By Meghan Johnson

After my last blood test, I received some pretty embarrassing results. As a master’s student studying nutrition, I had both high cholesterol and low ferritin, a blood marker for iron.  Despite eating a very healthy diet, I was still missing the mark on some seriously important nutrients.

Even worse, my doctor had ordered blood work as part of my annual physical last year and hadn’t notified me that anything was amiss in my results! That’s why InsideTracker goes further than typical blood tests to find my optimized range for markers like cholesterol. Their unique algorithm uses my demographic information, lifestyle habits and the latest peer-reviewed scientific research to create more accurate ranges for my biomarkers.

Once I received my results, I wanted to take action immediately.  As a  nutrition blogger and a health advocate, it’s important for me to walk the walk.  I used InsideTracker’s food recommendations to make simple changes to my diet. To lower my cholesterol, I cut down on my weekend splurges of red meat, ate less cheese, and swapped eggs for oatmeal as my breakfast staple.

Trying to raise my low level of ferritin was a bit more difficult. As a woman and a runner, I need more than twice as much iron as a man, and it’s important to make sure my body’s getting enough.  But because my diet is low in animal products, which contain heme iron (the form that’s more readily absorbed by the body), my iron-rich food options were limited. I decided to turn to a more potent iron supplement to ensure that my blood would absorb enough iron to meet my body’s needs. I ditched my multivitamin, which provided 6mg/day and started taking a higher dose of ferrous sulfate that provided 65mg/day.

InsideTracker also helped me see that I really didn’t need to take a multivitamin anyway. Besides iron and cholesterol, my nutrient levels were already optimized and my folic acid was actually well over the recommended amount. High intakes of folate can actually cause neurological damage over time.

Three months later, I had my blood tested again at InsideTracker’s booth at the Boston Multisport World fitness expo. Amid booths of nutrition bars and neon spandex, the phlebotomist drew several vials of my blood. (I’ll blame my subsequent running shoe splurge on being light-headed.)  A few days later, my results were in!

In three short months, I lowered my LDL (bad) cholesterol from 127mg/dL to 96mg/dL - just above my optimized range from InsideTracker - just by changing a few foods in my diet.

My ferritin marker also made moves; it raised 11ng/mL in a short period of time. Since I’m a runner, I was especially pleased to see my progress. Iron is essential to form hemoglobin and myoglobin, the body’s oxygen-carrying proteins. Moving oxygen efficiently throughout the body is vital for distance runners to perform at their peak. My iron is still 7ng/mL below my optimized zone, so I still have some work to do. InsideTracker suggested several iron-rich vegetarian foods, including spinach, clams, and mushrooms. Working these foods into my diet, in addition to taking a more potent supplement should be enough to get me where I need to be.

Before becoming a customer, I believed in the idea of the product and its potential to empower individuals to take control of their health. But I am now more than a believer; I am living proof that InsideTracker can help individuals reach their optimum nutrition and health goals, one step at a time.

By Perrin Braun

Did you just receive the results from your annual physical?  Did your doctor’s office send you a letter saying your blood test results are “normal”? Would you like to know more?

With InsideTracker’s “Do-It-Yourself” (DIY) option, you can find out whether your results are optimal. If they are not, you will learn how to improve your biomarkers, your health and your athletic performance.

For just $49, you can create a personalized InsideTracker account and enter your recent blood tests results. You don’t need to get additional bloodwork done.  And if you purchase one of the Fitness or Performance InsideTracker plans, or have already purchased an InsideTracker plan, the DIY option is FREE!

DIY for new customers

The DIY option is designed to be as simple and user-friendly as possible! After you have purchased your InsideTracker DIY account, all you have to do is upload your blood test data. InsideTracker will automatically prepare your blood analysis as soon as you are finished entering your data. The program will accept results for 20 different markers—such as calcium, cholesterol, and white blood cell count—that may be measured in your blood tests. You also have the option to enter results for some or all of these markers for up to 10 different test dates. If you have one blood test done each year at your annual physical, you could enter up to 10 years worth of data.

After you enter your results, InsideTracker will generate an analysis and recommendations for your most recent biomarker values. If you enter results for more than one test date, InsideTracker will chart the changes over time.

So, what information will you see once you enter your blood results? InsideTracker will provide you with:

• Graphs showing your personalized blood results and optimal numbers
• Explanations of the role that each biomarker plays in health and athletic performance
• Lifestyle, exercise, and nutrition recommendations for improving biomarkers that are out of your optimized zone
• A unique food plan that is customized to fit your individual needs and preferences

DIY for current customers

If you are a current InsideTracker customer, the DIY option is completely free with your current payment plan…and is a mere two clicks away! When you are logged in to your InsiiideTracker account, go to the Bloodwork page and click “View your bloodwork history”. Once you’re on the Bloodwork History page, just click “Add blood test results” and put in your information. If you have had a blood test done recently, but don’t have your results, request them from the health care provider who ordered the test. 

Stay tuned for more updates from InsideTracker!

By Perrin Braun

Advertising can often be misleading. Food manufacturers want you to assume that since sports drinks contain the word “sport” on their labels, they must be beneficial for people who play sports or other forms of activity. New sports drinks appear on the market each day. Flavors like “organic cherry” and “blueberry açaí” are meant to conjure up thoughts of superfoods and enhanced performance for athletes and non-athletes alike. Many brands make claims about helping you perform better during athletic events and even suggest they will improve your health. But do sports drinks really enhance performance? Are all sports drinks created equal?

Hydration station

Here are the facts: hydration is necessary to maintain peak optimal performance. Water regulates your body temperature, lubricates your joints, and transports nutrients throughout your body. Staying hydrated is particularly important during exercise because you lose water through sweat. The longer and more intensely you work out, the more necessary it becomes to get fluid into your body. When you don’t replenish your fluids, it becomes harder for your heart to circulate blood.  A decrease in blood and plasma volume can contribute to muscle cramps, dizziness, fatigue, heat stroke, and heat exhaustion.

Do athletes have any particular hydration requirements?

Depending on the intensity of the activity, there is a significant variability in the amount of sweating and water loss that takes place during exercise. However, there are two ways to gauge whether you’ve hydrated enough:

• Monitor your urine – light-colored urine means you’re probably adequately hydrated, but dark, concentrated urine can indicate that you’re not drinking enough water
• Weigh yourself before and after workouts – weight loss that occurs directly after a workout is likely to be caused by a fluid reduction, so make sure to drink plenty of water after exercising
• Check out the InsideTracker Performance plan to make sure that you have enough electrolytes to stay healthy and reach your personal fitness potential

So, how much water is enough? Many athletes use these basic guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine as a reference point, and then adjust their water intake to fit their hydration needs:

• At least 4 hours before exercise, drink about 2-3 milliliters (mL) of water or a sport beverage per pound (lb) of body weight. For instance, a 150-lb athlete needs to drink 300-450 mL, which equals about 10-15 fl oz of liquid
• Consume approximately 8 fl oz (1 cup) of fluids every 15 minutes
• After exercise, consume about 16-24 fl oz of fluid for every pound of body weight lost during exercise

What about sports drinks?

Your body loses electrolytes when it sweats. Chloride, potassium, and sodium are major electrolytes, which are minerals in your blood, urine, and bodily fluids that contain an electric charge. Your body’s cells use electrolytes to carry electrical impulses throughout your body. These electrical charges help your cells communicate with each other and give you the ability to taste, see, smell, touch, and hear.  Many health experts say that after about an hour of strenuous exercise, you need to increase your intake of both electrolytes and fluids. Keep in mind that fluid needs vary with type, duration and intensity of exercise, gender, body weight, temperature, humidity, and how much you sweat. Enter: sports drinks.

When food manufacturers first started producing sports drinks, they were tailored to elite athletes who were sweating significantly during long workouts. For instance, Gatorade was originally invented in 1965 by a research team at the University of Florida to help football players re-hydrate after workouts in the humid Florida temperatures. The earliest version of the sports drink contained a simple mixture of water, sodium, sugar, potassium, phosphate, and lemon juice.

But what’s really behind the label of today’s sports drinks? The primary ingredients in many athletic beverages include glucose, sucrose, fructose, or high-fructose corn syrup. Many sports drinks even contain as much sugar as a can of soda, which can impede any weight-loss goals. Sodas and sports drinks that are high in sugar are inappropriate for shorter or less intense workouts.

However, the sugar in sports drinks can be beneficial for people who are exercising more intensely or working out for longer periods of time. It can provide ready-to-use fuel for someone who is jogging for three hours or mountain biking. Many people are also turned off by plain water, so if a little flavor helps you drink more, then you might want to consider a sports drink.

In general, if you are performing an intense level of exercise for over an hour, you may need to replace the carbohydrates that you burn during exercise and electrolytes that you lose through sweating. For intense exercise sessions, drink about 20 ounces of a sports drink for every hour that you exercise, starting after the first hour. For exercise events lasting longer than 1 hour, cold sports drinks containing 6%-8% carbohydrates, sodium, and potassium are of greater benefit than water alone, helping to replace the fluids lost from sweating. If your workouts are not that long, you’re probably fine with just drinking water.

How are vitamin waters different?

Most vitamin waters are similar to sports drinks, but contain added vitamins. If you’re eating a balanced and varied diet, you don’t really need all those extra vitamins. Keep in mind that beverages that are flavored with fruits like “pomegranate” and “açaí” are usually just artificially sweetened or flavored and don’t contain the nutritional benefits that real fruit provides.

So why are sports drinks so popular?

Simple: they taste good. In order to entice potential consumers, sugar, artificial flavoring, and coloring are added to most sports drinks. In fact, there are several brands of sports beverages that don’t contain any electrolytes at all—they’re just flavored water! So, if you’re concerned with your fluid and electrolyte intake, be sure to check the label before you buy.

If you’re watching your wallet, but still enjoy the taste of sports drinks, you can make them at home for a small percentage of the cost. For instance, you can mix 100 milliliters of orange juice concentrate with 1 liter of water and a pinch of salt. You can experiment with different types of juices and vary the amount of water that you include to make it more or less concentrated. Happy hydrating!

By Meghan Johnson

Consumers are constantly exposed to messages that more is better. It’s not surprising that many athletes assume that consuming more protein will help them build bigger muscles and make them stronger: the ‘Super Size Me’ approach. But protein is only part of the puzzle when it comes to fueling your body, and consuming too much can actually do more harm than good.

The importance of protein
Don’t get me wrong; protein is an important part of everyone’s diet – and especially athletes’. Dietary protein is broken down into amino acids that assist with everything from digesting food to repairing body tissue in the body. Not to mention that protein is another source of energy for your body to burn, providing 4 calories per gram. Both plant-based sources of protein (such as beans and peas, nuts, and soy products) and animal-based sources (such as meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and dairy products) can be part of a balanced diet. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans put a special emphasis on getting dietary protein from seafood, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids; and from cooked dry beans and peas, which provide ample dietary fiber.

