Fast Talk, ep. 65: Debunking supplements, and the positives of beet juice, cocoa, and ketone esters

Those who take their training and racing seriously are always looking for something to give them an edge — that marginal gain — including nutritional supplements. So much has been promised to us in pill form, it’s created a multi-billion-dollar industry. Those promises carry into enhanced endurance performance. And many athletes have resorted to the morning supplement cocktail believing it will make them better cyclists. But there’s a dark side. Those cocktails can actually hurt performance, certainly affect health, and lead to even darker, ethically-challenged places. Today, we’re going to talk about supplements and our concerns with them, and then cover a few foods that actually do work. We’ll discuss: - We thought about bashing all the supplements that don'’t work, but then realized we only have an hour. So instead, Trevor will read a description of every supplement that does work. That list combined with a discussion of its sources will cover the first three minutes. - We'll talk about supplements in general and why they can be a big concern. - And with those concerns in context, we’ll start addressing things that have been proven to help, staring with pickle juice. - Next on our list is beet root juice which can not only help performance, but has been shown to have health benefits as well. - Believe it or not, we’re going to talk about chocolate — or more specifically the active ingredient, cocoa flavonoids, which also, surprisingly, have both performance and health benefits. - That, of course, leads to something that frequently comes up in the sports nutrition literature — chocolate milk. It’s as effective as most recovery mixes. So, the key question is how effective are the mixes? - Finally, we’ll revisit the ketogenic diet and specifically supplementing with ketone esters. - Our primary guest today is Ryan Kohler, the manager of the University of Colorado Sports Medicine and Performance Center who holds a masters degree in sports nutrition and exercise science. Ryan has helped Trevor and I with many previous articles and behind-the-scenes work with some of our experiments, shall we call them. We’re excited to finally get him in front of the mic, even if he is a little shy. In addition, we'll talk with world-renowned coach Joe Friel, author of the definitive book on training, "The Cyclists Training Bible." We asked Joe his opinion about supplementation based on decades of coaching. We'll also hear from endurance mountain biker Rebecca Rusch and Apex Coaching owner Neal Henderson, the personal coach of world time trial champion Rohan Dennis. They'll each give us their thoughts on supplements and a few things they've found that work.