Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #88: Gill1918 Presents Sports Dietitian Maddie Riley “Tackling Tummy Troubles” Powered by Coach O

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#88: Gill1918 Presents Sports Dietitian Maddie Riley “Tackling Tummy Troubles” Powered by Coach O · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  Welcome to the Gill 1918 Project, a podcast series by
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  coaches for coaches, powered by Gill Athletics.
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  Think of it as the Ted Talks of track and field coaching.
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  Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
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  you grow as a coach. This episode is part of the
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  Youth and Beginner Series, brought to you by Coach O.
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  In this series, we focus on topics relating to coaching
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  youth athletes, coaching beginner athletes of any age,
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  and supporting brand new coaches as they find their way.
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  With that in mind, let's grow. This is Maddie Riley.
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  I'm a sports dietitian, and today I'm going to be helping
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  you with your athletes who have tummy problems.
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  This could be anything from getting super nervous before a
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  race to feeling like you have to go to the bathroom during hard
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  workouts and efforts, and even our athletes who have problems
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  with nausea or just general tummy upset.
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  The difference here is that these problems are centered
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  around exercise. So if you have athletes who feel
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  like their stomach hurts all day or they have problems where they
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  have to go to the bathroom all the time, these are athletes
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  that you're going to want to send to a dietitian or to their
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  general provider. Personally, I would rather they
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  see a dietitian just because a lot of these athletes get put on
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  very restrictive diets and providers don't necessarily have
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  time to explain to parents and athletes where this diet should
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  fit and whether or not it's right for them.
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  But if you have an athlete that only has problems around
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  exercise, there are a lot of simple things we can do to
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  improve these tummy issues. Number one is fiber.
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  Fiber comes from lots of different foods, Seeds, beans,
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  fruits and veggies, whole grains, and even products with
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  added fiber. So it might be a cereal that's
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  high in fiber or a granola bar that's high in fiber.
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  And a lot of these are really present in my high school
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  athletes diets because they are super healthy.
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  So parents are trying to do their best and make sure that
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  their child is eating a healthy diet, but that ends up with
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  lunches and breakfast being very high in fiber.
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  Fiber is great because it helps our digestive system to work
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  properly. It's going to help us have good
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  balance of gut bacteria. It's going to help us to move
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  things through at a regular rate so that we can have normal bowel
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  movements. But if there is too much of it
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  present, it's going to cause stomach problems.
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  Part of that is because when we exercise, blood is going
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  elsewhere. It's going to our legs, it's
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  going to our arms, it is not going to our digestive system in
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  that way. If we eat something like a very
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  seedy whole grain bread and a bunch of broccoli before we go
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  out for a run, that's just going to sit there or it's going to
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  feel like it needs to evacuate the premises and you're going to
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  feel like you have to go to the bathroom.
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  So #1 when you're looking at what these athletes are eating
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  before they run is are we eating too much fiber in that pre run?
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  You're also going to look at total fiber.
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  So if someone is eating ultra ultra healthy, they might just
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  be having too much fiber for their digestive system and
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  that's causing problems during exercise.
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  Some alternatives that you might want to consider are swapping
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  whole grain bread for sourdough bread.
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  Eating options that we may not think of as as healthy, like
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  waffles or pancakes before a race, but are really high in
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  carbohydrates which provide energy and don't have that fiber
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  component. We might try having a white
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  pasta instead of a whole grain pasta the night before, or
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  snacking on things like fruit snacks, applesauce, or pretzels
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  that are already a little bit broken down.
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  So that's what we want to think about too, is even though
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  processed foods aren't something or something that we want to
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  encourage our athletes to consume at a lower rate, we
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  don't want every single food they're consuming to be a high
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  processed food. Some of those foods we think of
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  as less healthy have been broken down partially already.
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  So fruit snacks is a great example that's been broken down
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  a little bit. And so when it hits our gut, in
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  order to turn it into sugar, which all carbohydrates turn
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  into sugar eventually, in order to turn it into sugar which can
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  be used for energy, our digestive system has to do much
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  less work. The other two components we want
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  to think about in our pre race or pre workout meal are fat and
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  fiber. Both fat and fiber also take
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  more energy and time to digest. And so when if an athlete is
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  eating a lot of fat, I'm sorry I misspoke, fat and protein.
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  If an athlete is eating a lot of fat and protein, those are also
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  going to be sitting in their stomach.
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  The mistakes I see most often here are choosing things that
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  are close like a pasta with Alfredo sauce but do have that
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  higher fat component and end up sitting in their stomach.
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  Or choosing things like a protein bar pre race.
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  Both of those are not going to provide the same amount of
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  energy. So it's going to be hard to get
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  the amount of carbohydrates that an athlete needs to feel like
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  they can perform at their best, but they're also going to sit in
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  their stomach. So things to look for, protein
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  bars and high fat dinners, things like chicken thighs and
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  Alfredo and things that are just going to be a higher fat
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  content. The other thing that we want to
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  encourage our athletes to do is to practice with fueling.
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  So this is especially important in our athletes who get nervous
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  before races. We want them to have practice,
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  practice this during the week, during workouts before we get to
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  that race day. Situations that their stomach is
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  ready to go, they can start super super small.
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  So if your athlete typically avoids eating before race, have
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  them start with something small and simple.
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  Something like half a gram cracker sheet or a few pretzels
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  or a few fruit snacks. And as we work into it, our
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  digestive system will get used to that.
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  We actually produce more carbohydrate receptors in our
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  digestive system as our gut gets more used to eating
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  carbohydrates before we exercise.