Special considerations for athletes
Carbohydrates provide the body’s primary fuel while it is in motion, while protein is more important to aid in post-workout recovery for athletes. Protein is primarily responsible for repairing exercise-induced damage, and promoting training-induced adaptations in muscle fibers such as the synthesis of new proteins involved in energy production. Protein also facilitates the replenishment of depleted energy stores, preparing your body for its next bout of activity.

Vegetarian athletes can certainly obtain adequate dietary protein, but they may have to be more diligent. Animal-based proteins are known as “complete proteins” since they provide all of the amino acids that your body can’t manufacture on its own (called essential amino acids). An incomplete protein source is one that is low in one or more of the essential amino acids. Complementary proteins are two or more incomplete protein sources that together provide adequate amounts of all the essential amino acids. Many plant-based sources are incomplete proteins, but two complementary incomplete proteins can provide enough of all the essential amino acids when eaten within the same day. This explains rice and beans - together they make a complete protein (not to mention a delicious side dish!).

How much protein is enough?
Many athletes have misconceptions about just how much protein they need to achieve their peak performance. The truth is that lifting weights, doing push-ups, and other forms of resistance exercise are actually what builds and strengthens muscle, while food is used to fuel, rebuild and repair it. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for protein in healthy adults is 0.8 gram per kg body weight per day (that’s an average of about 46g/d for women and 56g/day for men). Strength and endurance athletes should aim slightly higher; the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends endurance athletes consume about 1.2 to 1.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, whereas resistance and strength-trained athletes should aim for 1.6 to 1.7 grams per kilogram of body weight per day.  According to the American Dietetics Association, most athletes consume an adequate amount of protein in their diet without the use of protein bars, shakes or powders that may add unwanted sugar or fat.

For many athletes, the timing of protein consumption may be just as important as getting enough protein to promote muscle recovery. Research suggests that athletes who engage in strenuous activity should consume a meal rich in amino acids (proteins) and carbohydrate soon after each training session.

The dangers of too much protein
While it’s tempting to subscribe to the ‘more is better’ mentality, no scientific evidence suggests that protein intake exceeding 0.9 gram of protein per pound (2.0 g per kg) provides an additional advantage in muscle building, according to Sports Nutritionist Nancy Clark, author of Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook. Additionally, there is no evidence that taking a protein supplement on top of an adequate diet will enhance muscle strength or size.

On the contrary, consuming too much protein can take a toll on your body. Breaking down proteins requires more water than breaking down either carbohydrates or fats due to increased water loss in the creation of nitrogen. Consuming protein in excess of your body’s needs puts you at risk for dehydration, which can severely hinder athletic performance. Increased protein metabolism has also been linked to increased calcium loss through urination. Female athletes should be especially careful about following high protein diets since they need to maintain calcium stores to preserve bone density.

It’s also important to pay attention to the source of your protein. If you’re turning to animal products to raise your protein intake, you may be putting yourself at risk for high levels of ferritin, a blood marker for iron measured by InsideTracker. Animal protein contains heme iron, the type that is three times more easily absorbed by your body than plant-based iron (non-heme), making it easier for you to exceed your body’s needs. High levels of ferritin have been shown to harm your organs and tissues, negating any positive health benefits from protein consumption. Keep in mind that bulking up on animal products can also raise your intake of saturated fat and cholesterol, which carries additional health risks.

Put down the protein powder and step away from the blender
If you’re eating a balanced diet with a combination of plant and animal proteins (remember: think beans and seafood!), chances are that you are meeting your body’s protein needs. If you’re not sure, keep a food journal for a few days and calculate how much protein you’re already consuming, then use InsideTracker’s Nutrition page to find ways to adjust your intake if you’re not in your optimal range.

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Segterra, Inc. today announced a partnership with Sports Data Hub to make InsideTracker available on the OpenSDH Sports Analytics Platform.  InsideTracker is a blood-analysis-based program that enables teams to reduce injuries, decrease player fatigue, and optimize performance, by monitoring objective measurements of key blood biomarkers that have a high impact on athlete performance and injury risk. With InsideTracker’s analysis of this critical information over time, a team can manage outcomes, and learn from each year’s records of health and performance data. Teams can optimize training, nutrition and recovery strategies to improve the performance of their athletes and increase their overall success. They can predict potential risks and opportunities for individual players early enough to enable successful interventions.

“InsideTracker and Sports Data Hub have a common goal: give sports teams the information and the tools they need to manage their athletes performance,” said Dr. Gil Blander, Founder, President and Chief Science Officer for Segterra, Inc. “InsideTracker is already providing world-class and professional athletes with this essential information. The OpenSDH platform makes it easy for teams to integrate our blood analysis and nutrition tools with other critical team data to optimize their management strategies.”

The OpenSDH platform enables teams from around the world to maximize their competitive advantage, with world-class technology built to easily consume, manage, analyze, and visualize their own internal and external sports data. OpenSDH is a collaborative project between Sports Data Hub, sports data/service providers, sports industry professionals, and top technology companies to create an affordable, secure, and powerful sports analytics platform.

“OpenSDH partner plug-ins make importing and integrating partner data fast and easy, saving time, money, and resources,” says Kevin Goodfellow, President of Sports Data Hub.  “With the InsideTracker plug-in for OpenSDH, teams will be able to combine biomarker and nutrition data from InsideTracker with a wealth of other key data, including game results, practice, and training data. InsideTracker and OpenSDH are a powerful combination that’s ready for action!”

By Perrin Braun

Every part of your body, from your heart to your bones, needs magnesium to stay strong. In fact, magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in the body! Roughly 50 percent of the magnesium in your body is stored in your bones, and the other half is mostly located in your organs and tissues.

How does magnesium affect athletes?

Athletes especially need to be aware of their magnesium intake because the mineral works to build endurance by increasing the body’s oxygen requirements. Anyone who participates in sports that have certain weight and body requirements—such as wrestling, ballet, gymnastics, and any other activity that encourages calorie restriction—are at a higher risk for consuming an inadequate amount of dietary magnesium. With a personal InsideTracker account, you can check your biomarkers and make sure you’re getting enough magnesium to perform at your peak!

Aside from increasing physical endurance, magnesium plays the following important roles in the body:

• supports healthy blood pressure
• decreases your blood glucose levels and risk of diabetes
• improves your immune system
• helps to contract and relax your muscles
• assists in the production of energy and protein in the body
• improves the quality of your sleep

Getting an adequate amount of magnesium can contribute to an improved athletic performance and oxygen consumption. If you’re interested in improving your athletic performance, it’s important to know that prolonged endurance exercise will result in a decrease of magnesium levels. An increase in perspiration and urination during strenuous exercise can contribute to magnesium loss. Following a period of rest, your magnesium levels will return to where they were before exercise, so make sure you’re spacing out your workouts to avoid fatigue and magnesium loss.

How much magnesium should I be getting, and what foods contain it?

Having enough magnesium in your body has been shown to have a protective effect against cardiovascular disease and poor immune function. To maintain heart health, active men should aim to consume between 350-420 mg of magnesium per day, while active women should eat between 280-320 mg per day. Individuals with low serum magnesium levels are at a greater risk for poor heart health than their peers with a healthy blood levels of magnesium.

You can get magnesium from many types of foods, especially from leafy green vegetables. Other good sources of magnesium include: whole grain cereals, soybeans, nuts and seafood. For even more food suggestions that will help you to optimize your magnesium levels, explore your InsideTracker Nutrition and Food Menu pages. If your magnesium level is still low, supplementation might be beneficial; consult your health care practitioner if you think a supplement might help you.

How can I increase my absorption of magnesium?

Magnesium absorption is primarily affected by the quality of your diet. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains contain phytate, which can inhibit the body’s absorption of magnesium. Avoid combining foods that are high in fiber with foods that are good sources of magnesium. Women who consume less than 30 grams of protein per day, African Americans, and older individuals (who generally tend to excrete more magnesium through urination) are at a greater risk of having difficulties absorbing magnesium. If you fall into one of these groups, you might want to consider taking a supplement.

Is a magnesium supplement the right choice for me?

Magnesium supplements may be helpful if a specific health problem limits absorption or promotes excessive magnesium loss. Certain diuretics, antibiotics, and medicines used to treat cancer may cause magnesium malabsorption, so talk to your doctor if you think your medications might cause magnesium deficiency.

Studies have shown that taking a magnesium supplement can improve your sleep and exercise tolerance. Taking 320mg of magnesium a day might promote a higher quality of sleep if you’ve been having insomnia. Other research has shown that people who took a magnesium supplement were able to improve their anaerobic activity and muscle strength.

How can I tell if my magnesium levels are low?

Your bloodwork results from InsideTracker will let you know if your magnesium is below your optimal levels! Although it’s fairly common for people not to get enough magnesium in their diet, a true deficiency is much less common. Certain medical conditions exacerbate magnesium absorption, such as diarrhea or vomiting, diabetes, kidney disease, and hyperthyroidism. Drinking too many caffeinated or alcoholic beverages may also lower your body’s levels of magnesium. Symptoms of a magnesium deficiency include muscle weakness, muscle cramps, nausea, irritability, abnormal eye movements, convulsions, fatigue, or numbness.

The good news is that because magnesium is found in so many different types of foods, it’s pretty easy to reach your recommended daily allowance (RDA). If you consume a sufficient amount of calories and eat plenty of whole foods, you will be well on your way to performing at your best!

By Perrin Braun

The 2012 Boston Marathon is almost here! On April 16th, more than 20,000 runners will participate in the oldest annual city marathon in the world, occurring every year since 1887. The race, which attracts roughly 500,000 spectators, is one of the country’s most prestigious marathons due to its long history, challenging course, and competitive qualifying times. In order to be eligible to participate, each runner must have completed a previous marathon within a certain time standard determined by the runner’s age. Since the qualifying standards are so high, the Boston Marathon attracts some of the world’s most elite runners.

Will you or someone you know be participating in the Boston Marathon this year? Here are a few things that you should know before race day:

The race’s course has essentially stayed the same throughout its history. The 42.195 km route stretches from Hopkinton to the center of Boston, and it is most famous for its difficulty level. Following the 25 km mark, the runners will hit the “Newton Hills,” which are notorious for derailing even the most seasoned athletes. The hills don’t reach exceptionally high elevations, but they are a difficult part of the race course because of their position after the 25 km mark, when runners’ glycogen stores are most likely to run out. So, how can you avoid “hitting the wall” during the big event? Here are some tips from InsideTracker’s expert scientists!

