Are you matching your NUTRITION to your EXERCISE?

We are all aging up each year.  That is a fact.

How are you improving the aging process?

Are you using your INTUITION to adjust your training, fueling and training when needed?

The choices we make now on how we live our life today impact how we live our life in the future.

Let’s embrace the aging process and learn how to make adjustments when needed- when you learn how to listen to your own INTUITION!

How do you see your FUTURE SELF?

I am sure you are an active, ambitious, driven individual as myself.  We love to be moving in the outdoors and staying active.  Our happy place is when we are exercising or just spending time outside.

How we fuel, train and perform in life now should be slightly different than we did 10-20 years ago…and probably looks a little different 10-20 years from now.

My goal is to inspire others to embrace the aging process -instead of blaming it and giving up on doing the things we love each day because we are getting older.

If you are struggling with burned out, chronic fatigue and breakdown of your body systems as I once did – I can help you figure out the WHY and HOW to get back to your vibrant active self again.

How to fuel, train and perform our best in life every day is an ongoing journey, as well as an ongoing N = 1 experiment.  I am finding the importance of INTUITVE fueling and training as we age up – especially for those following a strict keto or low carb food plan mixed with intermittent fasting.  When do we course correct, adjust in our plan and actually LISTEN to our body?

Let me give a personal example of my own “Intuitive Fueling and Intuitive Training for The Low Carb Athlete”.

Last Friday I had a 6AM half hour heavy lifting session followed by a 45-minute hilly morning interval run at 6:30 AM,  around sunrise, then 11:45AM “Fast Friday” Masters Swim workout… both workouts going anaerobic for intervals then recovery. 

My fuel before my lift and run in the morning was salted water, Kion Aminos and coffee (French Press!) with a splash of heavy cream and cinnamon. 

Now since I knew I was working out again at 11:45am-1pm and doing fast swim intervals (high/low heart rate), I need to eat something in between the two workout sessions instead of just water and waiting until 2pm to “break my fast” as I used to try doing (pushing my fasting window too long as an active female athlete = stressor to the body!).

My digestion system is slow, so I can only eat certain foods before swimming without having issues of food coming back up (TMI).  My body has been doing better eating intuitively and strategically placing some lower carbs with healthy fats on double workout days instead of solid animal protein (takes me too long to breakdown).  I can do liquid protein shake with healthy fats and carbs as coconut flakes, avocado and nut butter… or chia seed pudding.  I have been trying out a “keto-low carb-gluten free-paleo” English muffin or waffle with ghee (Costco!) and Keto Nutz Butter (Costco!) or maybe olive oil, sea salt and Ghee.

Hard core Keto people would tell me that is so not keto and against being “keto” (and freak out that I actually had carbs- maybe not ideal real food as sweet potatoes but…)… but what if I am a lean female athlete who is doing 2-3 workouts per day (spread apart) and very fat adapted?  I am not going to eat a burger, fish or a steak between my workouts.  My body can tolerate more carbs as I have a lot of lean tissue – muscle!  I seem to digest carbs/fat/protein best over high protein “break fast” plus a cup of bone broth with sea salt and truffle olive oil works great for me as well before and after workouts when I am hungry.

Keep in mind- the suggestions for 20-50 grams of total carbs for nutritional ketosis is NOT for the active, lean, busy athlete as we all are- nor for the lean, female athlete!

Sometimes, I do make superfood low carb protein scones that are great before a long bike ride on the weekend but also works great when I have two hard workouts on the same day.  Recipe below.

The ingredients (plus my additions/edits)

• Coconut flour– Sifted to ensure that no clumps remain. Do not substitute this out for any other flour, as the combination of almond and coconut flours are needed to achieve the perfect texture.
• Almond flour– Blanched almond flour, not almond meal. (I alternate mixing in Tiger Nut Flour, Arrowroot Flour and Casava Flour sometimes)
• Granulated sweetener of choice– I used monk fruit sweetener but erythritol can also be used.
• Baking powder– Gives a little rise and leavening to the scones.
• Heavy cream– You can also use half and half, unsweetened almond milk, or any other milk of choice.
• Coconut oil– Melted and cooled.
• Eggs– Room temperature eggs. One whole egg and one yolk will be used for the dough, and the remaining white will be used to brush on top.
• Vanilla extract– A must for any good scone or baked good!
• Blueberries– Fresh or frozen blueberries can be used. You can also omit it completely if you’d like plain scones. (Instead of berries- I like to add nuts and coconut flakes)

