Creatine for Runners: The Game-Changer You Need to Know About with Dana Sowards
This week on Cook Eat Run, Charlie Watson is joined by Dana, a sports nutrition expert, to delve into the increasingly popular topic of creatine supplementation for runners.
Understanding Creatine
Charlie and Dana kick off the discussion by breaking down what creatine is and its natural occurrence in the body. Dana explains how creatine plays a crucial role in energy production, particularly during high-intensity activities, and why it’s gaining traction among endurance athletes.
Who Can Benefit?
The conversation highlights that while creatine is often associated with strength and power athletes, endurance runners, especially women over 30, can also reap significant benefits. Dana discusses how creatine can aid in muscle recovery, combat age-related muscle loss, and even improve brain health, making it a worthwhile consideration for many.
Supplementation Guidelines
Listeners will learn about the recommended dosages, the best forms of creatine to take, and how to incorporate it into their daily routines. Dana shares insights on the importance of hydration and addresses common concerns regarding gastrointestinal issues that some may experience with supplementation.
Practical Tips and Timing
Charlie and Dana provide practical advice on when to take creatine, how to mix it into your diet, and the potential weight gain that may occur. They also discuss the importance of monitoring your body’s response to supplementation and adjusting accordingly.
Key Takeaways
As the episode wraps up, Dana emphasises the importance of keeping a journal to track any changes and benefits experienced while taking creatine. She encourages listeners to consult with a sports dietitian if they have any concerns or negative side effects.
For more information and to connect with Dana, follow her on Instagram @a_dash_of_dana or visit her website for additional resources and insights.
Got fuelling and nutrition questions? Episode topic suggestions? - find Charlie online @therunnerbeans / www.therunnerbeans.com
Grab a copy of Charlie’s book ‘Cook Eat Run’
The Cook Eat Run Podcast is sponsored by XMiles - the One Stop Nutrition Shop - use discount code COOKEATRUN for 10% off this month’s featured products at Xmiles.co.uk
This podcast is proudly produced by Decibelle Creative decibellecreative.com / @decibelle_creative
Transcript
>> Charlie: Welcome to the Cook Eat Run podcast with X Miles, hosted
Speaker:by me, Charlie Watson. I'm a runner, a mum, an
Speaker:NHS dietitian and author of the recipe
Speaker:book for runners Cook Eat Run. I'm also
Speaker:a 16 times marathoner and love nothing more than sharing what
Speaker:I've learned along the way through a lot of trial and error.
Speaker:Cook Eat Run is the go to podcast for running,
Speaker:nutrition training tips, marathon debriefs and, more.
Speaker:I'm here to answer all your questions and fuel you with the
Speaker:knowledge you'll need to run faster, further and actually just
Speaker:to have more fun on the run. So whether you're training for an
Speaker:ultra, want to improve your marathon pb, or
Speaker:simply just get more out of your running, you're in the right
Speaker:place.
Speaker:Hello and welcome back to the Cook Eat Run podcast with Ex
Speaker:Marles. This week we're talking about creatine, specifically
Speaker:creatine for runners and whether it's a useful supplement to
Speaker:add to your daily routine. I'm chatting with Dana
Speaker:Sowards, an endurance sports dietitian and coach all about
Speaker:when and why runners might take creatine. If you want
Speaker:to give it a try or just stock up on your current favourite
Speaker:sports nutrition products, use the code
Speaker:COOKEATRUN to save 10% across the full range
Speaker:at, xmiles.co.uk. so Dana, thank
Speaker:you so much for joining me today. I am so excited to kind of
Speaker:go on a bit of a deep dive into creatine because it's something I think
Speaker:that a lot of people are, seeing on social media
Speaker:and talking about and are getting
Speaker:advertised on, you know, Instagram
Speaker:and, and we don't really know or people don't
Speaker:really know much about it. Gathering Instagram
Speaker:questions, they just came flooding in. So I think
Speaker:it's a topic that
Speaker:runners, women over 30
Speaker:are really interested in. So yeah, excited
Speaker:to kind of go deep on it today.
