Author: Modern Athlete

Sugar has always been a controversial issue with most health-conscious athletes. We are constantly bombarded with info about how sugar can cause holes in our teeth, affect our mood and energy levels, make us fat and cause illnesses such as diabetes and cancer. But let’s face it, sugar is a key nutrient in sport and without it our diets would be very bland. Nutritionists agree that sugar has a place in a healthy diet, as long as it is balanced in amount, type and timing. – BY CHRISTINE PETERS

SUGAR: A CARBOHYDRATE
There are three so-called macronutrients in our diets: proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Carbohydrates and fats supply the body with the energy vital for existence. Sugars, along with starches and dietary fibres, fall into the carbohydrate group. Plant foods, such as cereals and grains (maize, wheat, rice) and fruits and vegetables, are the primary sources of carbohydrates in the diet. Plant carbohydrates vary widely in sweetness, texture, rate of digestion, and degree to which they are absorbed in the body.
 
Carbohydrates can be categorised as:
• Monosaccharides (glucose, fructose and galactose)
• Disaccharides and oligosaccharides (sucrose such as table sugar, lactose or milk sugar, and maltose)
• Polysaccharides (starch and fibres)
 The prefix ‘mono’ refers to one sugar, ‘di’ indicates that two sugars are combined, and ‘poly’ indicates the combination of many sugars.

All carbohydrates are eventually broken down into the simple sugars (mono and disaccharides) and absorbed into the bloodstream. Because glucose, fructose and galactose are absorbed at different rates and have different metabolic pathways, the type of carbohydrate influences the effect it has on the blood sugar levels. Simple carbs can occur naturally within a food e.g. fructose in fruit, or they can be added to a food (added sugars).

Because processed foods containing added sugars are replacing other foods in the South African diet, simple carbs have increased significantly as compared to more complex starches or fibres. It is these added sugars that are to blame for the increase in obesity.

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
When eaten, sugar is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, causing a surge in the hormone insulin. Insulin clears sugar and fat from the bloodstream, and enables them to be stored in tissue for future use. Go overboard with added sugar and eventually your body’s insulin system will stop working, leaving you with high blood sugar and eventually, diabetes and other illnesses. The World  Health Organization recommends limiting your sugar intake to 10% of your total daily calories. So if you eat 2 500 calories, 250 of them can be from added sugar. One of the biggest mistakes we make is overloading our bodies with sugar during an event. This leads to a slower digestive system and your blunted insulin levels during exercise, which means that we can process only so much food and pull only so much glucose into our cells.

During exercise the body can process 30-60 grams of carbs per hour. Consume too much energy and you’ll not only take in too many calories, you are also likely to suffer from gastrointestinal disturbances. Use the following guidelines to ensure you take in the correct amount of sugar:
• For activities less than 60min a day, you can get away with avoiding simple carbs (bars, gels, sports drinks) and focusing more on adding complex carbs to your normal diet.
• If you train more than 90min a day, you will need to replenish your muscles during and after an event. The general rule is 30-60g of carbs per 45-60min or 8-10km, whichever comes first.

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR SUGAR
Sugars in energy products come in different forms: glucose, fructose, sucrose and maltodextrin. For the best performance benefits, use products with a blend of sugars. Various studies have found that when trained athletes consume drinks with mixed sugars, they are able to process, digest and absorb considerably more carbs per minute than when they drink single-sugar energy drinks.

It comes down to what you like and what your body can tolerate while you run. Genetically, we all have different abilities to digest and absorb various carbohydrates. Digestion becomes slower the faster you go. Play around with different products and figure out what works for you. Don’t overdo it on the sugar. All the carbs in the world will do you no good if you can’t get them out of your gut and into your legs.

The following table details exactly how much sugar is in the typical foods we eat, and which healthy alternatives we can substitute them with.

Example of high sugar food Healthier alternative
Milk chocolate bar 22g sugar; Cereal bar  14g sugar; 9g sugar Cooked oats (3/4 cup);  0.4g sugar Commercial large muffin; 36g sugar Oat bran muffin (homestyle); 14g sugar Coke (one cup); 27g sugar Low fat milk (one cup); 14g sugar Low fat fruit yoghurt (one cup); 46g sugar Low fat plain yoghurt (one cup).

Note: 15g of sugar or carbohydrate is equivalent to one slice of bread in terms of portion size.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SUGAR
• ‘Low sugar’ is supposed to mean less than 5g of sugar per 100g of food.
• Often fat free products have more added sugar to make up for taste and to act as a filler.
• Honey is very similar in terms of calories/energy to table sugar, but does have other health benefits if not used in excess.
• Xylitol is a great alternative to sugar for those trying to lose weight, have diabetes or are prone to dental problems.

