#225: How To Test Your Antioxidant Levels (Plus A Fitness & Nutrition Grab-Bag With Ben Greenfield)

In this podcast episode how to test your antioxidant levels should you mix sports drinks with energy gels? How to have one recovery day a month UCAN superstarch vs vitargo for fueling why your legs aren't toned, how the squatty potty works and tough Mudder versus Spartan Death Race.

Welcome to the BenGreenfieldFitness.com podcast. We provide you with free exercise, nutrition, weight loss, triathlon and wellness advice from the top fitness experts in the nation. So whether you're an Ironman triathlete or you're just trying to shed a few pounds, get ready for non run of the mill cutting edge content from BenGreenfieldFitness.com.

Hey. Hey everybody. If things sound a little bit dumb, different than usual, that's because it's just me, Ben Greenfield, and I'm traveling right now. I'm in Vancouver, Canada. I'm in my room in this tiny little bed and breakfast and you'd actually laugh if you saw me right now. First of all, I'm attending a conference up here. So it is like 6am in the morning. I'm still in bed, the computer is here, the microphone is propped up against a book here in the bed. Cause my room is so tidy, there's no actual desk desk in it. I'm staying at a bed and breakfast, which means that I'm in the spare bedroom of somebody's house and breakfast is a loaf of bread and a block of cheese and a little mini fridge tucked in the corner of the room. So I'm kind of podcasting to you from basically like a Russian prison in Canada. Anyways though, I wanted to get a podcast out to you, so we have a bunch of questions that I received via writing. Usually we play people's questions that they call in on this podcast, but I got some really good questions that people have written in and I wanted to get to them. And the reason I'm podcasting so early is because I gotta be at this conference in about an hour or so. So I'm just gonna answer all your guys awesome questions and if you heard in the intro, we've got some good ones. And then I'm going to take my ice cold two minute shower, throw my pants on and my shirt too, surprisingly, and head to the conference. So let's do a few special announcements and then we'll jump right in.

Special announcements.

Now if you have not been to the website lately, there are a ton of special announcements. There's so many of them that I'm not going to read them all to you. I just want to start with a few quick things and some new stuff. So first of all, February 23rd, I'm going down to and there is an event down there called Endurance Live and a website that I run that many of you listen to the podcast over there called enduranceplanet.com we've got a table over at Endurance Live and this is a huge party. It's kind of like the big gathering of triathletes and marathoners, all these people in the endurance world. And we eat and, yes, we drink and dance and hang out and party and have a good time. So anyways, I've got a table down there for 10 people and right now we've got eight people at the table, including Tawny Przak, the host of Endurance Planet, and Lucho, the host of our Ask the Ultra Runner segment, myself and a few other folks. And we've still got two seats left, so I thought I'd give you a shout out. Just email me, email me ben greenfieldfitness.com it's not cheap. Tickets to it are $250 to get into the table and that's not like making us a profit or anything. It's just covering the cost of getting that table. So anyways, if you want to go, just fire me an email ben greenfieldfitness.com first come, first serve. Next thing is that, as many of you know, my upcoming live event, which is going to absolutely rock, is in March, on March 8th and 9th. And you can get CEUS now for going. I just heard from Ace Fitness and we're working on the National Academy of Sports Medicine as well. And they're giving CEUs to personal trainers and fitness coaches who want to get some continuing education units for attending that conference. So that's going to be great. And man, the speakers and the content that we keep adding to that is just blowing up. So if you plan on going, you need to register because I have to figure out catering. We're doing a bunch of organic local food. I gotta make sure that we fill up the hotel room blocks that we've got discounted and ready and waiting for. You gotta plan the after party. There's still a few tickets left to the VIP after party that we're having during that session and it is just going to be fantastic. I actually wrote a big article and answered all the FAQs on my upcoming live event, so you can check that out@BenGreenfieldFitness.com I'm almost done before I shut up. Just a couple other quick things first of all, January 31st, I'll be on Jimmy Moore's Ask the Low Carb Experts and in the show notes for this episode. And this episode is episode number 225. I will link to Jimmy's show so that you can see the call in number and the access number because that's a live show where you can come in and ask questions to me about low carb fueling for performance. Then finally, camps and events galore. I'm going to put a link to all the camps in the show notes that I'm going to be at. But the main two that I want to mention to you are April 5th through 7th for anybody doing the Wildflower Triathlon. That camp is scheduled. You can register as of this morning, actually. So check that out. It's the Wildflower Triathlon Camp. It's for anybody doing the Olympic distance or long distance triathlon done a wildflower in California, which is one of the most fantastic races on the face of the planet. And by the way, if I fumble or mumble or stutter during this podcast, I'm not going back and editing because like I mentioned, I only have an hour to podcast today. And then the last thing that I wanted to mention is I am going to Vietnam to race in the Laguna Lang Vietnam Triathlon over there. This race is the sister race of the race I go to every year in Phuket, Thailand, and it rocks. Like this organization that puts on these races, they take care of you like you've never experienced before in terms of food, your race experience, the pre race dinners, the post race parties. It's going to be a blast. And I'm planning on probably getting a villa down there. If anybody who is a podcast listener and triathlete has basically spare time in April, it's gonna be April 10th through the 16th. Shoot me an email because I can get us discounted rates on the entry fee for the race on all the party tickets on the villa. I don't think I can get you discounted plane ticket. That's about all you'd be needing to go find yourself. But I'll hook you up with everything. I'm willing to take up to six people on this trip, so you gotta fire me an email if you want. And you've got some spare time. April 10 through 16 to go and hang out in Vietnam should be really cool. All right, let's jump into this week's Q and A.

