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Sock Doc WorkshopsTissue and joint repair is an important topic among many people, especially athletes. Supplements such as glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, and other products are often taken when there is joint pain or degeneration, in hopes that a cure can be found in a bottle. Sometimes these substances work and sometimes they …
Athlete Diet Tips & Dietary Health Info
These articles discuss various athlete diet tips, athletic health and fitness, and dietary supplements. Learn about dietary influence on the health and fitness of an athlete. A healthy athlete diet is imperative in order for an athlete to develop and maintain a high level of fitness. Many athletes take unnecessary supplements and/or eat foods that are highly processed and loaded with artificial ingredients - all which have an impact on health, fitness, and performance. Eating the right foods and taking the proper nutritional supplements, when necessary, can speed recovery, reduce and eliminate pain, and help an athlete get to the next level of fitness. The athlete diet and nutrition topics here discuss healthy carbohydrate intake, fat burning, supplements, nutrition bars, the vegan athlete diet, the superior paleo diet for athletes, and many other topics.
A Paleo Diet for Athletes for Superior Performance
Paleo diets for athletes have become increasingly popular over the recent years. For athletes, a Paleo diet can provide optimal use of the fatty acid metabolic pathways. As your body becomes more and more accustomed to a reduced carbohydrate intake, intra-muscular triglycerides stores will increase along with increased efficiency of …
Vegan Athletes
So you wanna be a vegan athlete – what the hell is wrong with you? Settle down vegans, I’m only kidding, (well partially), I know how easy it is to rile you guys up. It may be the protein deficiency and blood sugar instability that sets you all off so …
Breaking Muscle – You Move As Well As You Eat: The Link Between Food and Gait
Moving with good form requires the right kind of fuel. Simply look at triathletes finishing an Ironman or runners finishing a marathon. Often they are bent over, twisted, and shuffling. Their gait patterns have been broken. Their bodies have been broken. You’d be surprised at how rapidly your gait falls …
Everything in Moderation?
Moderate Your Holiday Moderation With the holidays now upon us, Halloween through Easter is a long time to play the moderation card and slack off on diet, exercise, and your (hopefully) healthy lifestyle. It’s actually the time when your diet should be the most healthy and “clean” as cold temperatures, …
Sugar Coating Your Performance
Welcome to Part V of the Sock Doc Essential Guide to Carbohydrates. Part IV was way back in June in which I discussed the hot topic of ketosis in athletes. Parts I-III discussed the many roles, both positive and negative, of carbohydrates in an athlete’s diet. The gist of the …
Ketogenic Diet for Athletes
Here in Part IV of the Sock Doc Essential Guide to Carbohydrates I’m going to discuss the hot topic of a ketogenic diet for athletes. Ketosis is a metabolic state where the liver takes fat and proteins and produces molecules called ketone bodies to use for energy. Ketosis allows a …
Train Hard, Race Fast: Carbohydrates for Training and Recovery
Welcome to Part III, (of some unknown number), of the Sock Doc Essential Guide to Carbohydrates where I discuss carbohydrates for training and recovery (and racing too!). I discussed the chemistry behind how your body uses sugar and fat for fuel in Part I. Part II dealt with how to …
Condition Your Body to Burn Fat
Conditioning your body to burn fat involves more than just training properly. Fat metabolism relies on a low stress lifestyle as well as a diet that promotes fat-for-fuel. I won’t go into proper training here – that’s been done over at the Sock Doc Training Principles and other areas on …
Carbohydrates: Evil or Essential?
Any athlete who is concerned about their performance has questioned, if not thoroughly investigated, whether they should eat more carbs or less carbs to improve their fitness. Actually, with the current trend towards low-carb diets and a Paleo-lifestyle, and considering the world pandemic of obesity, you may be a conscientious-carb-counter. …
Valentine’s Day – Another Reason For Athletes to Eat Chocolate
Mmmmmm, chocolate. It can be beneficial both mentally and physically as it’s loaded with healthy antioxidants, minerals, and even stimulants. Chocolate was once considered the nectar of the gods. Actually, those who were once sacrificed to the gods were given chocolate mixed in blood before their hearts were ripped out …
Athletes, Sun Exposure, and Vitamin D
Being outside has both advantages and risks whether you’re training hard or chilling out by the pool. The sun is one factor that can be beneficial to the athlete as well as detrimental. As summer approaches we are bombarded with information that the sun kills thousands of people each year …
High Fructose Corn Syrup – Steer Clear For Your Health & Performance
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is often cited as an obesity and diabetes-causing food product, giving any athlete concerned about his or her heath and performance a reason to think twice before consuming the sweetness. But then there is research that fructose actually helps performance and regular exercise and consequent …
Is Your Recovery Drink or Nutrition Bar Toxic?
Could your energy bar, fluid replacement drink, or post-workout recovery meal ultimately be hindering your performance? It’s very likely due to the many artificial processed ingredients out there. Many foods athletes consume contain the infamous MSG. We all know that person who can’t eat Chinese food because they’ll get a …
Easy on the Carbs – Get Lean, Get Fast
Carbohydrate intolerance/insulin resistance are terms often used interchangeably because they usually go hand-in-hand. These conditions can significantly affect the health and fitness of any runner, cyclist, or triathlete. Excess carb intake, or not metabolizing carbs very well, will result in weight gain, (or the inability to lose weight), aerobic metabolism …
Dietary Danger: Partially Hydrogenated “Trans” Fats
One food item that every athlete should avoid is trans fats. They are not beneficial in any form and they are not necessary for any reason biochemically. Avoidance of these fats is the one thing that anybody can do and it has the most widespread benefits. You’ll recover faster from …
Diet vs. Gait: What You Eat Affects How You Run
In this second part series on gait, I examine the importance of nutrition. Good form requires the right kind of fuel. You’d be surprised at how rapidly one’s gait begins to fall apart when the gas tank is low. Often a runner has a fluid motion in the gait when he …
Nutrition & Energy Bars – Know What You’re Eating
Nutrition (energy) bars have come a long way from the days when their manufacturers only catered to weight lifters. Today’s energy bars come in wide variety of ingredients, sizes, textures, and prices. Not all energy bars are the same and like all food, you should choose wisely when deciding which bar …
Sorting Out the Confusion of Nutritional Supplements
Not all supplements are created equal. Going out and buying a multi-vitamin/mineral combination that gives you 100% or more the RDA of everything is not necessarily a good idea. Don’t think that if you don’t need it, your body won’t use it, or you’ll just “pee it out”. Supplements, when …