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  So, you know, if we were teaching our marathon, our
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  athletes to go out and run a marathon, we they need to be
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  eating during that marathon. And so obviously our digestive
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  system can handle these things. It's just how much practice has
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  it had? Great times to do this are pre
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  workouts during the week, pre race on some of those lower
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  stakes races. That way when they get to that
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  race they know which foods are going to sit well and we can
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  take some of the nerves away from the food that they're
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  eating. That way they hopefully get
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  something in. That is the other thing we want
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  to remember. These athletes need to get
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  something in and so if you have an athlete who gets so nervous
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  that they are throwing up on the start line or throwing up after
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  the warm up, they need to replace that with something.
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  The thing that is going to be the best in this situation is
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  going to be something like Gatorade or Powerade that has
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  electrolytes, has to have sugar in it.
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  So if you have parents who are buying 00 sugar Gatorade, that
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  is not going to do the trick. We want to almost trick our body
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  into thinking that we've had a meal and the way to do that is
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  liquid carbs. Those liquid carbs can be super
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  easily digested. And really fun fact, if we have
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  that athlete swish around some Gatorade and spit it out on the
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  start line, their body is still going to think, OK, I have
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  enough carbs to do this because those carbs are signaling in our
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  mouth to our central nervous system, which I think is a
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  pretty neat fact. Those athletes are also going to
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  want to replenish sodium. So if you have a little bit more
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  time there, that's where you're going to want to implement some
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  sodium from a Gatorade, from a Powerade, from a sports
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  nutrition product that is made for hydration.
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  All of those are going to be great options for these athletes
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  who have thrown up and have nothing in their stomach.
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  This is going to help them to get back to normal.
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  On that same line, we have hydration.
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  And so hydration is one of those things that we may not think
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  about as much when we think about stomach problems, but I
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  want to remind you of what we talked about earlier.
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  So we talked about how blood was going to our extremities and not
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  to our digestive system. If we are really dehydrated,
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  we're going to get even less blood going to that digestive
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  system. This is because our plasma
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  volume is going to be lower. So we have water in our blood,
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  helps us to move blood all around our body.
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  And when we get dehydrated, that blood gets a little bit thicker
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  and moves a little bit more slowly.
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  This means even less blood is going to our digestive system.
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  And sometimes we get almost a leaky gut effect where the
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  junctions between those cells get a little bit wider.
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  We might have problems like diarrhea, we might have nausea.
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  And so really we want to keep that gut well hydrated so that
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  it is not having those issues. If your athlete has no idea
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  where to start, start with urine color.
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  If they are going to the bathroom 2 hours before when
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  they go to when they're in class, we should be seeing like
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  a straw or lemonade color urine. This means that an athlete is
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  hydrated and also has not wiped out all of the electrolytes in
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  their body. If we're seeing clear, we
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  probably overdid it a little bit on the hydration.
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  We want to be adding a salty snack like pretzels.
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  We want to be adding something like a hydration drink if that
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  fits, Ford said Athlete. If we're on the other end and
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  we're in a place where urine is apple, apple juice color, very
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  dark, that athlete is also going to want to be sipping on fluids
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  to make sure that we are hydrated by the time we get to
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  that meat. I say sipping because a lot of
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  athletes will see that and panic and chug, chug a bunch of water.
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  If you chug a bunch of water, it's going to go right through
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  you and you're going to see clear straw colored urine, but
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  you're not going to be hydrated. So encourage them to sip slowly.
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  If you've got two hours, you've got enough time to come back at
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  least a little bit. In that respect, some of these
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  athletes are also high sodium sweaters, so they might have
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  more salt on their clothes or might feel like the stinging,
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  stinging feeling when salt sweat gets in their eyes.
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  And I do see some correlations with my saltier sweaters having
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  more tummy issues. And so these might be athletes
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  who do need to sip on something with electrolytes during the
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  day. Typically if we're racing a 5K
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  and it's not super, super hot out, we don't necessarily need a
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  Gatorade or a Powerade. Usually water and some salty
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  snacks throughout the day are going to get you there just
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  fine. But if your athlete has tummy
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  issues, this is a place where that hydration drink might be a
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  good swap. We do want to look for at least
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  250 milligrams of sodium in that drink per 16 ounces.
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  So, you know, this might be a normal gait Raid or Powerade.
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  This could be a sports nutrition product geared towards
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  hydration. But that sodium is the component
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  that's going to be helping us to hold on to water and to keep
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  that hydration balance a little bit better.
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  If you still have an athlete with tummy problems after this,
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  please feel free to shoot me an e-mail.
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  I also have lots of good resources on my website with a
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  parent athlete handout package. In that package you're going to
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  get lots of different educational pieces for both your
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  athletes and yourself, but also for parents.
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  So if you have parents who just feel generally nervous about
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  giving their athletes something like a fruit snack or something
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  that feels a little bit less healthy, that is going to give
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  great education to parents and help them to choose lower fibre
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  sources pre race and pre workout.
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  It's also going to give you good ideas of how much and when for
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  those carbohydrate sources and for those snacks and meals pre
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  race. So if your athlete is struggling
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  with timing, that's also a good place to go for that.
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  Has all of the recommendations we just talked about for
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  hydration and so really a good resource.
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  Good luck with the rest of this season.
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  And again, if you want to reach out, please fill out the contact
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  form on my website, maddierileynutrition.com or
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  shoot me an e-mail at maddierileynutrition@outlook.com.
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  Thanks guys. Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here.
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  Thanks for joining us for this episode in the Youth and
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  beginner series Powered by Coach O Powered by Coach O is more
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  than a platform. It's a movement to benefit track
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  and field by supporting coaches, athletes, parents, officials and
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  event directors and countless ways.
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  Find out more and get yourself plugged in to the Powered by
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