Listener Q and A.

All right, so I noticed the microphone was kind of making some bouncy around noises. So I'll try and limit that as much as possible, but I can't guarantee perfect audio in today's podcast, obviously, because I'm podcasting on a freaking bed. So let's start with Chuck's question. And Chuck says you mentioned having your antioxidant profile tested. I actually just had that done and have had very good results. My dietician mentioned that there was a significant genetic factor in that as well. How much of a role does that play? Also, my cobalamin, which is vitamin B12, and my pantothenate were low. What dietary changes can I make to increase these? Well, first of all, just to answer Chuck's question straight up, yes, everybody has certain levels of antioxidants in their body that allow them to be able to fight free radicals a little bit better or a little bit less better. And that's an example of something that I'm not going to edit out, by the way, my poor grammar. Anyways, though, these genes are responsible for pulling triggers that allow your body to produce more or less antioxidants. And people with modified forms of the genes that are responsible for producing antioxidants, specifically modified forms of those genes that limit your ability to express antioxidants. What happens is you can get increased risk of developing heart disease or increased risk of developing some kinds of cancers, specifically breast cancer and colon cancer. So first of all, there are tests that you can do to look at genetic markers. These specific genetic markers, if you really wanted to geek out and go look at them. One's called sod2, another one's called pon1. They've got these really weird names. It sound like spaceship names, but a bunch of different genes that are responsible for producing antioxidants. And you can test those. There are companies that will do genetic testing for you. 23andMe is an example of a company that will do genetic testing. And you can look at any number of biomarkers. So the other thing that you can do, and this is the test that Chuck actually did, not to test the genetic potential to produce more or less antioxidants, but to just test how many antioxidants you have, which I think is a more useful test, one example would be to do what's called an ion profile. And for those of you who listened to the interview that I did with Dr. David Gedoff, he talked about the ion profile as a good way to see how well equipped your body was to mitigate the effects of swimming in chlorinated water. Because if you have low antioxidant levels, chlorinated or chlorine can do a little bit more damage to your body. But what this ion profile test is is it looks at not just your antioxidant levels, but also things like your amino acids, your fatty acids, your vitamins, your minerals. And it's a really good snapshot of how well equipped your body is to fight against the free radicals that are generated by things like pollution and toxins and cleaning chemicals and even to a certain extent, exercise. So the things that a test like this, and I'll link to it in the show notes if you want to check it out. It's called a metametrix ion panel, but it looks at some of your main antioxidant vitamins, specifically vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin E. It looks at beta carotene and coenzyme Q10, which are also involved in antioxidant protection. And it looks at a couple of other things, one called lipid peroxide and one called 8 hydroxy 2 deoxyguanosine. And I know that is a mouthful. I hope you memorize it. There will be a quiz at the end of this podcast. But basically each of these antioxidants is responsible for different types of activities within the body. For example, vitamin A is a really important antioxidant for your eyes. And if you have poor antioxidant levels of vitamin A, you could have poor vision later on in life, need glasses or contacts. There are other things that vitamin A is used for. Whereas if you look at, for example, vitamin C, that's something that's used more often in, for example, connective tissue and collagen and even to combat levels of heavy metals in the blood. So each of these different antioxidants, there's a bunch of them, I'm not going to go through them all, but they have these different roles. So getting a test that looks at all of the different antioxidants and allows you to identify which that you may be low in can be really useful, especially if you want to take some nutritional measures to adjust that, as Chuck is asking about. Because the B vitamins that Chuck asked about, the pantothenate and the B12, those also have antioxidants activity. For example, vitamin B12 along with folic acid is the most common dietary deficiency that can lead to what's called homocysteine elevation. And that's a really big risk factor for heart disease as well as having the ability to affect your risk for cancer. The other one that he asked about, the pantothenate I believe is the other one, or pantothenic acid as it's also known, that's vitamin B5. And you have to have vitamin B5 in order to synthesize what's called Coenzyme A, which also helps you quite a bit in terms of your antioxidant activity. Now in Chuck's case, you can find pantothenic acid or pantothenate primarily in meat. You're going to find a ton of it literally in animal muscle. And another couple of things that have really, really high levels of B12 are avocados and broccoli. And then if you really wanted to go all out and hunt down some fringe sources of vitamin B5 that are also really, really high in vitamin B5 or pantothenate. Fish ovaries, specifically cold water fish ovaries. Yum, just had a sandwich covered in fish ovaries yesterday. And royal jelly, which is actually sold from a lot of these websites that will or health food companies or whatever that will say like bee pollen and propiolis. And another one is royal jelly that they'll sell to you. So B5, that's where you can find a lot of that stuff. But most people get enough from meat. Now, B12, you can find all over the place. And a lot of people, they'll change one thing in their lives. They'll start to get foods that have higher levels of B12 and all of a sudden they'll feel like a million bucks. B12 deficiencies are really common, especially in people who don't eat enough meat. You're going to shoot me. But liver is packed with vitamin B12. That's why I have a serving of liver at least once a week, whether it's lamb or beef or turkey or duck or goose, whatever. Nice clean animal, clean liver, very good for you. Dead source of a ton of different fat soluble vitamins and also vitamin B12. Clams, oysters and mussels are good