Ever found yourself in the final stages of the bike and finding  you have your gut complaining? Or half way into your run and your looking for the closest bush?

If you have ever had this happen to you it sometimes means the end of your race as you planned it. Literally it can have you walking the run and scanning your brain to try and work out what you did wrong with your race nutrition.

The reason I titled this as ‘Single sugar’ is what athletes will often come up with as the problem, and by problem I mean Maltodextrin. Maltodextrin is what makes up most of these single sugar formulas.

But Maltodextrin isn’t the issue here, yes you heard it, it’s actually you that’s the cause of the problem. Well to be correct your gut is the issue.

As most of us do we blame the products or the tools, but this time we have to look back at what you have been doing with that process factory we call the stomach. Issues like bloating, diarrhea and gastric issues can be traced back to what you have done in the months prior to your event and NOT the electrolyte formula you had been handed out on race day.

Rewind the clock, go back to a few months prior to your race, Most of us will say that we trained on the formula that we raced with and had no issues with it.

Stress, we all know that, but what about training stress and GI stress? Most of us know stress as something that happens in the lead up and before the start of a race, but the body goes through a multitude of different stress’s when racing, much more that our hardest simulation.

So back to the gut, how do we fix it?

Speak to the team at Qld Discount Vitamins – Clifford Gardens to find out how to nail your nutrition on race day and have your gut working the way it needs to.

Read the hunger signals. To stay lean year-round, learn to eat when hungry and pass when full. This also means that you don’t feel pangs of guilt for chowing down on seconds because you know when you need it. Athletes who constantly restrain themselves suffer more guilt and are more likely to have blowouts.

Sit down for meals. As a busy athlete juggling three sports, it’s easy to eat on the go all the time. Sit down to eat meals and switch off distractions to fully enjoy your food and be aware of exactly what (and how much) you’re putting in your body.

Don’t overestimate calories burned. Many athletes overeat after a big workout because they think they can make up for a huge calorie expenditure. Try to only modestly increase intake to more accurately match training demands.

Get organized. Shop and stock your cupboards, fridge and emergency stash locations so you’ll have less impulse eating and reliance on fast food or sugary hits. Have a plan for meals and snacks throughout the day.

Eat (healthy) fats. Fat is satiating and essential for optimal health, functioning and energy. This means you should eat fatty foods such as salmon, nuts, olive oil and coconut oil.

Focus on you. What your body needs is not what your colleague, training partner or spouse needs. Don’t stack your plate next to theirs.

Get adequate sleep. Calorie consumption increases when you are tired. Getting a full night’s sleep will keep you on track.

Don’t skip meals to lose weight. Getting overly hungry will just raise cortisol (stress hormone) levels and make weight loss harder. Plus you are more likely to eventually break down and binge. Slow and steady is the rule for lasting weight loss.

Get enough protein. Protein helps curb appetite and maintain muscle mass even when weight loss occurs.

