03: The Role of Carbohydrates in Practice

In this episode, Mira discusses the importance of carbohydrates during practice, the best sources of carbs, and the timing of carb intake. They also address the use of energy drinks and the myth of gaining weight by eating before bed. Mira emphasizes the need to take care of one's health and maintain an active lifestyle.

About the Speaker

Starting breaking when he was 15 years old, Mira has always been interested in how bodies work which got him into the world of sports science and nutrition.

He has a Master’s degree in Sport & Exercise Nutrition and a BSc degree in Sport & Exercise Science. He is also a published coauthor in the British Journal of Nutrition. Through performance nutrition coaching, Mira helps adult athletes, dancers, stunt performers, and other active individuals better understand nutrition and improve their performance and recovery.

For more nutrition tips, check out the links below:

Ig: @breakingnutritionist

website: https://breakingnutrition.com

newsletter: https://breakingnuws.beehiiv.com

Takeaways

• Carbohydrates are important during practice to replenish glycogen stores.

• Simple sugars, like glucose, are the best source of carbs during practice.

• Energy drinks can be consumed in moderation and can provide a performance boost.

• Eating before bed does not automatically lead to weight gain.

• Taking care of one's health and maintaining an active lifestyle is crucial for dancers.

Timeline

00:00 Introduction and Overview

01:17 The Role of Carbohydrates in Practice & Nutrient Deficiency

03:41 Fruits as a Source of Energy: Good or Bad?

05:21 Choosing the Right Carbohydrate Sources

06:59 Glycogen Depletion

08:00 Energy Drinks as a Source of Energy: Good or Bad?

14:10 How to Use Energy Drinks Correctly as a Performance Enhancer

16:14 How to Use Energy Simple Sugars as a Performance Enhancer

22:37 Cons of Rice as a Food Choice

25:56 Debunking a myth: Do we gain weight if we eat right before sleep?

29:26 When to Stop Eating at Night

31:35 Benefits of consuming protein & carbohydrates at once

33:10 Final Message from Mira

Transcript

00:00 Introduction and Overview

Mira: Keep the active lifestyle, get interested in physical activity and nutrition and take care of your body so you can dance as long as possible.

Hitomi: What's up everyone? Welcome to the third episode of Breakorial. I'm your host, Hitomi. Today is part two of Nutrition Strategies for Breakers Over 18 with Mira, the breaking nutritionist. Last time was mostly about protein. So this time, we'll shift our focus to carbohydrates. For people who don't know from episode two, Mira is a breaking nutritionist with a master's degree in sport and exercise nutrition and a Bachelor of Science degree in Sport and Exercise Science. He is also a published co -author in the British Journal of Nutrition. He helps adult athletes, stunt performers, dancers, and other active individuals better understand nutrition and improve their performance and recovery. Let's dive in to the world of carbohydrates.

01:17 The Role of Carbohydrates in Practice & Nutrient Deficiency

Hitomi: I heard like you need to take carbs during practice to avoid nutrient deficiency. Is that a word? 

Mira:I mean, it is a word. 

Hitomi: Can you take them from like snacks or like beverages like Coke and Sprite or should you take them from like fruits and those more healthy sources of sugars?

Mira: Okay. Yeah. I'll cover both, but first let's get to the nutrient deficiency. yes. I mean, the nutrient, like if you mean nutrient deficiency as you're going to become deficient in vitamins and minerals, that's not going to happen. The only thing that's happening during exercise is that you get dehydrated and you get deficient in glycogen stores. That's why you get tired and you know, you can get cramps when you dehydrate and all of that. 

In terms of, sorry, I'm trying, I'm just trying to think how to put it simpler. I know I tend to overcomplicate things. So overall, if you're, if you eating enough carbohydrates already in your diet and your session is just a one hour, you don't even have to bother about any

during workout nutrition or intra workout nutrition. It's just not long enough for you to deplete all of your glycogen stores fully that you would actually need to replenish them during your workout. So endurance athletes are a great example of this because for example, it takes roughly 60 to 90 minutes to fully deplete your glycogen stores. So unless you, your session is like two hours, I would say, or like one hour and a half to two hours, you don't really have to care. But if it is that long, then yes, you want some kind of carbohydrate intake. 

03:41 Fruits as a Source of Energy: Good or Bad?

Unfortunately, fruit, not very good source during workout. 

Hitomi: Really? 

Mira: Because of its fiber content, which could with some people cause gastro issues. And that's, that's one thing that people have to kind of test for themselves. Because you would see even on endurance races, so let's say if people run marathons and stuff, they're going to have stations with like bananas mostly.