Debbie’s Additional Superfoods for Low Carb Protein Scones (ideal before 3+ hour long bike rides when you want solid food):

1. Ancient Nutrition Bone Broth Protein
2. Four Sigmatic Protein Blend or Mushroom 10 mix
3. Vital Proteins Collagen
4. Great Plains Gelatin
5. Maca powder
6. Flax seeds and Chia seeds – or just Keto Nutz butter (Costco!)
7. Coconut flakes
8. Raw nuts as pistachios, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or walnuts

Get the base of the recipe on Pinterest or here https://www.pinterest.com/pin/690810030354183085/

Back to my example of INTUITIVE FUELING & TRAINING:

Then I save my high protein main meal post workout when I am hungry around 2PM which is usually animal meat, some healthy fat and sometimes a side vegetable.  Last Friday, my “chef” was out of town, so I picked up my local favorite “Mikes BBQ” for tri-tip and pulled chicken for my meal then added Ghee on top and some olive oil instead of BBQ sauce.  I am usually so full after our mid-afternoon meal that I don’t eat dinner, but I have a cup of bone broth if needing something and need extra protein (10 grams per cup).  This example was on a Friday, so we tend to have social plans for dinner on Friday and/or Saturday night then back to our main meal at lunch Sunday to Thursday.

My example of matching my fueling and training last Friday, also leads into Saturday, as what we eat the day before our workout helps stock up our muscle glycogen tanks (our back up fuel tank for the fat-adapted athlete).  Last Friday, remember I had a morning and lunchtime harder workout (not exclusively fat burning fuel) then ate high protein meal for late lunch.  Friday night, we had plans for sushi around 6pm but I was still not hungry, so I just ordered sashimi (more protein) and ate lots of ginger!  Saturday morning, we were going for a longer hilly bike ride up north in the hills around Temecula – hilly bike ride means that I am not able to keep my heart rate in my fat burning range or MAF heart rate range.  I am very fat adapted after 15-20 years of metabolic efficiency training, but I still burn some carbs when my heart rate is over 150 bpm (not exact numbers as I have not done a ME test for years).

Here is where the “intuitive” part comes in…

Usually, weekdays, we wake up and workout with just coffee (splash of heavy cream!) and salted water as our fuel plus some Kion Essential Aminos.  Saturdays are different as we go for a “longer” bike ride (depending on the time of year) and this ride (winter) was to be 3 hours with some hills.

Now, since I worked out more anaerobically on Friday than fat burning workouts plus ate mostly two of my three “meals” high protein, do you eat something before your long Saturday bike ride… or do you just have coffee with heavy cream and call it good?

 

Well, the “old me” would just be tough and go fasted or make a “Fat coffee” then eat later.  After doing metabolic efficiency training and fasted workouts since I started being curious and investigating into this fat burning athlete area around 2005-2007, I am now not as strict (or sometimes smarter!) and as stubborn/hard core about staying fasted before a long bike ride.

This example, we were not riding until 10am as it is colder out in the mornings, so my INTUITION told me it was “okay” to eat something with a balance of carbs/fat/protein before the ride, so I gave myself permission to eat one of my protein low carb superfood scones plus of course the usual coffee, Kion Aminos and salted water.

The next example of INTUITIVE FUELING is during our ride.

Usually, I just have water and sea salt in my bottles while I ride 2-3 hour and I don’t need to eat BUT for some reason (probably connected to eating very low carb on Friday afternoon/evening) my body felt like it needed a little fuel around 2.0-2.5 hours of the ride.  I could tell my pace or performance was starting to decline so I decided to experiment and give myself permission to eat half a low carb “keto” bar.  My body liked it…so, I ate the rest of it during the last 45-minutes of the ride.  I could have gone without and just pushed through the last hour or so, but I wanted to feel strong and perform my best.

This is a great example of matching your nutrition with your exercise and INTUITIVE Fueling for the Low Carb Athlete.

I would suggest not always being so strict and rigid in your fueling plan and start to listen to your body – when to adjust your macros and course correct based on the day, the duration and intensity of your workout.  Friday, my fuel was carbs/fat/protein in between the morning and lunch workout that was high/low heart rate then mostly protein based after that, so my body obviously needed a little carb refeed Friday night in order to do a “fasted” long bike ride or at least not need to fuel during the ride as I usually don’t need anything for 2–3-hour ride.

The answer is always “it depends” when to eat and what to eat.

N = 1 experiment.

Your body is different that mine…as well as your workouts, your schedule, your sleep and your stressors (inside and out!).

The WHOLESTIC Method Coach,

Debbie Potts