Dr. Mikki Williden is a forward thinking nutrition coach from Auckland, New Zealand with some excellent insights on how to optimize your diet as an athlete.

She also has a great podcast, Mikkipedia, and has had much experience counseling athletes. After first appearing on Mikki’s podcast, I invited her on for a chat to discuss all things relating to nutrition, health, and fitness. In this episode, you’ll learn just why it is so hard to lose excess body fat, the way stressful training patterns compromise health and hormone function, how to look deeper into blood test results, and why it is so important to be mindful of your protein intake.

Mikki shares why one major issue a lot of endurance athletes have to deal with is having frequent gastrointestinal problems, and we touch on the topic of chronic cardio and the importance of not stressing your body too much. We then talk about the science literature around weight loss and why it can be so hard for people to lose excess body fat, and Mikki clues us in on the signs your body will give you to communicate that your ferritin level is high.

TIMESTAMPS:

Overly stressful athletic training patterns can really compromise your overall health, your hormone function, and lead to inability to reduce excess body fat. [02:31]

When studying for her nutritionist degrees, Mikki realized that the guidelines she was being taught didn’t apply to a real person. [06:19]

The up-to-date information around sports nutrition has not been thoroughly adopted. We still see unfit folks at the starting line. [09:31]

Training causes damage when you’re inducing oxidative stress and inflammation. [14:34]

What about the athletes’ longevity? Some damage can be done when the training is overdone. [15:40]

It does not have to be steady state cardio to build a wonderful, fantastic cardiovascular system. [23:48]

You have to be courageous to cut back on your training when you’re feeling good. [27:09]

Calories in and calories out does not work. [28:25]

The first step being able to lose body fat is just making sure you’ve got those raw materials available that you need to help with those metabolic processes in the body. [31:27]

Many endurance athletes fall short on getting enough protein because they are focusing on carbs. What are some common deficiency patterns? [33:06]

You get your blood test and see that your thyroid reading is off. And you are feeling sluggish, what can we do? [38:47]

How does iron come into play? High ferritin score can lead to symptoms. [41:34]

Some of these health problems might be considered normal when they are really not normal. [45:57]

What are some dietary strategies to optimize male and female hormone function? [51:33]

For years there have been warnings about consuming too much protein. That is being toned down recently. [56:44]

High protein diets do work well for those trying to lose excess body fat because they are highly satiating. [01:04:13]

What is the connection with diet and the sex hormones? [01:06:31]

LINKS:

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