Most of know that we should be eating two to three fruit portions per day, but there remains confusion of how to tally up portions, and what exactly counts as a fruit. – BY CHRISTINE PETERS, REGISTERED DIETICIAN

The Department of Health bases its recommendation about fruit and vegetable consumption on a 1990 report from the World Health Organisation (WHO), looking at the amount of fruit and vegetables eaten in regions like Italy and Greece, where high intakes of fruit and vegetables are linked to low rates of chronic disease and some cancers. The WHO thus recommends that 400g of fruit and vegetables should be consumed per day, and to make it easier, health experts have divided that 400g into five 80g portions, two to three of them coming from fruit.

There are several reasons that fruits are so important:
• They’re rich in fibre, important in healthy digestion, and help prevent certain conditions such as constipation and bowel cancer.
• They’re packed with antioxidants that stop free-radicals attacking and damaging our cells, helping prevent health problems like heart disease, strokes and cancer.
• They contain vital vitamins and minerals, like vitamin C, potassium, folate and beta-carotene.
• They’re low in fat and calories, yet fill us up, so they help with appetite and weight control.

WHAT COUNTS AS A PORTION?
Each different fruit contains various combinations of fibre, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, so to get the best benefit, eat a variety of fruit daily, especially differently coloured fruits. Most fruit-containing foods can count towards your three fruit servings per day, but there is a limit to how many portions they provide, regardless of the amount. For example:
• Fresh fruit: 80g of fresh fruit equals one fruit portion, e.g. 1 medium apple, 3 apricots, 4 heaped tablespoons of blueberries.
• Dried fruit: 30g dried fruit equals one fruit portion, e.g. 2 figs or 1 heaped tablespoon of raisins.
• Tinned fruit: 80g tinned fruit equals one fruit portion, e.g. 2 pear halves or 2 pineapple rings
• Fruit juice: A small glass (150ml) of pure fruit juice counts as one fruit serving, but you can only count one serving of fruit juice towards your three fruit servings per day. This is because unlike fresh fruit, the juicing process squeezes out natural sugar that is normally found between the cells of fruit, which is harmful to your teeth.

WEIGHT-GAIN WORRIES?
Many people make the mistake of thinking fruit is sugar and will cause you to gain weight. The truth is, fruit is made up of various types of sugars, but the main type is fructose, which has a different metabolic pathway and a lower glycaemic (blood sugar) response compared to glucose, which is found in candy and sweet, refined carbs. Fruit also contains fibre, which lowers the glycaemic response even further. Thus if you eat a lot of fruit at one time, the sugar load in the blood can rise unfavourably, but not if you eat one to two portions at a time. The key is to have a variety of fruits and spread them out throughout the day.

Having dominated the Collegiate track and cross country circuits while studying in the USA and qualified for her first Olympics, Dominique Scott-Efurd is now looking forward to life as a professional athlete, and aiming for more outings in the Green and Gold of South Africa. – BY SEAN FALCONER

When Dominique won a full athletics scholarship in 2011 to go study marketing at the University of Arkansas in the USA, she left Cape Town as a young athlete with three junior SA titles on the track, a lot of raw potential, and a big dream of one day running for her country at the Olympics. However, she is the first to admit that she wasn’t sure if she would reach that level, but decided to give it everything and see how far she could go. “I knew I couldn’t turn down the opportunity, even though I went there knowing I wasn’t the best athlete on the team – not even the best Freshman, for that matter. But somehow Coach Lance Harter and I found what I initially lacked in strength and speed, and we were able to get the best out of me over five years,” says Dominique.

That’s putting it mildly… Dom ended up winning five national NCAA collegiate titles and helped the Arkansas Razorbacks win their first ever indoor and outdoor national team titles, was awarded prestigious All American honours seven times, set multiple records along the way, and enjoyed superstar status on campus. That in turn was all a build-up to her making the final selection for Team SA for the Rio Olympics, where she ran a PB 31:51:47 in the women’s 10,000m to become the second-fastest South African woman of all time at that distance.

She says the Olympic race was insanely fast, nothing like what she had expected. “My coach and my strength trainer, who ran at the Olympics himself, said it was likely going to be tactical, as the big races nearly always are at championships. So they said just be brave and hang in there till halfway, and then see what happens, but it was the total opposite. It was the fastest women’s 10,000m in history – within the first 200m we were already running single file, and I was on my PB pace right from the gun – and even though I got lapped a couple of times, it was still amazing to be part of it.”