caviar, which I already mentioned kind of when I mentioned fish ovaries, caviar or fish eggs, Very, very high source of vitamin B12. Fish, just about any fish has good sources of vitamin B12, as do shellfish like crab and lobster. Similar to pantothenate or vitamin B5. Beef, lamb, mutton, stuff like that, high in vitamin B complex. And then eggs and cheese. If you can handle those as well, that's another place that you can get those. Now one thing that I always get asked when I'm talking about antioxidants is this machine. And you See it a lot of gyms and a lot of like health expos. It's called the bio photonic scanner. And you put like your finger or the back of your hand against this thing and it measures your antioxidant levels. Well, I've got two thoughts about that. First of all, it only measures what's called your carotenoid levels in your skin. Carotenoids are the antioxidants. You're going to find a lot of fruits and vegetables like pomegranates, kale, and stuff like that. And carotenoids are used for beta carotene. Other carotenoids are like lutein and lycopene. And carotenoids do have some really good antioxidant activity. However, the scanner says that it can give an accurate and reliable biomarker of overall antioxidant health status. The fact is you've got a lot of antioxidants that are necessary that go above and beyond just your carotenoid levels, especially above and beyond just the carotenoid levels in your skin. Skin. So I think that while a measurement of a low skin carotenoid score could tell you a little bit, especially about your risk for like being able to mitigate the effects of like long term sun exposure and stuff like that, it's not going to give you as good a snapshot as actually getting your blood tested and doing something like an ion panel, for example, with this company called Metametrics. So great question, Chuck. I hope that helps you. I'll link to this ion profile in the show notes. Also, by the way, you guys, everything that I talk about today I will also link to in the my list for this episode. Over at facebook.com bgfitness we create my lists for every episode. And my lists are frigging awesome. They're like Pinterest for Facebook. So check that out. It's over@facebook.com bgfitness where you can find a lot of other cool stuff that you can't find on the blog. So Edwin asks about energy gels and he says, ben, my question is regarding the use of energy gels in combination with other liquid nutrition. Energy gels by themselves are extremely hypertonic. Good to hear you're using big words, Edwin. And thereby it is important to consume adequate amounts of water. The gel company that I use states that drinking sports drinks with your gel will not properly dilute the gel and thus slow the absorption rate. This can also lead to stomach irritation and a dehydrating effect as Your cellular fluids are drawn upon to dilute the gel. What are your thoughts on this? I heard you say that you use a gel every 20 minutes during a race. Do you only drink water? Well, first of all, let's start here. You're right, Edwin. Gels are designed to basically have a certain level of what's called osmolality. So what this means is that the effectiveness of a sports drink or a gel or any other kind of engineered fuel that you're drinking or that you're eating during an event or during a training session, the absorption of that all depends on the osmolality of it. And if you have an imbalance in the osmolality of a substance in your stomach, it's going to inhibit gastric emptying. It's going to inhibit your intestinal fluid absorption. It's going to inhibit your blood flow. It's going to draw blood away from muscles, and it can cause cramping and a high body temperature. Many of us remember high school science, where we learned about osmosis, which is basically the movement of water or some other kind of solvent through a membrane, what's called a semipermeable membrane. And your gut wall and also your blood vessel walls are semipermeable membranes. So the water tends to move through a semipermeable membrane from a less concentrated solution to a more concentrated solution. And if the osmolality is the same on both sides of the membrane, then the water is just not going to need to flow anywhere. And when that's the case, the two solutions are called isotonic. Now, you can also have solutions that are not isotonic. So an example of that would be a hypotonic solution. Where you've got your gastric fluids in your stomach. And gastric fluids have what's called a really, really low osmolality, meaning that they're less concentrated than the blood. So what's going to happen is water would flow from the stomach into the blood in that case. And on the other hand, if the gastric fluid were more concentrated, then that would mean there's more particles and a high osmolality in the gastric fluid from something that you ate, for example. And then there would be net flow of water from the blood to the gut. And that would be known as a hypertonic solution. And that's what Edwin is talking about when he's talking about a hypertonic gel. That means that when you eat that gel, it makes the osmolality in your gut to be hypertonic. And it will Cause water to flow from your blood to your gut unless you drink something along with that gel to make the solution isotonic. Now here is the thing. Different sports drinks and different gels are mixed at different levels of osmolality. And you'll see Most nutritionists recommend 6 to 8% carbohydrate solutions. And that would be like Gatorade or Powerade or anything like that. And all that means is you generally are going to getting X amount of grams per amount of liquid that you're drinking. And there are some drinks out there that go higher than that that are like 10 to 12% carbohydrate, for example. And in many cases, the percentage of carbohydrate used in a solution depends often on the type of sugar used in that carbohydrate containing beverage or that carbohydrate containing gel. So for example, some have just glucose. And in a lot of those grocery store spots, sports drinks that you see like Gatorade or Powerade or whatever, those are primarily glucose and some sucrose. And those can deliver fewer grams of carbohydrate than a big, big sugar like maltodextrin. And that's why those are mixed in a lower concentration. So those simple sugar sports drinks have to be mixed in a lower concentration in order to maintain the osmolality of your stomach, which whereas the fancier sports drinks that have maltodextrin and more complex carbohydrates, those can give you more energy without upsetting your stomach's osmolality. So take away lesson number one here is that I