BIOHACK PROTOCOL FOR BRAIN FUNCTION & WARHAMMER 40 & SPORTS

WARHAMMER 40K is CHESS ON STEROIDS

As a biohackers, I am constantly testing out the newest nutrition, sleep or exercise protocols. I need to place myself in various arenas to test out how the newest method or supplements work.

When it comes to physical stress, I need to place my self in difficult environments. You can’t test much out without significant bodily stress, whether that be physical/mental or both. I have ran difficult marathons, played various sports, and trained with various different focuses such as; HIIT/POWER/STRENGTH/YOGA/FATLOSS/BODY BUILDING.

I generally like to enter events or competitions, as this provides an added dimension of pressure to the arena. These “arenas” as I call them, allow me to test out the efficacy of my sleep or nutrition protocols.

WARHAMMER AND BRAIN FUNCTION

My brother in law introduced me to the most complicated game I have ever played. At first I didn’t really realize what I was getting into, but over the course of 3 years, we continued to play the game on rare occasions, every 1-3 months (1 match takes 3-4 hours, and I don’t have the time for that). The game itself is a table top strategy game that goes head to head against your opponent on a large table surface with terrain, imagine a more real life chess game.

A friendly match that too place at the beginning of June 2023, my Necron force vs my friends Imperial Guard force.

Competitively, the game runs on a timer, similar to chess, so you don’t have time to waste. Your army has many specific and intricate rules that you have to remember by heart, and each individual model has a complex set of specific rules that you also have to memorize.

To play the game well at a competitive level, you also have to know all the other 40 some odd faction rules, as well as each individual model rule for each faction, so you can effective implement a board strategy and win the match.

The game is a dice based game, so each unit or model as a number of attacks that must be rolled for with a specific number of dice, and you must be able to quickly compute your statistical odds of ensure the attacks are effective against your chosen unit of attack. This is an important dimension of the game.

BRAIN FUNCTION

This game, warhammer 40k, started off as a COVID hobby , along with my fish tank, but has now transitioned to my mental biohacking arena. Once I really understood the full dimension of the competitive game, I realized that the mental focus, strategy, logic and mental computation required, all under the stress of competition and time, allowed me to test my strategies for cognition out.

My wife and youngest son joined in on my last friendly match. I’ve convinced my wife to play with me so I have a readily available opponent to destroy. (She beat me in our first match…)

My recently TESTED mindhack protocol

1. Ensure adequate REM sleep

REM is a deep stage of sleep, and is often the stage that is sacrificed by poor quality of sleep. Generally you need about 7.5 hours of quality sleep to obtain a sufficient amount of REM sleep (>1.5 hrs). When it comes to cognition, REM sleep is the most important aspect of sleep optimization. The other stages can also effect cognition, but the way sleep architecture works is that REM is the last stage, and you only get REM at after you get every other stage, so if you have sufficient REM, by default you have sufficient amounts of stages 1,2&3. REM is often effected by sleep apnea, alchohol, cannabis, restless leg syndome, or bruxism [1]

Lack of REM sleep results in 1) reduced concentration 2) reduced functional memory 3) fatigue [1,2]

All of these things are critical for optimal warhammer 40k success, but this also applies to anything else in life, such as sports, school, work, exercise, raising children etc.

So, if you have an important school test, sporting event, work presentation or warhammer match, make sure you get a good sleep.

2. Ensure adequate HYDRATION

The first step of any day should be to rehydrate immediately upon waking. I generally recommend my clients to drink 1-2 cups of room temp water upon waking, and then have another 1-2 cups in the form of coffee/tea or smoothie with or after breakfast.

Hydration doesn’t improve cognition, but dehydration definitely impairs it. Science shows that dehydration can significant impair memory and focus, as well as mood and physical performance [3]

3. Light balanced breakfast

You always have to pair your breakfast with the goal of the day. If you are doing heavy powerlifting first thing in the morning, you need more calories and carbs to fuel that workout. However, if your day is starting with more mentally focused tasks with little physical demand, such as work or school, too much calories or carbohydrates can make you feel sleepy and reduce your concentration and focus [4,5].