In the past year, Dom also got married to college ‘sweetheart’ Cameron Efurd at the end of 2015, and as soon as she graduated from College in mid-2016, she signed a long-term sponsorship deal with adidas, so now the 24-year-old is focused on making her mark as a professional athlete. “It really has just been like a dream come true. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into those five years, but it was definitely worth it!” she says. “Now I feel so blessed, because I know that only a few people get to become professional athletes, and I am also blessed to be with a company that takes care of me so well. I’m truly living my dream.”

Showing Fine Form
In late December, Dom and Cam visited SA for three weeks to visit her family in Cape Town, and in between family get-togethers, sightseeing and tanning – it was snowing back ‘home’ in Arkansas when they left – Dom made the most of the glorious summer weather to put in some serious training ahead of her indoor track season starting in January. She also put her fitness and speed to the test and managed to break the women’s course record at the Constantia parkrun, then shattered the women’s 15km course record at the NutriBullet Bay to Bay race, clocking 53:59 to take just under five minutes off the previous record!

She was often asked for autographs and pictures when she ventured out to running events, and for much of her time in SA she had journalists and photographers hovering nearby – a far cry from two years ago when she actively went looking for coverage in the South African press in order to remind ASA that she was still in the mix for selection for Rio. Of course, having been selected for Rio and worn the Green and Gold at senior level for the first time, but now being married to an American and living there, the question often comes up where she now considers home, and what her plans for the future are.

“That’s a hard question, because I was born in SA and it will always be my home, but I have bought a house in the States with my husband and feel settled there. Also, when I graduated, I was no longer allowed to stay in the USA on a student visa, but when Cameron and I got married last December I was automatically allowed to get my Green Card, which allows me to live in the States and earn money – and pay taxes – but I am still a South African national, and I want to keep representing SA. But both countries are now home,” says Dom.

“Even if I wanted to run for America I can’t, because you have to have a US passport and be a permanent citizen… but it‘s not what I want to do anyway, I want to keep running for South Africa. I moved overseas to study and happened to find a husband there, so now I live and train over there, but I do not want to turn my back on SA. I worked hard to get into the South African team and had a great experience in Rio, and now I want more of that. Cam and I have discussed our plans, including when to start a family, and he understands that my focus will be on my running at least until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and possibly even up to the 2024 Games. I’m only 24 now, so we still have plenty of time for kids down the line.”

Things Working Out Nicely
Another reason Dom is so happy with life in Arkansas is that her successful partnership with Coach Harter is set to continue, even though she has now finished college and is no longer running for the Razorbacks. “He is still my coach, and they are allowing me to train with the squad and use the facilities. They’ve even given me a faculty parking pass, and still allow me to eat in the student athlete cafeteria. They say it improves the level of their athletes by allowing top athletic alumni to continue training there, and that also means I get to give back to the programme as well, so everybody is happy.”

Looking ahead, Dom says she reckons the 10,000m is her best event right now, but she still wants to race the shorter middle distance events on the track. “I only just missed out on the Rio qualifier for the 5000 by 1.1 seconds – and that was in my first race of the outdoor season, before I peaked – so this year I am hoping to qualify for both the 5000 and 10,000 at the World Champs in London. I believe I can run the ‘Double,’ because they’re a week apart on the programme, so there’s enough time to recuperate. Also, I’ve run good mile and 3000 times on the indoor track recently, so I think I do have the speed to run the 5000.”

Her competitive plans for 2017 will start with the indoor track season from January to March, followed by the outdoor season from April through till about September, and in between she says she may fit in a few road races as well. “I love running on the road, because I grew up at the road races in Cape Town that my mom ran. There’s not much cross country in the professional athletics world and I want to stay on the track for at least a couple more years before I make the step to the road, but I will still do some road events.”

Sounding a Bit Dodgy
Of course, the one less than fortunate side-effect of Dom’s journey is the way five years in America has affected her accent, which now has an unmistakable American tone. “I get teased about it here in SA, but then we go back to the States and Cam gets asked where he’s from, because he picks up some of the things I say. Sometimes it switches on and off, so we’re both now multi-cultural, but we just laugh off the teasing, because we’re just enjoying life.”

Caffeine is the best known member of a family of naturally occurring stimulants found in leaves, nuts and seeds in over 60 plants. Dietary sources include tea, coffee, chocolate, soft drinks and energy drinks – typically these provide 20 to 200mg of caffeine per serving. Coffee and tea are the main sources of caffeine for adults, while soft drinks are the main sources for children. Caffeine is also found in your sports drink: guarana added to sports gels/drinks/ supplements is the main source for athletes.