But there are only very few athletes who actually take it because some of them it would just cause too much trouble with their digestion. So then they will just opt out for some sports drinks which usually contain glucose, glucose, maltodextrin and other like quick carb sources. And your question was specifically around you said coke and what others?

Hitomi: Sprites and redbull. Let's. I'm going to add that right now.

Mira: The only bad thing about that, I would say, is the fizziness during workout. So if you're someone who can tolerate that and it doesn't cause any industrial issues, know, coke with the amount of sugar that it has is actually a good in -trap workout thing. Would I recommend going for that one? Probably not. But if there is no other option, just go for

05:21 Choosing the Right Carbohydrate Sources

You you really want some kind of sugar based thing. If you want to opt for supplements, you want to have, maltodextrin probably mixed with fructose. That's probably the best thing you could have during workout. it's because, maltodextrin is like, it gets very quickly to your bloodstream.

And actually, funnily enough, it doesn't even taste sweet. So you just put the powder in water and just taste like water and fructose or actually fructose and glucose together with melted extra. And the reason is just to maximize the amount of carbohydrates you actually get in because glucose and fructose, I got different transporters within the body.

the way they get into the cells, they have like a different doors essentially. So with the same amount of time, you can get more carbohydrates in. But this is like very detailed and mostly aimed at people who like train and have like long sessions and want to maximize their performance. So like I would say for majority of people, I would say majority of people train less than two hours of breaking.

So at that point you can have just a few Haribo's or whatever you like and you're gonna be good. Or whatever other snack you like, you

06:59 Glycogen Depletion

Hitomi: So if you're a person who practice more than five hours, then you would probably need to think about that. 

Mira: Oh yeah. Oh definitely. There are probably some people who do that and their nutrition is probably not even that good and they can still somehow manage. But then it's about actually maximizing your performance and output during that session.

I would say this becomes especially important during competitions. Because especially breaking competitions, they can get very long. Like you can, you know, warm yourself up, do one battle and then you wait an hour and you know, so, and then you probably, you know, dancing a lot in the cyphers and stuff. So I think that would be way more challenging in terms of like actually making sure that you have enough carbohydrates and drinking enough and all of that. 

08:00 Energy Drinks as a Source of Energy: Good or Bad?

Hitomi: Okay. What are your thoughts on energy drinks like Monster and Red Bull? We kind of talked about this but. 

Mira: Yeah. I mean, we didn't, but I actually made a post today. Did you see that one? 

Hitomi: Yes. I, I saw the questions as well. You posted yesterday and. Yeah. 

Mira: Yeah. Over like the last two days. It was very interesting because you actually, because when you sent me the questions, I was like, that is a juicy questions. wonder what people actually think.

Because funnily enough, it’s always a point where it always starts an argument. you know, let's say I'm at some gathering with friends or friends of friends and people realize I'm a nutritionist, I instantly get attacked with questions. And it's because nutrition is such a personal thing.

people have opinions on things, right? And a lot of people think that energy drinks are like super bad and unhealthy. And if I tell them, they're not actually that bad. If you like break it down and make it sense, they're like, what are you really a nutritionist? know, you know, like, they see me eating Snickers and they'll be like, my, but that's very unhealthy. Why are you doing that? It's like, well,

Yeah, this is why I went and studied science and you didn't, you know, and it's very difficult to like get your point across because of probably social media and all these very biased personal opinions on things because, know, there's so many dyes you can follow, know, you can, there's vegan keto carnivore, you know, like so many people get confused.

because it's always marketed, this is the best one. No, this is the best one. If you eat this way, you're to die soon. All of that, like people get scared, people get confused. So like if I work with clients, a lot of the time I actually spend just debunking a lot of, you know, myths in this, in this era. Yeah, it's very difficult. in terms of energy drinks, and I think your question was actually, what do I think

them sponsoring breaking events, right. And that's why, it is a juicy questions, right? Because everyone loves Red Bull BC one and Red Bull has been probably. I would say in a breaking game, probably the longest out of any other energy drinks or any nutritional kind of product. So they have supported the scene immensely. And, know, thanks to Red Bull, there is a lot of people who can make full time living.

awful breaking, which is amazing. do the athletes actually drink it? I mean, I don't know. And do I care really? mean, no, it's their choice. do I think it's bad? Don't think it's bad at all. you know, there's literally nothing wrong if you consume it correctly, and you take care of yourself in the first place.

so obviously if you already struggle with weight or you have heart problems or type two diabetes or whatever, terrible choice to drink Red Bull, you know, but if you're like a fit athlete, why would, why should you be scared? Like caffeine is actually performing its performance enhancing stimulant, you know, so, and as we discussed before, sugar is also not

bad because it actually is the main source of energy for your muscles. So if you time it well, it makes a lot of sense. Another thing in them energy drinks is artificial sweetener. So people who don't want to have the sugar content, go for artificial sweetener as a zero calorie options. And again, a lot of demonizing about artificial sweeteners that they cause cancer or whatnot.