My favorite morning breakfast for cognitition is a cocoa powder smoothie:

2.5 cups cold water

1 frozen banana

3 tbsp. organic cocoa powder

1 tbsp. chia seeds

5g collagen

Cocoa powder in itself is a cognitive enhancer, here is an excerpt from a recent review on cocoa and cognition; “Findings from individual studies confirm that acute and chronic cocoa intake have a positive effect on several cognitive outcomes. After acute consumption, these beneficial effects seem to be accompanied with an increase in cerebral blood flow or cerebral blood oxygenation. After chronic intake of cocoa flavanols in young adults, a better cognitive performance was found together with increased levels of neurotrophins”[6]

4. The use of nootropic supplements, medicinal mushrooms

There are many many many forms of cognitive enhancing supplements. I have experimented with many, and plan to test them all so I have develop fine tuned protocols. The most commonly talked about nootropics today are the medicinal mushrooms. Medicinal mushrooms are not commonly used in cuisine, they are often too expensive, hard to grow and don’t taste great, yet they seem to have significant positive health effects. The science on these mushrooms is still in its infancy, but the positive health effects in rodent and human studies show promise [7]. Just to be clear, these mushrooms are non psycho active mushrooms, they are not “shrooms” containing psylocibin. Although psylocibin is an interesting topic with lots of research happening, you definitely don’t want to take those before an exam or work presentation.

The medicinal mushrooms that have been found to positively effect cognition are 1) Cordyceps 2) Lionsman 3) Reishi [7]. These mushrooms seem to have longer term dosing effects, meaning that you don’t really benefit from acute use as much as you do from taking a consistent dose for weeks at a time. In my case I have been taking a 500 mg dose of Cordyceps, I took them with my cocoa smoothie for breakfast. So far I have used both Cordyceps and Lions mane and low dose for extended periods of time, and I do confirm positive effects such as; increased focused, memory recall, mental stamina, energy, positive mood.

Dried Cordycep mushrooms, picture from Google images.

5. The use of acute FOCUS booster supplements

Along with my shrooms and cocoa smoothie, I took 750 mg of L-tyrosine. Tyrosine is a amino acid (protein unit) that is commonly found in high protein foods such as meat, legumes, and dairy. Tyrosine is used by the body to create catecholamine hormones that directly impact brain function, such as dopamine, epinephrine and nor-epinephrine [8]. The use of Tyrosine has been shown to improve cognition and concentration under higher mental loads. Personally, I have experimented with L-tyrosine before at a higher dose of 1500mg and found it made me too anxious and actually reduced my ability to focus. I tried it again at half the dose, 750 mg, and it hit the sweet spot. I felt like my mental stamina was at its peak.

Chemical strucuture of the amino acid L-Tyrosine. I used the brand NOW.

6. Cold shower

Last but not least, I finish my regular morning shower with a quick bout of cold. I turn my water temp down to the lowest, embrace the cold, breath heavy and enjoy the suck. Even though the science isn’t conclusive on cold exposure and cognition [9], I do personally feel a benefit. I feel fresh, energize, and more confident.

Me after a cold shower, happy to see my abs coming back after a bulking protocol transition to slow rate fat loss. (I am down 5 lbs. in 4 weeks.)

Overall, my performance during that Warhammer friendly match was great. I felt energized I won the match 50 - 20. More importantly, I didn’t make any significant errors due to lack of focus or forgetfulness. I felt like my concentration was high and consistent over the 4 hour bout. I plan to continue to tweak this protocol, so I can better understand the pros and cons of various supplements and methods.

I hope you enjoyed!