Before the marathon:

The glycogen stores in your liver and muscles depend on your carbohydrate intake leading up to the event.  Your body converts glycogen to glucose (a type of sugar), which your muscles use as a primary source of fuel during exercise. This means that your ability to exercise is limited by the amount of glucose in your body. After about 90 minutes of exercise, your body’s supply of glycogen is completely depleted; this puts you at risk for “hitting the wall,” or feeling lethargic during your event. So, be sure to fuel your body with carbohydrates before the marathon to avoid this unpleasant experience!

During the marathon:

Proper hydration is important before, during, and after the race. Fluid regulates your body temperature, lubricates your joints, and transports nutrients throughout your body. Staying hydrated is particularly important during exercise because you lose water and electrolytes through sweat. The longer and more intensely you work out, the more necessary it becomes to get fluid into your body. When you don’t replenish your fluids, it becomes harder for your heart to circulate blood.  A decrease in blood and plasma volume can contribute to muscle cramps, dizziness, fatigue, heat stroke, and heat exhaustion. You can adjust fluid intake to heat and humidity levels on race day, so if it’s humid on April 16^th, be sure to drink a little more fluid than usual.

Check how much you normally sweat during long runs so that you can plan to drink enough replacement fluids during the race. One easy way to measure fluid loss is to weigh yourself before an hour-long run, then weigh yourself immediately after the run so that you can adjust fluid intake to your weight loss. For example, if you lost 1 pound (16 ounces) during a run, you should try to drink slightly less than 16 ounces during a run of the same length in similar weather conditions. Drinking too much fluid, especially plain water, can result in hyponatremia, a dangerous condition in which there is not enough sodium in your body fluids. To avoid hyponatremia, be careful to drink a little less fluid than the amount you lost in weight.

It’s important to drink water during the marathon, but it’s crucial to replace your electrolytes, too! Sodium, chloride, and potassium are major electrolytes, which are minerals in your blood, urine, and bodily fluids that contain an electrical charge. Your body’s cells use electrolytes to carry electrical impulses throughout your body and help you maintain a proper fluid balance. You lose electrolytes through sweat, so it’s also important to replace your electrolytes. Sports drinks are an easy way to help you stay hydrated and replenish your electrolytes during the marathon, but fruit juice and electrolyte-enhanced waters can also do the trick.

After the marathon:

When you exercise, the muscle fibers in your body start to break down. Damaged muscle cells release an enzyme called Creatine Kinase (CK) into the blood. The level of CK in your blood shows how much your muscles and skeletal system have been worked during exercise. Your CK levels will increase during marathon. To repair muscle damage, your body needs protein, which is made up of amino acids, the building blocks of your muscles. An adequate supply of protein will help your muscles recover from all the stress that’s placed on them while you’re running. Studies have shown that CK levels dropped faster when athletes went on bed rest for 23 hours after a marathon. While you may not have the luxury of a full day of bed rest, keep in mind that rest and proper nutrition are very important to your body’s recovery process. Runners also need to consume carbs to replace glycogen burned during the race.

Iron is also very important for post-marathon recovery. Athletes deplete iron faster than non-athletes because of exercise-induced iron losses through sweat, urine and feces. If iron levels aren’t properly restored after the marathon, muscle weakness and slower recovery time can sometimes result. Red meat and liver are famously associated with high levels of iron, but if you’re a vegetarian, other foods that are high in dietary iron include egg yolk, dried fruit, dark leafy greens, artichokes, and lentils. InsideTracker can help you find plant-based sources of iron by using the Food Menu tool.

Best of luck to all runners participating in the Boston Marathon from your friends at InsideTracker! Be sure to properly hydrate, eat right, and rest up to perform at your best!

Fat may no longer be a dieter’s worst enemy, but misconceptions about this important macronutrient still run rampant. In the 1990s, the low-fat diet was thought to be a straightforward route to preventing heart disease, some cancers, and obesity. The USDA Food Pyramid perpetuated the idea that an ideal diet should be low in fat, and didn’t differentiate well between sources or types of fat.

In the last several decades, scientists have learned a lot more about the key role fat plays in a healthy diet. While the amount of fat you consume is important, it is the kinds of fat you eat that really matters to health and performance. This shift in thinking is evidenced by the USDA’s MyPlate tool, which explains the difference between types of fats on its newly launched website.

Breaking down the fats

Dietary fats, along with protein and carbohydrates, are the macronutrients that fuel your body. Stored body fat (called adipose tissue) serves several essential functions in the body: it provides cushion and insulation to internal organs, promotes cell growth, covers the nerves, and moves fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) throughout your body.  Fat is also the largest reserve of stored energy available for your body to burn for fuel. Adults over age 19 should aim to get 20-35 percent of their total calories from fats.

Some fats also have a relationship with blood cholesterol, a biomarker measured by InsideTracker.  Increasing or decreasing the amount of certain fats in your diet may have an affect on your levels of blood cholesterol. (You should strive to keep your total cholesterol level below 200 mg/dL.) The four major types of fats include monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, saturated and trans fats; read on to learn which ones you should be fueling your body with.

The good stuff
Monounsaturated fat (MUFA) is found in a variety of foods such as nuts, olive oil, and avocados. Studies show that eating foods rich in MUFA improves blood cholesterol levels and may benefit insulin levels and blood sugar control, which are reflecting in your fasting blood glucose level (another biomarker measured by InsideTracker). If you’re diabetic or pre-diabetic, controlling blood sugar levels is especially important.

Polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) comes in two types and is found mostly in plant-based foods and oils. Research shows that eating foods rich in polyunsaturated fats improves blood cholesterol levels, and may also help decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. These fats may also protect against irregular heartbeats and help lower blood pressure levels. Omega-6 PUFAs are found in vegetable oils such as soybean, corn, and safflower oil, while Omega-3 PUFAs are found mainly in fatty fish like trout, herring, and salmon, but also in walnuts and flaxseed. Omega-3s and Omega-6s are essential oils, meaning that the body can’t make them on its own and they are vital for immune function and cell growth, among other bodily functions. Omega-6 PUFAs are easier to come by because vegetable oils are commonly used in household cooking and in processed snack foods. Omega-3s are often harder to obtain through diet alone, and some people may require supplementation.

The not-so-good stuff
Saturated fat is sometimes referred to as the solid fat in your diet, because it is usually solid at room temperature. Saturated fat is more common in animal-based products such as cheese, high-fat cuts of meat, whole-fat milk and cream, butter, and ice cream; but it is also found in some plant-based sources such as palm and coconut oils. These oils are often added to processed foods unbeknownst to the consumer. Check the label of foods like cookies, pastries, whipped topping and vegetable shortening to be sure you’re not consuming unwanted saturated fat. It’s best to avoid saturated fat when possible since it is known to raise total blood cholesterol levels and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) “bad” cholesterol levels. Your InsideTracker analysis will measure your levels of both of these biomarkers, and the Nutrition and Food Menu pages can help you choose foods that will help you manage them.

Trans fats received considerable media attention in recent years when several cities banned their use in restaurants. The FDA now requires foods containing trans fats to be labeled, making them easier for a concerned consumer to avoid. What makes trans fats so dangerous? While they occur naturally in some foods, most trans fats are made during food processing through hydrogenation, adding hydrogen to unsaturated fats. This process creates fats that are less likely to spoil than naturally occurring oils, thus extending the shelf life of the foods they’re used in.  Research studies show that synthetic trans fat can increase unhealthy LDL cholesterol and lower healthy high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, which increases a person’s risk for cardiovascular disease.

Why athletes need fat
Most athletes know that carbohydrates are important for them. And that’s true! In fact, you should aim to get about 45-65 percent of your total caloric intake from carbs; they’re your muscles’ preferred energy source during exercise. But less attention is paid to the role of fat in an athlete’s diet, a nutrient that can be equally important.

Hard-working muscles require the caloric energy that fat provides (fats contain 9 calories per gram, compared with 4 calories per gram in carbohydrates and protein), but fat, itself, can uniquely benefit athletes. Fat’s calorie density, along with your body’s nearly unlimited storage capacity for fat, makes it your largest reserve of energy. One pound of stored fat provides approximately 3,600 calories of energy! While these calories are less accessible to athletes performing quick, intense efforts like sprinting or weight lifting, they become essential for lower intensity and endurance exercise such as easy cycling and jogging. Fat is a critical source of fuel for endurance exercise; your body actually stores some fat in muscle fibers themselves. Recent studies have shown that regular endurance exercise increases the amount of fat stored within muscle fibers. 

You can also improve your muscle’s ability to burn fat through training. As you become more fit, fat plays a greater role as an alternate source of fuel and by helping your body conserve carbohydrate stores for when it needs them most. InsideTracker’s Food Menu page can help you ensure that you’re fueling your body with healthy fats that meet your unique dietary preferences and needs.

The timing of fat consumption can also be important for athletes to consider. It’s not usually recommended that athletes consume fats immediately before or after a workout since fat is slow to digest and be converted into a usable form of energy. Converting stored body fat into energy also takes a great deal of oxygen, so exercise intensity must decrease for this process to occur. Consume your healthy fats several hours before or after your workout to maximize energy conversion.  Remember that a diet that is balanced with carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats is the best way to fuel your body and help it recover quickly from intense bouts of exercise.

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By Perrin Braun

Do you live in a hot climate or tend to sweat more than other people when you exercise? If so, you may want to pay attention to your potassium intake. Low potassium can cause muscle cramping and cardiovascular issues, so it’s a great idea to consider re-working your diet, especially if you tend to experience cramps during workouts. Check out the InsideTracker Performance plan to make sure that you have enough potassium to stay healthy!

Why is potassium important?

Along with chloride and sodium, potassium is one of your body’s most important electrolytes, which are minerals in your blood, urine, and bodily fluids that contain an electric charge. Your body’s cells use electrolytes to carry electrical impulses throughout your body. These charges help your cells communicate with each other and give you the ability to taste, see, smell, touch, and hear. Nearly 70% of the potassium in your body is found in bodily fluids like plasma, blood, and sweat, while the rest is stored in your bones. So, if you sweat heavily during intense exercise, you actually lose potassium through your sweat!

In addition to helping to maintain a proper fluid balance in your body, potassium also performs the following functions:

• Keeps the blood from clotting
• Maintains the body’s pH balance
• Carries nutrients to the cells
• Protects the stomach lining from the damage that could be caused by stomach acids
• Maintains healthy blood pressure
• Promotes heart health
• Preserves bone health

 Athletes should be especially concerned with their potassium intake; potassium is involved in the storage of carbohydrates to fuel your muscles. Specifically, potassium works to regulate the muscles and nerves. The frequency and degree to which your muscles contract is heavily dependent on the right amount of potassium in the body. When potassium is deficient in the diet, or when the movement of potassium through the body is blocked, your nervous and muscular systems can become compromised. A sufficient amount of potassium is essential for keeping your muscular system running smoothly, so make sure you’re getting enough! The Adequate Intake (AI) for potassium is 4.7 grams per day, but most Americans don’t get enough potassium in their diets.

