BACK TO BASICS
SLEEP, NUTRITION, HYDRATION
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Welcome to the E-book, “ Back to basics�. In this E-book, I will help you to understand that in the over-complicated world of health and fitness where everyone is looking for quick fixes, instant results, and the perfect diet or training programme, we forget that most of the time all we need to do to get the results we desire is to stick to the basics.
Learning outcomes 1.
The importance of sleep
2.
The role of vitamins and minerals
3.
Understanding macronutrients
4.
Proper hydration
1 ) The importance of sleep Everyone knows that getting good sleep is an important part of life. Most people know they should be getting between 7 and 9 hours sleep a night but often are not. Sleep is as much about quality as it is about quantity and can be affected by a number of environmental and intrinsic (e.g., emotional) factors. Sleep is important for the health of our nervous system, musculoskeletal system, endocrine (hormonal system) and our cognitive function. Sleep is also the time when the body shuts down and repairs from its daily activities, and the body requires a certain amount of sleep to do this reparation on a cellular and systemic level. Without good sleep, processes such as tissue repair decelerate, which means recovering from training is impaired and - over time - the central nervous system (CNS) is subjected to a lot of pressure. As a consequence, the lower CNS output will reduce the capacity of the body to perform daily tasks such as driving or even conversing. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is primarily when the body repairs itself. In this stage of sleep, the body goes into a form of paralysis, which stops the body from moving around and gives it a break from producing various chemicals so it can begin repairing. Commonly, people find it difficult go into REM sleep, due to environmental distractions, lifestyle factors, and poor nutrition, meaning that a person can get 8 hours sleep a night but not recover properly or feel particularly rested.
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The biggest issue with sleep these days is that most people through the use of artificial light are allowed to work or play outside the normal natural hours. You’d be hard pressed to find a person these days that follows the body’s natural circadian rhythm and for good reason, we have too many responsibilities throughout the day to try and fit them into the days natural light window. I have this battle with my partner lucy most weeks, she doesn’t have to wake as early as I do and watching TV is her way of relaxing. No matter how many times I tell her that the body and mind aren’t really relaxing while watching TV I never seem to get through and I usually get told to do one. I then usually succumb to sitting back on the sofa and watching TV with her. What I’m trying to get at here is that we all find it hard to get away from the TV in the evenings because we all enjoy watching our favourite shows and that’s fine, its about using methods to help the body come back into the present and relax fully. My favourite method for this is meditating; I meditate most evenings for around 10 mins. I do it immediately before bed and find that no matter how wired I feel it brings me back to a place where my mind and body can relax and sleep well. I would strongly recommend the book ‘lights out” for more info on the effects of artificial light. A poll conducted in the years 2000,2001,2002 by the national sleep foundation found that many people are only sleeping for 4-5 hours a night. A number of studies have shown that frequent sleep deprivation has a big effect on our appetite. The studies show that after just 2 nights of 4 hours of sleep our appetites are increased significantly. Not only does it increase our appetite but it also lowers a hormone called leptin which is an appetite suppressant meaning our body’s ability to realise it is full is impaired greatly. This alone outlines the importance of sleep when talking about body composition changes that many people are seeking.