Speaker:>> Dana: Yes, likewise.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Can we just start with like, what, what is creatine?
Speaker:What do we mean when we say creatine?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah, so creatine is,
Speaker:it's naturally occurring in our bodies.
Speaker:We have about like 80 to 130
Speaker:grammes within our bodies. It's stored in our
Speaker:muscles and our brain and
Speaker:we really only use about 1 to 2% of this. So we use a
Speaker:really tiny amount every single day
Speaker:and our body does naturally produce this, but
Speaker:we, we want to replenish that. And the primary sources
Speaker:we're going to get that from is from animal protein.
Speaker:Folks that are vegan, vegetarian, might not, they're
Speaker:definitely not going to get this in their diet. So
Speaker:we're going to see them have, have a big benefit of
Speaker:supplementation. And then, also
Speaker:women naturally
Speaker:have 70 to 80%
Speaker:lower creatine stores than men. so
Speaker:they definitely experience a larger performance
Speaker:improvement with creatine supplementation.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So creatine itself is, is,
Speaker:is what? Like in it, when you say we have it in our bodies, it's an amino
Speaker:acid, it's a muscle, it's a, you know what? Yeah.
Speaker:>> Dana: Yes. It's an amino acid.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Dana: Great.
Speaker:>> Charlie: And it's one that is stored in our body that we
Speaker:can get through food. So why is, why are people
Speaker:talking about it so much in terms of athletic performance?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah, so we'll hear this. Talked
Speaker:primarily in like, I mean we see it
Speaker:in the bodybuilding world probably the most, like the strength
Speaker:power athletes. speed also is
Speaker:where we are going to see the bulk of the benefit.
Speaker:So that's, that's where we're really going to see
Speaker:the, the athletic performance.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So what, what role does creatine play in
Speaker:our body?
Speaker:>> Dana: so we have something called the
Speaker:creatine phosphate system. and
Speaker:so this is really, really fast
Speaker:energy. you think like burst of
Speaker:energy, like one to four seconds. Like, we're lifting really
Speaker:heavy, we're sprinting up a hill, we're
Speaker:jumping, we're doing plyometric type training. Like that's where we're
Speaker:going to get the benefit.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So it's involved in those kind of processes.
Speaker:So if we're having it as part of our redmi, as
Speaker:our, you know, the other dietary sources, we're
Speaker:then using it when we sprint for a
Speaker:bus or do our gym workout. Those kind of
Speaker:things.
Speaker:>> Dana: Correct. Yep.
Speaker:>> Charlie: And, so I've seen it more in terms of, on
Speaker:social media, like endurance runners are starting to use. I'm
Speaker:seeing people taking it
Speaker:daily when they're not necessarily going to be
Speaker:performing planned high,
Speaker:you know, quick, activities.
Speaker:What is it like, should we be supplementing
Speaker:it? Should everybody be supplementing it?
Speaker:What's the kind of, what would your guidance be on
Speaker:that?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah, so, you know, kind of as a, as a
Speaker:baseline, you absolutely can supplement
Speaker:because as we,
Speaker:you know, if, if any sort of
Speaker:sport is in your life or even just we look at
Speaker:other, other benefits outside of
Speaker:performance, athletic performance, brain
Speaker:health. we're seeing a big, a big role in brain
Speaker:health and we're also seeing a big role for,
Speaker:perimenopause and menopause, menopausal women,
Speaker:in realms of like the, the brain fog that they
Speaker:experience, the age related muscle loss or
Speaker:sarcopenia that that comes with
Speaker:age. And so we're seeing
Speaker:benefits of that for just having this maintenance
Speaker:kind of three to five grammes per day.
Speaker:and you don't need to cycle off of it. I know there
Speaker:was gosh, maybe 10,
Speaker:15 years ago it was like creatine is really hard on your
Speaker:kidneys. You don't want to be taking it consistently
Speaker:and it's completely safe to
Speaker:take consistently. you know the same, same with
Speaker:any like increasing your protein in general,
Speaker:just be adequately hydrated, is the
Speaker:biggest thing.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So, so three to five grammes a day
Speaker:and that's every day, not just on days where you're doing
Speaker:a hard workout or lifting.
