Blog
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Chew, chew and chew again
Many of us have struggled with bloating in the past and often blame it on the meal we just ate, but is what we ate the only the reason for the bloating or should we consider the way we ate? Chewing is the first step in digestion, breaking down food into smaller fragments. Chewing produce saliva which helps to not aggravate the oesophagus when swallowing. As you chew digestive enzymes are produced to further breakdown the food and it triggers the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, helping your stomach to digest and metabolise the food. If the food is not properly chewed larger particles enter the gut and…
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Protein Quality
Protein serves many important functions in the body, with building muscle being its most well-known role. Athletes often consume protein directly after a training session to improve muscle size and strength as well as help with muscle recovery. But are all proteins equal? Protein quality is an important factor in increasing muscle protein synthesis. A high-quality protein will increase the magnitude and decrease the time needed to make new proteins following protein consumption. The quality of a protein is assessed by its: What makes a protein high quality? We have 20 amino acids, of which 9 are EEAs (Essential Amino Acids) and need to be consumed in sufficient amounts to…
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Ketogenic diet, is it for me?
Last year we launched Low Carb Kickstart, a programme to help you change your eating habits to improve your overall health and body composition. Clients were losing weight, felt more energised, were able to move more and do things they hadn’t done in a while and had sharper minds. While we got great feedback, some of the participants still struggled to adapt to this way of eating. So let’s start at the beginning. Low-Carb vs Keto – what’s the difference?? Low-carbohydrate diets typically allow between 50 – 150 grams of carbohydrates per day. While a ketogenic diet is 50 grams or less of carbohydrates per day. These diets aim to…
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Four benefits of meal planning
Meal planning is often listed as one of the top habits for healthy eating, however many of us view this as too daunting a task or a waste of time. On the contrary, proper meal planning will save you time. You won’t have to cook every night and get a head start of your meal prep, so that you can enjoy a healthy meal every day of the week, helps you make healthier food choices and saves you money. #1 Saving You Time This is a bonus for a busy lifestyle and especially those that’s not so fond of cooking. By selecting your meals for the week in advance, you…
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Pre-event breakfast
Endurance and especially ultra-endurance events are very popular among recreational athletes. While many are satisfied with accomplishments of completing the event, other strive to finish in the fastest possible time without sustaining an injury. To achieve this goal they need to manage the decline in performance, as the event progress power production will decrease, rating of fatigue and pain will increase, while skill and cognitive ability also goes down. Many of the decrements in performance can be countered by optimizing nutrition. What you eat or drink before an event can reduce or delay the onset of specific factors which can acutely reduce performance. One nutrition practice would be the pre-event…
