Health feeds Performance podcast

So often within sports nutrition you hear lots of discussion around numbers (for example; grams of carbs, fats and proteins), but not too much mention of the food itself. But surely food forms the basis of nutrition? That is the belief of natural chef and food coach Rachel Jesson - paying attention to how we source and prepare our food can make the difference between health and disease or sporting...

Skeletal muscle hypertrophy is a fundamental requirement for success in sport. This is particularly true in strength, power and physique sports, but functional hypertrophy, with a focus on the power-to-weight ratio, is relevant to most athletes, and is also important when we start talking about healthy ageing. But how do we address skeletal muscle hypertrophy from a training and nutrition standpoi...

The cardiovascular system refers to our heart and all the blood vessels in our body, which carry oxygen and nutrients to and from tissues and organ systems. Deep cardiovascular nourishment is synonymous with energy, essential for an active life, but it supports every bodily function, helping us to recover from, and adapt to, exercise training. Within sports nutrition, cardiovascular nourishment mo...

Any woman will tell you that their health, training, and nutrition needs are different to that of a man, but yet much of the research data in the field of sports nutrition has come from male subjects. So, what if exercise and nutrition practitioners could personalise their advice to the particular needs of female athletes, and in particular, the unique case presentations of individual female clien...

It has been estimated that 1 to 3 in 100,000 apparently healthy young athletes die suddenly during exercise; especially in sports like basketball, football, and American football ( McKelvie et al., 2022 ). Cardiac events are considered the most common medical cause of sudden death syndrome in performance athletes: myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle, is considered by the American College...

Since the publication of the Blue Zones book, a National Geographic exploration of areas in the world where many healthy centurions are found, there has been an increasing interest in health and longevity; ‘healthspan’. But, what lessons can we learn from such populations that might be of interest to athletes and active individuals?  Professor Justin Roberts has done a lot of research into the Blu...

Although we are genetically 99 per cent the same, differences in our genetic code impact every aspect of our lives: how we look, feel and behave… our DNA is what makes us – Us. Specific to this discussion, our unique code innately impacts our metabolism: how we absorb (digest), transport, and metabolise fats, carbs and proteins for energy, and how we build body tissue or store energy for later use...

Medically, an athlete’s joints tend to be viewed simply as mechanical structures, to be replaced when they’re worn out! But thankfully Dr Ruth Wilde thinks and works differently – she sees joints as living, breathing tissues, just like the rest of our physiology, which must be nourished by what we consume.  What’s more, an athlete’s joints are affected by the training pattens and life load of the...

Ever since the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held during the times of Covid 19 restrictions, anxiety in sport has become an evident problem for many athletes. The most publicised case at the time was the highly medalled American gymnast Simone Biles, who withdrew from the women’s gymnastics team competition, suffering from anxiety. But what is causing these anxiety problems in sport, and why does i...

The integrative systems biology perspective is slowly and progressively seeping into sport and exercise nutrition practice. This way of working considers the health of an athlete’s digestive tract, neuroendocrine, immune, and musculoskeletal systems, along with factors such as mitochondrial energy production from available macronutrients; all of which can be measured by laboratory testing. Dr Brow...

In the current sporting arena, we are surrounded by extreme practices: extreme training regimes, extreme dietary manipulations, and extreme lifestyle measures. These are intended to create a hormetic driver to stimulate a physiological response for the betterment of certain health parameters and sporting adaptations. And in many cases that’s exactly what happens. But how much is too much? How many...

Most athletes are only afraid of two things – injury and illness. Unfortunately, for many athletes the winter months can coincide with heavier training volumes or tough competition schedules, which can increase the incidence of an upper respiratory tract infection, or other type of illness. Immunity tips for athletes form a vital part of maintaining a regular training programme throughout the year...