Speaker:>> Dana: Correct.
Speaker:>> Charlie: And is there a kind of a best way
Speaker:to take it? If people are interested in, in
Speaker:taking it? Is it best on its own? Because I've seen it sold
Speaker:on its own but it was a. Within protein powders.
Speaker:I've seen it as capsules. Is there a like
Speaker:gold standard for creatine supplementation?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah. So the, the gold standard
Speaker:form is something called Korea Pure.
Speaker:that's the most studied form of
Speaker:creatine to my
Speaker:knowledge. It's mostly in powdered
Speaker:form. but so that's the
Speaker:easiest way to do it. There is research that shows
Speaker:creatine plus carbohydrate work really well together
Speaker:for like absorption and, and
Speaker:body usage. So that can be really
Speaker:beneficial if it's in your, your protein
Speaker:powder, if it's in a capsule. And that
Speaker:is you know, better for you to take in realms
Speaker:of like that's what you're going to remember to do.
Speaker:that is equally as good. You'll see probably creatine
Speaker:monohydrate is, is the most widely
Speaker:used form.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Dana: Of that.
Speaker:>> Charlie: And is that not quite the same as this?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah. So Korea Pure is creatine
Speaker:monohydrate. It's a form of that. It just the way they
Speaker:process it and produce that. So some of the
Speaker:creatine monohydrate can. Some people will
Speaker:have concerns with GI issues specifically like
Speaker:lower gi, gastric diarrhoea,
Speaker:bloating, things like that. but the Korea Pure
Speaker:in research has not shown that to be
Speaker:that to happen.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. Because I was going to ask. A lot of people had mentioned either getting
Speaker:kind of gas or bloating or
Speaker:just like their IBS symptoms being worse
Speaker:is something that we see with that dosage of
Speaker:the 3 to 5 grammes. Or is that, can that
Speaker:be it? Can that happen at
Speaker:quite a seemingly low level of dosing? Or is that
Speaker:something you see usually when people take it in higher dosages?
Speaker:>> Dana: I've actually seen it in both. definitely the higher
Speaker:dosing is like, you know, we,
Speaker:I'm sure everyone has heard of like a loading phase where
Speaker:you almost, you do about 20
Speaker:grammes of creatine monohydrate
Speaker:for seven days. and this is split typically into
Speaker:four doses throughout the day. It's not
Speaker:necessary. We don't need to do that. it will
Speaker:naturally build in your body and support
Speaker:those, those processes. so we don't need to have a
Speaker:loading phase. But when people have done
Speaker:that, that is definitely higher
Speaker:incidence of GI stuff going on.
Speaker:But I've seen it at even the lower dose of
Speaker:3gr. And then we look at. Okay, what type of
Speaker:creatine are you having? is it the crea pure,
Speaker:which is definitely easier on the GI system?
Speaker:So that might be something, you know, if you're having issues like this, just
Speaker:take a peek on the nutrition label
Speaker:and see. Does it, does it specify that it's
Speaker:creapure? Because it has to. It will say that.
Speaker:>> Charlie: And so if people do experience GI issues, even
Speaker:if you haven't throughout the kind of you taking it,
Speaker:would you suggest, if you have a big event sort of coming off it, just
Speaker:in case, to reduce your risk, like AMER marathon
Speaker:at the weekend, would you like, not take that
Speaker:weekend's sort of dosage? Or if
Speaker:you generally tolerate it week
Speaker:to week, will you likely be fine on race
Speaker:day?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah, I think you would be fine if you're generally tolerating
Speaker:it if, if you're having GI issues.
Speaker:regardless, like, we, we want to kind of zoom out a little
Speaker:bit and assess. Like, is it actually the creatine doing
Speaker:this? Is it the timing of taking the creatine maybe
Speaker:that's causing this? Like, maybe, you know, if
Speaker:you're taking it before a workout, maybe your body doesn't love that
Speaker:and we need to take it after, or maybe we need to take it later in the
Speaker:day and that's okay. There's in realms of research
Speaker:to support or to show timing of
Speaker:creatine consumption. any, any time
Speaker:is okay. So there's no, like,
Speaker:specific time frame.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Okay.
