Ricardo Costa; ultra-marathon nutrition expert

Episode 53 is an interview with Ricardo Costa. Dr Ricardo Costa works in the Department of Nutrition Dietetics & Food, Faculty of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences at Monash University as an academic, researchers, consultant and practitioner in Sports Dietetics and Extreme Physiology. Ricardo is a HCPC Registered Dietitian-UK, SENr Registered Sport Dietitian- UK, Accredited Practicing Dietitian-Aus and Advanced Sports Dietitian-Aus, who came to Monash University in August 2013 from Coventry University-UK. Ricardo completed his PhD at the University of Wales- UK, in neuroendocrine and nutritional immunology on the influence of sleep deprivation, cold exposure, exercise stress and nutritional intervention on selected immune responses; which examined the impact of individual and combined stressors on immune function. Additionally, the role of nutrition intervention in the effect of exercise on immune function. Ricardo's recent work has focused on the impact of multi-stressor activity on immune, thermoregulatory, and gastrointestinal health; and additionally, the impact of ultra-marathon competition on nutrition and hydration status, and implication for health. Ricardo’s research interests include the impact of exercise stress with and without other stressors on gut health, and role of nutrition under stress on gut health. Over the last few years he has established and led an international multi-centre research team investigating the impact of ultra-endurance competition on nutritional and hydration status, and on various physiological and immunological parameters; in which issue of gut health have been identified. Previously, as course director for Sports Dietetic training in the UK, he was an active consultant and supervisor in Sports Dietetics, providing and supervising sport and exercise nutritional support to a wide range of sports at recreational, amateur, and elite (Olympic athletes) level. Are injuries or niggles ruining your enjoyment of running and hindering your performance? Get on top of these so that you can get back to the simple joy that is running!! Come in and see the specialists at Health and High Performance where they utilise the latest in technology, and experience, to help you get back to your running best. So to get back to achieving the results you want and are capable of, head to www.healthhp.com.au/run https://www.instagram.com/healthhighperformance/ A big take away for me from this interview was that you need to consume 120% of your race nutrition and for at least two weeks to properly train the gut. I also found it interesting that eating within one hour of exercise keeps your immune system strong. Something to really think about with training and racing recovery. I have always believed food is excellent recovery and I generally always eat quite soon after training. After racing it’s a bit harder!!! Let me know your thoughts about the podcast either in the comments on the Instagram podcast page or by DM. Thank you so much for supporting my podcast! I really appreciate the people who take the couple of minutes out of their day to get onto Apple Podcasts to rate and review me. I read all of my reviews and they sure do inspire me to keep working on this podcast! Next week’s interview is with Stacy Sims, author of the brilliant book 'Roar' and the creator of the saying 'Women are not small men'. Make sure you stay committed and consistent with your training. If you are focused on improving as an athlete, email me [email protected] to organise an individualised training plan.