personally think if you're gonna use a liquid beverage using the longest chain starch that you can use, mixed properly, meaning mixed in the exact ratio that the manufacturer has recommended, is a very good way to go if you're going to use sports drinks. So two examples of a longer molecular weight sport drink that allows you to drink more calories during an event without affecting the osmolality in your stomach. One example that would be like carbopro. Another example would be what I use now, which is Ucan Superstarch, which is a very, very long molecular weight starch. You still need to mix it exactly as they recommend. I think it's something like one serving PER, I believe it's like 16 to 20 ounces of water. I don't remember off the top of my head. I should know because I use it during races. But anyways, that would be an example of a longer chain carbohydrate mix. Now as far as Gels go a bunch of different gels use a bunch of different mixes of sugars. So it's hard to say how many ounces of water you're supposed to drink with any given gel. I mean, you've got hammer gels and cliff shots and power bars and Excel gels and honey stingers and all these different gels out there. And you need a certain amount of water that you need to drink with that gel in order for that gel to be isotonic, that new word that you just learned. So what that means is that you shouldn't drink sports drinks with the gels because that is going to affect their ability to be absorbed properly. And I've never really run into a scenario where an athlete does a really good job and feels great the whole race. Mixing gels with sports drinks. That's a no. No gels go with water. So here's the thing, and I'm going to link to this in the show note, there is a table on Wikipedia that shows you the exact amount of water that you have to drink with each gel in order for that gel to be isotonic. Okay, super helpful charts. You just go find the gel that you use. Like, let's say you use cliff shot. Well, for every gel of cliff shot that you eat, you're supposed to drink 300 milliliters of of water. And for example, for every hammer gel that you eat, you only need to take in 100ml of water for that one to be isotonic. So, really cool chart. The other cool thing about the chart is it shows you all the different gels that are recommended for sensitive stomachs, versus people with fructose malabsorption, versus people who want to go longer distances, versus people who want extra electrolytes. I'll link to it in the show notes, hook you up, and you can check that out. It's a chart on the ingredients and the osmolalo of popular sports gels. So that was a long answer. Short answer is, if you're using gels, don't use sports drinks, too. I do not recommend it. All right, the next question is from Holly, who says, I am an absolute beginner as far as fitness and exercise. I started a boot camp in June. I'm going to pause here and make sure I'm still recording, by the way, Just a second, because sometimes it stops. Okay, good. I'm still recording. So I started a boot camp in June and was actually liking it quite a bit and seeing results. And then I got tendonitis in my shoulders. My right elbow and my right wrist. I work as a housekeeper, so I'm not able to rest that arm at all. I ice it after work. I take ibuprofen when I remember, not daily. And my arms hurt so much they wake me up at night. Is there a way to power rest my arms? I get one day off a month and my daily life is kicking my butt. But I can't even pour a cup of coffee some days. Can you suggest anything? Wow. You know, you're in a tough situation, Holly, because in a situation like this, ideally you get a chance to take a couple weeks off and allow that tendonitis to completely heal. Because if you keep working through it, it's going to form scar tissue, it's going to continue to have limited mobility, and it can eventually turn into chronic pain. You've heard of fibromyalgia or complex regional pain syndrome, or some of these issues that really frustrate people and people struggle with. A lot of times, some of those situations can be created by simply pushing through injuries. Ideally, you can get a couple weeks off. If you can make the changes in your life to allow that to happen, that'd be awesome. But let's say that you're somebody like Holly who is experiencing something like this where the body just can't get a break, whether due to lifestyle or whether due to your exercise scenario or what. Or maybe you just want to try and squeeze as much out of your body as possible, and you've got either way, one month, one month a day, one day a month to recover and to get as much recovery squeezed out of your body as possible. What would you do? I'll tell you what I would do. First of all, anti inflammatory diet, okay? Preferably you're eating an anti inflammatory diet all the time, but you definitely, on this day of the week, you'd have no sugars, you would have no wheat, no grains, you would have no soy, you would have no omega 6 fatty acids from crackers and baked goods and nuts that are roasted, especially nut butter, stuff like that. You're just going super, super low inflammation. If you want to see how to do that, go to my superhuman food pyramid and eat the foods that are only the eat foods off the superhuman food pyramid. By the way, Monica Reinagle, many of you know her as the nutrition diva on itunes. She's coming out to my live conference in March to talk about inflammation and specifically get into the nitty gritty details of something called the inflammation factor. Yet another reason to come to the conference. So, anti inflammatory Diet, hopefully you're eating it all the time. You really want to eat it on that day of the month or day of the week that is your recovery day. And a lot of people like myself for example, will almost go into a little bit of some semblance of a fast on a recovery day where you're just doing a lot of greens, a lot of amino acids, you're really limiting food intake, just doing some healthy fats, like maybe you do the bulletproof coffee or something like that with some butter and some coconut oil stirred into your coffee and you just don't eat much at all because there is some evidence that just the pure active fasting can have some really cool anti inflammatory and recovery effects. So you start off with that. Next thing I would do on that same day would be Chinese adaptogenic herbs. I know that sounds really geeky, but on my days where I'm trying to get my body to bounce back as quickly as possible, I double how much T and Qi I take and TNT is the adaptogenic herb I use to control my cortisol levels. And I'll link to all this stuff in the