Speaker:>> Dana: Knowledge.
Speaker:>> Charlie: That's good to know because, yeah, I was going to ask, like, is it something you need to be
Speaker:drinking, like, on your way to the gym or on your way to the workout or
Speaker:immediately Afterwards, but you can take it anytime,
Speaker:whenever sort of suits your
Speaker:schedule.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah. Okay, that's good to know. and
Speaker:are there any other symptoms that people might experience
Speaker:or should look out for other than the kind of GI
Speaker:issues that people have reported from
Speaker:creatine supplementing?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah, so you will experience some weight
Speaker:gain. and this is, this is primarily
Speaker:because, kind of similar as
Speaker:glycogen or carbohydrate
Speaker:pulling water into your muscle cells.
Speaker:Creatine does the same thing. And so,
Speaker:you know, arguably I find this super beneficial for endurance
Speaker:athletes because this aids in your hydration status. And I'm
Speaker:like, if you're going out to run ra a marathon
Speaker:or any sort of ultra distance event,
Speaker:we are always butting up against dehydration. So this is actually
Speaker:going to benefit you in that sense. but we might see
Speaker:like a 1 to 2 kilogramme
Speaker:body weight gain when we start taking this.
Speaker:And usually people will experience this in the
Speaker:first two weeks and then it just stabilises a
Speaker:little bit.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So that's quite substantial, isn't
Speaker:it? One to two kilos in two weeks.
Speaker:Is it like that will 100% happen
Speaker:or is that just if you're doing
Speaker:it on top of strength training
Speaker:or running a lot?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah, it won't, it won't 100% happen. I've
Speaker:had people start taking it and they don't notice
Speaker:anything. some people are on the higher end and then
Speaker:they're kind of like maybe they're taking five grammes
Speaker:of creatine and we're like let's, let's try three and see if your
Speaker:body feels better that way. Because like you, you mentioned
Speaker:like, you know, two kilogrammes
Speaker:in a week or two, like that can feel
Speaker:like a lot. Especially if we, if we're talking about a female athlete
Speaker:on a smaller frame like that can feel like a lot of
Speaker:weight. and so that can probably be a little bit uncomfortable.
Speaker:So definitely, yeah.
Speaker:>> Charlie: And so within those first two weeks we, we
Speaker:might see the weight gain. What other kind of
Speaker:metrics can you use to tell that it's working? Like
Speaker:what is it that things feel
Speaker:easier, you feel stronger, you're faster. Like what are the kind
Speaker:of metrics that we're looking at to say, yeah, this is working for
Speaker:my body?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah, so you'll definitely feel stronger. you will
Speaker:definitely have more, you
Speaker:know, like I mentioned running up a hill earlier
Speaker:or even doing like some resistance training. Like
Speaker:you're able to increase weight in the
Speaker:gym. you're Able to sprint up that hill
Speaker:more powerfully or not necessarily
Speaker:faster. Like that obviously needs to come with
Speaker:progressive training overload. but you're
Speaker:maybe recovering faster after that hill repeat
Speaker:and you just, you feel stronger in that sense.
Speaker:So definitely.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So other than the weight gain and some GI issues
Speaker:which don't, like, let's be honest, they don't sound great.
Speaker:Why aren't more people taking it or
Speaker:trying it, like, do you think, in the running space? I
Speaker:know that it is gaining popularity, but it's still not as kind
Speaker:of commonly used as say, like
Speaker:protein powders and vitamin D and omegas and
Speaker:those kind of things.
