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Alrighty, welcome to the super sharp pro tips 2 minute read! As ever, these are some bite size morsels that come straight from the horses mouth,(so to speak).

Today’s pro tips are in regards to using a couple of nutrition hacks to get the best out of your recovery from exercise. We’ve got 3 lovely little tip bits for you today, so enjoy and go forth and improve your athletic performance!

The first two tips are from biohacker extrodinaire, Mr Ben Greenfield. I’ve spoken about him in the previous professional tips post so have a look for a tad more info. Saying that, here’s a pro tip via me; check his podcast series and interviews in Joe Rogan’s JRE podcast. Now.

1. Be mindful of the blunting hormone response post exercise of antioxidants, this is particularly true of high amounts of vitamin C or A. The antioxidant profile of coffee however is very similar to green tea polyphenols, which do not blunt the hormedic response to exercise! For instance, research shows coffee post workout enhances glycogen restoration into your body, if consuming a meal.

2. Needing recovery during the workout? You could do far worse than start swapping out your daily mineral water with Pellegrino sparkling water. This is a good source (and Pellegrino the highest source) or sodium bicarbonate, which buffers lactic acid build up during heavy workouts. Taking straight backing soda to achieve this often causes gut distress, so this is a good way to progressively load throughout the day prior to an evening workout.

Ok, last tip is from one of the sleep masters, mr Nick Littlehales. Nick is the leading elite sport sleep coach to the biggest names in the sporting world, including British Cycling and Team Sky’s recording-breaking cyclists, top Premiership and international football clubs, including doing extensive work with the treble winning 1999 Manchester Utd team.

Although we’ll revisit some sleep tips in a later post, try this for recovery;

1. Nick recommends in his excellent book Sleep, Montmorency tart cherries for recovery from exercise. They can also increase melatonin, the natural sleep hormone produced when you’re ready to nod off. Sleep is of course probably one of the single biggest factors to aiding recovery.

Alrighty, there we have it. 3 tips to nutritionally aid your recovery. Till next time.

Welcome back to vitamin break down! This series looks to breakdown the vitamin alphabet to let you know exactly what, is doing what. We’ve been slowly marching our way through the B vitamins, which bring us nicely to our next breakdown.

Vitamin B7, more commonly known as biotin, or even less commonly; vitamin H, is a water-soluble nutrient. This means it passes through liquid in the body and can’t be stored in reserves such as fat soluble vitamins like vitamin A.

B7 is of course part of the B vitamin family. B vitamins help support adrenal function, calm and maintain a healthy nervous system, and are necessary for key metabolic processes in the body.

Enzymes & Coenzymes

Biotin is a coenzyme. Coenzymes are substances that enhance an enzyme’s action. Coenzymes cannot trigger or speed up a biological reaction, but they help enzymes do so. Enzymes are produced by all living organisms. They act as a catalyst to bring about a specific biochemical reaction, or help speed one up, within the human body. They bind to molecules and alter them in specific ways. They are essential for respiration, digesting food, muscle and nerve function, among thousands of other roles.

Metabolism

Biotin has vital metabolic functions. Without biotin as a co-factor, many enzymes do not work properly, and serious complications can occur, including varied diseases of the skin, intestinal tract, and nervous system.

B7 is crucial for the body’s metabolism of nutrients and as such, energy production. B7 as a coenzyme, transfers carbon dioxide, an important step in breaking down food. This role is essential for the metabolism of carbohydrate, fat, proteins and helps process glucose.

It plays a further key role in several other metabolic processes. It’s particularly important job is being involved in helping the body effectively process;

Fatty acids, a type of molecule found in fats and oils

Leucine, an essential amino acid that humans cannot synthesize

Gluconeogenesis, the synthesis of glucose from molecules that are not carbohydrates, for example, amino and fatty acids

Blood & Blood Sugars

B7 crucial for Haemostasis; the body’s normal physiological response for the prevention and stopping of bleeding/haemorrhage. It results in the blocking of any vascular breach. Generally speaking, it helps ensure blood fluidity and blood vessel integrity.

Biotin can help address high blood glucose levels, especially essential for people with type 2 diabetes. One study found that people with diabetes had lower levels of biotin than people without the condition. B7 may do this by aiding the body to process glucose through decreasing insulin resistance and improving glucose tolerance. In fact in rats, it has been found to stimulate the secretion of insulin.

Nervous System & Psychological Function

Diabetic neuropathy is a type of nerve damage that can occur if you have diabetes. High blood sugar/glucose can injure nerves throughout your body. Diabetic neuropathy most often damages nerves in your legs and feet. Some reports have suggested that biotin supplements can improve symptoms of neuropathy in people with diabetes. However, these have not been confirmed by research.

The brain is particularly sensitive to the delivery and metabolism of glucose. As B7 plays such a key role in glucose metabolism , there are clear ramifications for mental clarity, focus and general cognitive functioning.

Very high doses of biotin have been observed to possibly change the course of several rare neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers have tested whether there may be some benefit to treating MS with B7. The exact mechanism underlying neurodegeneration in MS is unknown. High doses of biotin may help in countering the loss of mitochondrial energy metabolism or help by stimulating the basic pathways for myelin formation via its effect as a coenzyme for the numerous carboxylases involved in both these processes.

Aesthetics

Biotin often gets pigeonholed as a beauty vitamin. It contributes to healthy nails, skin and hair, so it features in many cosmetic and health products for the skin and hair. It even supports maintaining mucous membranes and possibly helps prevent birth defects. However, it cannot be absorbed through hair or skin, so don’t be to fooled by product promises.

