Hey y'all and welcome to the everyday athlete podcast recorded live from Omaha, Nebraska and I'm your host, Katie danger U S army veteran and founder of Red H Nutrition providing everyday athletes just like you, clean, effective nutritional solutions, custom formulated to help you reach your absolute potential every single day.
Hey again, Please. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. How are we all doing today? I appreciate you spending Some time with me and listening to all the fitness optimization solutions that I share. It's always my number one goal to make sure that you come away from these podcasts smarter than before. So today, today, I've got an opinion to share with you and you might not like it, but I want you to hear me out on it. My opinion is that you should be skipping breakfast, and if you're not, you should start skipping breakfast. Yup. I'm telling you to stop eating breakfast. I'm going to tell you why, but before I dive into the actual meat and potatoes of the episode, I want to find out how everybody's summer is going so far here in Nebraska. It has been very, very hot, but like not abnormally hot. I would say that we've gotten away from the humidity that I'm used to. It's just a bunch of heat and it's all the time.
(01:08): I love it though, because I actually enjoy the heat. I joke about this a lot, but I'm always cold. I even joked that sometimes I'm literally cold blooded, but I don't think that's possible. It's just, just sometimes it really feels like it. So I love the heat, but it has been really, really hot here in Nebraska. And it caught me flashing back to, I remember back in my army days, we would go out, we would do our field training exercises and we would do it during the summer. And I really wouldn't mind spending the night outdoors during the summer. In fact, I actually enjoyed it because it wasn't cold and you didn't have to worry about carrying all this extra stuff. And you're up to, so, you know, a rucksack, a backpack away was like 45 pounds of it's got all your cold weather gear, but if you don't take your cold weather gear, it's only like 25 pounds.
(01:46): So it's like a really big difference. And then thinking back on those memories, when it started to get hot out, I was also, I was looking for a new activity to get involved with. Anyways, I've been really bored with CrossFit. I've been really bored with lifting weights and really bored with endurance. So I was just looking for something, something else. So I started to think back on my time in the army, it's hot out. I like spend the time outside, you know, just with the army. It kind of comes with a lot of other stuff, but I want to do backpacking. So I decided that I'm going to enjoy the great outdoors. I'm going to spend some time this summer under the stars. I'm going to take up backpacking. So generally, like I said, I'm a hot person and I mean like energy wise, too, I'm on the go all the time.
(02:27): I'm fiery. I'm a doer. I'm go, go, go. I tend to run hot. But lately at the advice of some of my friends, I've been trying to cool down a little bit and not just in the temperature sense, but like slow down, breathe a little stop and smell the roses. And that's another reason that backpacking sounded like such a perfect new hobby to try out. It is not high intensity fitness. And it's something that allows me to connect with nature, connect with the outdoors, be patient, and just kind of enjoy the moment. So I'm really excited to share with everybody that I'm going to my first adventure in a few weeks. And I'm going to share that experience with all of you. But if you have any tips or tricks or advice for a newbie, I really, really want you to let me know. So just drop me an email, katie@reddishnutrition.com and let me know what I need to know about backpacking before I need to know it.
(03:14): So perhaps your advice can save me some, a mistake that maybe I don't have to make, but let me know. Let me know. I'm really excited about that. So how about athletes? Let's just get right into episode number 33 now. And it's why I think you should start skipping breakfast and it revolves all around intermittent fasting. And sometimes I'm going to call it. I F I might also say intermittent fasting, but just to save some time, I might say I F and you might've heard of this by now. You might've heard of intermittent fasting by now. And it's a method of timing, your food intake, and it's getting pretty popular. And some of the higher end mastermind and social influencer groups that are out there, but outside of the trendiness of it, intermittent fasting is a legit way to lose weight, increase your energy, build more muscle burn, fat sleep better.