1. Blumberg, M. S., Lesku, J. A., Libourel, P. A., Schmidt, M. H., & Rattenborg, N. C. (2020). What is REM sleep?. Current Biology, 30(1), R38–R49.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31910377/

2. Peever, J., & Fuller, P. M. (2017). The biology of REM sleep. Current Biology, 27(22), R1237-R1248.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29161567/

3. Harris R. Lieberman (2007) Hydration and Cognition: A Critical Review and Recommendations for Future Research, Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 26:sup5, 555S-561S, DOI: 10.1080/07315724.2007.10719658

4. Peuhkuri, K., Sihvola, N., & Korpela, R. (2012). Diet promotes sleep duration and quality. Nutrition Research, 32(5), 309–319.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22652369

5. Murphy, K. R., Deshpande, S. A., Yurgel, M. E., Quinn, J. P., Weissbach, J. L., Keene, A. C., Dawson-Scully, K., Huber, R., Tomchik, S. M., & Ja, W. W. (2016). Postprandial sleep mechanics in Drosophila. eLife, 5, e19334.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27873574/

6. Martín MA, Goya L, de Pascual-Teresa S. Effect of Cocoa and Cocoa Products on Cognitive Performance in Young Adults. Nutrients. 2020 Nov 30;12(12):3691.

10.3390/nu12123691

7. Amelie Nkodo, A Systematic Review of in-vivo Studies on Dietary Mushroom Supplementation for Cognitive Impairment (P14-021-19), Current Developments in Nutrition, Volume 3, Issue Supplement_1, June 2019, nzz052.P14–021–19,

https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzz052.P14-021-19

8. Adrian Hase, Sophie E. Jung, Marije aan het Rot, Behavioral and cognitive effects of tyrosine intake in healthy human adults, Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, Volume 133,2015, Pages 1-6,ISSN 0091-3057,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbb.2015.03.008

9. Douglas M. Jones, Stephen P. Bailey, Bart Roelands, Michael J. Buono, Romain Meeusen, Cold acclimation and cognitive performance: A review Published:November 14, 2017 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autneu.2017.11.004

STRONG MAN NUTRITION++

NUTRITION LEADING UP TO STRONG MAN COMPETITION

After completing my first strong man competition, I can now say I have a better understanding of the nutrition requirements for strong man.

Above is a picture of my friend Marc @turbo_savage420 - He inspired me to do this comp.

The sport of strong men, is as it sounds, has the requirement for strength. But unlike the often compared sport of powerlifting, it requires more cardiovascular capacity. For that reason, powerlifting, or Olympic lifting are purer displays of strength and power, where as strong man, is like a hybrid sport between CrossFit and Olympic lifting / powerlifting. The key component is that your must drive a powerful movement for a period of time.

Pic of myself (right) and my highschool friend Mark. P, post axel bar deadlift

Now as a biohacker, I am always applying the science and strategy of sleep / nutrition / breathing to various different sports or physically demanding tasks. I have never done anything that requirement this much strength. I’ve done bulking/muscle building many times over the past decade, but they never included developing strength and mass at the same time.

NUTRITION FOR STRENGTH AND MASS

This event took place on May 20th 2023. I began training for strength / strong man in September 2022, so lets say about 8 months. Prior to that I was do strictly CrossFit, and was focused on fat loss in combination with the HIIT style crossfit training. I had dropped to about 180 lbs. @ 12%, my overall fitness was fantastic (Cardio / flexibility / strength). My strength was probably the weakest of the 3, but I could back squat 225 and deadlift around 300 and bench around 200 lbs.

I decided that I would focus on building strength and muscle at the same so. The strongment comp we had registered for had 2 weight categories, under 200 lbs or over 200 lbs. That gave me a target of 200, so I gained 20 lbs. on the dot over 8 months.

My two older boys (Bennett - Left and Callaghan Right) getting ready to cheer me on

I added the 20 lbs. well, I’d say about 13-15 lbs. of muscle and 5-7 lbs. of fat. These are good ratios for natural athletes (no steroid use). Adding muscle always comes with fat.

To do this, I found out my avg caloric daily requirements using the cunninghams equation at the following link; https://peterbond.org/calculate-rmr-cunningham-equation

I always prefer the cunninghams equation, as it is one of the only ones that takes muscle mass into consideration. This is very important for athletic populations.

I then added 300 kcal to my daily average, and target about 6g / kg of carbs and 1.5-2.0g /kg of protein and filled in with lots of healthy fats.