Extracted from Triathlete.com

Many of you may wonder what mitochondria are and why you should care about it. As an endurance athlete, the microscopic entities (organelles) located inside your muscle cells known as mitochondria are critical to your training and racing success. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or a pro athlete; the proper care and feeding of your mitochondria is crucial. Let’s begin with what a mitochondrion (singular) is. Mitochondria Explained Mitochondria are affectionately referred to in almost every academic physiology textbook as the powerhouses of the cell. For our purposes we are going to focus on the muscle cells of the skeletal and cardiac (heart) systems but mitochondria populate many other cells of the human body. A mitochondrion is 0.5 to 1.0 microns in size; that represents 0.0000195 to 0.000039 of an inch. To put this in perspective, the head of pin is 2 millimeters in diameter. Mitochondria is merely a 4,000th to 2,000th the size of the head of a pin. Up to one-third of the volume of your skeletal or cardiac muscle cell is taken up by mitochondria. Incredulous that something so minuscule can put you on the podium? Here is a distilled version of the cellular physiology behind the magic and how to manage it to your advantage. How Mitochondria Function to Help Produce Energy As athletes, we all know about oxygen and carbohydrates (sugar). The mitochondria take both of these ingredients, also called substrates, and use them to produce the energy (product) that makes your heartbeat and your muscles perform. Glucose (the form of sugar found in our blood stream) is repackaged inside the complex internal structure of the mitochondria into two key components: pyruvate and Nicotinic Adenine Dinucleotide (NADH). These two chemicals are now transported into the central part of the organelle where, in the presence of oxygen (this is of primary importance), they are used to produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP is a nifty little chemical that is essentially the energy currency (think money, not electricity) of the cell. This all happens via the Krebs Cycle. How ATP Functions Now that I have piqued your interest and you are starting to wonder exactly how that ATP helps you turn the pedals and stride the miles, let’s talk about what ATP actually does. Inside your muscle cell there are tiny little fibrils (essentially filaments of protein) called Actin and Myosin. The complex physical interaction of these fibrils will be the topic of another article, but in the meantime it’s just important to understand that ATP binds to the myosin fibril and causes the muscle to contract (be it skeletal or cardiac). To give you an idea of how important ATP is, Rigor mortis ensues when your body is no longer able to supply ATP to your working muscle cells. If you have ever bonked in a race it was a result of your muscle cells being depleted of glucose, oxygen, and ATP. Production of energy for your working muscles is an extremely complex biochemical recipe, but it can all be boiled down to the simple ingredients of sugar, oxygen, and calcium. Sugar supplies the basic building blocks (remember pyruvate and NADH) that the mitochondria use to produce ATP in the presence of oxygen (the whole process is called oxidative phosphorylation). Calcium is essential to transformation of glucose into the pyruvate and NADH as well as the interaction of the myofibrils myosin and actin mentioned above. The Importance of Oxygen This process is completely dependent on the presence of oxygen as it represents aerobic respiration inside your working muscle cells. Hopefully, this gets started thinking about your heart rate monitor. Your working muscles use glucose to produce ATP at a rate 13 times higher in the presence of oxygen than when oxygen is not readily available. If your heart rate monitor alarm is screaming because you’re exceeding your lactate threshold it won’t be long before you bonk. Now here is the best part – exercise actually results in mitochondrial proliferation within muscle cells. What this means is that by exercising, you are essentially asking your body to provide you with more energy and it responds by revving up its own cellular machinery. The Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology published a fascinating article that explains this in more detail if you’re looking for an in depth publication on the subject. How Can You Help Mitochondria Production Your cellular biochemistry cannot do all the work on it’s own; it needs you to be it’s teammate in the process. How can you help your physiology to perform at it’s best? Here of some simple things you can do to optimise this process and make the best of your training and have a great race performance: Train Smart Overtraining and training without appropriate recovery damages muscles cells and the intracellular machinery. Create training programs and hire a coach if you are able. Stay Hydrated Optimal cellular function is dependent on the right balance of water so that transport of substances occurs readily. Dehydration leads to “gunking” up of the system. Be sure to stay hydrated throughout the day and in training. Fuel Feed your mitochondria a steady diet of available sugar. This means consuming carbohydrates in a manner that gives your cells readily available fuel (glucose) for training and racing and well as eating a well-balanced diet and choosing high-quality recovery snacks to boost your glycogen reserves. Additionally, muscles and mitochondria need protein to proliferate. Make sure your protein intake is adequate and high quality. Constant Oxygen Supply Mitochondria cannot function in an anaerobic environment. Training in zone 2 is the best way to develop more mitochondria. Know your maximum heart rate and lactate threshold and use your heart monitor to keep that oxygen flowing freely to your cells. Electrolytes As we discussed, calcium is integral to the biochemical process, but calcium does not exist and function in isolation. Calcium’s availability and function is inextricably tied to the levels of other electrolytes like potassium and magnesium as well as the pH of the blood. Make sure you are ingesting a balanced mix of electrolytes when training and racing.

http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2015/06/12/how-mitochondria-powers-your-performance

Omega what?

If you are training at any particular sport you will have at some stage come across inflammation. Now what a lot of athletes don’t know is that you can get better results from altering your nutrition slightly with regards to poly unsaturated fats (Omega 3 & 6).

Fats, they are bad news?

No, your body requires fats to perform at it’ best, as well as Protein and Carbohydrates. So what’s the deal you’re asking me?