However, because you lose potassium through sweat and urination, you need to be consuming potassium-rich foods each day, especially if you’re an athlete. Low potassium levels can reduce your energy and endurance. A recent Australian study with highly trained athletes showed that drinking a caffeinated beverage immediately before exercise can help to maintain adequate potassium levels in your blood and delay fatigue during your workout.

What role does potassium play in maintaining healthy blood pressure?

Many people know that high sodium intake is associated with hypertension, or high blood pressure. A reduction in dietary sodium will help to lower blood pressure in people with high blood pressure, but new evidence suggests that optimum dietary potassium intake is important for  keeping your blood pressure and heart healthy.

So, how does potassium affect blood pressure? The kidneys regulate the body’s potassium levels; the more potassium present in the body, the more sodium is excreted through urine. By eliminating excess sodium, potassium works to relieve pressure on artery walls.

Many doctors recommend that hypertensive patients should adhere to the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating plan. The DASH diet is intentionally high in potassium, magnesium, and calcium, and low in total fat, saturated fat, and sodium. If you have high blood pressure, check out the DASH plan to see how you can reduce your risk of hypertension. A key component of the DASH plan is to reduce the amount of sodium in your diet, which can simultaneously increase or maintain your blood plasma levels of potassium. The diet emphasizes whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products—a healthy eating plan that has been shown to have protective effects against osteoporosis, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

What are dietary sources of potassium?

Potassium is found in a wide variety of foods. Bananas are famously associated with potassium and are frequently given out after athletic events in order to promote muscle recovery. Fresh fruits, especially citrus and melons, and vegetables, especially leafy greens and broccoli, are an important source of potassium.  You can also find the mineral in fish, most meats, and milk. Sweet potatoes and legumes like lima and kidney beans are also high in potassium. Sports drinks, however, are typically a poor source of potassium.

What happens if you don’t get enough potassium? Can you get too much?

Because so many foods contain potassium, it’s difficult to have a deficiency that results from inadequate dietary intake. But remember that the body loses potassium each day through urination and sweat. So, if you live in a hot climate, visit steam rooms or hot yoga studios, or regularly engage in strenuous exercise, it’s important to make sure that your body has an adequate supply of potassium. Even a moderate reduction in your potassium levels can result in salt sensitivity and hypertension. Low potassium levels also lead to greater risk of bone loss; consuming adequate potassium helps to maintain bone mineral density.

Hypokalemia, the medical condition that results from a potassium deficiency, can happen concurrently with certain diseases or can result from taking water pills for the treatment of high blood pressure. Also, many medications—including diuretics, laxatives, and steroids—can cause potassium loss. If you are taking any of these medications, it’s important to get your blood levels of potassium checked regularly.

Having too much potassium in the blood causes hyperkalemia. A few sources of this disease include impaired renal function (especially in people receiving dialysis), infection, and an abnormal breakdown of protein.

How do you know if you’re getting a healthy amount of potassium?

Your body will definitely let you know if you’re not getting enough potassium. If you’ve been experiencing muscle cramping or high levels of thirst, you might want to get your potassium levels checked. The InsideTracker Performance plan tests blood potassium levels so you won’t be left guessing about what’s going on in your body. If your potassium intake is low, InsideTracker will give you some recommendations about how to increase the amount of potassium in your diet, and introduce you to some new foods that will help you do that. 

By Meghan Johnson

What can influence how quickly your injuries heal, whether or not you catch the flu, and the health of your cardiovascular system?

The answer: inflammation! Inflammation is part of the vascular system’s complex response to harmful stimuli. The tissues and blood cells that keep your body healthy are intertwined in a complex network that makes up your vascular system. It plays a critical role in maintaining your body’s immune system and heart function. Inflammation affects everyone – and tends to become harder to control as you age – but it is especially important for athletes to control inflammation in order to be able to compete at peak performance.

Measuring inflammation
One of the best inflammation indicators we have is a protein in the blood that acts as a proxy for inflammation, called C-reactive protein (or CRP). Levels of CRP rise and fall in response to inflammation, so knowing your CRP measurement tells you a lot about what’s going on in your body. The American Heart Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have designated a CRP concentration of below 1.0 mg/L as low risk for heart problems; between 1.0 to 3.0 mg/L as average risk for heart problems; above 3.0 mg/L as high risk for heart problems.  Very high levels of CRP (more than 10 mg/L) can also indicate an impaired immune response or inflammatory disease.

Since CRP is a protein found in your blood, the only way you can get information about your levels is to have a blood sample analyzed through a service like InsideTracker. CRP is measured in the Performance Panel, along with testosterone, white blood cell count, potassium, sodium, zinc and chromium (in addition to the thirteen other biomarkers).

Inflammation and athletes
Athletes should be particularly concerned with monitoring their levels of CRP since performance is so closely tied to their cardiovascular fitness. Good news for athletes: consistent and moderate aerobic exercise is one of the best ways to lower inflammation. Regular exercise has actually been shown to reduce inflammation by 20-60% and to reduce white blood cell count (another marker for inflammation) during and after exercise. That’s why athletes, especially swimmers, have some of the lowest levels of CRP around.

Interestingly enough, inconsistent exercise can actually have the opposite effect on inflammation. For all you weekend warriors out there, keep in mind that engaging in intense, but inconsistent exercise can increase your white blood cell levels, increase inflammation and weaken your immune system. Research has shown that prolonged strenuous exercise (i.e. running a marathon) can actually triple white blood cell levels! And athletes who over-train or over-exert themselves during competitions can weaken their immune systems, making it more difficult to recover properly.

Controlling CRP through diet
What you eat also has an effect on inflammation. To keep your levels in check, avoid eating foods that are high in fat, calories, sugar, and salt (such as fast foods). Aim for foods that are high in antioxidants like vitamins C and E, fiber, calcium, fish oils, mono-unsaturated fats, and low on the glycemic index.  Specific foods that have been shown to have an effect on lowering inflammation include garlic, grapes, herbs and spices, soy protein, nuts, olive oil, black and green teas, and vinegar. (Many of these foods are consistent with following a Mediterranean Diet, a good way to keep your CRP levels in the healthy range.) Aim to eat at least six servings of fruits and vegetables per day, which will benefit much more than your CRP levels.  Discover new types of fruits and vegetables to work into your daily repertoire using InsideTracker’s Food Menu tool.

Alcohol’s effect on inflammation is complicated. Researchers agree that your best bet is to drink alcohol in moderation. Consuming moderate amounts of alcohol (such as no more than 2 glasses of wine, 1 pint of beer, or 4 oz. of liquor at a time) will actually lower your white blood cell count and CRP levels more than not drinking at all or drinking too much. That’s right; you’re better off drinking a little than not at all when it comes to CRP. Cheers!

When diet and exercise aren’t enough
When you can’t control inflammation through diet and exercise alone, supplements can help. Vitamins C, D, and E have all been linked to promoting healthy levels of inflammation. Taking 1,000 mg vitamin C per day may reduce your CRP levels by as much as 25%. Long distance runners or triathletes can cut their risk of developing upper respiratory tract infections in half by taking 600 mg per day of vitamin C for 21 days before a competition. This dosage works well to reduce the severity and duration of infections as well.
 
Vitamin D also appears to play a role in reducing inflammation for women. Those with adequate levels of vitamin D in their blood were less likely to develop inflammation, according to researchers. In fact, each 10ng/ml increase in serum vitamin D is associated with a 25% reduction of CRP. So make sure you soak up a few minutes of sunshine per day, or consider taking a supplement to get your D fix.
 
Some factors influencing inflammation are outside of your control. Environmental factors such as air pollution, second-hand smoke, and economic stress can all increase inflammation. But there is much you can do to ensure that inflammation doesn’t adversely affect your health. Engage in moderate, regular exercise and eat a diet that includes many of the foods listed above. If you smoke, quit. Make sure you get enough sleep (adults should aim for 7 – 9 hours), and lose weight if your weight is currently outside of a healthy range. If you need help with finding foods you like that can lower your inflammation, consider signing up for InsideTracker’s Performance Panel for a uniquely customized tool to help you make the most of your diet and exercise to optimize your well-being.

By Perrin Braun

Exercise certainly plays an important role in improving your health, but you definitely can’t live well without good food! Healthful eating after a tough workout helps your body maximize the benefits that are gained from exercise, which means that you can get even stronger and faster just by eating right!

 If you’re an athlete, you’ve probably noticed that there is a lot of information out there about the best post-workout recovery foods. The food, beverage, and sports industries have been bombarding consumers with lots of nutrition recovery products that supposedly help your body to refuel. Understanding the answers to the following questions will help you to choose recovery foods:

• What happens to your body during exercise?
• How does food help your body to recover?
  
• What should you be eating?

What happens to your body during exercise?

When you exercise, the muscle fibers in your body start to break down. Damaged muscle cells release an enzyme called Creatine Kinase (CK) into the blood. The level of CK in your blood shows how much your muscles and skeletal system have been worked during exercise. How can you find out how much CK is in your blood?  Sign up for InsideTracker to have CK measured in your blood analysis.  If your blood levels of CK turn out to be high, you definitely need to pay close attention to what you’re eating after a workout. If your blood levels of CK turn out to be high, you definitely need to pay close attention to what you’re eating after a workout.

Lactic acid , which is attributed to post-workout muscle soreness, is another indicator of muscle damage. As a product of the breakdown of your body’s glycogen stores, it accumulates during short and intense periods of exercise. However, lactic acid can be used as an energy source for endurance athletes when their glycogen stores are depleted. You can find lactic acid in dairy, meat, and pickled vegetables.

Here are some other ways to restore your muscle tissue:

• Athletes who are training and would like to decrease the levels of CK in their blood should take 300 mg of CoQ10 in the morning after breakfast. Fish, beef, and eggs are other good sources of CoQ10, which provides energy for your muscles.
• To decrease your CK levels, take a multi-nutrient supplement containing branched chain amino acids, taurine, anti-inflammatory plant extracts, and B vitamins for 4 weeks.

To repair muscle damage, your body needs protein, which is made up of amino acids, the building blocks for your muscles. An adequate supply of protein will help your muscles recover from all the stress that’s placed on them, especially after doing weight-bearing exercise, such as weight-training and jogging.