This is a sample day for me;

Breakfast

2 cup oatmilk (>50g carbs)

1 banana (~25g carbs)

3 tbps. cocoa powder (Loads of iron/magnesium/zinc and ionophores such as quercetin to help utilize those energy nutrients)

1 tbsp. hemp or chia seeds for omega fats, adding micros and fiber.

1 scoop of plant based lean fit protein

1 cliff bar on the side (oatmeal and soy protein, perfect addition to boost complex carbs ~45g and 10 protein).

The shake was easy for me during this bulking phase. I was able to drink it on the go. It was quick and convenient, as well as easy to digest, which is important for me, because I never have time sit in the mornings. The shake provided me with over 100g complex carbs, loads of micronutrients, at least 35g protein and essential omega fats and about 800 kcal.

LUNCH

whole wheat wrap (30g carb, 5g protein

1 can of light tuna in water (40g protein) or 4-5 eggs

baby spinach

1 tbsp. olive oil

pickled carrots

2 tbsp. light mayo

2 cliff bar (90g carbs, 20g protein) or peanut butter and honey toast

So we have about 1200 kcal here for lunch, totaling 2000 kcal for the day

DINNER

1.5 cups pasta (350 kcal, 90g carbs)

Store bough marinara, nothing fancy

180g chicken breast (60g protein, 330 kcal)

1-2 cups of 2 different colored vegetables

800 kcal, >100g carbs and 75g protein

DESSERT

PB + HONEY + CRACKERS OR 2 CLIFF BARS (500 kcal, 90g carbs, 20g protein)

So my calculated avg caloric burn was about 3000, my lean bulk target was 3300, and I tried to keep carbs around 500g and protein around 150g.

This was not difficult to do. Personally, I prefer a simple 3 meal per day as I am busy.

I terms of supplements, I was using;

3g creatine HCL Muscletech

3g Beta Alanin Allmax

9mg boron

500mg krill omega 3

2000 mg hawaiian spirulina

After about 8 months of training, I achieved my weight goal, but fell short of strength goals. I got my dead lift up to 420 lbs, bench press up to 250 lbs, and squat up to 385 lbs.

During the competition, I was able to axel deadlight 11x350 lbs which is a significant PR.

I hope you guys keep getting stronger!

Bada bing

BIOHACKING IS MY JOB AND I LOVE IT

BIOHACKING IS MY JOB, and I LOVE IT

I have decided to restart my BLOG so I can better convey my journey and passion as a biohacker, and help people along the way. I love what I do, and I want to share what I do so others can benefit as well. I like to help people, all types of people. I want to help people live healthier lives so that my get the most out of their human experience.

My specialization is in sports performance. Much of my practice revolves around being able to optimize peak human performance, but I also really enjoy helping regular individuals improve their health and well being. I believe a healthy and fulfilling life requires the balance of adequate exercise, nutrition, & sleep (Also spirituality, but I’ll focus on the more concrete stuff for now…).

WHAT IS A BIOHACKER?

As a BIOHACKER with a focus on sports performance, I am constantly self experimenting with techniques to improve the functioning of my body for a specific goal. High level sports performance requires many different bodily adaptions which vary depending on the sport. All sports require a certain degree of strength, cardiovascular capacity, explosiveness, reaction time, talent and a variety of mental abilities, just to name a few.

The role of a biohacker is to apply the most up to date techniques on himself and/or others to create unique and fine tuned protocols for specific application to individuals, and in my case athletes.

My educational background is varied, I have a degree and license to practice respiratory therapy in Quebec. I have been working as a Respiratory therapist since 2010, mostly within critical care setting, but more recently within a sleep diagnostic laboratory. This education and working experience has giving tremendous insight into physiology and disease, and sleep.

I also have a Bachelors of science in Nutrition from McGill, with a focus on sports nutrition. This is the foundation for my practice as a biohacker. I apply nutritional techniques to improve the adaption or function for sport/exercise.

Since 2020 I have completed my Master of Science in Exercise Physiology, where I was able to lead a scientific study focused in sports nutrition, and participate in the publication of scientific literature. This experience was vital in my understanding of how to read and interpret scientific literature. My practice as a biohacker is fundamentally based in science. I am constantly reading and reviewing newly published research papers to stay on top of the fast moving world of sports science.

