I’ve been talking about digestive health with a LOT of athletes these past couple of months; in my 1:1 conversations with clients , with the cohort in my Ayurveda for Athletes course, on panels and even at the Rapha Women’s Team Camp a couple of weeks back. The takeaways are easy:
Eating for endurance sport is detrimental to our gut health.
We won’t enjoy good gut health AND these long activities we love unless we’re proactive about our digestive health.
That proactivity starts with the way we fuel before, during and after activity. (It’s NOT popping a probiotic!)
Enter this chunky, spicy, sweet Ginger Almond Butter!
Little recap: our digestive systems are intricately connected to our nervous systems through a complex network of nerves, the vagus nerve being the primary bridge in this network and creating “the gut-brain-connection.” This bridge does some critical tasks such as stimulating digestion, regulating peristalsis (the muscle contractions that move food through the digestive tract,) and modulates gut inflammation. The vagus nerve also sends sensor information from the gut, to the brain, and back. This information includes nutrient levels and satiety signals (indicating hunger + fullness,) the state of the microbiome, and gut inflammation and immune responses.
The bottom line: when the brain experiences stress, the gut experiences stress, and vice versa. So whether the stress in your system is coming from a challenging training effort, going all out in a race, a professional obligation that’s more than you can bear, a personal matter, having a toddler in your life, whathave you – the digestive system is impacted. We need this system to function so you can digest and assimilate your food, and benefit from it’s power.
Over time, constant training and racing – without attending to digestive health – causes lots of issues, including big things like leaky gut, gluten-intolerance, thyroid disfunction, metabolic disfunction and more.
We need digestion to stay strong, even under stress. Having strategies to manage stress is critical. But having strategies to eat in a way that supports digestion is like the secret weapon that helps it all come together.
Endurance sport, in particular, is a double-whammy for the digestive system. Firstly, because moving our bodies fast and far is stressful! (Even when it’s enjoyable!) And, because fueling for endurance requires a great deal of carbohydrate, and carbohydrate consumed without consideration to other balancing flavors that keep the system balanced – day after day, season after season – is a recipe for digestive disaster. In Part II of my Ayurveda for Athletes course, I talk all about the various different ways we can keep digestion strong through training, racing and endurance. We call this “kindling agni,” in Ayurveda – or tending your inner fire. Among them is a frequent and strategic use of ginger. Ginger helps boost and bolster digestive strength, which means that using it in our sports nutrition strategy helps to keep the digestive fire from getting overwhelmed by the heavy blanket of carbohydrate AND helps anything we’re eating before, during and after efforts easy to digest.
Using a ginger hydration mix, adding ginger to meals before and after your efforts and even including ginger during your efforts is helpful for this. For very long rides/runs/hikes, one of my favorite foods to pack is an almond butter (or sunny butter!) sandwich with fresh ginger and chia jam – a Six Flavored fuel that keeps my body humming right through stress and challenge. But this Chunky Ginger Almond Butter is a next-level hack that achieves the same result.
Is one of the easiest, most delicious ways to keep digestion high and bodies fueled for long endurance.
I use sprouted almonds (that yes, I sprout myself) to make homemade almond butter. The reason is that sprouted almonds don’t contain anti-nutrients that block absorption (yet another play for great digestion!!) I tell you how to sprout your almonds in the Recipe Notes, and how to make almond butter in the recipe! But, if you don’t want to make your own almond butter, you can use a favorite storebought variety – preferably one that contains ONLY ALMONDS.
The process, then, is ridiculously simple. Stir crystalized ginger, spices, salt and some maple syrup. A little flax oil too, if you wish. And that’s it! Spread away!
This almond butter is in my arsenal of spring and summer snacks as bike rides, runs, hikes and mountain adventures get longer and more lovely. But it’s also what I spread on my toast when I want a little elevated grounding and good protein.
I hope this one finds it’s way into your adventure snack arsenal!
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