show notes for you. Next thing you'd want to use from a supplement standpoint would be something like proteolytic enzymes. There's a bunch of them out there like Wobenzymes Recoveries is another one. And you take these on an empty stomach so that they shut down inflammation and specifically formation of something that can really cause some pain and inflammation called fibrinogen. These are great for people who are bouncing back from surgery, for people who are bouncing back from injury. You could take them every day if you wanted to. During the month, but especially on your recovery day, you'd prioritize getting those into your body, you'd want to balance your ph. So definitely a greens supplement as well, which I already mentioned. Finally, if you tend to have low iron, low iron levels can really limit your ability to bounce back effectively from a workout. And if you test your iron and it's low and you want to test first because you don't want to take iron if your iron is high because then you can get iron toxicity. But I really like the supplement Floradix for people with anemic like symptoms or people who have iron issues. So Floradix is another one that you'd look into. Okay, so basically you're not eating much, you're eating anti inflammatory foods, you're taking some proteolytic enzymes, some adaptogenic herbs, working some greens in there to balance your ph and keep Your body alkalinic and then including iron if you your iron is low. And then some other things that you can do to improve mobility. I really like muscle sticks or a foam roller. And using those on your recovery day to help you bounce back as quickly as possible. I use one called a rumble roller. I like one to two times during that day a 15 to 20 minute soak in magnesium salts. And you can also use Epsom salts. Magnesium salts are a little bit better, but they're more expensive. Epsom salts will work too. I use magnesium flakes. I'll link to the magnesium flakes that I use in the show notes. You would want to wear compression and preferably combine with compression with ice. So for example, I have these compression tights that you can literally put ice sleeves into that compress your body and allow metabolic waste to be removed from muscle while at the same time applying therapeutic ice to reduce inflammation. And to make sure that as you're removing metabolic waste from muscle, you're not going to getting backflow into the lymphatic fluid. So that's another thing is combining compression with ice. And I use basically a full length compression type that I can put ice packs into for that. And then as far as some things that you can have around the house, if you really want to geek out on this, you could use magnets. Some people aren't a fan of magnets. I found that they've helped me when I've got little nagging aches and pains that I want to get rid of. Like these magnets wraps that you can wrap around a joint. Nikan is one company, they're a really popular multi level marketing company. But they make really cool magnets. Like they'll put magnets like on the bottom of a band aid that you can just stick to a specific joint or specific area. And I found that sleeping with magnets on an injured joint can really, really help you feel better the next day. So you check those out. You can also get home handheld cold low level laser units. Units. Lasers are very cool, but these are basically handheld units that you can hold or you can move in a circular pattern slowly over an injured area. I have one that's basically, it's an infrared device. Basically is what it is now. Physical therapists, clinics and alternative medical clinics. They have really, really amped up versions. Really, really nice cold low level laser units. But low level laser in terms of improving temperature in an area, improving blood flow to an area can really help with stuff like tendonitis and muscle injuries. And then the other Thing you may want to look into is again, something you can use at your home. I don't know what your expendable income is like, but you can for anywhere from 100 to $1,000 get a home electro stimulation unit, which actually sends little tiny electrical impulses into your muscles, causes them to fire, improves blood flow and can enhance recovery when you're bouncing back from an injury. I have one called a, called IT Compex. It works really well. So check that stuff out. I know that was a ton of stuff, but I'm just saying, like, if you wanted to totally win on that recovery day and do everything that you could, those are the things that I would do. And then don't use ibuprofen, please use phenocaine. Phenocaine is the all natural alternative to ibuprofen. It's basically a high dose curcumin extract, just like turmeric, but really, really high dose, like 500 milligrams. And then it's mixed with a nattokinase. And what this does is it achieves the same COX2 inhibition of ibuprofen without inhibiting COX1, which is what protects your guts. You don't get like gut bleeding and damage to your gut lining when you're trying to shut down inflammation. So phenocaine is the name of that. And you'd want to use typically 4 to 12 of those on a day that you're injured. Hopefully that helps you out and best of luck. Holly, I really recommend that you try and get a little bit of time off if you can so that you can attend to your body, attend to that arm so it doesn't turn into a chronic long term issue. All right, let's move on to Bill's question. And here is what Bill has to say. What do you Recommend for a 2 hour mountain bike or cross country race? UCAN superstarch or vitargo S2? Well, this is a great question because a lot of people mix up UCAN superstarch and Vitargo S2. And for those of you who think I'm talking about aliens, I'm not. I'm talking about two different types of carbohydrate based fuel. The reason that they get mixed up and these are just like powders that you mix with water is that they're both high molecular weight carbohydrates. They both exit the stomach quickly. And because they're such high long chain molecular weight carbohydrates, a lot of people think that they're the same thing, but they're not so. Vitargo S2 is this patented type of carbohydrate, this high molecular weight long chain carbohydrate that's been what's called fractionated. And the process of fractionation makes a carbohydrate extremely digestible, meaning that it gets absorbed super quickly. And Vitargo is derived from what's called amylopectin, which is a barley starch for those of you who care. But Vitargo S2 is rapidly absorbed and digested in the intestines and it gives you this big spike in blood sugar, this big spike in insulin. And if you've just finished