My practice began in 2016

I have started a small biohacking practice in 2016 out of a good friends gym (Speed Science) in the West Island of Montreal. I began this practice while completing my degree in Nutrition, while working full time as a respiratory therapist. Originally my practice was dominantly nutrition focused, but it gradually evolved with other growing training, education and expertise. I began to realize that human performance can be optimize is many different ways. I began to incorporate breathing exercises for athletes or for meditation into my practice around 2018. Shortly after this I became very intrigued with the effects of sleep on recovery and performance. Ironically at the time I had very bad sleep and was suffering the consequences of that bad sleep. Since then I have done and tremendous amount of sleep research, and also took a job at a local sleep laboratory (One of the domains a Respiratory therapist can specialize). So at this point my practice has 3 main prongs; Nutrition, Breathing and Sleep.

Picture of me in 2019 at McGill biomechanics lab performing research.

TESING PROTOCOLS ON MY SELF

What I realized from studying nutrition and exercise physiology is that there is a huge gap between what is being understood at the scientific level, and it can be applied in real life. A biohacker fills the gap by learning from the scientific domain and develop techniques, structure and coaching methods to apply those methods in real time. This methods are fine tuned by seeing what works and what doesn’t in regular practice and while testing things on oneself. The later is a very unique perspective. It’s one thing to learn about how to lose weight in a text book, another thing to put it to trial on a client, and another level of understanding comes from testing it on yourself. The combination of the 3 leads to a very good understanding of the strengths/weaknesses and limitations of the method.

I am always running some experiment on myself, whether it be nutrition, sleep, exercise, breathwork or all of the above. I have deliberate gotten fatter, skinner, built muscle, ran marathons, weight cut for combat sports, multiple forms of fasting including up to a 3 day fast, sleep deprived myself extensively, spent 1000$’s of dollars on various nutritional supplements and more. My most recent and ongoing experiment was to prepare for a strong man competition which is taking place in two weeks. I have spent the past 6 months trying to get as strong as possible with the minimal amount of exercise and effort as possible. The life of a biohacker is never dull and often painful.

This was a picture of me in September 2022 after reducing body fat, and prior to a phase of bulking and building strength for a strong man competition in May 2023.

So this is the first episode of my restart on BLOG. I hope to do this on a regular basis, weekly/bi-weekly/monthly at best. I do enjoy writing. I am not great at it, but I notice I get better with practice. I’ll often get my wife to correct it to save all you grammar nazis (My grandmother and mother in-law) the angst. I will do my best to share the many interesting experiences and discoveries on my journey as a performance BIOHACKER. I hope we all get to learn stuff together.

Patrick

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Mike Gagnon and his Ketogenic journey

OUR LOCAL FITNESS HERO

Mike Buying some Udo oil + DHA & Showing off his cool shirt

Lookey here at our local fitness wonder Mike Gagnon! I’ve been following Mike and building his nutrition plans since 2016. The man never ceases to impress and inspire me.

At the ripe age of 70 this seasoned monster trains CrossFit 4 to 5 times a week, and he has recently completed something called a spartan race trifecta, which is completing all 3 grueling spartan obstacle race formats (5 km, 13km and 21km) throughout the course of one year. You receive a piece of the medal upon completion of each race, these medals link to form one big medal. I don’t know how the frig he does it, but he doesn’t give the rest of us any excuses.

Mike’s completed Trifecta medal 2018

Mike clearly takes his training seriously, but he also pays a lot of attention to his nutrition. He needs his recovery to be on point if he wants to keep his training volume high and keep injuries at bay.

Luckily for me, he is what I call an outlier, and he isn’t afraid to experiment nutritionally. I was very lucky that he found me early in my career, as our relationship has definitely been mutually beneficial.

Since we’ve been working together, we’ve been constantly experimenting with nutritional strategies - going so far as adapt his nutrition for specific nutrient requirement based on his genetic profile. We’ve also played with incorporating all the merited sports supplements.