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah. So I, I honestly
Speaker:think that it's because it's not super studied
Speaker:in the endurance space yet. Like we know
Speaker:that strength, power, kind of those
Speaker:explosive movements, we know that, that it
Speaker:is the, that creatine phosphate system
Speaker:that is what it's benefiting the most. We
Speaker:also know though, and you know, this is always my argument
Speaker:in endurance sport, there's gonna be times that we have to
Speaker:climb up a punchy hill or that we need
Speaker:to, you know, sprint around the corner or sprint to the finish
Speaker:or whatever the case may be, where that
Speaker:definitely can be beneficial. you know, and this,
Speaker:and what I personally in practise,
Speaker:what I encourage athletes to do is this can
Speaker:be kind of a, seasonal thing that
Speaker:we're using creatine maybe in the off season to gain some
Speaker:muscle, to improve some of that high
Speaker:intensity explosive movement.
Speaker:And then as we enter some of those peak seasons,
Speaker:maybe, maybe we don't find that it's benefiting you
Speaker:and we don't need to take it. So, yeah, that's
Speaker:kind of, that's where I'm seeing the gap, if you will, in
Speaker:the endurance space.
Speaker:>> Charlie: That's interesting. So I'm kind of in a like, like
Speaker:focusing on strength base building kind of period. Is
Speaker:that when you would suggest? So I'm in the gym
Speaker:more than I would be normally when I'm sort of marathon
Speaker:training. So would this be the period that you'd say, like, give it a
Speaker:try, see whether it. You can see benefits and then
Speaker:maybe over the summer when you're racing and a bit more and
Speaker:not doing so much strength work, then kind
Speaker:of wean off it and take a break?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yep, exactly.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Then I guess you've got the kind of the carb
Speaker:load. I'm going to be doing more longer runs. I'm going to be holding them some
Speaker:more weight from carb loading anyway or, you know, taking in more
Speaker:carbs so that's, yeah, that's really
Speaker:interesting. is there anything that you should
Speaker:take? You mentioned carbohydrates but
Speaker:any other supplements that work well,
Speaker:taking them with the
Speaker:creatine, like somebody asked about taurine.
Speaker:Is there anything that you want to look of like pairs together
Speaker:in a supplement or like iron
Speaker:absorbs better with vitamin C. Is there anything other than carbohydrates
Speaker:that you, you previously mentioned that we should
Speaker:be kind of timing together?
Speaker:>> Dana: to my knowledge, no. Like I
Speaker:creatine and carbohydrate together in realms of like that
Speaker:recovery health is, is where we're going to
Speaker:get the best nutrient absorption there.
Speaker:So those, those are going to work really well together.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Okay, that's good. So like taking it in like
Speaker:your post run smoothie that you've made up
Speaker:with fruits and that kind of thing, is there any,
Speaker:any like anything that would interfere with the
Speaker:absorption?
Speaker:>> Dana: No. you know, and there's been research to look
Speaker:at like caffeine is for a
Speaker:lot of supplements is a big inhibitor of absorption
Speaker:and there's, there's not any solid evidence
Speaker:that shows that caffeine inhibits
Speaker:that which is great. And
Speaker:yeah, so you can take it.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Alongside your, your, your coffee or your pre workout
Speaker:supplement. for people that are
Speaker:kind of either on a running journey or in the gym
Speaker:to lose weight, would you then
Speaker:kind of say don't worry about the creatine if that's
Speaker:their like one of their top two goals. So for
Speaker:a lot of people it's going to be performance. They want to run
Speaker:longer or run faster but also lose
Speaker:weight. Would you say don't try the
Speaker:creatine because there's this like almost definite
Speaker:weight gain or do you think that there's the. I know it's going
Speaker:to be individual but the benefits to their
Speaker:training outweigh this one to two
Speaker:kilos?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah, I would say arguably the benefits outweigh.