a workout, that is a great scenario. Rapid glycogen replenishment. And if you can't get your hands on anything else right after a workout, and you've got another workout coming up soon for which you need to restore your carbohydrate levels as quickly as possible, Vitargo would be something to go for versus YouCan, which is slowly and much more slowly absorbed in the intestines causes this slow release carbohydrate, allows for much more stable blood sugar levels, a lower insulin response, no spike in blood sugar. And the whole idea between the UCAN Superstarch is that it supports your body's own use of fat as a fuel by not spiking your blood sugar and by allowing you to actually consume fewer carbohydrates during your exercise session or your race. So you're looking at a more steadily released glucose profile, the better ability to tap into your body storage fat when you're using Knew can Superstarch, whereas when you're using Vitargo, you're looking at a fast acting carbohydrate that could allow for really, really quick replenishment right after a workout. Preferably. The question here during a two hour mountain bike race is how much do you need to spare your body's carbohydrate levels? How much do you want to stay in your fat burning zone? And how keyed in are you or how keyed in are you on being a fat adapted athlete? Meaning are you wanting to take that low car carb, use your body's own fats, turn yourself into a fat burning machine type of approach? Or are you okay with just using like fast acting carb sources? Because ultimately until you completely exhaust your body's storage carbohydrate, it doesn't matter that much. Like for a sprint distance triathlon or an Olympic distance triathlon, or really anything up to right around two hours doesn't matter that much whether you use A long chain carbohydrate or a short chain carbohydrate or a fast acting versus a slow acting, they're all going to give you pretty decent bang for your buck. Especially if you're going in with your body's glycogen levels or your storage carbohydrate levels already topped off. Meaning you've already had breakfast and you're fueled up going into the race. You haven't been starving yourself all week. But once you get into that two plus hour event length, that's where I think that you should have more of a focus on using fuels that do not cause rapid fluctuations in blood sugar. Yeah, I know you're more insulin sensitive and everything when you're exercising and a starch or rapidly digestible starch like Vitargo would be less prone to cause blood sugar fluctuations than if you were to eat a bunch of Vitargo while you're sitting on the couch. But regardless, I am a fan of using something like you can superstarch for the reason that I'm a fan of the high fat low carb turn your body into a fat burning machine type of approach for your distance though of 2 hours or for anything up to 2 hours. Heck, I mean gels a sports drink, Vitargo, you can really, it doesn't matter until you're getting up into that high long term endurance range. You know like half ironman marathon ironman stuff like that. Where then it comes down to what do you want to achieve? Are you okay with just eating carbs? If so, Vitargo is going to work fine. Practice it in your training first and use it as I mentioned earlier, exactly according to manufacturer instructions so you mix it in the proper concentration. Are you more concerned about your blood sugar levels? Are you wanting to lose weight or tap into your body's own storage fat or stay ketogenic or something like that. Then use a long molecular weight carbohydrate like you can superstarch for slower absorption. So hopefully that helps you out. Bill and yeah, that's the deal with UCAN versus Vitargo. Now we have just a few more questions here. Angela says I am having a hard time with the squatty potty and why is a benefit. I actually get what the Squatty Potty website is saying about the anorectal angle and why using the squatty potty to change it makes it easier to go to the bathroom. But I don't see why you can't just bend over in comparing images between someone on a squatty potty and someone doing a seated Row. Both show that their knees are just inches from their chest. Do you believe someone can get the same benefits as a squatty potty by simply bending over the toilet? Okay, so for those of you who are laughing at me using the word squatty potty and don't know what the squatty potty is, basically it is this device, and I've got one in every single bathroom in my house, that adjusts the anorectal angle that Angie or Angela references to the point where it's not kinked, because it tends to get kinked when you're in the seated position. And there are some serious health implications and gut and bowel movement implications that can happen from using the traditional Western approach of sitting on a toilet versus squatting, which is what many cultures do and which is what human beings have done for thousands of years, because squatting lengthens out that anorectal angle and puts you in a position where poop comes out easier and you don't have to strain and stuff like that. Can you achieve that type of position without a special stool called a squatty potty? Well, yes, you can, but the problem is that toilet are not low enough unless you've got, like, a hole dug in the floor of your bathroom that you can literally kind of squat down and crouch over and poo into. Have you ever tried to do that over a toilet? Your butt hits, like, the front of the toilet. Like, you can't get low enough unless you're like, seven feet tall. Angela. I don't know. Maybe you're a professional basketball player and you have the ability to squat down and crouch over your toilet and do your thing in there without your bottom and your hips actually getting blocked from squatting by the actual toilet itself. So that's the issue is toilets are too high for you to properly squat and get into that position. That straightens out your anorectal angle. Now, in a pinch, you could use something like your kid's stool, or when I say stool, I mean the stool that they stand on. But you could use a kid's stool that you could stand on and use that to stand above your toilet and get into a squatting position. You could use any type of, like, bench or something like that or chair that you have in the bathroom to get into the squatting position. If you use a chair that's too high, you're gonna have to really get aim, by the way. But that's why I like the squatty potty is because it kind of bypasses all these issues with Trying to hack something together yourself in the bathroom. It's just this really nice looking little wooden thing that