Fueling for Performance:
Unlocking the Right Combination of Foods for Your Body

Looking back at my nutrition education, I recall that I was given many different ways to evaluate my food consumption from many well-intended people. As a young athlete playing soccer and doing an occasional running race, I was told to carbo-load before big competitions. In high school health class, I was told to pay attention to the fat and to the calories in food and to not eat too much of either. In college, I was told to be cautious of meats, especially red meats, and that the true key to optimal nutrition was the vegetarian lifestyle. Then as a young adult I learned about organic foods and thought eating organic was the solution for effective eating. It wasn’t until two years ago that Tim Monaco with Bioletics challenged me to look at my food selection as a combination of protein, fat and carbohydrates that need to match my metabolism in order for my body to operate at its peak.

Prior to my work with Bioletics, I was unaware that my diet consisted of about 80% carbs, 10% protein, and 10% fat. I ate a lot of pastas, breads, tortillas, and cereals and sparingly ate proteins like eggs and milk and almost never sought out fat. My athletic pursuits were characterized as fast starts and slow finishes. I learned the term ‘bonking’ the hard way by burning through my glycogen stores in my first ski marathon before the end of the race. I nearly had to walk in if it wasn't for a friendly competitor who gave me a Gu pack. Burnout in training was common and long workouts over 90 minutes were marked by great fatigue.

In 2009, Tim gave me a questionnaire about my food cravings, energy levels, body type and various other items that he called “metabolic typing.” He explained to me that each of our metabolisms is like a camp fire and the intensity of the flame dictates the type of wood that you put on the fire. The test with Bioletics revealed that I have a hot burning metabolism which he called a “Fast Oxidizer” which is a subset of a Protein-Type. If you build a fire with light, dry wood in a dry, hot environment, it will burn out soon. Long-burning fires require substantial amounts of dense wood. The results of this test suggested that I need 40% proteins, 30% fats/oils and 30% carbohydrates. In other words, my body needed a combination of fuels that provide more concentrated and substantial calories to match its fast-burning metabolism.

Building meals around protein and fat/oils was radically different for me! Switching to meat as the primary source of the calories was life changing. In order to ease into this new diet, I started eating seafood and fish, moved to chicken and pork, and lastly added in red meats. I found myself being picky about the quality of meat and quickly learned to buy in bulk from a local farmer so as to not break the bank. Buying a ¼ of an organic, grass-fed beef was about 60-70% cheaper than buying it nightly from Whole Foods. Initially I was pleasantly surprised with the feeling of being satisfied and ‘full,’ and then I noticed improvements in my performance as I continued with my new lifestyle. My afternoon and evening energy improved. I quickly made gains in the weight room as my body began to build muscle, and two-a-day workouts were much more productive. As I was giving my body protein to rebuild, it rewarded me with the ability to do the two, three and four hour workouts of running or skiing.

Although I rarely have a dinner without a green salad, steamed vegetables or fresh squeezed carrot juice, I now look to include fats to achieve the 30% threshold. This seems to be my greatest challenge yet in achieving my 40%/30%/30% goal. My strategies include using an abundance of olive oil on salads and an abundance of farm-fresh butter on my steamed vegetables. I also add a couple of raw eggs in my carrot juice. Although I avoid artificially fattened animals, I seek out grass-fed fat in pork and drink whole milk from grass-fed cows. I’ve even cooked with left over bacon grease and my new favorite dish is thick coconut milk rice. The increase of healthy fats in my diet not only satisfies a primal craving but has reduced joint pain and has fueled my base training.

However, my busy life often gets in the way of achieving my nutritional goal. When I deviate, I now hear my body’s signals loud and clear. Heavy meals filled with carbohydrates result in dull headaches, increased anxiety, and fatigue during workouts. I toss and turn in my sleep and am more irritable during the day. I sometimes wonder how I survived this way for so long.

My new norm is based on a strategy of 40% proteins, 30% fats/oils and 30% carbohydrates. As radical as it seemed at first, it now fuels my body in a pattern much more similar to that of my ancestors and my genes. The pay-off as an athlete has been a steady improvement in my race training and race results over the past two years. Two weeks ago, I won my first race ever, a 10km XC ski race, only 6 days after a high volume block of 11 hours of XC skiing in 3 days. Could my body have accomplished this fueled by carbs? No. How about on a healthy supply of proteins and fats? There is no doubt.