The other thing your body needs to do after a workout is to replenish energy stores. Carbohydrates are responsible for providing your body with an ample supply of glycogen, which is your body’s primary fuel source. Muscles rely on carbohydrates for fuel, so you may want to re-think any low-carb diets, especially if you’re an avid exerciser. For people who perform a moderate amount of exercise, carbohydrates provide about 40-50% of the energy requirement. If you’re an endurance athlete, you should be getting 55-70% of your energy from carbs. For marathon runners and triathlon in particular, it’s important to keep in mind that carbs provide more energy per unit of oxygen consumed than fats do. Because a lack of oxygen could cost you a race or an event, or make you feel overly fatigued after a workout, using carbohydrates as one of your primary sources of energy is a good nutritional bet. 

So, why do you specifically need to eat carbohydrates after a workout? Hard exercise causes the glycogen stores in your body to be depleted, so your body won’t have enough energy to begin the recovery/muscle growth process unless you refuel those stores. A post-workout meal or snack that is high in carbohydrates provides this essential fuel and gives your muscles time to build. Without that carbohydrate boost, your body will convert fat, followed by protein from the muscle tissues, to usable energy, which means that your recovery will take even longer. The lesson here is that carbohydrates are good for you!

Some athletes (and many people) are afraid of fat, but cutting it out of your diet completely can actually hinder athletic performance. Fat helps provide fuel for the body. If your workouts typically last more than an hour, the body uses fats for energy after your glucose supply has been depleted. However, you should keep in mind that some fats are more beneficial to recovery than others. Saturated and trans fats can be detrimental to your overall health, but essential fatty acids (found in fish and certain types of oils) play a critical role in muscle recovery by helping to regulate oxygen, hormone restoration, cardiovascular health, and immune system integrity.

In addition to carbohydrates, protein, and fat, it’s also important to consume enough calories throughout the day. Without an adequate amount of calories, your body won’t have enough energy to spend on exercising.

When and what should you be eating?

How soon you eat after a workout definitely matters! No matter what time of the day you exercise, it’s important to eat a nutritious snack or meal that contains a combination of protein and carbohydrates. For fastest recovery, eat within 30 minutes of finishing your workout.  If you can’t grab a snack right away, eat within two hours.

What should you be eating?

So, are there any specific foods that are the best for recovery? It really depends on your taste preferences! Here are some ideas for healthy protein carbohydrate, and fat, combinations to munch on after a workout:

• Peanut butter and banana on whole-grain bread
• Lean chicken with whole-wheat pasta
• Hummus and pita bread
• Dried fruit and nuts
• Tuna and wheat crackers
• Egg and cheese sandwich
• Greek yogurt with mixed berries

Many athletes rely on protein and nutrition bars for their post-workout fuel. Companies are avidly marketing various gels, powders, and recovery drinks, but the truth is that these products aren’t really necessary.  While their various health claims sound impressive, make sure to read the label before you buy. Supplements can contribute to an excessive intake of certain nutrients, which can sometimes result in intestinal discomfort. Many nutritional shakes and bars are also high in calories and sugar, which can subvert any weight-loss goals that you might have. It’s important to assess your nutrient needs based on your level of exercise to decide whether these recovery products would benefit you, but whole foods are ultimately the best source of nutrition. By consuming whole foods, you will be avoiding the processing and additives that are commonly found in post-workout supplements.

Finally, it’s important to hydrate your body correctly in order to recover from a workout. Exercise causes your body to lose fluids and important vitamins and minerals, especially if you sweat a lot. However, if you’re a long-distance or endurance athlete, you may need more than just water to replenish your body’s fluids. Failing to replace sodium lost during extended exercise or on very hot days can have serious health consequences, so endurance athletes should make sure they replenish their bodies with 80 - 100 mg sodium per quart of liquid and 100 - 300 mg sodium per hour from other sources.

Water is a great calorie-free option, but research is showing that low-fat milk is one of the best “natural” recovery drinks. Milk contains both carbohydrates and protein, so it helps to repair muscles while quenching your thirst! According to the Mayo Clinic, you should be drinking about two or three cups of water for every pound lost during exercise. For example, if you weigh 151 pounds before a workout and 150 pounds after exercising, you should be drinking about 2-3 cups of water when you’re done.

InsideTracker can help you find the best recovery foods for your body. After you complete your blood analysis, you’ll be provided with a food basket that you can customize to fit your dietary and exercise needs. Have a great workout, and don’t forget to enjoy your meals!

By Meghan Johnson

There’s a new biomarker in town! InsideTracker’s Performance Panel now tests for blood levels of testosterone in addition to nineteen other biomarkers that are used to create your optimal performance plan. The Performance Panel measures the thirteen original markers in the Fitness Plus plan, but also tests your levels of testosterone, sodium, potassium, chromium, C-reactive protein, white blood cell count, and zinc.

Testosterone is a steroid hormone that is primarily secreted by men’s testes and women’s ovaries, although small amounts are also secreted by the adrenal glands. Men produce about ten times more testosterone than women, which is why the hormone is typically associated with men; but ladies, don’t tune out yet! Women are actually more sensitive to fluctuations in testosterone due to their lower levels.

What’s testosterone got to do with athletic performance?

Testosterone plays several influential roles in promoting your overall health and athletic performance. Having adequate levels of testosterone has been linked to the following positive health outcomes:

• Increased muscle strength
• Decreased LDL and total cholesterol levels
• Maintenance of bone mineral density for strong bones
• Increased ability to build lean muscle mass and decrease body fat
• Increased VO2 max, delivering oxygen more efficiently to your muscles

How much testosterone is enough?

Similar to other biomarkers, there seems to be a “sweet spot” for optimum levels of testosterone. Having too little isn’t beneficial, and having too much can be downright dangerous. This is where InsideTracker can help you by analyzing your blood to determine your current testosterone level.

Below are the general guidelines for healthy testosterone levels:
Male: 300 - 1,200 ng/dL
Female: 30 - 95 ng/dL

InsideTracker will tell you your optimized level based on the demographic and lifestyle information that you provide.

Low levels of the hormone have been associated with decreased bone density and heart health, as well as with increased blood pressure and fasting glucose levels. Physical symptoms of testosterone deficiency include increased body fat, reduced libido, breast soreness, very small or shrinking testes, infertility, height loss, low bone mineral density, reduced muscle bulk and strength, hot flashes, and sweats. Decreased testosterone is most common in overweight men, men in steady relationships, and beginning athletes who train more than two hours a day.

As mentioned, too much of a good thing can also be bad. High levels of testosterone can lower your “good” (HDL) cholesterol. One cause of high testosterone is steroid usage, which has been linked to menstrual cycle cessation or irregularity in women. “Roid rage” is a phenomenon sometimes seen in athletes who take testosterone supplements that cause them to become overly aggressive. Athletes who abuse steroids containing testosterone are also at greater risk for coronary heart disease.

How can you safely manage your testosterone levels?

If your InsideTracker analysis suggests that your levels are lower than your desirable range, there are several ways to increase your testosterone levels naturally, without the use of steroids. For example, regular exercise can help you increase your testosterone levels if you are already at an adequate level. Winning a sporting event or competition, and even watching your favorite team win elevates your testosterone levels, while losing decreases it. Men’s testosterone levels even rise as they succeed and fall when they fail. (For example, men who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 had higher testosterone levels than men who voted for McCain!)

If your testosterone is low, changing your diet may help to raise your testosterone levels. Deficiencies in zinc, magnesium and calcium appear to lead to reduced testosterone levels. If your levels of these biomarkers are low, try consuming foods that are high in these minerals, such as almonds or hazelnuts; black beans, lima beans or black-eyed peas; lean poultry or beef; and dairy products such as skim milk. The Food Recommendations on your Nutrition Page and your Food Menu can help you find other foods that meet your unique taste preferences and dietary needs.

The best way to start managing your testosterone is to order the InsideTracker Performance Panel and have your blood analyzed. InsideTracker’s unique algorithm will assess whether or not you should be concerned about your testosterone levels, and what you can do to improve them. So, what are you waiting for?

By Jarrod Shoemaker

When I talk with athletes, they always wonder how fast I can go and how many watts I push. I get a lot of questions about power meters and GPS devices. But those are just tools to measure outcomes of a few factors; good training, good equipment and good body chemistry.

Athletes are often willing to spend money on coaches or the newest training gear, but they forget that they also can invest in information about their bodies’ chemistry. As a professional athlete, I have always been interested in maximizing my performance, which often means learning about what’s going on inside my body. The best way to do this is through blood analysis; your blood doesn’t lie. Low iron, for example, affects how well your body performs. Reactive proteins appear as your muscles and bones break down and build up again. Hematocrit and hemoglobin (red blood cells) can also have important implications for performance.

There are lots of different blood markers to look at!

Luckily, as a pro athlete, I’ve had the means to have my blood analyzed on a regular basis, but that is not the case for every athlete. A friend of mine introduced me to InsideTracker and I was immediately interested in learning more. Having my blood analyzed and then seeing the results online- awesome!

But that isn’t the best part. Thre is usually a reason that the biomarkers in your blood are not within normal limits and InsideTracker shows you how your diet and lifestyle can affect these markers. It provides suggestions for foods to eat- not just because somebody said so, but because your OWN body said so. What a great idea!

I am very interested in how my body works and how I can make it move more efficiently. For the past 4 years I have been working on becoming a more efficient athlete in the pool, on the bike and on the track. I have worked on changing my running stride and making adjustments in my swim strokes to improve my performance.

After years of moving my body one way, it is hard to teach it to move slightly differently. Biomechanical changes take time and persistence, but changes in diet can be made quickly and can have an immediate effect on how your body works.  InsideTracker is a great way to help you figure out which dietary changes will have the greatest impact on your performance.

By Perrin Braun

If you’re an endurance athlete, you’ve probably heard an endless amount of advice regarding what to eat in the days leading up to a big event. But what’s really the best way to fuel your body before an endurance event? Some athletes favor carb-loading, temporarily boosting their intake of carbohydrates before a major race to increase their energy stores.  Before you start eating all the grains you can get your hands on, though, you should know that there’s much more to carb-loading besides another round at the bread bowl.

Why carbs?

Your body needs lots of oxygen for endurance events, which is why your rate of respiration increases during exercise. Carbohydrates are one of the best sources of energy due to the efficient way they use oxygen. In fact, they use less oxygen for every kilocalorie of energy produced than fats or proteins, which make them an important food choice for athletes.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that during intense exercise, you’re not only relying on carbohydrates for energy. For instance, 30-40% of your energy might be coming from fat stores. Carbohydrates, fat, and protein are always used together—which makes a nutrition regimen for athletes a lot more complex than forsaking one type of food in favor of another!

Why not carb-load all the time?