If you actually look at the evidence and the studies, there's literally nothing like it's, it's literally impossible to consume that amount of artificial sweeteners for you to have any negative effects. It's like, because most of these studies have been done on, on mice. And if you would transfer the same amount to humans, it would be thousands of cans of Coke, for example. So it's literally impossible. Like you would.

You would die first of drinking too much water than off of artificial sweetness. And they've been heavily demonized. And for people who want to lose weight and stuff, it's actually an excellent choice because now if you look at it, if monster has 55 grams of sugar, which is what 210 grams of 210 calories.

You know, that's, could be 55 grams of protein you could have taken instead. So. It probably would have been better choice to take the protein and have a zero calorie one, you know, but if, if you're struggling with time and you're going to have a session in 30 minutes, grabbing a red bull and have a bit of hit of caffeine and, sugar. Why not? It's actually going to support your training, you know, so that there's always.

Pros and cons. Obviously it's not good for teenagers and kids. I would never recommend this to teenagers and kids, mostly because of the caffeine content. That seems to be the main cause of all the problems. 

Hitomi: Like insomnia and stuff like that.

14:10 How to Use Energy Drinks Correctly as a Performance Enhancer

Mira: Yeah, yeah. And you know, it usually comes just because people just drink too much. And you know, if you are someone who actually likes coffee and energy drinks, you're going to have a tricky life because if you don't count how much caffeine you're intaking, you can have free coffees and then an energy drink and you're already over your daily caffeine intake. then you might end up in hospital and they're going to, you had energy drinks.

I that's maybe where it started, like all this demonizing of energy drinks, right? Because there's probably a lot of people being hospitalized for drinking too much coffee, but is it really demonized as much? Probably not. So, you know, there's always two sides of this, but people tend to... 

Hitomi: Yeah, that's it. Because a lot of people around me also like they really drink Red Bull, like even though they're really distributed like for free at events, they think like it's going to make them unhealthy and you know, it's going to like gain weight and stuff like that. But not necessarily as long as, because it's going to boost your performance if it's like, it has carbs and caffeine in it. So it's not just bad things. There are also like good aspects, just like anything else. 

Mira: Like especially endurance athletes, know, they like, have you seen the sports gels that, you know, like cyclists use on bikes and stuff? A lot of them have is literally just pure glucose and caffeine. And you can tell it's like, it's not that different to Red Bull. It just has less water because they just want to ingest it very quickly. so

You know, athletes have been using it for ages. It's just, I guess the marketing and the demonizing and social media just makes it look like terrible. and you know, it is this funny, funny thing. 

16:14 How to Use Energy Simple Sugars as a Performance Enhancer

Do you follow, do you know CrossFit? Yes, I CrossFit. You follow, do you know who Matt Fraser is? No. So Matt, Matt Fraser, he's like the,

champion, essentially. If I'm not mistaken, he's the only one who won CrossFit Games five times in a row. I remember there was an interview with him and he was saying this story that in between sessions during the competitions and workouts, he would be surviving on sneakers and

And that's what his sports nutritionist told him. And everyone was looking at him like, what the hell are you doing? But like when he said that I was like, my God, yes. That's how you recognize a good sports nutritionist. Cause they know, you know, like I would never like say. Like it's better to have like a pack of blueberries than sneakers. Like, because in a certain scenario, the sneakers is just better.

You know, this is however weird it might sound, you know, it, it, is how it is. That's how your body works. And especially if it's a personal preference in a lot of cases, you know, it just works, but people think it's terrible. 

Hitomi: What are scenarios in which snacks and those like Snickers and Coke work well?

Mira: Well, in CrossFit specifically works well because I don't know if you've ever seen the CrossFit games itself, but like insane amount of output, like energy output. So like just to get through the day, like their nutrition timing needs to be on point and they need to get as much calories in them as possible in between those competitions because

I remember one year they were like rowing, I want to say half marathon. They're like rowing like, yeah, like 20, 21 kilometers. She's like insane, like rowing especially. And then, you know, they would have some kind of a break and then they would have another event. within that break, you want to consume as much as possible. So you have energy for the next event.

And if it means eating Snickers or having very sugary stuff, you kind of should do it because you just can't get the same amount of fruit from fruits because the fruits have the fiber and it's going to slow the digestion down and you're not going to absorb and actually replenish as much glycogen. So actually, you know, reducing your performance in that sense. So, yeah.

