Actually, most triathletes take supplements. With the benefit of increased energy and nutrient requirements, a desire for performance enhancement, and a higher degree of inflammation based on food and exercise, we may actually gain a small benefit from taking pills (legally, of course).
However, many athletes indiscriminately take their “morning handful” of capsules, swallow them, and “dial in” their nutritional supplements for the day. The fact is that this supplement-triggering approach can result in subpar absorption and utilization of the desirable nutrients, vitamins, minerals, or other compounds in the nutritional supplement.
So here are the top 6 nutritional supplement mistakes and how you can avoid them:
Nutritional Supplement Mistake #1: Eating Fiber with Fish Oil
Most people take their fish oil supplement in the morning, along with breakfast. The problem is that most breakfast foods are high in fiber. And soluble fibers like pectin, guar gum, and oat bran, and also insoluble lignin fiber (found in plant cell walls) can affect fat absorption by “wrapping” fatty acids inside digestive tract and decrease its absorption. Fatty acids and cholesterol that are bound to fiber are less absorbed, and only free fatty acids allow fat to be transported through the walls of the small intestine. The fatty acids bound to the fiber will pass mainly to the large intestine.
In other words, by popping your fish oil capsules with a high-fiber morning cereal, you’re basically making expensive fish oil poop. So what should I do? Try having your fish oil with a fat-based snack in the afternoon, such as a handful of olives, almond butter on a pita, or avocado with crackers.
Nutritional Supplement Mistake #2: Regularly Taking High Doses of Antioxidants
This can be confusing, especially if you’ve been indoctrinated with the idea that all antioxidants are good for you, but recent research suggests that antioxidant nutritional supplements, such as high doses of vitamin C, may actually impair recovery, increase inflammation, decrease insulin sensitivity and lead to a decreased physical response to exercise. The basic idea behind this is that antioxidants protect the body from free radical damage, but if you always take high doses of antioxidants, your body never learns to generate its own antioxidant activity and therefore doesn’t grow strong and healthy. free. radical scavenging capacity alone.
While this is a fairly new topic in sports nutrition and research is sparse, my recommendation is to save any high-dose antioxidant supplements for the most intense training days (such as long training weekends) when your body is likely to need a little extra help. But on recovery days and easy/short training days, avoid antioxidants. You probably don’t need them and they may be doing you more harm than good.
Nutritional Supplement Mistake #3: Eating Amino Acids When Trying to Control Appetite
Branched-chain amino acids, also known as “BCAAs,” are found in a ton of different nutritional supplements during and after exercise. But it’s a little known fact that in cancer patients who need to gain weight, BCAAs are used to stimulate appetite and help people eat more. Obviously, if you’re trying to lose weight or control your appetite, eating a handful of BCAAs the night before dinner may not be a good idea. This is only a concern for a select few people who focus on appetite control and weight loss, but it’s certainly good to know if you experience food cravings on a regular basis.
Nutritional Supplement Mistake #4: Taking Proteolytic Enzymes on a Full Stomach
Proteolytic enzymes, like BCAAs, are quite commonly found in recovery based nutritional supplements. Check the Nutrition Facts label of your recovery nutritional supplement for words like “papain,” “bromelain,” “trypsin,” and “chymotrypsin,” all of which are proteolytic enzymes. The main benefit of these enzymes is to improve recovery by decreasing inflammation. But the inflammation-reducing benefit of proteolytic enzymes is significantly diminished when the enzymes are taken on a full stomach or with a meal. Therefore, blasting your post-exercise proteolytic enzymes with your post-exercise meal is not the best idea.
Instead, take any supplement containing proteolytic enzymes on an empty stomach, such as mid-morning or mid-afternoon, or even just before bed at night. If you tend to wait 1-2 hours after exercise to eat, this would also be a good time to take proteolytic enzyme nutritional supplements.
Nutritional Supplement Mistake #5: Not Timing Your Fat Burning Supplements Correctly
The premise behind “fat burning” supplements is that they contain components such as insulin and blood sugar stabilizing components such as chromium, vanadium or even cinnamon. From a strategic standpoint, these compounds need to be absorbed and active in your body long before you eat. Swallowing a fat burning supplement with breakfast, directly before breakfast, or directly after a meal will not do much for you. Therefore, the best time to take a fat burning supplement is between 30 and 60 minutes before consuming the 2 or 3 main meals of the day. By the way, I do not recommend fat burning supplements that are high in caffeine or ephedra, as they can be harmful to the adrenal glands and central nervous system.
Nutritional Supplement Mistake #6: Allowing Fish Oil or Flaxseed Oil to Heat
When the fragile oils in fish oil, flax seed oil, or almost any other seed or vegetable-based oil are heated, the oil can oxidize and form free radicals that can damage cells in your body. A lukewarm fish oil does you more harm than good. So if you drive your car with fish oil or flax oil sitting in a gym bag in the back seat, this is a very bad idea. So is traveling to a race with fat-based nutritional supplements in your backpack or race bag, if you’re going to be in a hot airline compartment or sitting in the sun. It would be better not to take these nutritional supplements if that were the case.
Instead, keep fish oil or flax oil supplements in your refrigerator or freezer, and keep them as cool as possible when you travel. If they get hot, throw them away. They’re not going to do you any good at that point.