In order to maintain overall health and improve your fitness levels, it’s important to consume a balanced amount of foods. Fruits, vegetables, protein, fat, and carbohydrates are necessary for a healthy diet, so be sure to eat a wide variety of foods to get all your nutrients.

There is increasing interest in the “training low and competing high” plan, where athletes consume a low-carbohydrate diet in order to train the body to optimize energy metabolism systems when carbohydrate stores are limited. The rationale behind this plan is that it helps the body to effectively use the extra carbohydrates from carb-loading, which will help to maximize performance during a competition.  One variation of “training low” is to exercise in the morning before eating.

Whether to eat right before working out (the 30 minutes to 1 hour preceding exercise) depends on your goals.  If you want to “train” the more aerobic energy pathways, exercising in the morning before eating may be beneficial—though you would probably also want to exercise several times during the week after eating.  You will derive more energy from protein when you exercise in the fasted state, but you can also slightly increase your protein intake to counteract depleted protein stores.

Essentially, it’s not necessarily beneficial or detrimental to eat before exercise—you just have to keep your goals in mind.  Eating for sports performance and eating for health are two different matters!

What is the science behind carb-loading?

Runners and triathletes might be familiar with the term “VO2max”, or aerobic capacity. VO2max is a measurement of how much oxygen your body is able to supply to your muscles—which can limit your athletic performance if the amount is too low.

In addition to your VO2max, the glycogen stores in your liver and muscles also affect your performance. These glycogen stores depend on your carbohydrate intake.  Your body converts glycogen to glucose (a type of sugar), which your muscles use as a primary source of fuel during exercise. This means that your ability to exercise is limited by the amount of glucose in your body. After about 90 minutes of exercise, your body’s supply of glycogen is completely depleted, which puts you at a risk for “hitting the wall”, or feeling lethargic during your event. If your body doesn’t have enough glycogen to get you through an event, it will start to burn fat for energy. Fat burns at a much slower rate than carbohydrates, which will slow you down.

You may have heard that low intensity exercise burns more fat than high intensity exercise.  As you approach your VO2max, a greater percentage of the fuel comes from carbohydrates.  But the longer your exercise lasts, the more your body draws energy from fat metabolism rather than carbohydrate metabolism. So high intensity exercise can burn as much, or even more fat, than low intensity exercise of the same duration.

Exactly how should you carb-load?

If you’re preparing for an event that will last longer than 90 minutes, such as a marathon or a triathlon, you should begin to increase your carbohydrate consumption two or three days before the event. This type of diet will help to build the glycogen stores in your body so that you will be adequately fueled for your event. However, don’t begin carb-loading earlier than that, because lengthy high-carb diet will increase water retention and make you feel sluggish.

The general rule of thumb for carb-loading is that you need to be consuming about 60-70% of your daily calorie intake from carbohydrates, which can vary depending on your height, weight, and gender. For a 180-pound long-distance male runner, this would be approximately 1,800 calories, and about 1,500 kilocalories for a 140-pound female.

In order to make carb-loading a little easier on your stomach, try to eat several small carbohydrate-heavy snacks instead of consuming one or two bigger meals. Keep in mind that carb-loading is not necessarily about increasing your daily calories; it’s about increasing the amount of carbohydrates in your diet.

Some good examples of meals and snacks that are high in carbohydrates include:

·      Peanut butter on whole grain bread

·      Oatmeal or cereal with milk

·      Pasta with garlic bread

·      Grilled chicken breast and brown rice

·      Any dried fruit (raisins, apricots, etc.)

Remember that not all carbohydrates are grain-based! Squash, potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and bananas are also good sources of energy.

Tips for successful carb-loading

On the night before the race, you might want to avoid complex carbohydrates that are high in fiber, such as starchy fruits and vegetables, and whole grains. Eating low-fiber foods may not seem like a healthy diet, but athletes who carb-load with mostly high-fiber foods may experience gastrointestinal stress during a race. It’s best to eat a combination of complex and simple carbohydrates.

Adding some protein to your meal will also help to boost your energy levels. Eating protein with your carbohydrates will lower the GI (Glycemic Index) of the meal, which will allow the body to release energy slowly and steadily. This is ideal for endurance events where you don’t want to max out on energy too quickly.

If you’re an athlete who is interested in carb-loading before an event, InsideTracker can help you personalize your food intake. Based on your bloodwork results, InsideTracker will analyze your blood glucose levels, which are heavily dependent on your carbohydrate consumption. As stated above, the body converts carbohydrates into sugar during the digestion process. Overconsumption of processed carbohydrates like white flour and white rice will cause your blood sugar level to rise quickly. When this occurs, your pancreas releases insulin, a hormone that helps your body convert the sugar into energy. So, InsideTracker will be able to direct you to better sources of carbohydrates for carb-loading, such as whole grain food items, that will prevent your blood glucose levels from spiking.

It’s important to note that carb-loading isn’t necessarily the best approach for every body and every level of exercise. Because there are many different variables to carb-loading, experiment with carb-loading before a smaller event, keeping track of what you eat and your results. As you add to your experience, follow whatever feels best for your body. For instance, carbohydrate loading may not be as effective for women as it is for men. Several research studies reveal mixed results, particularly for women. In order to get the same benefits as men, women may need to consume more calories during periods of carb-loading. A woman’s menstrual cycle may also change the effectiveness of carb-loading, but the reasons for this are not yet clear. If you’re considering increasing your carbohydrate intake, talk to your doctor or registered dietician before you start, especially if you have been diagnosed with diabetes. You may also want to experiment with different amounts of carbohydrates to find something that works for your unique physiology.

Finally, if you’re training for a big event, remember that carb-loading alone won’t help you achieve optimal results. An overall balanced diet and effective exercise regimen will keep you healthy and improve your fitness level, and InsideTracker can help you learn how!

By Meghan Johnson

Are you getting enough zinc?  Zinc is vitally important to maintain good health and optimize athletic performance year-round.

Beefing up your zinc knowledge
Zinc is an essential mineral that is found naturally in some foods, and can be consumed as an additive in other foods or taken as a supplement.  Being an “essential” mineral means that our bodies can’t produce zinc on their own, and it is a vital part of healthy cell metabolism and division; immune function; protein and DNA synthesis and regulation; and wound healing.

If you’re not convinced that you should be paying attention to zinc, keep in mind it is also important for healthy heart, cholesterol levels, respiratory system and low inflammation levels. Older adults listen up – studies have shown that adequate levels of zinc can actually improve your memory and energy levels!

Some of the best food sources of zinc include:

• Seafood such as oysters, Alaska king crab, and lobster
• Fortified breakfast cereals
• Beef
• Pork
• Dairy products, such as milk, cheese and yogurt
• Beans, including garbanzo (chickpeas) and kidney
• Nuts, such as almonds and cashews
• Oatmeal
• Chicken (especially dark meat)

To make sure you’re getting enough zinc, men should aim to consume 11mg per day, and 8mg per day for women (slightly more for women who are pregnant or nursing). Getting enough zinc shouldn’t be too difficult; a 3-ounce beef patty contains about 5mg (about half of the recommended daily amount!).

How do you know if you’re getting enough zinc?
Aside from keeping a food journal or using an online food tracking software program, your body will often tell you if you are consuming too much or too little zinc. It’s important to pay attention to how your body feels and listen to your symptoms.

If your zinc levels are too low, you may see signs of zinc deficiency including white spots, bands, and lines on finger nails; hair loss; skin rashes; acne; diarrhea; poor eyesight; and impaired taste, smell and memory. If you aren’t exhibiting these symptoms, you may still have a zinc deficiency. Zinc deficiency may impair your ability to absorb water, electrolytes, and nutrients; and, over time, can lead to impaired immune function, growth retardation, and increased sensitivity to cell damage leading to premature aging.

In healthy individuals, consuming high levels of zinc usually does not present a health problem. Our bodies are able to extrude most of the zinc it can’t use.   However, consuming too much zinc (more than 40mg per day) is still not recommended and may lead to both acute and chronic zinc toxicity.  Symptoms of acute zinc toxicity include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, and headaches. Long-term toxicity can manifest itself as low copper status, altered iron function, reduced immune function, and reduced levels of high-density lipoproteins (or “good” cholesterol).

The only true way to tell how much zinc is being absorbed is to have your blood tested through a service like InsideTracker’s Performance Panel. The Performance Panel measures the thirteen original markers in the Fitness Plus plan, but also tests your levels of testosterone, sodium, potassium, chromium, C-reactive protein, white blood cells, and zinc.

Certain diets also put you at greater risk for deficiency. For example, if you’re eating less to lose weight, you may be at greater risk. If you’re following a vegetarian diet, you’re also at a greater risk of zinc deficiency since many of the zinc-rich foods listed above are not present in a vegetarian diet. Vegetarians sometimes require as much as 50 percent more of the RDA for zinc for several reasons: zinc in harder for your body to absorb in non-animal sources than it is in animal sources, and vegetarians typically eat high levels of legumes and whole grains, which contain antioxidant compounds called phytates that bind zinc and inhibit its absorption.

As you age, your levels of zinc may decrease so be sure to continue to monitor yourself over time.

How to zinc-crease your blood levels
There are several different ways you can increase the levels of zinc in your blood. The most obvious is to eat more zinc-rich foods, which the InsideTracker Nutrition Page can help you identify.

But you can also increase the amount of zinc available in your diet through food preparation techniques, including soaking beans, grains, and seeds in water for several hours to reduce the amount of phytates before cooking and allowing them to sit after soaking until sprouts form. Vegetarians can also increase their zinc intake by consuming more leavened grain products, such as bread, rather than unleavened products, such as crackers. (Leavening partially breaks down phytates, allowing the body to absorb more zinc from leavened grains than unleavened grains.)

Lastly, you can talk to your doctor about taking a zinc supplement. As little as 5mg per day of zinc can be enough to improve your zinc blood levels. Keep in mind the following guidelines if you and your doctor decide that a supplement is right for you:

Avoid foods rich in phytates (such as broccoli, grains, and legumes) and iron, copper, and calcium supplements, when you take zinc supplements or eat zinc-rich foods (red meat), because they inhibit zinc absorption in your gut. Take zinc supplements with high zinc foods like red meat to increase absorption.When choosing a supplement, remember that zinc sulfate and zinc acetate supplements are absorbed better than zinc oxide and zinc carbonate, which are not soluble.

Put a little zinc in your stride
Athletes should pay special attention to their zinc consumption. Those who don’t consume enough zinc can suffer significant weight loss, low energy and reduced endurance. They are also at risk for decreased bone mineral density, which can lead to bone fractures (read: sitting on the bench).  Having adequate zinc levels has been shown to improve athletic performance and VO2 max (the maximum capacity of a person’s body to take in and use oxygen during exercise), an indicator of cardiorespiratory endurance.