That's very specific, right? So like in terms of breaking, do really need to do that if you do tour sessions? No. But like, for example, me personally, I love Haribo's and I love like these kind of jelly things, right? So like that's my snack of choice usually during training. Unless I know it's going to be really long session and I sweat a lot, I would probably

a special sports drink, but usually Harry Bowles just get me through it like completely fine. 

Hitomi: How would you define a long session? 

Mira: A long, like anything above two hours. I would consider like a long session. 

Hitomi: And also not just time, but you also need to consider intensity of the practice, right? 

Mira: Yeah, of course. And that's especially in breaking could be very individual.

Right? Because it's not the same like with any other sport. and everyone is different. Everyone has different style. Some people are not as explosive as others. Some people, even if they are at the session for two hours, they might be talking to other people for an hour. So obviously need to be aware of yourself and how much you actually training and like actively training and not resting and sitting down talking to other people. So

And looking at your style as well, if you're someone who only does power moves, you're going to have a bit more expenditure than someone who does slow footwork and is very, I want to say stylish, like, you know, there are styles which look very slow -ish slash endurance rather than very explosive and quick, if that makes sense. So you could potentially adjust it based on that too.

Hitomi: And what I'm hearing is it doesn't really matter what type of carbohydrates you take during practice as long as you feel good about it. 

Mira: No. So you want to have as simple sugar as possible. like glucose is the simplest sugar you can intake. So that's why the Snickers or people gonna think I'm getting crazy advice, we think you'll understand. know, you, so maybe, maybe let's turn the question around. What, what other car sources you were thinking about? 

Hitomi: How about rice during training? Yeah. Like, I don't know, like in Japan people

take like onigiri's, you know, rice balls during practice. Yeah. So that like, it's, it's really a common thing right here. So yeah. 

Mira: Oh really? I was going to say, have you seen anyone eating rice during training? And I think I was wrong then. I don't think I've ever seen that. Wow. Yeah. Wow. That's interesting.

22:37 Cons of Rice as a Food Choice

Yeah, rice is not a very good choice, simply because of a very similar issue. with carbs, you have glycemic index and pretty much the more fiber the carbohydrate has, the lower glycemic index it has, which pretty much means the amount of time it's going to be absorbed by your body, if we make it very simple.

Whereas if you have high glycemic index carb, like sugar, it's going to get as quick as possible to your bloodstream.

So like you would have glucose kind of like here. And then if you want to make it even quicker, as when I mentioned the maltodextrin, it has even higher glycemic index than glucose. So it gets quicker to your bloodstream and then other carb sources. But then they usually take in as a supplement form, but like things you can just buy in a shop, just like something with sugar, you know, but like rice.

Rice is great. Like I would say two to three hours before and like, then drink dinner after training. Like that's like the preloading before training and then replenishing for recovery and stuff after training. But during training, wouldn't recommend rice. No. 

Hitomi: Because of the fiber. 

Mira: Yes. 

Hitomi: Okay. So I feel like the fiber is going to be the key when you're choosing which type of carbs you're, you're going to take in practice. 

Mira: Yes. 

Hitomi: Yeah. Okay. Thank you. 

Mira: During practice, just think simple sugars, you know, and you know, for every, for everyone like listening, like, you know, you can use Google, you can use Chat GPT or whatever, just like, even if you type what type of carbohydrates should I have during workout, It's going to tell you simple sugars and it's going to give you a list of possible things you can have, you know, same with so the other, so rice would be not simply with complex carbohydrates. So yeah, that helps. 

Hitomi: Yes. The same goes for noodles and those types of carbs as well, right? Yeah. Yeah. Like rice, pasta, potatoes.

Mira: the same kind of complex carbohydrate kind of group. All of them have different glycemic indexes based on how you cook them. If there are like, you know, if it's white rice or like a whole grain, so whole grain would have even more fiber and et cetera. then it becomes a slightly more complicated, but like generally.

Yeah, two to three hours before you want to have the complex carbohydrates and the closer you get to training the simpler carbohydrates. Maybe like an hour before or 30 minutes before the training. minutes before is a great time. Yeah. 

25:56 Debunking a myth: Do we gain weight if we eat right before sleep?

Hitomi: Okay. All right. one last question. So our lesson in Japan, end at 11 PM and many dancers are concerned about gaining weight after, when eating. you know, like dinner after practice, because there's this, I don't know, like, I don't know if it's a myth, but there's this thinking that if you eat right before you go to bed, everything will get converted into like your energy and your fat. Is that true? 