Mike taking a break on the wall

We track his biometrics and adapt his nutrition in 6-week segments. We trend his body comp (9 site calipers, visceral fat ratings, muscle circumference, and glucose challenge) and he gives me a detailed description of how he felt, recovered and performed during the 6 weeks. This has allowed us to find out what works and what doesn’t for his body, over time, and its one really cool scientific experiment for me.

Our most recent journey has been a performance ketogenic diet, which is essentially a high calorie ketogenic diet that uses a slightly higher carb and protein threshold but allows you to enter ketosis during and after each workout. I was worried about trying this out on Mike, and I warned him that he would feel cruddy during the first week as his body’s main fuel source is depleted (carbs) and his performance in the gym would also tank in the short term. I explained that as his body shifts from burning carbs to fats he would begin to feel better and better and his training would also improve, but his training would likely never be as good as it was with carbs in the system.

Mike whistling because its easy

The interesting thing about training without carbs is that your body slowly begins to adapt, and this is one of the main benefits of following the ketogenic diet. Initially your performance suffers as your cells are used to needing glucose to fuel them. The new fuel that is available from fat breakdown is called ketone bodies, but initially the body is not capable of burning them efficiently. Slowly but surely the body develops the ability to burn these ketone fuels more effectively and your performance in the gym improves. These ketone bodies also have interesting benefits, science is starting to show that they have strong anti-inflammatory properties (Youm et al. 2015), cognitive benefits (Cunnane et al. 2016) and have a significant impact on muscle recovery (Holdsworth et al. 2017) (Vandoorne et al. 2017), a lot of research is being done for military applications.

Mike had his reassessment this past weekend and I was quite intrigued by his results. His body composition data was as expected, little changes in muscle mass and body fat (our ketogenic diet was not set for fat loss). He explained that his performance initially tanked, as expected, but it continued to improve week after week. He was surprised at how well he began to perform and recover, he didn’t expect he would feel that good. He began to feel so good he thinks that his performance and recovery were better on this ketogenic diet than any other plan with carbs. He also claimed his ongoing shoulder soreness felt better than it had in a while. I was surprised to hear this.

While studying nutrition at McGill University, it is taught that carbs are essential for athletic performance, both for endurance type activities, like running, or strength and power-based sports. This is the conventional academic stance, and it is based on a plethora of academic research. Science is funny like that, a truth is only true until it is proven wrong, and in this case, the performance results of the ketogenic diet seem to be changing a very established “truth”.

Zach Bitter the record for fatest 100 mile

What first intrigued me about the ketogenic diet for athletics was an article on the man who holds the record for fastest 100-mile marathon race

(Article link: https://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/zach-bitter-100-mile-american-record-holder-he-also-eats-almost-no-carbs/ ) .

The article really blew my mind as I had accepted the “truth” that carbs were ESSENTIAL to distance runners, more so than most other athletes, and even if you could run a marathon in a carb depleted state, it DEFINITELY wouldn’t be fast. Zach Bitter trains most of the year while following a ketogenic diet, and accordingly, his cell machinery is extremely well adapted to burning ketones. When he races, he consumes carbs while his body also produces ketones, this allows him to use both fuels sources concurrently, and the result is a standing world record.

The idea of using a ketogenic diet to “fat-adapt” the metabolism is an interesting realm to be explored, specifically for athletes. Re-introducing a healthy nutrient dense plan including carbs into the a person who has “fat- adapted” could potentially allow the body to burn 2 fuel sources at once. Although Mike felt that his performance and recovery were higher while on the ketogenic diet, for most people I would logically assume that peak performance should come after a segment of keto and fat adapting their metabolism, followed by a reintroduction of carbs into the diet.

This all goes to show how little we still know about the body’s amazing ability to adapt. The scientific field of nutrition is still so young, and this is a great example of how we always need to keep an open mind. Just when we think we know it all, some news evidence comes out that changes the game completely.

I love working with Mike, his journey is far from over and I am looking forward to accompanying him along the way. I love his energy and am always motivated to help him strive for peak health and performance, especially because we get to creatively explore the latest science together! Cheers to Mike, always living life to the fullest!