(03:59): And I know when I say all of that out loud, it kind of sounds too good to be true, right? Well, if you're like me, you'll try anything once. And once I tried intermittent fasting, I have not gone back. It works for me and it might work for you. So I want you to listen up. And the cool thing about IFF is that it's simple. In theory, it is not a diet. It is not a diet. I'm going to say it one more time. It is not a diet. It is a pattern of eating. It's a way of scheduling your meals so that you get the most out of them and IFF doesn't change the way you eat. It changes when. So in fact, you can still eat whatever you want to eat. You can still eat the macros, your calorie. We're not talking about any restriction of any source, other than you're scheduling your meals within a certain timeframe.
(04:46): So it just changes the win, not the what. So intermittent fasting is a great thing to try if you want something different, but don't want to change your diet. You don't, like I said, no cutting calories. You do everything. The same. The thing is though, maybe it's cool for you, but a lot of people, they talk about intermittent fasting, and we just really talk about the body fat benefits of it. So it's a great way to lose body fat, but in terms of weight loss strategies, it really, really is the thing that needs the smallest effort, but it gives you the biggest results. And if body fat is on your mind, now there's a lot more benefits to IMF that'll get into. But if you're thinking about losing body fat, it really doesn't take a lot of effort and it can lead to big results.
(05:26): So I have could be a choice for you. It also works by controlling your insulin. So when we talk about the science of it, now, just talking about the scheduling, it helps you control your insulin. It helps you optimize your body's ability to burn fat. Now, let's talk about the science, just a little bit, your body's in a fed state when it's digesting and absorbing food. Typically the fed state starts when you begin eating and lasts for three to five hours after eating as your body digests and absorbs the foods that you just, when you're in that fed state, it's very hard for your body to burn fat because your insulin levels are so high. After that time span, your body goes into what is known as the post absorbative state. And that's really just a fancy way of saying that your body is not processing food.
(06:13): So you've got the fed state and then the non fed state one during the fed state, your body's processing food and the non fed state. It's not processing food in this post absorptive state or the non fed state. It lasts eight to 12 hours after your last meal, which is when you entered the fastest state. So it's much easier for your body to burn in that fasted state because your insulin levels are so low. And when your body's in the fastest state, it can burn fat and fat stores that were generally inaccessible during the fed state, because we don't enter that facet state until 12 hours after our last meal, it's rare that our bodies are in this fat burning state. Otherwise, this is one of the reasons that people who start IMF will lose fat without changing anything, including how much or how often or anything, or even how much they exercise, because fasting just puts your body in a fat burning state that it rarely makes to during a normal eating schedule.
(07:03): So besides burning fat, though, what I was getting to is there are plenty of other benefits to intermittent fasting. It makes your day so much easier to manage. For example, when I wake up, I am not worried about what's for breakfast. I get up, I start my daily routine. I drank water. I start my day and to not have to stress about another meal, it really makes my life a lot easier. I've put my feeding window and do a specific timeframe. So it's kind of like a schedule. I just know what I'm going to eat, and I don't have to worry about other things. And it is easier than dieting. It's okay. If you choose the easy way sometimes, and in the case of intermittent fasting, you don't have to do anything radical to change your diet. That's why it's so easy to start intermittent fasting.
(07:43): It is easier than dieting because dieting is a restriction of some sort you're adding or taking away something, right? So you still get eat all the tasty foods you want. You just alter when you eat them. Now for reference athletes, I am currently using intermittent fasting to make my life simpler. I've tried lots of things. I've tried it. I would say I've probably tried everything under the sun. I've tried keto, paleo vegan. I have done the zone. I've counted my macros. My diet is balanced. Now I'm always aiming for balance. I just try to keep things to as much whole foods as I can. So I eat lean meats. I try to choose organic grass fed meats. I eat vegetables and fruits. I try to eat organic. If I can. You know that 80 20 principle, I really, really live by my diet is balanced and it just makes it all easier. When I put all of these, all of the criteria of my food choices into a schedule, there's no worrying about much. You just know that you're going to eat and then you're free to do whatever you want for the rest of your schedule. In my humble opinion, intermittent fasting is too easy for you not to try
(08:44): Tried at least once ever heard the same failing to prepare is preparing to fail a major component to your competitive success will be your nutrition, prep. And I create a competition nutrition guide to help you utilize pre intra and post competition nutrition protocols boost your confidence heading into a competition, recover quicker post comps. You get right back to training and increase your power output and max capacity. So you can own that podium. I created this guy just for the everyday athlete, and you can get your free copy@competitionnutritionguide.com. I'll say again, competition, nutrition, guide.com,
(09:26): Lots of different time windows in which you could schedule your fast. You could even alter the length of your fast too, because the longer you fast, the more time your body has in that fat burning mode. So when it comes to intermittent fasting, generally you're doing it every single day. So it becomes easy to get into routine, but right now you probably eat around the same times every day. So this is the same thing you just learned to not eat around certain times, right? And if you're hesitant to try fasting, try it for a week, try it for a month. Even one month at a time, research has shown to have significant benefits on your energy level, your fat, your metabolism. Now the longest I've ever faceted gone without eating. And I made a podcast episode about it. It's episode number 17, and it was 84 hours.