It's well-known that caffeine makes us more alert and delays sleep. It's also popular among athletes, since it can improve performance in some sports. However, people often wonder whether caffeine is safe. Right now, it appears that a moderate caffeine intake does not increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis or cancer. And contrary to popular opinion, caffeinated drinks do not dehydrate us, especially if we are used to caffeine.

HOW MUCH CAFFEINE IS SAFE?
Many different foods, beverages and medicines contain varying amounts of caffeine.
• It is recommended that adults limit their caffeine intake to no more than 400 to 450mg per day. This is about the amount found in three 250ml cups of regular coffee.
• Pregnant and breastfeeding women should limit their intake to no more than 300mg/day (two cups of coffee or six cups of tea). Caffeine can be passed to an infant in breast milk, which may result in irritability and sleeplessness.
• Recommended limits for children are even lower (45mg/day for children four to six years, 62.5mg/day for seven to nine, and 85mg/day for children 10-12 years). It doesn’t take much for children to reach these limits; a can of cola contains about 45mg of caffeine, an energy drink has about 80mg and a solid milk chocolate bar contains about 10mg.

CAN IT IMPROVE MY PERFORMANCE?
Caffeine has a complex range of actions on the body which have been extensively researched. It has several effects on skeletal muscle, and through some of these actions, caffeine may stimulate fat metabolism during aerobic exercise, ‘sparing’ glycogen stores and thus delaying fatigue. However, other studies have found this theory to be short-lived and confined to certain individuals only.

Caffeine has also been found to have other effects on the body that may influence athletic performance. It may affect the central nervous system, such as reduced perception of effort and enhanced recruitment of motor units, which may give athletes a ‘buzz’ and mask fatigue.

It is important to remember that caffeine-loading is not good for all athletes. Like any drug, caffeine affects everyone differently. Some athletes will respond and receive a pronounced performance boost, whereas some athletes are non-responders or may even experience disadvantageous side-effects.

CAFFEINE DOSE
Obviously it’s in an athlete’s interest to find the dose of caffeine that elicits the greatest benefit to their performance, but with the least level of increased risk or side-effect. Unfortunately, it’s been very difficult to conclude studies done on the effect of varying caffeine doses on performance, because of different body sizes of subjects and the use of absolute doses verses relative doses of caffeine. However, it does seem that beneficial effects from caffeine occur at very modest levels of intakes (1 to 3mg/kg body mass or 70 to 150mg caffeine), when it is taken prior to or during exercise.

It’s important to note that it seems that increased doses do not appear to improve performance further and may in fact be detrimental (tremors, increased heart rate, headaches and impaired sleep).

THE RIGHT TIMING
Caffeine is rapidly absorbed, reaching peak concentrations in the blood within an hour after ingestion. New studies are showing that divided doses of caffeine (smaller amounts taken in throughout exercise) are beneficial for performance, rather than one larger dose one hour prior to a bout of exercise.

More studies need to be done, but it’s thought that as an athlete fatigues during exercise, they become more sensitive to small doses of caffeine.

SOURCE OF CAFFEINE
Unfortunately, coffee as a source of caffeine for an athlete is not the ideal source because of the variability of caffeine content (one cup of coffee can contain anywhere between 25 and 214mg caffeine) and the possible presence of chemicals in coffee that impair exercise performance.

Furthermore, there is a lack of investigations of the effects of available caffeine sources, such as cola drinks and caffeinated sports drinks, compared to those of pure caffeine used in studies. Therefore, the athlete may find it difficult to apply the beneficial effects of caffeine to their ‘real-world’ scenarios.

The most important thing to remember is everything in moderation! For the average healthy adult, moderate caffeine intakes pose no health risk, especially if we eat a balanced diet and enjoy regular physical activity.

While attending the 2016 Comrades Marathon, Old Mutual’s Head of Brand of Emerging Markets, Karen Thomas, was invited on a journey that would test her and humble her, and just like the 90km journey from Maritzburg to Durban, it would change her. Here’s her story of conquering Mount Kilimanjaro. – BY ROXANNE MARTIN

Karen has a busy life. She works from early morning to late evening and travels at least once a week for business, some of which is centred on Old Mutual’s title sponsorship of several of the biggest events on the SA running calendar, while balancing the task of being a loving wife to husband Glen and mother to daughter Andrea. So when she was challenged to climb Mount Kilimanjaro towards the end of 2016, just four months later, many would have forgiven her for saying her schedule was just too full, but Karen’s commitment to a managed lifestyle, of balancing it all, allowed her to find the time to train and get herself ready to climb the highest peak in Africa.