slides underneath your toilet it and it's very non invasive and you just basically pull it out when you're ready to use it and you squat, you do your thing, you're in and out of the bathroom really quickly without straining. And I like it. I enjoy my pooping quite a bit more now that I use the squatty potty. So there you go. I hope that's helpful. And that's why you should use something like that instead of just trying to bend over while you're on the toilet, which I don't even understand how you could possibly do again unless you're really tall. So let's move on to Cynthia's question after that. Cynthia says, for the last three months I've been doing the insanity. I'm assuming Cynthia is referring to the Beachbody insanity DVDs every day. Before that I was running every day. So all in all I'm in good shape. But I feel that with this rigorous exercise my legs should be more toned. However, it still feels like I, I can't get them to be stronger or toner looking. Cynthia, I don't think toner looking is a word. I think you mean more toned. Maybe. Alright. Either way, how can I achieve this? Well, this is something that a lot of women run into and something that I talk about quite a bit in my book get fit Guy's guide to achieving your ideal body. Which you can get now@getfitguy.com Would you like that commercial? So basically descriptions of your body shape and the specific workout that is unique to your body type are in that book. And one of the things I talked about are all the different kinds of female body shapes that there are. So you've got your female ectomorph and these are skinny girls who are kind of waif, like pretty slim, thin necks, thin shoulders, hips, wrists, calves, ankles. All of it's kind of like a ruler shot shape or a stick shape. So think of like Gwyneth Paltrow or like Kylie Minogue for example, the petite females, the petite skinny females. And then you've got your mesomorphs and these are the more athletic females. Think of like, you know, your soccer players or if you were thinking of like a celebrities like Jessica Simpson has kind of a mesomorph body shape. Beyonce does too. Scarlett Johansson, people like that. They tend to have a little bit more of an hourglass shape with wide shoulders and hips and more narrow waist and Then you've got mesoendomorphs. Mesoendomorphs, big word, but basically it's the classic pear shape. Small upper body, bigger lower body. And that would be somebody like J. Lo, for example, is a mesoendomorph. And then you've got endomorphs, people who tend to have more of an apple shape. They're bigger on the top half of their bodies than on the bottom and have kind of more of that round apple shape like Queen Latifah or Oprah Winfrey or somebody like that. Ultimately, each of these different shapes is going to need a different type of program for any type of body reinvention or body transformation, including how to tone the legs. So if you look at, for example, like an ectomorph, an ectomorph is going to get toned legs not from doing running, not from doing cycling, which is going to give them really skinny legs, make their butt disappear. Ectomorphs need to be doing basically heavier sets in the weight room, barbell squats, dumbbell squats, heavy walking lunges, or reverse lunges, because it's hard to use a heavy enough weight when you're doing a front lunge that can be tough on your knees. Deadlifts, anything like that, where using a heavier weight, anywhere from six to 10 reps, that's going to help an ectomorph get really nice toned legs, give you some curves, give you a butt, hips and that type of thing. But you should stay away from lots of running and cycling if having those toned legs are important to you. When you look at, like a mesomorph, a mesomorph, which is that more athletic shape, they can actually get away with a combination of running, cycling, and then moderate weights in the weight room. Because if a mesomorph goes heavy weights, they can tend to bulk up in the lower body and get a real hefty badunkadunk. And you want to be careful with that. Or maybe you do, maybe you don't, I don't know. But running and biking for a mesomorph is okay, and they can get toned legs from doing that, but then they'd want to use moderate weight, 10 to 12 reps. A lot of the similar exercises as an ectomorph would want to use, like barbell squats and heavy walking lunges or reverse lunges, deadlifts, stuff like that. Meso endomorphs, that's the pear shape. Pear shapes don't do well with weightlifting for the lower body to tone the legs, because they bulk up really, really easily in the lower body. I find that the pear shape, the meso endomorph shape, they tend to get the best legs when they're doing running, bicycling, elliptical, basically cardio for the legs, weights for the upper body for that type of body shape works a lot better when it comes to just toning the legs and almost like reducing some of the, some of the curves that tend to almost bother a lot of pear shapes. Button hips that are too big in proportion to the shoulders or the waist. Finally you have the endomorphs. Endomorphs again, they're the apple shape. And what I find tends to work best with that body type is a combination of body weight or low weight type of exercises like front lunge, side to side lunge, reverse lunge, step back lunge, and then light dumbbells as well can be used during something like that, but just light work. So we're talking in the range of 12 to 20 reps for the apple shape for getting toned legs. And then they also can get away with some running and some cycling. Really the only body type that tends to lose tone from running and cycling is the ectomorph. Just because you can get so catabolic, the metabolism is already so high, you're already so skinny. Running and cycling doesn't work so well for that, for that body shape, for getting toned legs. But yeah, so basically ectomorphs, heavy weightlifting for skinny chicks for the legs, mesomorphs or more athletic looking females, combination of running and biking and then moderate weight with like 10 to 12 reps in the weight room. Meso endomorphs or a pear shape, just do more cardio really. And not a lot of weights for the legs and then endomorphs, a light body weight or light dumbbells for the lower body, toning exercises and then just cardio like running or cycling or elliptical. And I'll link. I lay this out way more comprehensively in my book, so I would recommend you grab my body typing book if this kind of stuff intrigues you. That's over@getfitguy.com check it out. Okay, we've got another question here from Angela. Angela says, I don't think I've ever heard you talk about obstacle races. Have you ever