Why I Work With a Naturopath

It happened. This is the first week where I am back to being a real runner again. My coach looked at my data and gave me my first speed session since August. As we speak, I am probably pounding my little heart out on a treadmill at GoodLife Fitness. 

I am beyond eager to dive into Boston training in earnest and a huge key for me in that is diet. I have made an enormous effort to clean up my diet in the past number of years and I have probably quadrupled my vegetable intake and lowered my sugar intake to a fraction of what it used to be. The only time I want to be beating my body down is during workouts – otherwise, I want to be building it up with rest, recovery and quality foods.

I know food is a very personal and specific thing for each person and what works for me will not necessarily work for you which is why I prefer not to post my daily meals or any numbers to read because the goal is health. One thing I DO is see a naturopath to help customize an eating plan that is specifically tailored to my activity levels, health history and current goals.

I have been seeing a naturopath for over a year now and I have been told by many that although there are incredible naturopaths in the area (I KNOW this because I’m friends with some of them), there is no one who has as much experience in sports specific nutrition which is why my naturopath is my favourite. She works with me by letting me use the products I regularly use and LOVE like Genuine Health supplements, Rumble shakes and Love Grown Foods.

She gets that I need my coffee and never tries to take it away from me, but what she DOES do is slash my sugar, ensure I have the proper vitamins and minerals my body needs from all the extra work my body is asked to do and makes sure I eat before a workout, replenish properly during a workout and have the proper balance of nutrition following a workout so I am ready to go hard the next day.

Some of the biggest changes she has helped instigate in the past year are:

• She has ensured that I eat enough fat which is vital to athletes by adding in pumpkin seeds, avocados and suggesting that I cook with coconut oil. I like to use this guy from Goodness Me!

• Supplementing with iron and magnesium. I use this guy for my magnesium supplement.
• Workout nutrition. This is huge. When I saw her, I was barely eating around workouts because I was using hunger as a guide. Turns out, I have a much more solid workout when I eat beforehand and refuel afterwards. Who would have thought? I use this preworkout and during my workouts and I have this afterwards for 25 G of protein.

I see her this afternoon to talk race nutrition for Boston and training. I kept a food journal for the past two weeks and we are going through and making it as rock solid as possible!

• A delicious recipe I saw on the blog land this week that I tried before my swim on Tuesday with Love Grown cereal – Cereal Milk Protein Smoothie from Running with Spoons
• 11 Signs You Are Seeing a Naturopath – Buzzfeed
• 7 Supplements That Aren’t a Total Waste of Money – Competitor
• All of the links to Goodness Me! on today’s post are 20% off with the code LacesLattes.

What are some nutrition improvements you have made over the past year?