Boot Camp Diaries
Following a strict routine of attending Adventure Boot Camp for Women three days a week, Karen‘s training encompassed an all-body regime that builds core, legs, cardio and overall strength, as well as some running, as she knew she had to up the ante to get ready for the climb on a tight four-month timeline. “I believe that the Adventure Boot Camp built all the strength I needed to do the climb,” says Karen, adding that she spent every available opportunity to climb Table Mountain. “What was so awesome was discovering parts of Table Mountain that I didn’t know. That was absolutely brilliant. Also, you meet incredible people up there, and I am a bit of a chatterbox, so I would chat to people and get to know them.”

Karen says the biggest lesson she learnt on her various climbs on the mountain was simple: “What goes up, must come down!” That’s why in all her climbs, Karen never took the easy way down with the cable car, instead going down as she had gone up, on her own two feet. “What people don’t realise is the coming down is harder, so you need to make sure you build the strength to get down, too, if you want to take on the high mountains.”

The Importance of Altitude
In the final stages of her preparation, Karen spent a weekend in the Drakensberg while attending the Wild Series Mont-Aux-Sources Challenge, another event sponsored by Old Mutual, where she spent three days climbing. “It gave me some altitude training, which I needed with only three weeks to go,” says Karen. At that point she says she felt ready for the challenge ahead, not just physically, but also mentally: “One of the biggest lessons was preparation and training, because you need to make sure you are physically strong and fit, which means then you only have the ‘kop stuff’ to worry about,” explains Karen.

This ‘kop stuff’ she speaks of was the mental strength to push beyond her perceived boundaries and get the job done. “There was no ways that I wasn’t going to make it,” says Karen determinedly, but she is quick to add that she also made sure she gave herself the best opportunity to successfully crest the mountain. “I can’t stress enough the importance of having the right equipment and using it in your training before you attempt the main climb. You need to have good, waterproof boots!”

Things Get Real
During the climb the team found themselves faced with a day of constant rain and below zero temperatures. “It rained so hard that day, then it starting sleeting because it was so cold,” says Karen. Incredibly thankful for her waterproof boots and dry feet, it was still a tough, taxing day, pushing the whole party further than they thought the journey would. It was here that Karen says the support she had received all through her journey to the climb really madea difference. “I just drew on the strength of all the supporters that were backing me to finish this journey. In the toughest moments, it was simply the thought of those back home who were cheering me on that kept me going.”

The effects of altitude also proved a problem for many in the climbing party, with some of Karen’s fellow climbers needing oxygen as they bean hallucinating, but Karen seemed to take everything in her stride. “I think I have the constitution for altitude. I did the Inca Trail about six years ago, and was fine then – I didn’t have headaches or any symptoms,” says Karen. Her tent mate was not so lucky, getting sick after the party had summitted and being placed on a drip. Luckily she had Karen to help her pack her stuff and make sure she had everything she needed.

Know Your Limits
The experience of watching her fellow climbers succumb to the many challenges that the mountain puts in front of you, gave Karen an insight into what her family feared most, that she would push past the point where she should stop. “You have to know when you can’t do it, when you must stop,” says Karen, explaining again how important it is to listen to those around you to know when you need to stop. But overcoming the altitude was actually not Karen’s biggest problem during the climb… “I am quite tall, and your gear is heavy, so I would need someone to help me get out of the tent everyday!” jokes Karen.

Also, the ablutions facilities on route were a serious challenge, but luckily for the girls they had a portable mini-loo with them. Washing and staying fresh was also a challenge, says Karen. “We took plenty of wet-wipes, and it didn’t matter how cold it was, I used them. I also took a little bottle of lavender oil that I could spray on, and people remarked how nice I smelt, which made me feel better,” she laughs.

Summiting
“The Summit was the toughest,” says Karen. “We began the final climb to the top at night, which I believe they do so you can’t see how tough it is! The last 200m to Stella point was really hard, and I think if people could have seen how hectic it was, they wouldn’t do it. I remember looking up and asking someone if that was a star or a head lamp, because you go so high,” says Karen. Getting up to the summit and back down to their final campsight took them a full 16 hours, but Karen says it was all made worthwhile when you got to the top with the sun rising and saw the whole world in front of you. “it was just amazing,” she says.

Asked if she would do it again, Karen’s answer is an emphatic no. “There are other challenges out there that are left for me to take on and experience.” She adds that climbing Kili has given her a new perspective on the bigger picture, and shown her that there is more to life than just what you do every day, that amazing experiences and amazing friendships are what takes one forward… to the next big challenge.