Mira: Mira: No, that's not true. I just straight away. 

Hitomi: I knew it. I felt like it's.

Mira: Yeah. Yeah. Because if that was true, it would pretty much what you would be saying that at that specific time at night, that meal is going to ignore the whole law of thermodynamics and you're just going to gain fat, which is obviously not true. that's not how, how it works. so yeah, the only issue I would see with eating that like, so you finish at 11 PM?

Hitomi: Yes. And people, you know, come home at 1pm or 11, 12am around there. 

Mira: so midnight. So when would you go sleep then? Like 12 to 1? 

Hitomi: Like, yeah. I think it's 2am on average. 

Mira: Wow, that's a very... Why is it so late? 

Hitomi: I know. Yeah, like breakdancing scene in Japan, we have lessons pretty late at night. And I think that's why many like kids dancers, like when they're in elementary school, they really struggle a lot because they have to wake up at like six or seven a to go to school. 

Mira: So this is not like open practice. This is like an actual class and parents bring their kids to that class and it finishes at it. 

Hitomi: Yes. 

Mira: my God, that is rough. Wow. 

Look, only, so first of all, there is no issue with the gaining weight and you definitely should eat something just to support a recovery and the replenishment of glycogen stores for the next day and next session. However, some people might struggle to fall asleep after that. that would be the main issue that it just can affect your sleep.

but you still want to have at least something small. So yeah, it is very tricky in the timing because you don't really want to anything affecting your sleep. It's definitely not the best which you could do finishing that late. But if there is no other option, I guess you're going to have to deal with it. Yeah, the only reason would be

the only negative effects I would see is just the sleep effect thing because the training itself might cause you to struggle with falling asleep and then having to be on top of that could add to that. But some people on the other hand, having a big meal at night would actually put them to sleep. So it's kind of been individual there. Really up to you. Yeah. 

29:26 When to Stop Eating at Night

Hitomi: So for people who sleep at 2 am, when would you recommend them to stop eating? 

Mira: Again, it's what you can tolerate. If you can finish eating and within 15 minutes you can fall asleep, go for it. It's not gonna change anything. It's just up to you you can tolerate. So everyone needs to experiment how they can fall asleep easier. 

I think that should be the goal. Because I'm guessing if you're going to sleep at 2am and is it like during weekdays? or is it? 

Hitomi: It's during weekdays. So a lot of people wake up to school or to work. 

Mira: So they are not getting seven to nine hours of sleep, which is already compromising your recovery and your muscle growth, weight loss or whatever. That is not good, but yeah, I guess you have to cope. 

Hitomi: Is there an option of like not eating at all after practice before you go to bed? 

Mira: I mean, there is always the option. It's not the optimal strategy. I wouldn't recommend. but if you don't feel hungry and you just want

You know, go to sleep, go to sleep, but at least make sure you're going to have nutritious breakfast when you wake up. You know, because pretty much use you starving your body and especially after after exercise, your body needs the protein and the carbohydrates to recover properly and adapt and this whole process of recovering and adopting to all the stimuli from training happens during sleep. So you wanna support it as much as

Hitomi: So after practice, do you want to like take protein and carbs at the same time together to maximize absorption?

Mira: Absorption of what? 

Hitomi: Of... I guess not absorption, to maximize muscle growth. 

31:35 Benefits of consuming protein & carbohydrates at once

Mira: Okay. To optimize muscle growth, you really just need a protein. But if you care about recovery, you should consume carbs as well. It just works well together.

I mean, you could technically just, yeah, that could be a strategy that you just have a protein shake and go to bed, which should be sufficient, you know, but then if you having another session the next day, you might be struggling with your glycogen stores. But I guess if the next session would be again at night, you have the whole day to

carbohydrates so it shouldn't really be an issue in that sense. A protein should be always the number

Hitomi: Thank you so much. To end our interview, I always ask this to my interviewee. Do you have a sentence to tell or a message, final message to our listeners? We would have like in one sentence. 

33:10 Final Message from Mira

Mira: Wow. I don't know. I'll just say, you know, like, take care of your health. Because if you're not healthy, you can't really enjoy anything. I guess that would be my message, you know, keep the active lifestyle, get interested in physical activity and nutrition, and take care of your body so you can dance as long as possible. 

Hitomi: Very important. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your time and everything. 

Mira: No worries. Thank you for inviting me. 

Hitomi: Thank you so much for listening to this episode. For those looking for more nutrition tips, Mira offers nutrition coaching services and shares nutrition facts on his website and newsletter, so be sure to check him out in the description below. See you on the next episode. Bye!