You cannot overcome a nutritionally poor diet with supplements. However, you can supplement a nutritionally rich diet and increase performance potential and maximize overall body function.
Refined and processed foods are nutrient thieves. They deplete your body of more nutrients than they provide and load your body with toxic ingredients. A clean unprocessed diet is essential for a healthy body and a healthy body is going to function at a higher level. The more plants you can consume the better your body will function.
Enzymes, vitamins and minerals are required for enzymatic actions. What nutrients are important in the energy pathway. This link will provide the best sources of these nutrients. http://www.whfoods.com/nutrientstoc.php
Enzymes are required to make energy and cannot do their jobs without specific vitamins and minerals! An enzyme without the right combination of vitamin and mineral is dead, non-functional. If you do not get the nutrients from your diet the body robs them from muscle and organs to produce the energy you demand. Continued nutrient depletion leads to slower recover and less than optimal performance potential and eventually illness and disease. A diet of variety with adequate calories provides an abundance of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, prebiotics, probiotics, complex carbohydrates, protein and fiber! A daily serving of Vive shake can also help insure adequate intake of the vital nutrients
- Vitamins and Minerals needed for enzymatic actions creating ADP, ATP and Phosphocreatine for the energy pathways.
Thiamine (B1)
B1 is an essential cofactor (required for enzymes to do their job) in the conversion of carbohydrates to energy. B1 is needed for normal muscle function. - Riboflavin (B2)
B2 is a cofactor and helps in the release of energy from fats and carbohydrates. B2 is part of the flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) oxidation reaction in the cell to make energy. B2 is very important in the conversion of fat to energy. - Nician, Nicotinic acid, B3
B3 is a cofactor and is transformed into nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and NADP, which play a key role in cellular energy production. - Pantothenic acid (B5)
B5 plays an essential role in the Krebs cycle (one of three energy major energy pathways) as a component of coenzyme A (a critical enzyme needed to make energy). - Pyridoxine B6
B6 helps in the release of energy from carbohydrates fats and proteins. B6 is used as a cofactor mainly in protein and amino acid metabolism and is involved in over 100 enzymatic reactions. - Biotin (B7)
B7 is a cofactor involved in metabolism of fatty acids, amino acids and utilization of B vitamins. - Folic acid, Folinate, Folate (B9)
Folates function as a family of cofactors required for methylation reactions. Folate is essential for metabolic pathways involving cell growth and replication. - Vitamin B12
B12 is essential for metabolism of fats and carbohydrates and the synthesis of proteins. B12 is required for folate or folinate metabolism. - Vitamin C
Vitamin C is essential for synthesis of carnitine (carnitine transports long-chain fatty acids into mitochondria). Vitamin C increases can triple the absorption of non-heme (iron from plants) iron and the synthesis of cortisol.
Minerals
- Calcium
Calcium is essential for the contraction of muscles and activation of nerves. Calcium activates a series of reactions including fatty acid oxidation for use in the mitochondria. Calcium is also an electrolyte and vital for cellular electrical functions. - Phosphorus
Phosphorus is a structural component of the nucleotide coenzymes creatine phosphate, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). All of which are required in the mitochondria for energy to be produced. - Magnesium
Magnesium is essential for the relaxation of muscles and nerves. Magnesium is used in over 300 enzyme reactions. Required by all enzymatic reactions involving the energy storage molecule ATP. Magnesium is also an electrolyte and vital for cellular electrical functions. - Potassium and sodium are electrolytes and are required for signals to transfer from the nervous system and brain to each individual cell and from cell to cell
Trace minerals
- Copper
Cooper is involved in the making of some enzymes. Copper is also involved in iron metabolism. - Chromium
Chromium promotes insulin action, thus promoting glucose (blood sugar) uptake by the cells. - Iodine
- Critical for the synthesis of thyroid (T3 and T4) hormones. Thyroid hormones regulate body temperature and resting metabolic rate.
- Iron
Iron is essential in hemoglobin for transporting oxygen and for storing oxygen in the muscle and releasing it when needed during muscle contraction. Iron facilitates the transfer of electrons in the cell energy pathway and is important in ATP actions. - Manganese
Manganese is a cofactor of several enzymes involved in metabolism of carbohydrates and gluconeogenesis. Gluconeogenesis is the making of glucose from non-carbohydrate sources. It involves the tearing down of muscle to turn certain amino acids and glycerin into glucose. This begins when you bonk as glucose and glycogen stores are depleted. This is very hard on the body and you want to avoid it. - Zinc
Zinc is an essential part of more than 100 enzymes, some of which are involved in the cell energy pathway. Zinc is also vital to keep the immune system functioning at optimal levels. Athletes often get sick after very intense physical stress like those from long endurace competitions such as long hard bicycle races, marathons, Spartacus events and Iron Man events. - Water Water is essential for making fatty acids available for energy in every cell, it also helps regulate body temperature and blood pressure.
Additionally, if you are meat eaters include pastured, organic free range lean meats, wild caught fish, free-range/pastured organic poultry and eggs. Anytime you can make your food selections organic, wild caught and free range you reduce the risk of contamination from pathogens and potentially increase your nutritional intake.
This website can give you a great list of which foods are the best sources for which nutrients. http://www.whfoods.com/nutrientstoc.php
Eat great to perform great.
Healthy Wishes,
Wally Bishop C.N.C., I.N.H.C.
www.wellnesswithwally.com
Sources
Click to access 10_nutrients_involved_in_energy_metabolism_and_blood_health.pdf
Click to access (14)The-role-of-vitamins-and-minerals-in-energy-metabolism-and-well-being.pdf
The contents of the email or written communication are not medical advice and should not be considered as such! This blog is for informational purposes only. Please consult with your physician or health care provider if you have medical issues and before changing your diet or lifestyle or taking herbal or dietary supplements. Never start an exercise program with getting your doctors approval. Never quit taking medications unless advised to do so by your doctor. Only your health care provider, personal physician, or pharmacist can provide you with advice on what is safe and effective for your unique needs.