Improving sleep Try to stay away from stimulating blue light from laptops, phones or TVs prior to going to bed. Blue light will increase cortisol levels in the body and reduce the body’s ability to produce melatonin, which helps us drop into restful sleep. Eating the correct food prior to bed is important and can be different for everybody, so play around with what works for you. Play around with the size of the meal, the macronutrient ratio and the types of food. For example I’ve found that a teaspoon of honey at night really helps me get to sleep. We all know that caffeine can affect the body’s ability to get to sleep. Caffeine has a half life of 6 hours so try not to consume it after 4pm so that the majority can be cleared from the body to allow for normal melatonin production. For people that have energy issues I would strongly recommend avoiding caffeine as it masks the underlying problems and can potentially worsen stress related fatigue. What is the room like that you sleep in? I ask this question because a number of small accumulative factors can effect how well you sleep. Do you sleep with many SEANHARTCOACHING.COM
electrical devices in the room, are you close to any irregular sounds or noises, is the temperature of the room too warm or cold, is the bed comfortable, or do you sleep beside someone. These are all factors to take into consideration. At times Lucy and I will wake each other up and not get the greatest of nights sleep, but we both use meditation through the day for no longer than 5 minutes to give back to the body what it didn’t get that night. Lets look at light in a little more detail, light from the sun, street lights, your TV, your phone all give out blue light whereas candles work on red light. When blue light hits your eyes it signals for the increase of cortisol, which will gradually pull you out of a deep sleep. This is perfect when you’re meant to be getting up but not so good at 3am in the morning when the streetlight is shining through the curtains. Invest in a good set of black out curtains or blinds to minimise the amount of light being let in. Turn phones onto flight mode so that no messages or emails come through during the night. If you can’t get away from using your laptop in the evening then download F.lux, this software will dim your computer screen and take away the blue light when the sun goes down. For the body to fall into a deep sleep it must drop its core body temperature, if the room is too warm it will struggle to do this. Have a window open or lower the temperature of the room, it might not be as cosy at first but this will allow the body to drop into a deep sleep. Another method that might help is having a hot bath or shower before going to bed. When you get out and your body attempts to cool itself, it will relax the body and the mind and allow for a more restful sleep. Relaxation methods are always a good way to help improve sleep. Moat people regard watching TV as being relaxing but as mentioned previously the blue light will not allow the correct hormone process to occur to get the body in a relaxed state to drop off. Activities such as reading, food preparation, socialising with your partner, sex, stretching and meditating are all methods that will help the mind and body relax. Many people fall into the trap of being on a very low calorie diet, because they either believe it’s how you lose weight or they forget to eat, or make the excuse that they are too busy to eat. We all get the same amount of time in a day, so why do equally busy people have such different food intakes? Low calorie diets don’t provide enough raw fuel or micro nutrition for the body. The body will find this very stressful and will constantly be seeking extra calories via cravings. Nobody should be in a calorie deficit of more than 10-15% or 20% for obese individuals otherwise stress symptoms will occur which can have a huge effect on sleep performance.
Sleeps effect on leptin and ghrelin http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC535701/
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Stress and it’s effect on exercise recovery http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24343323
Short Sleep and Weight Gain – A Systematic Review http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2723045/pdf/nihms99407.pdf
2) The role of vitamins and minerals Vitamins are a group of organic compounds that are essential for normal growth and nutrition. These cannot be made by the body so are therefor required to be consumed in our diet. Minerals are element forms of chemicals and greatly impact the balance of water in our bodies. They fall under the term ‘salts’ i.e magnesium and calcium salts. The importance of vitamin and minerals must not be neglected as even small deficiencies can lead to a fall in any biological function, including immune function, energy production and nerve signalling. People complaining of tiredness and low levels of energy, even after a full nights sleep, should look no further than the variety of nutrients they are consuming to support the body. The important factor to take away here is that too little or too much of any vitamin or mineral can be detrimental to our health, so making sure that our focus is on eating a broad variety of nutrients will ensure we get the right balance and not us lead down a path where extreme dieting practices cause over or under consumption of any nutrient. Aim for wide variety of colour in your shop and try to pick up four new fruits or vegetables every week. When looking at your plate of food vegetables should make up the majority of space. A good step towards ensuring proper vitamin and mineral nutrition is to start the day with a vegetable and fruit drink. Go for a mix of 90% veg and 10% fruit to ensure that sugar levels are kept low first thing in the morning. For example, kale, spinach, avocado, beetroot, half an apple, blueberries and the juice of a lime tastes great.
3) Understanding Macronutrients Macronutrients consist of the three important food groups, carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
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These days everyone is on the latest diet, whether that be the 5:2 diet, the low carb diet, the low fat diet, the Paleo diet, vegan and vegetarian diet, or the all you can eat diet. There are so many to choose from that it can leave us feeling confused about which is the best, especially as they all have their own online Gurus that swear by the results of that particular diet. First things first, food is hugely individual and no two diets should be exactly the same. When looking at the three macronutrients we shouldn’t be dogmatic, fat isn’t bad, carbs aren’t bad and neither is protein. All three are needed for proper function of the human body. The only difference is that everyone functions optimally on different amounts of each.
