06Feb 2018 by Lauri Teperson
Carbohydrate Loading

Carbohydrate Loading

Sports
What is Carbohydrate Loading? Carbohydrate loading or carbo-loading is a term used to describe a nutrition technique used by endurance athletes in an attempt to prolong optimal athletic performance and delay the onset of fatigue, or, ‘hitting a wall’. The Transformation of Food into Energy When we eat carbohydrate-containing foods, they arrive at our stomach and begin to break down. From the stomach, the partially broken down food travels to the small intestine where it completely breaks down into many compounds, one being glucose. From the small intestine, the glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream. A hormone called insulin which is secreted by our pancreas accompanies the glucose from the blood to our liver and muscle cells, where it is stored in the form of glycogen. From this stored form,…
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04Mar 2017 by Caitlin Jamieson
The Low Down on Caffeine and Sports Performance

The Low Down on Caffeine and Sports Performance

Sports
From those Saturday night Jager bombs to a humble cup of tea, caffeine can be found in a huge range of commonly consumed beverages (and foods), and it’s no secret that it delivers a sometimes much-needed energy hit. Not as common knowledge, however, is the way you could be using this chemical compound to enhance your athletic performance… A member of the methylxanthines family, caffeine is derived from a range of nuts, seeds and leaves and acts as an adenosine receptor antagonist throughout the body (i.e. it increases the production of adrenaline, pushing your body into that “fight or flight” mode that helped us escape tigers back in the Paleolithic days). Over recent years, caffeine has been shown to enhance athletic performance, with the bulk of these benefits thought to…
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