Sources & The Gut

The human body cannot create or synthesise biotin on its own. Only bacteria, molds, yeasts, algae, and certain plants can make it, so the diet needs to supply, and regularly at that. Hang on though, as it could be more a matter of feeding your symbiotic bacteria rather than cramming in biotin rich food.

Only small amounts of biotin are found in food sources such as brewer’s yeast, chicken, pork, egg yolks, leafy green vegetables, soybeans and bananas. There is however some good news as our clever native gut bacteria, or gut microbes/microbiome, are able to manufacture it, (phew!).

People who have taken a lot of antibiotics are also at risk of B7 deficiency, since antibiotics set off the equivalent to a nuclear explosion to your gut microbes that help generate it. If this is the case, seek to get lots of probiotic rich food such as anything fermented like sauerkraut, kimchi, komboocha or kefir.

These foods mentioned above should be sort regardless within your diet. Help to feed the new colonies probiotics bring by feeding them with plenty of prebiotic food also. I won’t go on to much but read more here about the importance of pre and pro biotic sources in your diet; http://whatsuppblogblog.com/2017/04/27/snack-hacks-5-prebiotics-vs-probiotics/

Fortunately, biotin deficiency is extremely rare. That said, as mentioned diabetics tend to have lower levels, and biotin supplements can be useful in managing glucose levels. Be aware that unused biotin is eliminated in urine and as the body does not build up reserves of B7, so to help generate it, support your gut health appropriately.

Right then. Thanks for reading! As ever, please give it a like and comment if you found the piece interesting or helpful in anyway! Till next time.

And welcome back to the ‘what the experts say’ series! As before, this is a short little post with a couple of fact bombs from those in the know.

Right, today I’ve got two tip bits for you. The first is from Mr Max Lugavere. Max has written a quite excellent book called ‘Genius Foods’. This is packed full with how to protect and nurture the important bit in your swede.

The second tip comes from Tero Isokauppila. This famous Finn is the genius behind Four Stigmatic mushroom coffee. Depending on your choice, this stuff will switch you on like nothing else, keep you firing all day or put you out like a baby. What this dude don’t know about fungi, literally ain’t worth knowing.

Expert tip 1.

Oleocanthal is the phenol (plant compound) within extra virgin olive oil that does incredibly good things for your brain such as reducing low level inflammation. Oleocanthal gives a peppery taste, the stronger the taste, the stronger the health effects. Therefore you should literally cough on good extra virgin olive oil if sampling before you buy.

On a side note for purchasing good extra virgin olive oil by the way, (and this isn’t via Max), look to purchase oil in a dark bottle, from a single origin and with a ‘bottled on’ date. Oh yeah, and store in a dark cupboard.

Expert tip 2.

Mushrooms act like parasites, (don’t be put off!), and as such need things to eat to live, like animals and humans do. This is opposed to plants which use photosynthesis to create energy and grow.

Mushrooms exist symbiotically when growing. They can eat organic or non organic material they come into contact with and act like cleaners of the forrest. For example oyster mushrooms can clean up oil, one species found in the amazon can feed on plastic and others even feed on radiation!

For this reason it’s important to know where your mushrooms have come from, and even more so, to ensure your eating organic. This is as mushrooms will feed on pesticides and unknowingly, could well pass them on to you. Buy organic!

Right then, I’m gona keep this brief. Being conscious I’ve included ‘the 2 minute read’ in the title of this post, words are at a premium. The purpose of these short posts are to present what the experts in the fields of fitness, health & well-being, nutrition and bio hacking have to say. I won’t be getting too bogged down with the nitty gritty but if you have any queries I’m happy to help!

Each post I’ll give 2 to 3 insights and/or tips that you can incorporate. I’ll also give a small blurb regarding the expert. Please let me know your thoughts and if you like the format!

Today’s tips will be in regards to using nutrition to enhance your health and longevity.

Expert – Ben Greenfield

Ben is a famous biohacker, human body and brain performance coach, ex-bodybuilder, Ironman triathlete, professional Spartan athlete, anti-aging consultant, speaker and author of the New York Times Bestseller “Beyond Training: Mastering Endurance, Health and Life”. Ben’s blog and podcast are at http://www.BenGreenfieldFitness.com and are well worth a butchers for some pretty ground breaking guests and insights on fitness, health & nutrition.

Ben Greenfield’s pro tips

1. Add the herbs thyme & rosemary when cooking red meats, such as steak, on a high temperature. As well as flavour, these herbs work to reduce the carcinogens created when over-cooking meat occurs, especially where it blackens.

2. Hopefully you will of heard the benefits of implementing some sort of fasting protocol into your daily routine by now, (if not, get googling). For added fat loss, try adding coffee when in a complete fasted state (in the morning for example). Coffee amps up the body’s ability to access and burn fatty acids. This can be further enhanced with some stevia, cinnamon and/or nutmeg that will increase the fasting benefits and not raise insulin. Some collagen is also ok to use sparingly as it has very little calories. Anything else added (butter/MCT for example) will break the fast as has calories in it.

3. There is some compelling research around the impact of artificial sweeteners increasing appetite and as such, weight gain. However, the spiking of appetite from artificial sweeteners only occurs with those not accustomed to them. So if not a regular user, don’t reach for the ‘diet’ version of your fave fizzy drink. If you are a regular Diet Coke drinker however, crack on.

Ok, hope you enjoyed and let me know your thoughts. Please like and leave a comment!