Endurance athletes who follow a high carbohydrate diet that is low in proteins and fats may be at increased risk for zinc deficiency. Long distance runners can deplete zinc stores more quickly than other types of exercise, but engaging in strenuous exercise has also been shown to deplete your levels.

The best way to know whether or not you should be supplementing is to get a Performance Panel analysis with InsideTracker. By entering specific information about yourself, InsideTracker can inform you of your optimum levels of zinc and help you get there through diet and lifestyle modifications. Give it a try!

By Perrin Braun

When you think about sodium, what words come to mind? Many people associate sodium with high blood pressure, heart disease, and canned foods, but does it really deserve all that negative hype?

Although it is true that consuming too much sodium can be unhealthy, our bodies need it to function properly, especially during extended exercise. In fact, it is one of the nutrients that Segterra scientists have identified as playing a very important role in your physical well-being.

Why is sodium important?

Along with chloride and potassium, sodium is a major electrolyte, which are minerals in your blood, urine, and bodily fluids that contain an electric charge. Your body’s cells use electrolytes to carry electrical impulses throughout your body. These electrical charges help your cells communicate with each other and give you the ability to taste, see, smell, touch, and hear. Roughly 30% of the sodium in your body is stored in the bones, and the rest is found in bodily fluids like plasma, blood, and sweat. So, if you exercise heavily, you actually lose sodium through your sweat.

In addition to helping to maintain a proper fluid balance in your body, sodium also performs the following functions:

• Keeps the blood from clotting
• Maintains the body’s pH balance
• Carries nutrients to the cells
• Protects the stomach lining from the damage that could be caused by stomach acids

What happens if you don’t get enough sodium? Can you get too much?

The body loses sodium each day through urination and sweat. So, if you live in a hot climate or exercise regularly, it’s important to make sure that your body has an adequate supply of sodium. Because sodium is found in so many foods, it’s fairly uncommon to develop a sodium deficiency unless you’re having a bout of excessive vomiting or diarrhea. If you’re losing a lot of water, you’re probably also losing an unhealthy amount of sodium too. Symptoms of an electrolyte deficiency include muscle cramps, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, and inability to concentrate. If the deficiency really becomes serious, the body can go into shock and the circulatory system can collapse.

Conversely, if our diets contain too much sodium, our body tissues tend to retain water. This helps to explain why we feel so bloated after eating fast food. Feeling bloated isn’t fun, but there are also more serious complications that can occur from a sodium overload. Consuming too much salt can cause the kidneys to retain water, which can sometimes result in increased blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease.

What are dietary sources of sodium?

Since sodium helps preserve foods and prevent microorganisms from forming, it’s heavily used in processed and canned goods. You’ll find a high amount of sodium in foods like hot dogs, lunch meats, and canned soup, but healthier amounts of sodium can actually be found naturally! Meat, nuts, seafood, beets, celery, and even milk are good sources of sodium.

How much sodium is too much?

The 2012 American Heart Association guidelines encouraged people to consume no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium a day. However, the Center for Disease Control estimates that the average American is consuming 3,436 milligrams per day, which is more than double the new recommendation. African-Americans, people older than 51 years, or individuals with high blood pressure, diabetes, or kidney disease need to be extra careful about their sodium intake because they’re at a greater risk for diet-related heart disease.

If you exercise in hot weather, you should aim to consume 0.6 grams (pinch) of salt per 0.7 liters of water every hour to replenish your sodium levels while exercising.

Do you really need electrolyte-enhanced sports drinks?

If you’re an athlete, you’ve probably heard that you need to replace your body’s supply of electrolytes after a hard workout. But is it necessary to run out and buy a sports drink every time you break a sweat? The answer really depends on how much you exercise. According to the American college of Sports Medicine, people who exercise less than an hour can get by with just plain, old water.  For instance, if you exercise in a cool environment and don’t really sweat much, you’re probably not at risk for significant sodium loss. Another thing to think about is that many electrolyte enhanced sports drinks contain added sugar and calories, and might even provide you with more sodium than you actually need!

So, whether you’re thinking about purchasing a can of soup or a flavored beverage, be sure to check the label to make sure that the sodium level is not too high!

By Perrin Braun

Do you remember those “Got Milk?” advertisements from the 90’s? Milk processors and dairy farmers used these ads to increase Americans’ consumption of dairy products, stating that the calcium found in milk was essential for good health and optimal athletic performance. Before we examine the truth behind this health claim, let’s discuss what calcium actually does.

Calcium is one of the nutrients that Segterra scientists have identified as playing a very important role in your physical well-being. In essence, it’s a mineral that your body needs to build and maintain strong bones and teeth. To maintain health, men and women aged 19-50 need 1000 mg of calcium each day; women over 50 and men over 70 need 1200 mg per day.

However, the bad news is that many people—both men and women—fail to meet their recommended dietary intake of calcium. In fact, some studies show that 90% of women and 70% of men don’t consume the recommended daily allowance of calcium. This is especially problematic for women, who are at a greater risk for bone-related disorders like osteoporosis.

Why is calcium important?

Almost all of the calcium in your body is stored in your bones and teeth. Bones are living and growing calcified connective tissues that form the major part of your skeleton. Calcium is an important part of the “bone mineralization” process, which helps to give your skeleton its structure and strength.

In bone mineralization, small amounts of calcium are removed from and replaced in the bones. If the body doesn’t receive enough calcium through diet or supplementation, the bones become weaker and we are subject to a greater risk of breaks and fractures because more calcium is removed than replaced. If you’re an athlete and participate in such high-impact sports as gymnastics, having low levels of calcium can make you even more susceptible to bone stress fractures.

In addition to protecting our bones, calcium plays an important role in other physical functions, such as muscle contraction, nerve conduction, regulation of enzyme activity, and the formation of cell membranes. Maintaining proper amounts of calcium can also help prevent high blood pressure.

What happens if you don’t get enough calcium?

Chronic low calcium intake isn’t pretty. Bones and teeth begin to slowly deteriorate because your body is using its calcium stores to perform other functions, such as muscle contraction and forming new cell membranes. Poor blood clotting can also result. The problem that is most often associated with inadequate calcium is osteoporosis. Osteoporosis literally means “porous bones”, which is the process of having your bones weakening as you age. Low calcium intake is a huge problem for post-menopausal women, who are already at a larger risk for developing bone-related disorders as estrogen production falls rapidly after menopause. In fact, an estimated 10 million Americans, which includes 8 million women and 2 million men, have osteoporosis.

How do you know if you’re getting a healthy amount of calcium?

Your body will definitely let you know if you’re not getting enough calcium. If you’ve been experiencing muscle pain, spasm, numbness in your extremities, or frequent fractures, you might want to get your calcium levels checked. The InsideTracker  Fitness and Fitness Plus plans test blood calcium levels so you won’t be left guessing about what’s going on in your body. If your calcium intake is low, InsideTracker will give you some recommendations about how to increase the amount of calcium in your diet, and introduce you to some new foods that will help you do that.  

You could also ask your doctor about taking a supplement, but be careful about taking too much. If you frequently take more than 3,000 mg of calcium per day, you could be putting yourself at risk for hypercalcemia, which can result in decreased kidney function and calcification of red blood cells. Symptoms of hypercalcemia can include frequent urination, bone pain, fatigue, and constipation. Essentially, this means that when it comes to calcium intake, more is not necessarily better. In fact, pre-menopausal women who take high amounts of calcium (above 1,100 mg/day) are at an increased risk for hip fractures.

What are some good sources of calcium, and how much do you need?

Let’s get back to those “Got Milk?” ads. Many of us think that milk is the best source of calcium, but is that really true? It’s true that dairy products are good sources of calcium, but if you’re getting your calcium from butter, cream, or whole milk, you’re also getting plenty of saturated fat along with it. Eating lots of saturated fat can put you at a greater risk for heart disease, so if you enjoy eating dairy, try eating the low-fat varieties of cheese, yogurt, and milk. 

For anyone who is sensitive to lactose, or prefer to avoid dairy products, there are many other calcium-rich foods available. Many people don’t associate foods like broccoli, kelp, almonds, quinoa, okra, and tofu with having high amounts of calcium, but not only are they excellent sources of calcium, they’re also low in fat and calories. Incorporating more leafy green vegetables and dried beans and legumes into your diet is an easy and delicious way to help protect your bones.

One thing to keep in mind is that oxalic acid, a naturally occurring component found in dark leafy foods, binds to calcium and inhibits its absorption by the body. So, if you’re taking a calcium supplement or are trying to increase your consumption of calcium-rich foods, try to limit your intake of foods such as spinach, parsley, and rhubarb. Conversely, taking a vitamin D supplement with food can increase the bioavailability of calcium in the body about six-fold—meaning that vitamin D can facilitate your body’s ability to absorb calcium. In fact, studies have shown that athletes older than 60 years who take vitamin D with calcium can improve their strength, physical performance, and reduce the incidence of falls.

By Perrin Braun

What makes InsideTracker Plans different from other nutrition and diet advice? The short answer is: science. The plans use bloodwork to give you personalized nutritional information and feedback, so that the recommendations are based on your unique biochemical needs.

The InsideTracker Fitness and Fitness Plus plans provide you with a ton of information on your nutritional requirements, and we want to be sure that you see everything that’s happening on your personalized pages. We want you to get the most benefit from our services! Previously, we presented a brief tutorial on how to use the Food Menu page, and this post will focus on the Nutrition page.

Essentially, the Nutrition plan provides you with general food recommendations. It compiles all of the information from your blood analysis and helps generate recommendations on the Nutrition page that are tailored specifically to your body. These food recommendations can help you make informed decisions about what you put into your body. The ultimate goals of the Nutrition page are to help you:

-learn which foods can impact which biomarkers

-discover new foods to incorporate into your diet

-receive individual nutrition information for each food

How does the Nutrition page work? 

When you log on to your personal InsideTracker account, click the Nutrition tab. This page contains the nutrition recommendations that InsideTracker generates based on your bloodwork. Similar to the Food Menu tab, the Nutrition page contains two important sections: settings and recommendations. In the very bottom of the settings area, you will see a list called “special dietary requirements”, where you will be able to set any specific food restrictions. For instance, there are vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan, gluten free, and low-lactose options. These dietary requirements may have been set already if you have previously visited the Food Menu page, but you can change them at any time. This customizable option helps you receive recommendations on foods that you enjoy eating!

What is a biomarker, and why is it important for me? 