Speaker:Outweigh that like weight gain just because
Speaker:you know, zooming out. If we look
Speaker:at the power to weight
Speaker:ratio in that, in that
Speaker:sense we are definitely going to be improving power
Speaker:with creatine and we're
Speaker:also going to be improving muscle mass. And
Speaker:so for any athlete, you know
Speaker:I, I always have the kind of devil's advocate
Speaker:with weight and like why are
Speaker:we wanting to achieve weight loss? Like what, what
Speaker:does hitting X number mean to you? What if we zoom,
Speaker:like zoom out again, focus on
Speaker:muscle and decreasing body fat
Speaker:specifically to improve that power to weight ratio so
Speaker:that you still have the power, you still have the
Speaker:ability to perform at a peak potential and we're not putting
Speaker:that performance at risk because that,
Speaker:there's a fine line in that sense. and
Speaker:so I, I think taking creatine actually would
Speaker:be beneficial for them.
Speaker:>> Charlie: And for those that want to get it
Speaker:purely from foods. You've
Speaker:mentioned kind of meats. Are there
Speaker:any other dietary sources? And if we're talking
Speaker:about that, how much meat to get the
Speaker:benefits of the, the equivalent of like three
Speaker:grammes, of a supplement.
Speaker:>> Dana: So we would have to consume a tonne of
Speaker:animal protein to get that, that three
Speaker:grammes of creatine. It's about one and a half pounds
Speaker:of, of meat, which I don't know
Speaker:anybody eating that much meat in a day.
Speaker:That's, that's a lot. and honestly probably
Speaker:not super palatable for most people.
Speaker:So. Yeah, yeah, but
Speaker:animal protein in general is going to be the best, the best
Speaker:source. So we think of like beef, pork, I
Speaker:mean poultry, even, even eggs
Speaker:have some, some creatine in them, to a smaller degree,
Speaker:but that's where we're going to be getting creatine from
Speaker:our food. So you know, for example, if,
Speaker:if you are a carnivore and you are
Speaker:eating meat, maybe you
Speaker:resort to eating or to taking like three
Speaker:grammes of the creatine and getting
Speaker:some of that from your animal sources. So that's a way you could kind
Speaker:of split it.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So and, but you can get adequate from your
Speaker:diet just to kind of be a healthy individual rather
Speaker:than this sort of the performance
Speaker:benefits.
Speaker:>> Dana: Absolutely, yes. If you were eating animal protein.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Can we kind of go back a little bit? You, you said about
Speaker:kind of the perimenopause, the brain fog,
Speaker:the that the kind of muscle
Speaker:loss, m. Muscle mass loss.
Speaker:What age would you kind of think.
Speaker:Right. Maybe you want to think as an age
Speaker:and performance related kind of benefit to be
Speaker:taking creatine for females even if they
Speaker:maybe aren't having this kind of focus on strength
Speaker:or focus on power when they're running. But actually the
Speaker:benefits would be seen maybe
Speaker:through kind of the rest of their body.
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah, the average age of starting perimenopause
Speaker:is about 40. So you know, I,
Speaker:I'm big on prevention, and making sure
Speaker:that we are, we are looking at
Speaker:bone health, obviously muscle health
Speaker:for, for females going through
Speaker:perimenopause. They can vouch for this a little bit
Speaker:more. I'm not quite there, but have done studies on it.
Speaker:But with perimenopause, we get a lot of this,
Speaker:like the brain fog, the
Speaker:cognition, you know, kind of those symptoms of like you
Speaker:walk into a room and you're like, what did I just walk in here
Speaker:for? those kind of things. Creatine can
Speaker:definitely help with this. same thing with things like mood
Speaker:swings, depression. there's been really, really
Speaker:positive research to support that. There's,
Speaker:improvement in, mood
Speaker:depressive, symptoms as well, which is great.
Speaker:That's. That can also be another side effect of that
Speaker:perimenopause into menopause.
Speaker:So, it also helps reduce oxidative stress,
Speaker:which is, is a big thing in that
Speaker:age range as well. So. And with
Speaker:any athlete. Yeah, so.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So if we're trying to prevent it. So I'm
Speaker:36, would you say,
Speaker:from a kind of
Speaker:ageing reasoning,
Speaker:I'd start taking it at like 38, 39?
