July 27, 2024

Road Map to Elite Performance or Pitiful Performance 

BATON Diet

 

Small Servings of Omega-6 Fats

Only small servings, about 1-2 teaspoons per day, of omega-6 fats (omega-6 PUFA) from veggies and select nuts, can flow to the left side of the chart resulting in elite performance. 

The pipeline to the left is narrow and easy to saturate by eating excess omega-6 oils (PUFA) which causes any overflow to escape to the alternate path down the right-hand side of the chart to arachidonic acid and inflammation. All excess omega-6 fats eaten are shunted to the right and lead to pitiful performance. 

 

Arachidonic acid is highly inflammatory and is also a precursor to super hormones in the inflammatory prostaglandin PGE2 series. 

Fish/Fish oil (EPA/DHA) competes with arachidonic acid and inhibits inflammation. 

 

We only need to eat fresh veggies and/or whole seeds that contain omega-6 fats to meet all of our omega-6 essential fat needs and maintain elite performance. 

Examples:

 

We choose our physical performance destination and our health destination when we select our foods and the quantities we eat for each family of food, including beneficial anti-inflammatory fish and fish oils, or inflammatory excess servings of omega-6 vegetable oils.  

 

Photos from Marcus Caston Professional Skier 

MarcusCaston.com Experiences: Norway 

 

 

 

 

 

Fast skier food:  ALL GOOD fats ... breakfast 

Anchovies, caviar (Kaviar), pasture butter, mountain cheese, eggs, whole milk unhomogenized, peanut butter, kefir, and olive oil. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may choose an ancestral nutrition program, early American nutrition, Bible times nutrition, pre-historic nutrition (paleo diet), or the BATON Diet which encompasses The True Mediterranean Diet. The BATON Diet focuses on moderate fat nutrition emphasizing adding olive oil to meet the increased energy needs of athletes. The Baton plan is a paleo nutrition program (gluten and grain free, soy free) emphasizing natural ancestral fat sources and maintaining an omega-6 to omega-3 EPA/DHA fat ratio of 1:1. Ancestral nutrition programs maintained an omega-6 to omega-3 EPA/DHA fat ratio of 1:1. BATON Diet includes a 6 to 10 hour eating window to support circadian rhythm and maximize muscle strength. 

The goal of the body is to build healthy cell walls. Fats are a central component of the structure of cell walls. Our cell walls contain the types of fats we eat. If we eat too many liquid vegetable oil fats (omega-6 fat PUFA), the cell wall will not be strong enough to hold its own shape. In this case, the body responds by manufacturing more cholesterol to insert into the cell wall to shore up the strength and integrity of the cell wall. 

 

 

The above drawing shows communication molecules (receptors or docking stations) with red protein bases and multicolored carbohydrate (oligosaccharide) “business” ends traveling about in a cell wall. Cholesterol (shown as little orange bars) is also a normal and healthy required component of cell walls (membranes). The outer portion of the cell wall composed of water soluble phosphate is shown in yellow. The darker olive oil colored layer is primarily monounsaturated fat (the olive oil family), saturated fat (the butter family), and protein in healthy cell walls. 

Vegetable oil fats (omega-6 fats) are not the principal fats in normal cell wall structure. Eating large quantities of them only makes the body produce more cholesterol, in an attempt to shore up the strength of cell walls that have too much abnormal vegetable oil content. 

 

Avocados range from 9 to 25% fat content. 

The avocado fats are: 

68% omega-9 (olive oil family) 

17% saturated 

12% omega-6 (natural from fresh food and is safe) 

1% omega-3 as ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) 

+ others 

 

 

Brazil nuts, pine nuts, walnuts, and sunflower seeds (non-hybrid) contain primarily omega-6 fats and are best eaten in smaller servings, because Americans typically already eat too many omega-6 fats. Walnuts contain primarily omega-6 fat (54-62% linoleic acid) plus some short chain omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) (6%) and omega-9 oleic acid MUFA fat (22%). Athletes have found walnuts rich in omega-6 fats are not as beneficial to athletic performance as nuts rich in omega-9 fats. ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) is the essential short chain omega-3 fatty acid. ALA is also sometimes abbreviated as LNA. ALA is the precursor of the biologically active long chain omega-3 EPA and DHA fatty acids. Many green leaves that are commonly eaten are adequate sources of essential short chain omega-3 ALA (LNA). The capacity to convert ALA to EPA/DHA fats is limited in some people. If omega-6 vegetable oil intake is excessive, conversion of short chain omega-3 ALA fat to the biologically active long chain omega-3 fats EPA and DHA can be extremely limited (less than 1% conversion). (1473) Traditionally, EPA/DHA intake has been via eating foods like fish that are very rich in active form long chain EPA/ DHA and via eating grass fed meats and dairy products that contain smaller amounts of EPA/DHA. The salad in the picture is made with hazelnuts that contain primarily omega-9 MUFA (monounsaturated fatty acids) in the same family as olive oil, that athletes have found beneficial to athletic performance. 

 

Which omega-9 fats should we steer clear of? 

We want to avoid canola oils because they are for the most part genetic engineered. Canola oil is 95% GMO (genetically modified organism) in Canada. 

 

Next Blog:  

Vegetable oil heightens our perception of pain. We feel the pain. 

 

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