Like, what's the first thing an athlete does when they get a cramp? I mean, Adam, I'm sure you've seen it. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's, you know, especially we have a track meet going on. And I'm going to guess that it's a Missouri Valley conference championships. So there's going to be, you know, 10 teams here. And so I think the common thing is most athletes, well, depending on where the cramp is at, they're going to reach for it. They're going to grab it. They're going to, you know,

[01:09:15] Fall over. There's a whole cascade of events with a muscular cramp. And so obviously, you know, they follow the ground, but then they stretch the muscle. And usually this static stretching will relieve the cramp. And it's been known that stretching is, you know, an immediate treatment for this muscle cramp. So to me, I see it as, okay, so how is the stretching affecting your electrolyte imbalance and hydration? And, you know, it kind of makes the theory questionable. And so it really goes back to this electrical misfiring. And specifically,

[01:09:53] You know, there's not going too much into the science, but it's an imbalance between excitatory impulses from muscle spindles in the muscle and the inhibitory response from something called Golgi tendon organs in the muscle. And so this imbalance in the difference in firings will result in a muscle cramp. And so what the stretching does, it's that it puts the the muscle under tension. And this activates the Golgi tendon organs more. And this results in, you know, the muscle becomes more relaxed in the cramping stops. And so, you know, relating this

[01:10:34] To your muscular performance. And I'm not saying that fluid and electrolyte balance isn't important. I mean, clearly it's important with cardiovascular function, you know, muscle functioning and thermoregulatory functioning. But, you know, it's just kind of looking at this from a different perspective, where obviously maybe this is a, you know, muscle cramping has a multifactorial etiology. But really, it's looking at muscle fatigue. And this is a new area of sports nutrition called neuromuscular performance. And the, you know, essentially neuromuscular performance is when you have nerves and muscles

[01:11:11] That are working together cooperatively. And this comes through neuromuscular training. And this is really important because, you know, it goes back to, there was a study that, you know, kind of looked at this and said that, you know, athletes who, it was, I believe, it was an Ironman World Championship. Athletes who cramped, they noticed that their pacing strategy was different in the beginning of the Ironman. And it kind of was like they had over, over, you know, estimated their fitness levels. And they went faster because they were so

[01:11:51] Interesting in, you know, getting a PR or whatever, that they really overloaded their muscles prematurely. And ultimately it resulted in a muscle cramp. And this relates to neuromuscular training because it's the idea that when you go in your train, you need to train as if you're in racing conditions and putting your muscles on that, you know, having that overload. And that will help condition the muscles. So how I see it as a cyclist who does 100 miles, you know, if I'm going to go do 100 mile race in my training, I need multiple instances of when I'm doing

[01:12:30] Practicing 100 miles, I need to go at the same pace that I'm going to go in the actual race. So as an example, I'm not going to be drafting off of someone in training, which will actually, you know, make me more efficient. And I'm not going to be leisurely, you know, taking coffee breaks or whatever I'm going to go in actual race mode. And this will actually condition your muscles. So it's really, it's the athletes need to maybe if they're more cramped prone, take a, you know, in their training, go at a higher intensity, like they would in a race as an example.

[01:13:05] But also this leads to nutritionally, there's a particular blend of spices and, you know, it targets a set of receptors, sensory nerves that can be found in the mouth and in the esophagus and the stomach. And they're called transient receptor potential ion channels or TRP. And it's really cool because the trip receptors, like I said in your mouth, for instance, they connect to your brain and they can communicate to different parts of your nervous system. And that includes the nerves in your spinal cord, which obviously then talk to your skeletal muscle.

[01:13:45] And these trip receptors, they could be activated by a certain blend of strong spices. And research has actually shown that activating these trip receptors will then send nerve signals to the spinal cord that then tell the spinal nerves to send, like if you want to call it calming impulses to a skeletal muscle. And so this, you know, stabilizes the overfiring of the nerves and stops the cramp. And specifically, I mean, I've used something called hot shot. Adam, but that's essentially what the research that they're doing. And this is what the blend of

[01:14:26] Spices does. And I use it. And I'm going to tell you right now, it's worked for me because I've now been able to figure out because the first thing that's going to happen is that you're going to feel that muscular fatigue. And so I know my body well enough where I can feel it in certain parts, in my calves, for instance, and I'll go ahead and I'll take this. And so, and I'm telling you, it's worked. It's stopped. It's prevents muscle cramps and it's also stopped a muscle cramp in action for me. You know, it's worked for a lot of other athletes. And you know what? It's

[01:15:01] Just so funny because I've cramped in a hundred miles. Like I compare, for example, when I rode out in California a hundred miles, you know, the muscles, comparing it to neuromuscular performance, I cramped near at mile 80 out in California. And the funny part is that it was like 60 degrees as someone who knows sports nutrition. I was clearly, I was hydrated, I was drinking, I have a sodium protocol that I follow to a tea and I know that it works. So why was it that I was still cramping when I followed my hydration and sodium to a tea? And I really believe it's because, okay,

[01:15:43] Let's think about it. There was a difference in terrain out in California compared to super flat South Florida. And so I was overloading my muscles much more differently than I would if I did a hundred miles in South Florida because the racing conditions were different. And that goes back to neuromuscular performance. And so yeah, I took so hot shot at mile 80 and it stopped it. So that, to me, in terms of exercise associated muscle cramps, it's really, I think it's athletes should focus more obviously hydration and sodium is important. But in terms of muscle cramping,

[01:16:24] I really think that they should focus on neuromuscular training, especially replicating, you know, a race pace during your training. And really getting the muscles conditioned, I think then those who cramp and they can't figure out their hydration in sodium situation, I think that they should try this alternative and see what happens. And that's going to be a wrap for part one with nutritional coach Katie Mark. I have to imagine that you took a lot away from the conversation between Katie and I. She is incredibly knowledgeable and I so much appreciated the information about the gut microbiome,

[01:17:09] The importance of it, the function of it, how stressors affect it. I love this segment on hydration and sport drinks because I definitely see that as a prevalent problem in the collegia athletics world. And then just the discussion about exercise associated muscle cramps and some of the products out there that exist to help prevent or reduce the likelihood of muscular cramps from occurring. Part two is also going to be a monster and that will air really, really soon. But Katie gets into discussing athletes that might be fit but biochemically under the surface

[01:17:46] Might be unhealthy. We start talking about herodized nutritional plans and just about high protein diets and some of the lessons that she learned in Rio 2016. Part two is a monster. If you've had enough of part one and your brain is about to explode take some time digest the information and then go ahead and return back to part two which will be airing here in a really, really short time. But like always I appreciate Katie Mark for coming on the Decoding Excellence Show. Keep your eyes peeled for part two and until next time, thank you.