(10:08): I did a three day juice fast. So I did not eat anything solid for 84 hours. I just drank juice. If you haven't checked out that experience, I think you would get a lot from that episode. So going back to the everyday athlete podcast, archives and check out episode number 17, you'll get a lot out of that too. So that was my first dabble with a more extreme form of fasting, but it really got my mind working. And then I learned more about intermittent fasting because I really liked the benefits, but I just didn't want to drink juice all the time and then go three plus days without eating solid foods. So right now my current eating window every day is like this. I wake up around 5:00 AM. I do my daily stuff, my routine, I get my tasks done. I do have water in the morning at 12:00 PM.
(10:51): I have my first meal and I'm usually really hungry by then. So I'm ready to eat. My body's gotten on a new schedule. So at 12:00 PM, I have my first meal. I'm not counting my calories. I'm just simply eating whenever I am hungry and I still choose whole foods. And I try to get the best nutrition that I can. And I eat. I have an eating window for eight hours. So at 8:00 PM, I don't eat anything more after 8:00 PM, I don't eat again. And then I sleep. I go to bed and I won't eat until 12:00 PM the next day, I just do that rinse and repeat every single day. Now this is dynamic. Life is dynamic and I am not as rigid with this as it might have been in the past, like when I had competition goals and things like that. So, you know, I say, I do this every day, but it's still 80 20.
(11:34): You know, if you look at the course of a month, three months, a half year, 80% of the time, I've fallen us in 20% of the time. I'm still doing the things that I love. If I go out with friends, you know, I'm going to have that pizza, or I'm going to have that beer because life is about living and enjoying those things too. But I just, I love intermittent fasting. And so many ways to too, though, you know, you just mentioned, you could do a juice fast. That is more about caloric restriction. And we're about the mental aspect of fasting rather than the insulin based approach and what we're talking with IMF, but it's some way to get involved and learn what your habits and routines are about food. And that's what I F will help you with to creating healthier habits and routines.
(12:12): Now, the method that I use is a 16, eight, where I have that eight hour feeding window, but I fast for 16. There's also a popular method it's called eat, stop eat. And that involves 24 hour fasting a few times a week. You can also shorten your eating window and increase your fasting timeframe. So you could do 18 hours of fast with a six hour eating window, or some people even do a four hour window where they can eat. And then they fast for 20. There's also a one meal a day method. And that's where you literally just eat one large meal a day. You consume a lot of calories in that one sitting, and then you fast for the next 24 hours. So you're getting one meal a day, but then fasting for the rest of your day. You could still drink water and you could consume zero carbs or sugar electrolytes or BCAs as well.
(12:56): And my athletes, when I have introduced them to one of the first things they say is how the heck do I fast when I work out in the morning? And that is a really great question. And the truth is there is nothing wrong or suboptimal by working out fast. And really it's just all in our head. And once you get used to the idea, you're okay. The biggest resistance that you're going to get from this is from your mind, it's not from your body or the results that you're going to get from my F it's going to be from wrapping your head around doing something perhaps quite differently than you've done it before. So the mental resistance is really where the issues arise for my athletes. And once we tackle that, then it's really easy to explain science behind things like BCAs. So for athletes that I coach, they follow the IIF lifestyle.
