#19 – Nutrition for Recovery with EC Synkowski

The perfect nutrition plan is so simple that there are obviously no oversights, not so complex that there are no obvious oversights. (borrowed from Tony Hoare).

Today we’ll focus on considerations for how to use nutrition to improve the older athlete’s ability to recover from exercise. The nutritional knowledge we discuss will be useful to any athlete on any diet.  But still, each of us has to make our own trade-off decisions.  Recovering faster and getting stronger is not all we want in life.  Some of you may decide that you’d rather enjoy what you are currently eating and drinking instead of improving your athletic performance or even your longevity.  So be it.  At least you can make an informed decision.

Nutritional topics impacting recovery 

• Recovery from exercised induced damage:  refueling, repairing damage, reducing chronic inflammation 
• Keeping / building muscle mass:  eating enough protein (leucine), hormone support, sarcopenia

Nutrition has been described as a pseudoscience masquerading as a religion.  So much new information and interpretations and conspiracy theories come out that people don’t know what to do except stay out of it or choose sides.  I’ve done it myself more than once.  EC’s perspective is refreshingly simple.  She doesn’t advocate for extremes or even for any particular diet.  EC’s advice is to keep it simple when it comes to choosing a formula for choosing what to eat and how much.  Don’t make a list of 1000 rules of things to avoid and do.  Instead, EC approach to focus on what matters the most, and then fine tune as you get closer to your personalized diet that best fits your goals and lifestyle. As John Von Neuman said, “There’s no sense in being precise when you don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

EC Synkowski OptimizeMe Nutrition | Home of the #800gChallenge®M.S., Nutrition & Functional Medicine Certified CrossFit Level 4 Coach

EC Synkowski runs OptimizeMe Nutrition, a company dedicated to making nutrition easy through digital education products and corporate wellness programs. The mission of OptimizeMe Nutrition is to provide solutions to improve weight, health, and overall well being through sustainable diet methods. Thousands have used her #800gChallenge®, a diet free of restrictive rules, to eat healthily and have reported weight loss, increased energy, and improved performance!

She has extensive education in the life sciences with a BS in biochemical engineering, a first MS in environmental sciences (with a focus in genetics), and second MS in Nutrition & Functional Medicine. EC holds the Certified CrossFit Level 4 Coach (CF-L4) credential. Her professional experience includes working as a Program Manager for CrossFit Inc (2011-2017) authoring their training course materials and serving as a subject matter expert for their certifications. She has accumulated more than 600 hours of public speaking teaching fitness and nutrition all over the world, including at TEDx (Boulder). With more than 20 years of experience and academic training, EC seamlessly translates the evidence-based scientific data into practical solutions for everyday success.

This: End Your Nutrition Confusion – Learn My 10 Principles of Nutrition -

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