With today’s processed foods come an increase in Omega 6 rich ingredients oils, wheat and cereals to name a few. This in turn compared with Omega 3 rich foods such as oily fish, oysters and chia seeds (this is only a few) there is an imbalance in the majority of the population. Take our example living in Toowoomba, we don’t get regular access to fresh seafood compared to our favorite holiday spot on the Sunshine Coast.

Think to yourself, what did you have last night for dinner? A Pizza or a plate of salmon? Now, I’m not saying go and eat a plate load of oily fish, I’d be the first to think twice about that.

Back to the better results for your training, Omega 6 is a pro-inflammatory compared to Omega 3 which is an anti-inflammatory, so when we lift weights, run training or kettle bell training, small tears happen to our muscle fibers producing micro inflammation. With Omega 3 being at a good level in our system, it can do its job and reduce that micro inflammation and help us recover quicker compared to having an abundance of Omega 6 in our system.

Now, the right ratio is around 1:1 for our systems, we still need Omega 6 for daily living, so don’t drop Omega 6 completely.

Java... Joe... Espresso... Mud... It's what most of us use to start our day or to recharge for a mid-day jolt. INFINIT MUD is the perfect cup of your favorite high-octane brew with all the benefits of a pre-workout meal or recovery drink. It's all in there: INFINIT's exclusive blend of coffees, protein, carbs, and aminos. 100% all natural premium ingredients with no artificial flavors or colors.

Available in early March 2015

Swiss Chocolate or French Vanilla

Advanced slow release casein protein blend
Fat burning complex:

Raspberry Ketones, Green Coffee Bean Extract, Green Tea Extract, African Mango Seed Extract Calming herbs Skullcap and Chamomile to help sleep Added Vitamins, Minerals and Amino Acids to ensure optimal

Recovery and muscle toning No added sugars or fats

GLUTEN Free

Q. I am still trying to drop a few kg's. Should I be following the “no eating after a certain time” rule to help me reach my weight-loss goals more easily?

A. This is an interesting question. From an athletes perspective you often find that they are training late into the afternoon, so recovery is important and therefore you'll need to get food in after that 6pm time.
If your already completed your training in the morning or on a rest day then the option to cut off at the 6pm is based on what you have been consuming across the day.

1. Ensure you are fueling adequately all day, not skimping on calories earlier in the day and thus overeating late at night, which can lead to weight gain (or prevent weight loss).

2. Fuel up before all evening workouts with a good, balanced snack, such as half a sandwich, a cup of soup, or yogurt and fruit.

3. Plan your dinners in advance to avoid poor last-minute choices or “grazing” on whatever happens to be in the kitchen when you arrive home late and hungry.

4. Include complex carbs, lean protein, veggies and good fats in your dinner meal, no matter what time the clock says. Good examples include lentils, salmon, kale and avocado or quinoa and beans, lean meat and sautéed veggies.

5. If you are trying to drop a few unwanted kg’s, find other (smart!) places to cut calories, such as that third handful of pretzels at lunch or that extra beer on Friday night.

LIPO-6 UNLIMITED stands for infinite possibilities. We call it UNLIMITED as it comes without restraints, limits or restrictions. Its unique formula offers unlimited weight loss results, unlimited resolve to eat less, unlimited energy to train harder and empowers your mind with an unlimited focus to break through plateaus. Dieting can be very difficult and makes even the strong-willed weak at times. LIPO-6 UNLIMITED helps to lift these boundaries by delivering a potent fat loss response along with feel good effects. Think UNLIMITED and define a new you!

This should be real easy!

The first person to ID this container and is able to tell me one of the ingredients will WIN it!

Give me your best guess!

The first all natural fat loss powder with zero artificial flavours, colours or sweeteners.

Give your energy levels and mental focus a sustained boost with potent ingredients found in nature that your body will recognise. Sweetened using erythritol and stevia, and did you know erythritol is more than a zero cal sweetener?  It may have strong antioxidant effect, which protects vascular health.  Bioburn contains caffeine from three natural sources (green coffee, green tea and guarana) to deliver a long lasting energy without the jitters or crash. Highly bioavailable: do not consume after 4pm.