Learning about your personal biomarkers would be similar to opening a window that reveals what’s going on inside your body. By taking a small blood sample, scientists are able to identify certain biomarkers in your body, which are physiological indicators of your biological state. Simply put, when you have an indicator of what’s going on in your body, then you are able to pinpoint the problem and work to find a solution.

Segterra identified about 20 key biomarkers that have a probability to be slightly off in a healthy population. You probably have heard of most of them—common names of biomarkers include vitamin D, magnesium, and cholesterol. On the Nutrition page, the list on the left shows all the 11-20 biomarkers (your number may vary based on your bloodwork). Any biomarker that is outside your optimal zone has a red dot, which shows whether your levels are too high (above) or too low (below). The biomarkers that don’t have dots are in the optimal InsideTracker zone.

Where can I customize what biomarkers I want to focus on?

On the left side of the page, you will see a “foods that help with…” and a list of biomarkers. This section is completely left up to you—you can select any marker to see which foods help increase or decrease that marker. Essentially, any biomarkers that you select, such as calcium or glucose, determine your nutrition recommendations in the middle of the page. For instance, if the circle for calcium is checked, InsideTracker will give you some nutrition recommendations that are high in calcium. Raising your level of calcium will help you to build and maintain bone strength—which is essential for athletic performance.

On the image above, the Ca biomarker has been selected, which means that the displayed food items are high in that biomarker. So, if you were to eat those specific foods, your levels of Ca would increase. After you review that page, you can click on another biomarker to see your food recommendations change. Keep in mind that sometimes the name of the nutrient is different from that of the biomarker. For example, iron is the name of a nutrient found in certain foods that helps your body form red blood cells and circulate oxygen. The biomarkers ferritin and hemoglobin are affected by your iron intake.

What information does the food recommendations section provide?

In the middle of the page, you will see boxes that contain several foods. Each box contains a picture of a recommended food, a written description of how it can improve your diet, and the specific biomarkers that the food raises and lowers. It’s important to notice that many foods affect more than one specific biomarker. So, if you checked the option for calcium, the foods that are displayed contain a list of other markers that the food contains (besides calcium) right below the food’s name. You may have to scroll down the page to see a list of all of your recommended foods and biomarkers.

Note that if you choose a marker that is in your ideal InsideTracker zone, you will receive information about foods that are high in that marker.

How can this information help?

So, how can you use all this information? By incorporating some of the foods listed on the Nutrition page into your diet, you might be able to improve your overall health, as well as your athletic performance. This feature is easy to use because InsideTracker customizes and gathers all the relevant information for you. Plus, it’s a great way to discover new foods that will allow you to optimize your health. Check out the Nutrition page today to see how just adding a few foods to your diet can change the way you feel!

By Perrin Braun

Have you signed up for the InsideTracker Fitness or Fitness Plus plan?  One of the exciting features that these plans offer is a personalized food plan, which is based on the results of your blood test.  Inside Tracker uses your blood analysis to generate food recommendations that are tailored to help you reach the optimum levels for all your biomarkers. With all the information on the Food Menu page, you will be able to make informed decisions about the best kinds of food to eat.

If you’re tired of generic food plans, don’t worry.  The Food Menu page will help you find new combinations of food to try while keeping in mind your nutritional needs and performance goals. You’ll be able to customize your food preferences so that you can focus on foods that you enjoy.

Starting with a database of over 7500 foods, the Food Menu page creates a Food Basket, a nutritionally balanced plan for a day’s worth of calories. Each Food Basket is calculated to improve biomarker levels that are high or low. With so many choices, there is truly something for everyone!  If you have any special dietary restrictions, your Food Basket can take those into account.  For instance, if you are lactose-intolerant and still want to get an adequate amount of calcium, InsideTracker will include non-dairy, high-calcium foods in your Food Basket.

How does the Food Menu page work? 

After you log into your personal Inside Tracker account, click the Food Menu tab.  This page is loaded with information for simple changes you can make to diet to help achieve your health and performance goals.  The page has two major areas: settings and recommendations.  The settings, including the biomarkers, special dietary restrictions and food preferences, enable you to customize the recommendations to get a basket of foods that meet your nutritional goals—and that you like to eat!

On the left side of the page, you will see “Your Daily Menu: Foods that will help with” and a list of biomarkers. Based on your blood analysis, the markers that are checked are the ones that are either too high or too low.  The selected biomarkers, such as Ferritin or Vitamin D, determine the contents of the food basket; for instance, if the box for Ferritin is checked, you will see foods that are high in iron in your Food Basket.  If you plan to boost your Ferritin levels by taking a supplement instead of by changing your diet, uncheck Ferritin.  Then Inside Tracker will calculate a food plan focused on the other biomarkers.

What if you are vegetarian or lactose-intolerant?

You can adjust the food plan to suit some common special dietary requirements, including vegetarian, gluten-free and low-lactose foods.  Just check the appropriate boxes under “Special Dietary Restrictions.” (Note: If you set these restrictions on the Nutrition page, they will already be checked on the Food Menu page.)  You can change these settings at any time. 

What is in my Food Basket?

Your food basket is a list of suggestions for a day’s worth of food. This feature acts as your “personal playlist” for food, taking your preferences into account and giving you what you like.  One of the most helpful parts of the food basket is the nutritional information that is shown next to each item, including serving size, calories, and the amount of each nutrient in the recommended serving.  Some nutrient numbers are colored green or red.  If the number showing the amount of the nutrient is in a green font, the food is high in a nutrient you need to increase.  If the number is red, the food is a little bit high in a nutrient you are trying to limit, but helpful for other nutrients.  A red number may also appear when a food is a little low in one nutrient you are trying to improve, but valuable for other nutrients.  Remember, the food basket contains a balanced set of foods that will help you improve multiple biomarkers at once.  At the bottom of the list of foods, Inside Tracker totals the calories and nutrients in the basket and compares them to the RDAs.  If you are low in a biomarker, Inside Tracker will recommend foods that provide more than the RDA to help you reach optimum levels.  If you are high in a biomarker, the Food Basket will keep the total amount of the associated nutrient well below the RDA to help reduce your levels.  You don’t have to count calories and read nutrition labels, InsideTracker does all the work for you!

What if you would like some different choices in your Food Basket?

For more meal ideas, you can click on the “Generate a completely new food basket” button at the top of the Food Basket, and InsideTracker will produce a new food basket with different foods. You can click this button as many times as you like, so you can get multiple meal ideas with a varied group of foods. If you want to keep a recommended food, click the lock icon at right end of the row.  Inside Tracker leaves locked foods in the basket and replaces all the others.

 Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down: How do you tell Inside Tracker what you like to eat?

If there are foods you can’t eat or just don’t like, it’s not a problem. Just scroll down below the Food Basket to Food Preferences.  This feature is very easy and fun to use.  You can select foods by supermarket category, such as Beef, Breakfast Cereals, Pork or Vegetables, or expand the category by clicking the plus sign to select specific foods, such as Brussels sprouts.  If you like a food and eat it regularly, click the thumbs up icon (it will turn green).  If you are allergic to a particular food or just don’t like it, click the thumbs down icon.  A red thumbs down tells Inside Tracker that you never want this food to appear in your Food Basket.

These features make the Food Basket unique and easy to use. Try your Food Menu page today to see how a few simple changes in your diet can move you closer to your nutritional goals.  Then let us know how the food planning page has helped you!

By Meghan Johnson

What’s the deal with folic acid?

Folic acid (also known as folate) is a water-soluble vitamin that, along with vitamin B12 belongs to the group of B-complex vitamins. It’s an essential vitamin, meaning that our bodies can’t make it themselves, and it’s vital for production of new cells (aka the building blocks of life). Some scientists also speculate that folic acid plays a role in maintaining heart health and preventing cell mutations that may lead to cancer.

Adults, age 19 and older, need about 400µg/day of folic acid. In addition to helping grow the building blocks of life, folic acid plays another important role: it helps prevent birth defects of a baby’s brain and spine. Therefore, women of childbearing age can benefit from higher doses and should shoot for 600µg/day (and up to 800µg/day) at least one month before they plan to become pregnant. Breastfeeding women should aim for at least 500µg/day.

There are several other medical conditions that may increase folic acid needs including anyone taking medications for epilepsy, Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, asthma, and inflammatory bowel disease; anyone with kidney disease who is on dialysis; anyone with liver, sickle cell, or celiac diseases. Consult with your primary care physician about taking a supplement if you suffer from one of these conditions.

A bowl of raisin bran a day will keep the doctor away

Folic acid is found in a variety of food sources. Some of the highest sources include beef liver, lentils, spinach, enriched noodles, great northern beans and asparagus. A federal law passed in 1996 necessitated the fortification of enriched breads, cereals, flours, corn meals, pastas, rice, and other grain products with folic acid to prevent birth defects in women who weren’t consuming adequate amounts of the vitamin in their typical diet. Now, consuming a bowl of fortified breakfast cereal can get most people to meet their recommended daily intake. Use your InsideTracker food basket to find food sources of folate that agree with your taste buds.

Some prefer to take a supplement rather than relying on food sources to obtain folic acid. Most multivitamins sold in America contain the amount of folic acid women need each day. Women can also choose to take a supplement that has only folic acid in it if they’re not low in other nutrients to prevent overdosing on other vitamins or minerals.

Too much of a good thing

Folic acid is readily available in naturally-occurring food sources, fortified grains and multivitamins, which some Americans take as an added insurance even when they already consume adequate amounts in their diet. This leads to overconsumption of the vitamin for some. In fact, in a pilot study conducted by Segterra scientists, half of all subjects had high blood levels of folate.

This can lead to several negative outcomes. Large amounts of folic acid can mask the damaging effects of vitamin B12 deficiency by correcting the megaloblastic anemia caused by vitamin B12 deficiency without correcting the neurological damage that also occurs. There are indications that high serum folate levels might not only mask vitamin B12 deficiency, but could also exacerbate the anemia and worsen the cognitive symptoms associated with vitamin B12 deficiency.

Athletes: Listen up!

Your body’s ability to grow and regenerate healthy red blood cells is especially important for athletes who need to build and restore healthy tissue after workouts to make their bodies stronger. Underconsuming folic acid can actually hinder athletic performance by reducing the amount of red blood cells available to deliver oxygen to your muscles. Chronic low folate intake can lead to fatigue and anemia.

The good news: Research shows you can actually increase your folic acid levels through exercise! Athletes who completed high-intensity interval training (HIT), such as 20 km/week of swimming with intervals of maximum intensity over 3 weeks, were able to raise the amount of folic acid in their blood. And remember that supplementation can be safe and effective, as long as you know what your target folic acid level is and how far you are from your target. An InsideTracker analysis gives you the tools to measure and track your progress over time, helping you achieve your optimum serum folate levels and maximizing your potential for athletic excellence.