Many of you may know Bob Seebohar's concept of "Metabolic Efficiency Training" was born out of the sole purpose to eliminate athletes' incidence of gastrointestinal (GI) distress during training and racing.  As this outcome was realized by the implementation and evolution of metabolic efficiency training, so were several other positive performance and health outcomes.  With our release of The Athlete's Food Guide to Metabolic Efficiency e-book, we have received numerous success stories from athletes who have combined the principles in the Food Guide and Metabolic Efficiency Training books into their daily and training nutrition patterns. In this article, I want to share a story from one of the athletes I recently helped and the outcomes she saw: reduced sugar cravings and improved energy levels.  

Quick Background on Food Ratios

If you are not familiar with the Fuel4mance Athletes Food Guide to Metabolic Efficiency book, let me briefly explain its purpose.  It is intended to serve as a adjunct to nutrition periodization and metabolic efficiency training principles by providing a quantitative method for athletes to construct their daily and training nutrition patterns to support the body's ability to burn fat and preserve carbohydrate stores. We use ratios of carbohydrate to protein to put together foods and meals that support stable blood sugar levels.  With stable blood sugar levels, we have fewer insulin spikes and the fat burning "state" is promoted. Ratio guidelines are customized based on the athlete's health and performance goals, training cycle, and types of training sessions.

A food or meal ratio of 1:1 means that for every gram of carbohydrate in a particular food, there is a gram of protein.  A ratio of 2:1 means there is twice as much carbohydrate in the food than protein; a 3:1 food has three times as much carbohydrate as protein and so on. Ratios of 1:1 and 2:1 are ideal for supporting stable blood sugar and thus, enhancing the body's fat burning.  There may be occasional training considerations that warrant a ratio a meal or snack of 4:1, but higher ratios than this are not typically advised due to the excessive carbohydrate load and inadequate amount of protein (and possibly fat and fiber).  It is this imbalance we are wanting to avoid as this causes an elevation in blood sugar (and insulin spikes as a consequence, which turns down fat burning). The Food Guide book not only teaches how to calculate the ratios but also provides tables of many common foods as a reference.

Now that you have more background on food ratios, gather around and let us get to story time!

Mandy's Story

Mandy is a female triathlete in her 30s who came to me with goals of improving her daily nutrition because she was experiencing energy lulls throughout her day and she had sweet cravings like nobody's business.  Her daily nutrition (and corresponding ratios per meal/snack) usually looked like this:

Sample day before intervention:

• pre-workout: energy bar (4:1)
• 1 hour aerobic training
• post-workout: fruit (15:0)
• snack: egg, cheese, toast (2:1)
• snack: fruit (15:0)
• lunch: peanut butter sandwich, fruit, carrots (7:1)
• snack: candy
• snack: cereal with milk (7:1)
• dinner: pasta, chicken, veggies (4:1)
• snack: chocolate chip cookies

*Ratios in red are meals very imbalanced.

*Ratios in orange are better, yet may not be ideal for her health goals.

*Ratios in blue support stable blood sugar levels.

Remember that to improve metabolic efficiency, we must put together meals and snacks which support stable blood sugar levels. Looking at Mandy's sample day and her food ratios, there are very few meals matching that goal!  Also notice she would eat frequently and her choices consist of many sweeter carbohydrate-containing foods (fruit, cereal, candy, chocolate). She reported to me she would eat so often because she felt hungry all the time or felt like she needed a "pick me up". 

After some initial education for how to put together meals and snacks that would yield a 3:1 (or better) ratio of carbohydrate to protein and a read through the "Food Guide", Mandy began overhauling her nutrition without having to completely change her food choices and preferences. Along the way, we also worked on strategies to identify biological hunger levels and factors which were leading to her using food for comfort. 

After about a week's time, Mandy had already noted she was feeling full longer and had fewer episodes of energy dips when she ate 1:1 and 2:1 meals and snacks.  She had not been aware of the impact that stable blood sugar levels could have on so many aspects of her life.  Over the following few weeks, we continued manipulating her meals and monitored how she felt during training sessions in addition to her non-training time. She experimented with new recipes and changed some of her favorite "go to" meals by adding more fiber foods (primarily from vegetables), protein, and fat.  She felt good energy levels during her training sessions and felt like she was recovering more quickly than before we started our work together.  It was a great day when she finally stated she was free from her chronic sugar cravings and she was proud of the new habits she was mastering!  

Here is a sampling of what Mandy's day looked like after implementing the food ratios and metabolic efficiency training:

Sample day after intervention:

• pre-workout: energy bar (2:1)
• 90 minute aerobic training
• post-workout/breakfast: egg-cheese-veggie scramble, fruit (2:1)
• lunch: salad with chicken and walnuts, cottage cheese (1:1)
• snack: greek yogurt, pistachios (1:1)
• dinner: fish, asparagus, sweet potato (2:1)
• snack: piece of dark chocolate

*Ratios in red are meals very imbalanced.

*Ratios in orange are better, yet may not be ideal for her health goals.

*Ratios in blue support stable blood sugar levels.

I checked in with Mandy about two months later to see how she was doing. She reported she was continuing to follow the food ratios and doing well with her nutrition patterns, still feeling good energy levels throughout her day, and completing her training sessions with no setbacks.

The strategies used to implement metabolic efficiency training are different for each athlete.  For Mandy, the use of food ratios and guidance on how to restructure meals in a manner that fit her lifestyle (along with some strategies to work on identifying food triggers) were all that she needed to be on her metabolic efficiency journey to better energy levels, and improved and healthful nutrition patterns.

The Fuel4mance "Athlete's Food Guide to Metabolic Efficiency" and other great resources can be found in the Fuel4mance online store.

Happy Holidays!