Fat - the old evil Needed for optimal hormone function Creates satiety Helps with the absorption of nutrients A low fat diet isn’t superlative for optimal human function Examples of fats that should be in most people’s diets are butter, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, oils, avocados, 70%+ dark chocolate and good quality animal fat. Avoid vegetables oils, low quality animal fat and vegetable spreads. Nature has a way of providing everything for us. Milk for example is full of nutrients and unless you’re intolerant, should be part of your diet. The reason for fat in milk is so that the body can absorb the nutrients from the milk. Don’t be sacred of fat, nature provides us with it because it is needed for optimal human function. One thing to think about when consuming fat from meat is that Animals store toxins in their fat tissue. So if you buy cheap poor quality meat I would advise buying leaner cuts and adding fat into your diet from other sources as mentioned above. If on the other hand you buy organic or grass fed meats, then the fats are particularly healthy and incredibly tasty and there’s no reason to avoid them.
Carbs Needed for optimal performance Aids satiety Good source of nutrition especially from fruit/veg Helps with thyroid function/metabolism
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Good sources are vegetables including potatoes and squashes, fruits, quinoa and rice.
Avoid gluten and wheat grains if problematic for you. To find this out cut wheat and gluten from your diet for 30 days. You must completely eliminate it for this to work. After the 30 days introduce one back into your diet and access how it makes you feel. Symptoms of wheat and gluten intolerance aren’t limited to digestive upset, but also include bloating, joint pain, head aches, lethargy and poor concentration. Intolerances can be a major factor when improving someone’s health and wellbeing so don’t take them lightly, it could be the difference between getting and not getting results. I myself have intolerances to wheat and gluten and have been on a journey for the last 3 years learning how to avoid it. Like most people at first I thought well if I can’t eat gluten and wheat then there is not much left for me to eat at all. I could not have been further from the truth. I can truly empathise with people on this journey and understand how hard it can be to get your head around it. I believe that having a good support system in place around you is key to achieving your goal of staying free from your intolerances whatever they may be.
I remember starting my journey with bucket loads of enthusiasm, my Monday to Friday was in London most of the time and being around my colleagues, one in particular, Will Foster, who started his journey a year earlier. His experience and support really helped me stay clear of wheat and gluten and taught me to start thinking about foods that were nutritious for my body and not detrimental like wheat and gluten. For me in the beginning it was my weekends that I found hard, my support mechanism of Will and my colleagues was gone and I was spending time with Lucy my partner, who then was eating everything under the sun. It was hard at first because I was aware that she was not ready yet for the journey I was embarking on and I didn’t want to force her into anything. The weekends were made even worse when we travelled up to Norfolk to see the in laws. For a while temptation got the better of me as Wendy my mother in law liked to make cakes for us when we came up, and they were the best dam cakes! Luckily for me Wendy respected my journey and overtime, all the cakes became wheat and gluten free. Lucy also started her intolerance free journey about a year ago and now my support mechanisms are all around me. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have the support in my life as it has made my lifestyle much easier to grasp and my health has skyrocketed for it.
Carbs have become the nations new phobia and most people blame them for their weight gain. This has led to extreme low carb diets, which usually means low calorie due to cutting out an entire macronutrient. People usually find it hard to
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adhere to which causes a “yoyo dieting” effect of low calories to high calories, which throws the hormonal system out of sync and makes losing weight increasingly more difficult the longer it goes on.
Excess carbs can be a factor when gaining weight but only because the average person’s diet is over 50% carbohydrates and normally in the form of refined sugars and flour from pasta and bread.
Everybody has a different carbohydrate need, it’s determined by the bodies preferred fuel source, by the person’s activity levels and by the size of that person.
Carbs are generally the body’s favoured fuel source for exercise so somebody who trains five times each week is going to have a greater need for them, than somebody that trains once a week. Now, the type of training is also important as endurance based exercise will have a greater demand for carbs than lifting heavy weights. The way I like to introduce carbs into my diet is by consuming them around my workout when the body’s needs are greatest for them. I adjust the amount of carbs consumed based on the intensity or type of workout. To keep nutrients high for optimal function I choose fruits or potatoes over rice as my first choice of carb.
Protein Eat protein at every meal Essential for constant repair and recovery Best macronutrient for satiety Helps you build muscle
Getting a variety of protein is key. Good sources are chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, oily fish, white fish, eggs, cottage cheese, diary, offal, game and wild meat.