Gluten Free, Lactose Free, Full Ingredient Disclosure

    Promote fat oxidation
    Increase metabolic rate
    Enhance mental focus
    Boost energy levels
    Enhance mood

Healthy fat metabolism

Garcinia + Raspberry Ketones is an innovative product combining compounds of hydroxycitric acid (HCA) from Garcinia cambogia and natural ketones from Raspberry fruit. This product has been specifically formulated to help maintain healthy body composition.

Get them now at Qld Discount Vitamins - Clifford Gardens

With the New Year already here and those resolutions now almost 2 weeks old, how are you going?

QLD Discount Vitamins – Clifford Gardens are now taking applicants for Nutrition Coaching. We can help you with your New Years goal.
Want to gain weight, loose it?
Would you like someone to monitor you week-to-week stats and set realistic goals for you to achieve?

Get off the fad diets that promise outrageous kilo drops, learn to identify what the body requires with real food and understand how your body handles macro nutrition.

To find out more, just pop in store or give us a call.

Thickened with chia seed paste instead of the typical cornstarch found in most pudding recipes, this sweet treat makes delectable use of overripe bananas.

3 ripe (even overripe) bananas
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1/4 cup honey
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Peel bananas and place in a large bowl. Mash bananas with a fork and set aside.

Place chia seeds in a blender or food processor with a tiny bit of water. Pulse until seeds are broken down into a paste.

Warm milk and honey in a small pot over medium-low heat.

In a large bowl, whisk egg. Add mashed bananas, chia seed paste and one-third of the milk and honey mixture. Stir well before adding the rest of the milk and honey.

Add pudding mixture to the small pot and return to stove. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly, about three minutes. Remove from heat and cool in the refrigerator.

Electrolytes are charged metallic “ions” that help balance fluid pressure inside our cells and control the pH of our blood. Normal nerve, heart and muscle function relies on adequate amounts of these minerals, and deficiencies can hamper performance dramatically. The root cause of muscle cramps is usually from a lack of electrolytes, especially potassium and magnesium. Water does not supply enough of these minerals anymore. In the past, our water would come down from the mountains, collect minerals from the rocks, become activated through movement and was free of pollutants. Today, our water needs to be purified, distilled and treated which can diminish or completely eliminate the mineral content. To top it off, much of the water has become fluoridated, which binds to magnesium and sets you up for leg cramps.
Endura Low Carb formula is designed to address the lack of core electrolytes and give you the correct re-hydration with no sugar!

Chocolate-packed protein so good, you'll reach for one of these even on days you don't work out.

• 20g of high-quality protein to help build and repair muscle*
• Carbohydrates to help you sustain your workout
• Zero grams trans fat and does not contain partially-hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup
• Low glycemic**

If your drink is a medium latte with two percent milk (no whipped cream), it's 190 calories. Next to it, for visual reference, is 1/3-cup of mixed nuts that weighs in at 213 calories. You can have one or the other—not both—to stay around 200 calories. If you want the nuts, switch to plain coffee or tea for your beverage and you'll only add a couple of calories. A hot beverage can satisfy a cold body. Remember that specialty drinks contain more calories.

Cherries are one of the most antioxidant-rich fruit and provide a wide range of health benefits, as well as performance and recovery benefits for athletes. Research has shown that runners who consumed tart cherry juice, twice a day for seven days a week, had strikingly less muscle pain following a long distance run. The post-exercise benefits are astonishing because of the fruit's natural anti-inflammatory components. A recent study from the University of Michigan revealed that a cherry enriched diet lowered total weight, body fat and inflammation, all associated with heart disease.

Balance Ultra Ripped deal! Get in quick for this awesome offer.

Buy any Ultra Ripped product and receive FREE a towel, shaker and 60 cap's of L-carnitine.

How good is that?

Nutrient timing is a planned alteration of macronutrient intake in order to promote health, workout performance, and get/stay lean.

Most nutrient intake is taken on a response from the body asking for food, and there fore you take on nutrients at no real planned time of the day.
What if nutrient timing could gain your more muscle mass or trim off those extra couple of kilo's without doing anything extra?
Well your in luck, taking on the right amount of macro nutrients at the correct timing can produce those results you might be looking for. Take for example a 40 year old looking to increase some muscle but keep that belly fat reduced, What would think would work for him?

Like to know more?....why not pop in chat to us about nutrient timing at QLD Discount Vitamins - Clifford Gardens