Speaker:Or is it like start now
Speaker:to prevent those happening in the future
Speaker:or slow things down?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah, I think starting around, around age
Speaker:like 35 is actually great. with, with all
Speaker:the research coming out. It's now, now's the
Speaker:time is what I always remind people. It's like,
Speaker:this is what we know now, so let's just, let's act
Speaker:on it. and the reason
Speaker:why I say that is because we do start to actually see muscular
Speaker:decline in females around age 35 and
Speaker:that body composition shift. You know, I think a lot of
Speaker:females talk about this is they're like, I hit 35 and things
Speaker:just started changing. And it's like, you
Speaker:know, and, and so this not, saying like
Speaker:creatine is like, end all, be all. Like, this is, this is the
Speaker:answer. M. But it's, it definitely can help
Speaker:support muscular muscle and
Speaker:decreasing muscle loss throughout the
Speaker:years of perimenopause. and be really
Speaker:great for that side of things. with
Speaker:body composition, I feel like.
Speaker:>> Charlie: I'm convinced to give it a try at least and kind
Speaker:of see what happens with the GI issues. But
Speaker:yeah, you've definitely pushed me into
Speaker:thinking now is a good time to start trying
Speaker:it.
Speaker:>> Dana: Definitely. You're in like a, a base
Speaker:building strength season. And
Speaker:age wise, like all, all of it I think is
Speaker:super appropriate. you know, I use creatine
Speaker:in the off season too. Or like, I don't like to say the
Speaker:off season. I call it like the, this, fine tuning
Speaker:season.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Dana: But, but I, I use creatine in that, that time
Speaker:frame too, just to like support more muscle
Speaker:mass.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So, and so if I'm going out and
Speaker:looking to buy some, is it,
Speaker:is it, is it, are there ingredients that we should avoid? Is there
Speaker:anything that we should look out for when we're buying it in terms of
Speaker:concentration or fillers? I know
Speaker:that it's kind of a tricky area, isn't
Speaker:it, supplements because they're not very well regulated. So we want
Speaker:to make sure that we're getting a good quality supplement.
Speaker:>> Dana: Absolutely. and honestly with any,
Speaker:any supplement out there, we want to make sure there's third
Speaker:party testing with that. So the
Speaker:two kind of main parties
Speaker:out there that do third party testing are NSF
Speaker:Sport and Informed Choice Sport. And they'll
Speaker:have a logo on that supplement.
Speaker:Whatever you buy, usually it's on the front. It's, they pay a lot of money
Speaker:for this. So the logo is going to be very
Speaker:apparent on that supplement.
Speaker:And really in a creatine supplement, if you're
Speaker:buying just creatine monohydrate, it should just be
Speaker:creatine monohydrate. There shouldn't be anything else
Speaker:in there. when, you know, if you are
Speaker:somebody that is more gi. Sensitive, like I mentioned
Speaker:earlier, the Korea Pure, is definitely what I
Speaker:recommend and that will be on the supplement facts.
Speaker:Usually on the back of the label it will say
Speaker:creapure creatine monohydrate.
Speaker:And that's, that's what it will have. And
Speaker:usually the dosing on every
Speaker:supplement is five grammes. they have a little scooper in there and
Speaker:that's typically what it is. So if you're wanting to start with three
Speaker:grammes, just kind of do about
Speaker:half of, half of that little scooper and that should
Speaker:be fine and just.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Mixed into a fluid or however they
Speaker:suggest on the, on the box.
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah. So, it's fleet. Most of them are
Speaker:flavourless. Some of them have a flavour to them but, most of them
Speaker:are flavourless. So like you mentioned, like putting it in a smoothie is really
Speaker:great. sometimes I'll throw mine like,
Speaker:just like in oatmeal, and I'll like mix it up especially
Speaker:like post workout. Like that's, that's super easy for
Speaker:me. It mixes fine. It's a fine, it's a
Speaker:really fine powder. So it mixes pretty great.
Speaker:Some people just do it in like you know, 4 ounces of water
Speaker:and just drink it.
Speaker:>> Charlie: So yeah, there's no kind of, doesn't have a, have
Speaker:a taste. I've never tried it before.
