Author: dante

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Edmund Tai

Many people say :‘Nutrition will make or break your race.’

As I am a newbie in the world of triathlon, I did not place much emphasis on the above and have to admit that improving fitness and adhering tonthe training regime were my priorities; definitely more so than focusing on nutrition. It has been frustrating as my race results were hovering around the similar timings with no major breakthroughs. I believed I can deliver more. And it was at the recent races, Challenge Iskandar Puteria 70.3 and Ironman Western Australia, that I started working on my nutrition with Elvia’s help.

Previously prior to Elvia’s help, nutrition to me is simply: drink when thirsty and eat when hungry. Electrolytes replacements are only a must when encountering cramps or heat intolerance. Through Elvia’s meticulous planning and counting of carbs (down to every singular gram/hour), she has completely re-educated me on the importance of nutrition. She has taken the ‘iffy-ness’ of thinking about when/what to consume away from the complexity of racing, so that I can continuously focus on performance at the races.

With her encouragement and tweaking of the nutrition planning during race preparation stage, I manage to achieve a PB at the recent 70.3 race and a pretty satisfactory first-time completion of an Ironman mentioned above. Happy to inform that , while no races are easy tasks, I completely enjoyed both races too (and with no gut or cramping issues!)

Thank you Elvia, and I hope to be able to work further with you to hone in on my nutritional requirements.

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Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Inflammation in the body occurs as a natural response of the immune system as a reaction to injury or infection and to fight germs, characterized by redness, swelling, heat and pain. When inflammation becomes chronic, it may lead to various health problems including cancers, autoimmune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus), atherosclerosis, hepatitis and many others.

Although genetic, stress, environmental exposure to chemicals and toxins play a role in the regulation of inflammation in the body, dietary choices also have a big role in the way our bodies response and regulate inflammation processes.

Anti-inflammatory diet is a balanced diet based on whole, nutrient-dense foods high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory foods and low in pro-inflammatory foods that with the goal to maintain optimum health.
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Green tea as weight loss supplement?

Green tea has been marketed as an herbal supplement for weight loss, however its potential benefits have been controversial. Green tea catechins (GTC), especially Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the most abundant catechins in green tea, are polyphenol compounds that have been the subject of a number of studies on the hypothesis that they may increase energy expenditure via thermogenesis effect, inhibit appetite, reduce nutrient absorption and increase fat oxidation. 

The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) plays an important role in energy expenditure regulation and lipolysis. Its activities are influenced by the concentration of norepinephrine(NE) in the body. GTC inhibits the action of COMT enzyme which degrades NE, as so does caffeine, which is also present in green tea. 

It is plausible that GTC and caffeine work synergistically in increasing energy expenditure shown in most acute and long term studies, while EGCG/GTC alone failed to elicit the same effect.
More favourable results on GTC’s effects on energy expenditure have been found in Asian population versus Caucasian, possibly due to genetic variability in enzyme activity. 
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