You’re a Fat What??!?!?! Part Two

Our health begins in our gut. Consider the following facts about the gastrointestinal system:

• The gastrointestinal system comprises 75% of the body's immune system.
• There are more neurons in the small intestine than in the entire spinal cord.
• It is the only system in the body that has its own, independently operating nervous system, called the enteric nervous system.
• If you stretched our the gastrointestinal systemic its entirety, it would have the surface area of a regulation sized singles tennis court.  There are over 400 species of microbes living in your gut, totaling over 15 pounds of mass and containing more bacteria than there are known stars in the sky.

Now lets talk sugar.  Sugar causes inflammation in the gut and overall body.  The more processed and refined the carbohydrate (sugar), as a rule, the faster it breaks down in the digestive system, and the bigger the sugar rush it delivers.  That's why refined flours, sugars and sugar syrups pose such a problem for our systems.  As we gulp down sugar, those simple carbs are converted into simple sugar molecules (glucose) that pass directly into the bloodstream.  Blood sugar then rises, and the pancreas releases insulin to lower the blood sugar levels by taking glucose out of the blood and into cells.  If our body needs the sugar at the time we put it in the body, the body uses it appropriately. If not, the pancreas goes into overdrive, releases too much insulin, and begins the increase in inflammation in the body.

Normal inflammation in the body can occur when we are rebounding from an injury.  White blood cells rush to a point of injury in the body and mend.  When the injury is deep inside the body, such as the gut, hidden inflammation can trigger chronic disease and we get so used to it we don't even realize it's there.

The body in a fasted state has 1 tsp of glucose (sugar) measured in the bloodstream.  This is where our body likes to be.  The average American has, at any given time, 20 tsp of sugar in their bloodstream.  YIKES.

Two weekends ago I had my first BIG DAY of training.  Which basically means, I Swim, Bike, Run for 6 hours straight.  The goal isn't to see if I can do it, the goal is to learn what is working, and what is not with regard to my pacing, and most importantly, my nutrition.  I woke up, had my bullet proof coffee, with butter, heavy cream and MCT oil (concentrated Coconut Oil), did my strength resets and headed to the pool.  Got home, hopped straight on the bike and had two water bottles, each with 159 calories of UCAN (a starch based energy supplement that does not spike blood sugar), and two water bottles with Celtic Sea Salt and lemon.  I plowed through all the water bottles - probably should have been better hydrated - and should have drank more before and after my swim - because I felt like I had too much in my belly (nutrition included) during the run.  The run was a 30 min zone 1 effort, then push to 15 min of zone 2, and finish as hard as I could - no higher than high zone 3.  No tummy troubles, no bonking.  didn't have to take in any nutrition on the run.  It was great!

This last weekend, I had a 30-min run before my 3:30 ride indoor on the trainer.  I had my bullet proof coffee, did my resets, hopped on the treadmill, hopped on the trainer and didn't have any nutrition until 45 minutes into the ride, and continued to "drip feed" my nutrition throughout the bike.  Then the next day I had a 2 hour run.  The only nutrition I took during the run was salt/lemon water and a TBSP of honey at 1:15 in.  Felt Great.  Finished at a sub 8:20 min mile run pace - I got stronger as my run continued.  AWESOMENESS!

On Thursday I head to Florida for my first ever Volume Training Camp.  And my first time ever away from my little T.  The plan is 10+K swim, almost 300 miles biking, and 30 miles running.  What a break! :)  I wanted to send a blog update every day, but I'm hoping to not take a computer at all (I KNOW!!!!  CRAZY!!) so I'll take good notes and report when I get back.  Viva warmth!

gastrointestinal system facts resource: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/fix-gut-fix-health
sugar/inflammation facts resource: https://experiencelife.com/article/sugar-breakdown/