Speaker:>> Dana: No, I mean if You've ever
Speaker:tried anything like, flavourless, like you
Speaker:can tell it's there, but it doesn't really taste like anything,
Speaker:if that makes sense. So that's the best way to
Speaker:describe it.
Speaker:>> Charlie: well, thank you so much. Are there any, like, what are your key
Speaker:takeaways or are there any tips that you give your
Speaker:athletes when they're kind of thinking about taking
Speaker:creatine that we either have touched and you just want to
Speaker:kind of reiterate or that we might not have mentioned so
Speaker:far?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah. So I would say if, you know, definitely
Speaker:our females, vegans, vegetarians, we're going to
Speaker:see the most value in taking creatine, just
Speaker:because, like I mentioned, females have
Speaker:a lower storage of creatine in
Speaker:your system naturally. And
Speaker:vegans, vegetarians, we're not getting this in our diet and so
Speaker:supplementing with it is going to be
Speaker:beneficial. I don't know if I mentioned this, but the
Speaker:Korea Pure is vegan, so
Speaker:completely safe. It's Halal certified
Speaker:as well. So, kind of checks all the boxes there
Speaker:for everybody to be taking it, so that
Speaker:can be really beneficial, in those
Speaker:individuals and starting to take it. And
Speaker:honestly, what I recommend to my athletes with
Speaker:any new thing that we are trying, whether
Speaker:this is performance, nutrition, a new
Speaker:supplement, new dietary patterns, keep a
Speaker:journal, you know, like just, just jot down
Speaker:kind of especially those first two weeks because that's really when
Speaker:we're going to start to notice the shifts. But I think it's fun
Speaker:to, to monitor over, over time
Speaker:of like, what changes you're seeing and if it,
Speaker:if you're actually seeing the benefit, if it feels good for
Speaker:you at that dosing, obviously any
Speaker:negative side effects that you might be feeling and
Speaker:then maybe checking in with a sports dietitian to
Speaker:see what you can change, if
Speaker:you are experiencing negative side effects.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Great. Well, thank you so much. If people want to find
Speaker:you after this, where's the best place to go?
Speaker:>> Dana: Yeah, so Instagram. I have a lot of great,
Speaker:content and it's just a dash of Dana on
Speaker:Instagram. And then, my website, I
Speaker:always, will have at least a monthly blog
Speaker:and some different, free content on there as well.
Speaker:>> Charlie: Great. Well, I'll leave that in the show notes below, but thank you so
Speaker:much for joining us today. I'm off to go and
Speaker:Google and buy myself some
Speaker:amazing.
Speaker:>> Dana: I love, love it.
Speaker:>> Charlie: You can find Dana, dash of Dana on Instagram
Speaker:or online@, Adashofdana us. But you'll find all
Speaker:the links in the show Notes. As I mentioned in the episode,
Speaker:I'm in a season of building strength and speed, so I've just ordered the
Speaker:Pilla Performance Creatine Monohydrate to test out.
Speaker:You can buy Pillar performance
Speaker:exclusively@xmiles.co.uk and save
Speaker:10% across the entire range and, site wide with
Speaker:code cookeatrun at checkout. Thanks again for
Speaker:listening and don't forget to subscribe and rate the show wherever you listen
Speaker:to your podcasts.
Speaker:Thank you so much for listening to Cook Run, the podcast
Speaker:hosted by me, Charlie Watson. Sponsored by X Miles.
Speaker:They are your one stop nutrition shop.
Speaker:Come and find me on social media. hereunner beans and
Speaker:tell me what you're loving on the podcast. Send me all of your questions
Speaker:and suggestions for future episodes. All the links
Speaker:you need to connect with me are in the show notes.
Speaker:Lastly, please rate the Cook Run podcast.
Speaker:It really means a lot to see your ratings and reviews.
Speaker:Obviously the five star ones go down. very well, but please let
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Speaker:as it helps more people discover us and join our amazing running
Speaker:community. See you back here
Speaker:for another episode soon. In the meantime, happy running
Speaker:and don't forget to fuel yourself. Bye.
