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by Joyce Luteyn, M. D.
Regain and Maintain Your Active Lifestyle
Today more and more adults are engaging in athletic activities, even as they enter middle age. Organized sport activities for people of all ages are more available and better attended than ever. Gyms are bulging with those trying to fend off the pains of inactivity and obesity. When my mother was my age, spring cleaning was the athletic event of the year. Now people my age expect to climb mountains. Young bodies require training and proper nutrition and it is never too early to consider these issues when engaging in challenging physical activities, but for the aging athlete, these issues are even more important. A more measured approach, along with proper nutritional support and supplements can make the difference that can keep you moving.
Proper nutrition is the foundation of good health for anyone, but this is especially true for the most active among us. Research has shown that long term, the proper balance of protein, carbohydrates, and good fats is essential for development of muscle and tissue as a person works out. Most people consume adequate protein in their diet, but for some more serious competitive athletes, a protein supplement may be helpful. Vegetarian athletes especially may benefit from a protein supplement. I usually recommend a goat milk based product for its superior digestibility, but a soy product can also be helpful. These should not be a replacement for good quality food in the diet but can make a difference for building lean muscle in conjunction with a strength training program.
Complex carbohydrates are essential for providing the energy needed for a long or arduous workout. Although rapidly absorbed gel type energy products have their role for rescuing the athlete from “bonking,” complex carbohydrates high in fiber provide the muscles with the glycogen storage that is mobilized when the body most needs energy. This is a source of energy that is put into muscles every day by good nutritional habits and cannot be replaced by energy drinks or bars. A diet high in healthy carbohydrates along with adequate protein is essential in any athletic training program, especially those involving endurance events such as marathons.
Good quality, unsaturated or monounsaturated fats provide the body with a slower acting but important source of fuel for a longer workout or adventure. These fats are converted by the body into usable energy about two hours after eating them, and modulate the release of quicker acting carbohydrates to keep you going long after your last meal. Saturated fats however, have a negative effect on athletic performance. Within a short time of ingesting them, the blood vessels to the muscles actually constrict, reducing blood flow and thereby negatively affecting performance. Knowing this, a football team wanting to win would do well to send pizza to its rival team an hour before the big game.
Interestingly, this negative effect of bad fats on blood flow can be ameliorated by ingesting foods or nutrients high in antioxidants at the same time (but don’t tell that to the other team).
Fluid replacement products represent a multimillion dollar business in the United States alone. Sports drinks, vitamin water, and now fortified sodas and teas play to our competitive impulses and desire for easy results. Unfortunately ninety percent of these beverages are consumed by people who would be better served by water. The purpose of sports drinks is to replace electrolytes lost in sweating during vigorous workouts, especially those occurring in warm weather. Most people do not sweat enough during their workouts to justify the sugar, salt, and calories these drinks contain. An overweight child or adult engaging in a half hour of exercise, can cancel out the benefit of the activity. Indeed, liquid calories are very strongly associated with obesity in people of all ages and activity levels, and should be avoided unless the level of activity is unusually vigorous or prolonged.
Having said all that, I have to admit that patients seldom come to me for advice on how to eat before a workout, or how to optimize their performance by improved nutrition. They come to me because they hurt. Most often they ache in the evening after a workout, something that most people have come to expect, but when pain limits the ability of an athlete to workout or compete, they will come to see me for help. Many people do well once they get moving but find morning stiffness to be their main problem; these people also suffer more in the cold damp months of fall and winter, thus the allure of Arizona for the arthritic elderly. They come to me because they want to keep as active as they can, they won’t settle for “don’t do it if it hurts.”
As most aware readers know, anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDS) such as Bextra and Vioxx have been removed from the market because of an increased risk of cardiovascular events such as stroke or heart attack in patients who took these medications as compared to those who took a placebo (dummy pill). These medications were extremely helpful to some who could not tolerate other NSAIDS such as ibuprofen or naproxen because of the side effects of these drugs: stomach upset and ulcers. Other similar drugs remain on the market, but the entire class of drug had been shown to have significant risks, especially when used regularly in high doses. (I have seen many people use too high dosages, assuming that they are safe because they are available “over the counter”.) Because of these risks, especially in patients with hypertension, heart disease, or diabetes, I regularly counsel my patients to avoid these medications and seek alternative solutions.
The alternative solution I recommend most, not only to my athletic patients, but to those who just want less pain in their daily activities is a good quality, comprehensive joint support supplement. Most of my patients are familiar with some types of supplements, usually consuming a glucosamine and chondroitin formula. Unfortunately, many of these supplements are of lesser quality, concentration, and origin, making them either ineffective, or questionable, as to the needs and concerns of the informed consumer.
Most glucosamine and/or chondroitin formulations are made from the trachea of slaughtered cattle (not organic) and the cartilage of sharks, which may or may not have been captured or harvested humanely. In addition, most lack supportive botanicals and media to improve their delivery, tolerability, and effectiveness. I therefore recommend a more complete nutritional supplement to my patients, one that has type II collagen from free-range chickens that contains naturally occurring glucosamine and chondroitin. This type of collagen, when taken as an oral supplement has been shown to decrease inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and provides a complete source of joint support for those with osteoarthritis (DJD).
In addition, I strongly recommend a supplement that contains beneficial botanicals with a long history of benefit for pain and inflammation, as well as enzymes to aid in digestion and assimilation of the collagen and other nutrients.
Cherry juice, turmeric, ginger, white willow bark, fever few and valerian are old favorites as treatments for joint and soft tissue pain and should still be regarded as mainstays in any good joint formulation. In addition, a good protease blend, including bromelain and papain is helpful for digestion of the cartilage support proteins in any supplement.
My experience with many otherwise fine supplements is that they are intolerable to the patient from a gastrointestinal standpoint. Goat’s milk and products derived from goat’s milk have superior digestibility and therefore provide the nutrients more reliably than products prepared in other media. That is why the bone and joint supplement I use contains goat’s milk whey.
As a family physician, I routinely recommend exercise for overall good health. Getting enough exercise and plenty of rest along with a quality bone and joint supplement, gives me and my patients the edge to maintain an active lifestyle.
For more information on products referred to by Dr. Joyce Luteyn, contact (800) 574-1961, ext 1, or visit http://www.mtcapra.com.
Joyce Luteyn, M.D., is a board-certified family practitioner. She received her medical degree from the University of Washington, and completed a UW affiliated family medicine residency in Vancouver, Washington, in 1997. She has been in full-time practice for eight years in Olympia, where she lives with her husband and two children. Her practice encompasses the full range of primary care for patients of all ages.
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