(13:41): They fast, I recommend that they use a zero carbon, zero sugar BCA, you get added electrolytes. What this does is one, it helps with muscle contraction, so you don't get cramps. And then it makes sure that they're still able to put their body into a positive nitrogen balance and stimulate hypertrophy. So if you're lifting weights fasted, you want to make sure that your body doesn't cannibalize itself and you're still gaining lean muscle while you work out. And that's what branch chain amino acids can provide. Particularly L leucine, which I have done a podcast episode on that before. Can't remember the episode number at the top of my head. I'll put it the show notes when we're done here. So show notes for that episode, but it's called nutrition for hypertrophy. Check that episode out too. If you want to know a little bit more about what Ellucian and what branch chain amino acids can do for hypertrophy and why it's so necessary.
(14:26): So forget about you need carbs to gain muscle. You just need to have the positive nitrogen balance, and that's what branch chain amino acids will provide for you. And additionally, you're going to burn extra fat during that facet of workout. You're already going to get the benefits of the fast now, add on that boost of metabolism on top of that, and boom, you are a fat burning machine and you're full of energy. Now my opinion, those best BCAs, the one that I recommend for my athletes already as nutritions go juice, go, juice comes in four awesome flavors. My favorite flavor is watermelon is perfect for the summer. And if you can get it chilled during a workout or after you are going to be in heaven, my friends. And remember if you use code podcast 20, you're going to score 20% off too. So hop on over to reddish nutrition.com checkout go juice, branch chain, amino acids, and youth code podcast, 20 save 20%.
(15:18): You know, and whether you go with red, H has BCAs or another brand, the point is here, athletes, you got to make sure your brand you're using BCAs if you're training fasted. So that is a solution. That is the answer to the question. How the heck do I fast if I'm still working out, I don't want to lose my games and I get it. Branched chain amino acids are going to be your best friend. It ensures your body gets into hypertrophy and doesn't catalyze any muscle tissue for energy. And I understand that everyone is different. My coaching philosophy is really simple. It's that you should always try new things and that you should always be open to a better way of doing things. I often, in my less mature training years, I used to shrug off things that sounded kind of hokey whether they were too easy or they didn't resonate with what I held as a belief of my current scientific knowledge.
(16:06): And I really let my ego get in the way of a lot. I think my ego stopped me from trying a lot of things that could have ultimately benefited me in hindsight and my goals and my training recovery. So with that athletes, I highly encourage you to try new things, whether it's going to be intermittent, fasting, whether it's going to be branch chain, amino acids for you and your facet training. I just encourage you to try new things and be open, and don't be as skeptical or cynical about things, especially if you're stuck. If you're stuck in, you're looking for a better way to reach your goals. I'm going to say it one more time. Intermittent fasting is a great, great way to try something new, but not change anything about what diet or what foods you're eating athletes next week in episode number 34, I'm going to share some of my thoughts with you on what makes a good coach.
(16:53): I was my coaching and athlete list grows. I've learned a lot through my years of also not being a very BA subpar coach. So now that I'm here and I feel that I'm a good coach. I want to share some of my experience with you. I'm going to be gathering some input from ready to athletes and finding out what makes a good coach. I'll also share with you some of the stories about some really awful coaching experiences I've been on the receiving end of and some red flags that really make it easy to tell if the coach is on your side, or if the coach is trying to perhaps stroke his or her ego using your training plan as the method to do so. Now coaching is a really, really large part of your fitness goals and equation. So if you turn in next week for episode number 34, I know that you're going to find a lot of value. So check it out. Episode number 34, I'm looking forward to it as well. And you know what? If you've got a training or coaching experience, good or bad, you want to share, send it to me, katie@redhnutrition.com, because experience is what I'm with you here.
(17:50): Experience is how I'm trying to make your life easier. And if you've got experienced, you can share, help me make other athlete's life easier. Let me know what it is. Katie@Redhnutrition.Com. And until then athletes, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you learned something about intermittent fasting and I hope it is a tool that you can at least keep in your toolbox perhaps for a later date. If it fits your bowls, keep training hard. This is Katie D over and out.
(18:20): This is ThePodcastFactory.com.