 By Patrick Martin-Arrowsmith MSc. (c)

References 

Cunnane, S. C., et al. (2016). "Can ketones compensate for deteriorating brain glucose uptake during aging? Implications for the risk and treatment of Alzheimer's disease." Ann N Y Acad Sci 1367(1): 12-20.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26766547

Holdsworth, D. A., Cox, P. J., Kirk, T., Stradling, H., Impey, S. G., & Clarke, K. (2017). A Ketone Ester Drink Increases Post exercise Muscle Glycogen Synthesis In Humans. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise,49(9), 1789-1795. doi:10.1249/mss.0000000000001292

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28398950

Vandoorne, T., Smet, S. D., Ramaekers, M., Thienen, R. V., Bock, K. D., Clarke, K., & Hespel, P. (2017). Intake of a Ketone Ester Drink during Recovery from Exercise Promotes mTORC1 Signaling but Not Glycogen Resynthesis in Human Muscle. Frontiers in Physiology,8. doi:10.3389/fphys.2017.00310

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5440563/

Youm, Y., Nguyen, K. Y., Grant, R. W., Goldberg, E. L., Bodogai, M., Kim, D., . . . Dixit,V. D. (2015). The ketone metabolite β-hydroxybutyrate blocks NLRP3 inflammasome–mediated inflammatory disease. Nature Medicine,21(3), 263-269. doi:10.1038/nm.3804

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25686106

BEET IT OR BEAT IT

Beets: Hell YA! Or ewwww….?!

Some of us love these vibrantly colored roots and some of us despise them… If you like them, you’re in luck, and if you don’t, you better learn to.

Science has been showing that they have some unique health and performance benefits. Regular consumption of beets can have some impressive effects such as reduced body fat, improved recovery from exercise, improved stamina, and improved strength. Asides from all that magic, beets are very nutritious, so even if all the science is wrong with regards to beets’ ability to turn you into Popeye, you won’t be wasting your time eating them, as they are a good source of nutrients, fibers and anti-oxidants.

PHYTO-PERFORMANCE LOVES SCIENCE

At Phyto-Performance Nutrition, we are always investigating the available scientific research on performance enhancing foods that can help us get results for our athletes and weekend warriors. As the science of nutrition evolves, we are slowly deciphering and uncovering some of the amazing benefits that foods can elicit.

BEETS MAKE ME RUN FAST

Beets have been a hot topic lately, as they’ve been shown to enhance performance in a few different ways. Initially they were found to improve aerobic capacity in terms of VO2. Improving your VO2 means that your body will need to consume less oxygen for them same amount of work, so if you run 5 km and decide to eat some beets for breakfast, your body will need less oxygen during that run compared to if didn’t consume any beets at all. This can lead to a faster run, if that is the goal, otherwise it would just lead to a more metabolically efficient run.  This effect of improved metabolic efficiency is believed to be due to their ability to increase blood nitric oxide (NO) levels, which can dilate blood vessels and allow more blood to flow in and out of muscles, and thus result in better nutrient delivery and gas exchange (Dominguez et al. 2017).

DO YOU EVEN RECOVER BRO?

Another angle in which tasty little beets can help you is by improving muscle recovery. These two recent studies by Clifford et al. 2016, 2017 investigate beet juice’s ability to improve markers of exercise induced muscle damage. Its common to feel soreness after a bout of exercise because whenever you push through your comfort threshold, you are subject to muscle fiber breakdown and the associated muscle soreness. This muscle soreness can last for up to 72 hours post exercise, and it will reduce your ability to perform. During the sore period you will have decreased strength and power output, and thus decreased performance.  What Clifford and friends measured was whether beets could reduce exercised induced muscle pain as well as recovery of strength and power, and It turns out they do!        