considered qualifying for and of course competing in the world's toughest mudder or the Spartan death race? If not, why? Well, because they sound freaking scary, Angela, that's why. No, seriously. So first of all, the world's toughest mudder you all may have heard of these tough mudder competitions where you've got this course that's like barbed wire and you run through a fire, and there's even like these electrical fences that shock you that you climb under. And you're just like going through mud pits and obstacle courses and climbing and crawling and falling. And they're relatively short, though. It'll take you, you know, an hour, ish. To do a tough mudder event. But if you look at the world's toughest mudder, what you are doing is you have 24 hours to do as many laps of a tough mudder course as you can. So this event is a big competition. You actually get some pretty good money. You get 15,000 bucks for the male and female individual winners and $20,000 for the team winners. And they're supposed to be pretty tough. And doing them for 24 hours in a row I think would be a challenge. I don't think you have a risk of dying because you're just going at your own pace, going through all the obstacles there. But that's what the tough mudder is versus the Spartan Death Race. By the way, over@EndurancePlanet.com we've interviewed the guy who is the mastermind behind the Spartan Death Race. And in my opinion, this is way tougher than the world's toughest mutter. Because during the Spartan Death Race, on average only 15 of the competitors actually even finish the event. But it is a 40 mile course that runs through the backwoods of Vermont. And during the Death Race, you might be doing things like chopping wood for two hours in a row, carrying a 20 pound tree stump around for hours, lifting 30 pound rocks for up to five hours, building a fire, cutting a bushel of onions, crawling through mud under barbed wire. So that's a little bit similar to the tough mudder. And it generally takes about 20 hours of racing. And you also have to do things like memorize the names of the first 10 US presidents, or like memorize a bible verse, hike to the top of a mountain and then recite them back in order and just do weird stuff like that. So to me, I know the Spartan Death Race is way over and above the tough mudder. Tough mudder is just like, go, go, go. Do as many runs as you can. Spartan Death Race is like kind of pay attention or you're pretty much done and out. So why don't I do either of these? I just, I've got too many other things going on. I'm doing triathlon. I homeschool my kids. I play guitar, I cook, I podcast frankly. And now I'm gonna, I'm gonna pour my heart out to my podcast listeners. 2013 is my year where I'm gonna kind of taper stuff back. I'm gonna be changing my coaching scenario to give more time to the clients that I work with and actually coach fewer clients. I'm going to be tapering back some of the companies that I run and kind of not running them and just basically focusing more on my winners and focusing more on creating as much value as possible. Because my goal is to change over a million lives in terms of teaching people how to get the most out of their bodies and their minds and how to defy the skills status quo that we all settle for when it comes to what our bodies are truly capable of. And I can't do that when I'm traipsing around the Vermont backwoods in the Spartan Death Race. But no, seriously though, I would love to do one of these someday. It's on the bucket list. I just haven't done them yet. Angela Although my wife and I this year are planning on doing a seven day adventure race across North Idaho if we can find a babysitter. So I'll put links to the world's Toughest Mudder and the Spartan Death Race in the show notes. But and I'm not done yet. There is a really cool training program out there called Race Day Domination that gets you ready for these events. Not just the Death Race or the world's toughest Mudder, but even something like the Tough Mudder or the Spartan Race. It's called Race Day Domination. I'll put a link to it in the show notes. But it's literally an obstacle race training program. I recently came across it. It looks super cool. It's what I'm going to use when I start training for one of these events. But it's called Race Day Domination. Check that out. I'll link to it in the show notes. And wow, we made it through all the questions and I still have time to shower and get dressed and everything. So this is episode number 225. All right, so everything I talked about I'll link to over there. And then you can check out the my list for this episode over at facebook.com bgfitness and scroll through the special announcements. Tons of stuff. Email me if you want in on that party table at EnduranceLive. Check out the Become Superhuman live event. Get in on that register so I know you're coming. Get your hotel room and then also check out the stuff like the, like the Wildflower Triathlon Training Camp. All the other training camps I'm doing I listed in the show notes. Remember the Vietnam Triathlon trip? If you want in on that, email me ben greenfieldfitness.com and finally, leave the podcast a ranking in itunes or even leave a donation when you're over@bengreenfieldfitness.com so that you can support me sitting here in my underwear, on my bed, in my tiny little bed and breakfast with my refrigerator with my loaf of bread and my block of cheese. Podcasting. So there you go. Skipped my morning workout for this one. So yeah, all right, you guys, thanks for listening in and have a great week. I'll be back with Brock in a more professional podcasting format next week. Later.

Want to get personal access to all of Ben Greenfield's secrets? Live this march in Spokane, Washington, Ben is bringing the world's best speakers straight to you. You're going to get step by step blueprints for performance, fat loss, recovery, digestion, brain sleep and hormone optimization, and get insider access to private parties, special sessions for podcast listeners only, and of course, delicious locally grown organic meals. The comfort conference is called Become Superhuman and it's already filling up fast. But you can get in now@BenGreenfieldFitness.com superhuman that's BenGreenfieldFitness.com superhuman. You'll come away from this live two day event completely separate life to achieve everything you want for your body, mind and performance. Whether you want to maximize fat loss, achieve an Ironman Triathlon, or push your body and mind to the absolute limits of human performance. So visit BenGreenfieldFitness.com superhuman and we'll see you live and in person March 8th and 9th, 2013.