Health, body composition and performance are optimal when you meet a daily protein goal. For most people this number is somewhere between 1-2 g of protein per kg of body weight. If you’re exercising or you are somebody that struggles with satiety then I would say the demand is greater.
To keep it simple just make sure there is a good source of protein with every meal. SEANHARTCOACHING.COM
The overall picture Looking at the overall picture its important to know that everyone will function better on a different ratio of macros and there is no one size fits all, no matter how much somebody try’s to make you believe there is.
As I mentioned above sticking to a protein goal is very important. Aim for 1-2g per kg of body weight, if your training frequency increases then look to up this to around 3g.
Other factors to consider are whether you are a fat or carb person. What I mean by this is that most of us will have a preferred source of energy and nutrition for our everyday lives. A good way to find this out, is to consume a different breakfast on two consecutive days.
On day one eat a bowl of porridge and access how you’re feeling 2 hours after. Think about energy levels, mood, if you’re still full or are you starting to reach for the biscuits in the office?
On day two eat scrambled eggs made with butter with an avocado on the side and access the same criteria. You should get a better idea of what ratio of carbs to fat your body does best on.
4) Hydration Water is essential for life and is very important for our body’s physical and mental performance.
We can live for up to 50 days without food but cannot live past a few days without water even in a cool climate.
We commonly loose water through are skin by sweating, through urine production and vapour in our breath. We loose around 700ml every day at complete rest just through respiration, roughly 1.5 litres as urine and up to 200ml as sweat during a gym session.
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The importance of water cannot be understated. Adequate hydration levels will aid the body in ridding stored toxins, help with proper digestion and support the body’s immune system. Another key factor is that fat is only utilized in muscle cells and for muscle cells to work properly and utilize the fat they must have adequate hydration.
Dehydration Even mild dehydration can affect mood, energy levels and our ability to think clearly.
Most people use thirst as an indicator of when we need to drink, which can be ok if the signal is mild as the body is working properly and sending you signals, which means you should drink. If the signal is mild then hydration can be maintained, but if the thirst signal is strong then you are likely already dehydrated.
Persistent dehydration can lead to a reduction in lean body mass and greatly effect the performance of a high rep or endurance training sessions.
Staying Hydrated Always start the day with a large drink of filtered water. Make this the first thing you do when getting out of bed. Using a small pinch of good salt (pink Himalayan) can help the body hold onto more water. The salt will cause the cells in your body to draw in more water and hold onto it. Lemon or lime in water can also help add potassium back into the body, which is greatly lost through sweating. It also gives the water a great taste and can help with people who find water boring to drink. Be aware that exercise increases your body’s need for water and depending on a person’s size and sweating volume should take on an extra 750ml to l.5 litres whilst training. Use this calculation to give you a good idea of how much water to drink on a daily basis. Your weight in kg divided by 0.024 as litres per day. The body’s hydration levels are maintained via a feedback loop starting with the hypothalamus in the brain, the pituitary gland, the kidneys, the bladder and finally the amount of water in the blood stream.
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The body releases hormones to either shut of or increase the amount of water allowed to reach the bladder for excretion depending on the amount of water in the blood stream. This means that drinking too much water at once can be problematic to keeping the body in homeostasis. To keep the body in homeostasis drink regular small amounts of water throughout the day.
Detoxification Detoxification is probably one of the most commonly used terms in the fitness industry. We are constantly be bombarded with the best detox system to boost our health. These systems make people believe that to detox properly we need to be using one of the these protocols which are usually very expensive and create dogmatism over eating real food through the promotion of replacement detox drinks.
The truth is that our bodies are constantly detoxing. Toxins enter our body through our food, water, through our skin and by inhalation. We also create toxins via biochemical reactions such as the break down of fatty acids for energy during weight loss. It’s the livers job to remove these toxins from the blood and release them through the kidneys for elimination in urine so they are not harmful to our body.
These toxins will only be harmful if they are allowed to build in the body. This is why keeping the body hydrated and in homeostasis will aid in maximum excretion of toxins via urine.
Other sources of hydration Water should be the main source of hydration but doesn’t need to be the only source: Teas Smoothies/juices Fruits Greens drinks are all methods of thinking outside the water bottle.
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