THE BEAST THAT IS BETAINE

Betaine and betalaines are two nitrogenous based compounds that are thought to be responsible for many of the performance benefits derived from beets. Betaine is regularly used as a performance enhancer supplement, whether in your pre-workout or taken individually. The compound betaine was originally identified in beets, hence the name, but it turns out there is a few other great food sources: Spinach, wheat germ & quinoa. Betaine by itself has the potential effect of improving strength, increasing circulating blood levels GH, and reducing body fat (Cholewa et al. 2014). Although beets are a source of betaine, most of the studies testing betaine show benefits with doses much higher than you would get from eating beets. Therefore, if your looking for performance results specific to betaine, we recommend consuming all 4 natural sources of betaine, and potentially even use a supplement. I use Rivalus powder burn which contains 500 mg, and I also purchased a pack of pure betaine from www.canadianprotein.ca

COST TO BENEFIT RATIO

That said, even though there is good science to back up the use of beets and betaine for performance, it is always a question of price-to-benefit ratio when it comes to taking a new supplement, and with beets, we also must consider the enjoyability factor – big issue for my wife, not at all for me... In my opinion, beets offer great value!

From a basic nutrition standpoint, aside from all the performance benefits, beets are a significant source of the following compounds: Folate, Mangnese, copper, fiber, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, vit C, Iron, Vit B6. Beets are relatively cheap to buy – I recently bought a double pack of pickled shredded beets at Costco for about 5$. These were great as they were an easy addition to my lunch wraps, or as a side with my meal. I also will often add beet powder to my daily smoothies to boost my consumption, as I can’t eat beets every day.  This has the added effect of making my smoothies a nicer colour – again palatability! The beet root powder is affordable, a bottle comes to about 16$+ tx (Phyto athlete discount), contains 2kg of dried beets and it lasts me for a couple of months. When it comes to betaine specifically, I try to get as much as possible from food.  I try to consume baby spinach daily, whether in a smoothie, in my egg omelet or in a salad. Baby spinach is a super functional, easy throw-in, as well being very affordable (Costco sells are large pack for about $3). Also, I try to eat quinoa and whole grain bread or wraps WITH the wheat germ (Note: I am not gluten intolerant, my genetic test backs this up). I often make beet wraps: Shredded beets, spinach, whole grain wrap including the germ, some shredded chicken and maybe some hummus or avocado. <—- Balanced and great for performance.

SHUT UP AND TRAIN, but eat your beets too

SO, if your looking for ways to improve your health and performance, beets are a great addition to your tool box. Beets by themselves have the ability to improve your metabolic efficiency in terms of VO2. They are also nutrient, fiber, and anti-oxidant dense, and pack unique abilities to help your recovery from exercise. They contain the compound betaine, and if you want to increase muscle & strength, try getting in supplemental betaine from quinoa, spinach, wheat germ, a synthetic supplement can help as well.

Happy training & thanks for reading!

 -Patrick Martin-Arrowsmith

Disclaimer: The information provided is meant to spread knowledge and induce interest for educational purposes. It is based on limited research. We try to pull the overall message of the literature, but further research may be necessary.  What is done with the information or suggestions is solely the consumers decision. The information provided is not meant to treat or diagnose any medical condition. References are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute endorsement of any website or other sources.

Cholewa, J. M., Guimarães-Ferreira, L., & Zanchi, N. E. (2014). Effects of betaine on performance and body composition: A review of recent findings and potential mechanisms. Amino Acids,46(8), 1785-1793. doi:10.1007/s00726-014-1748-5

Clifford, T., Bell, O., West, D. J., Howatson, G., & Stevenson, E. J. (2015). The effects of beetroot juice supplementation on indices of muscle damage following eccentric exercise. European Journal of Applied Physiology,116(2), 353-362. doi:10.1007/s00421-015-3290-x

Clifford, T., Howatson, G., West, D. J., & Stevenson, E. J. (2017). Beetroot juice is more beneficial than sodium nitrate for attenuating muscle pain after strenuous eccentric-bias exercise. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism,42(11), 1185-1191. doi:10.1139/apnm-2017-0238

Domínguez, R., Cuenca, E., Maté-Muñoz, J., García-Fernández, P., Serra-Paya, N., Estevan, M., . . . Garnacho-Castaño, M. (2017). Effects of Beetroot Juice Supplementation on Cardiorespiratory Endurance in Athletes. A Systematic Review. Nutrients,9(1), 43. doi:10.3390/nu9010043