JESSE: This is a kind of curiosity from the business standpoint, do you end up building the department to work with the guys? VICTORIA: Yeah. That's the goal for this is...like a department type of a, I guess you call it government contracting in a way. I don't want to, like I can get them as clients by reaching out to them if they needed it, but I want it to be something that the department offers for them, that they can take advantage of as a benefit to them. I think that having the peers doing it and having educational sessions with everybody and things like that, that it'll get more people involved and included because they’ll want to be involved. So, yeah, it's not-- I mean, I will take individual clients if people want it, but as far as me from a business standpoint, it's going to go in that ?? 00:50> which is like...I don't know them. But I'm learning so I...that does that kind of stuff and he's teaching me the ropes...hard part. JESSE: Yeah, that seems kind of like the key. I have a business mentor, and he does both private and government contracts. And I'm not interested in that at all, but I know if I was, I could go to him and in general, that seemed like the way to go. Like find somebody that's already figured out the system, like please help me figure this out and then go from there. But that's cool, that kind of thinking about it almost like, for the departments that could offer it, it's like an employee perk, basically. Like not only do you get your salary and whatever benefits or maybe but you know, an additional benefit is, hey, we're gonna make sure like you're eating the right stuff. So, you feel good, and you can go home, your family and not be totally exhausted at the end of the day. VICTORIA: Yeah, and I mean, it also cuts down on like workers comp and sick time and things like that from an administration standpoint. So, it's just a new thing. And they haven't really ever really thought about it too much. And so luckily, I've been involved in it so long that I know a lot of people try to like say, look, this might be new, but maybe we can open up to new ideas because the stuff that we're doing before is not working. So, we'll see. Hopefully, it goes good. JESSE: I think it's really neat. I haven't seen it clearly there-- I think you're kind of problem or need case of like, the guys are grabbing donuts at 3 am and trying to fuel themselves like clearly that's not great. Like a donut every once in a while, okay. But like, that's the main state of your diet, I'm not sure anybody would advocate for that. VICTORIA: Yeah, and I mean, it's not just the donut at 3 am to get that sugar rush, but it's just their overall lifestyle... On top of the stress that they get from the job and ?? 02:52> and their sleep. The sleep cycle, to be honest, I think had a lot to do with a lot of the issues. But nutrition can play a performance...the negative effects that you can get from lack of sleep. But if you're fueling yourself with the wrong stuff, that's going to even make it worse. You might not be able to-- you can't help the sleep issues with firefighters or police and stuff or shift workers because that's their job. But if you can do things to maybe offset those negative things, it might help. So, that's where I’m ?? 03:31>. JESSE: I’ll have to follow up with you once you kinda like get things going to see what kind of feedback you've gotten, like how things progress because it's like, I definitely want to see, you know how things go. VICTORIA: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I have something going on with it right now already. And I just, I don't know, they-- I don't know. We'll see. I'll keep you updated. But it seems to be very-- from the very few that have heard about it, it's very, it's been received, like really good. Like, people are like, wow, this is actually interesting ?? 04:07>. So, to me, just even that alone is a good thing because I'm like, all right, this is something that's needed, it's missing...want it. So, if I can just--It’s going to take a lot of work, to get them to, like go for it for real, but I think once I get them to realize that it's important, and you know, I'm sure you've seen as an athlete, it's surprising that athletes even today, we don't know how to fuel ourselves... They don't even think, nutrition’s like on the back burner. Like people don't really know about it. And you would think like after all these years, we would, but we really don't really know a lot about...get peak performance. You know, ?? 04:51> cross that channel and eight, maybe, like 3,000 calories and probably made it felt like shit after, you know, what I mean? So, yeah, I would have made it though just out of my willpower, hopefully. So, people, they can do things temporarily but if they're not necessarily performing at their peak or their best that they could... Yeah, it's always surprising like, especially the more you get into that, the nutritional standpoint, like damn, this is crazy. Like, how can people really perform even better because people are performing like really good nowadays in everything, right? So, once they start advancing that even more, it's going to be like ?? 05:31> interesting. JESSE: I've spoken to like several different registered dietitians from the beginning of the show till now. One in particular, Nancy Clark, who basically wrote the book on like Sports Nutrition, she has a sports nutrition guidebook. And one of the things I talked about with her is like, a lot of the information is or should be common sense by now. And it's like, we've heard it all but we don't actually put it into use, and I kind of wonder whether it's a matter of, there's so many distractions, there's so many things for us to focus our attention on. And food is like I'll continue to use the donut as an example, but just like it's a convenience food. There's tons of convenience food, but like peak performance fueling requires constant preparation and planning to have that stuff in place before you need it. Not “Oh, crap, I don't have anything in the house. And now I need to go find something to eat. So, I'm gonna go find something quick because I don't have any time because I've got to get this done.” And we're guilty of that here like in my house as well just-- So, I feel like having people like you, that are like almost spoon feeding people like me, this is what you need to eat. It kind of takes out one of those steps of all that planning. Like you did the planning. Okay. Now, all I have to do is the shopping and prepping like-- VICTORIA: It is. And it's a lot of education just so you can change your mindset, and make it more of a natural thing to do. And it takes a while. I ?? 07:16> good at it sometimes either. I get busy and next thing you know I’m like “Oh, there's no food in my fridge and I have to go to work, what am I going to eat?” So, constant practice, even when you understand... And the last...is think about that stuff after you went to work and then train your butt off, you just want some food. JESSE: Yeah, you're hungry, you're tired, you don't want to do anything else. And then okay, then you have to cook something. That's where a prepping comes in, where it's like, you have meals prepped on Sunday or whatever day of the week you can do it and then it's like, okay, now all I have to do is just heat it up and eat it. It's not going to be-- it's not going to taste as good as if it's fresh, but you also don't have to go through the hassle of cooking it right then. VICTORIA: And like you had said before, I think that food has become just a part of our culture in like, so many different ways where we don't eat just to fuel our body because it taste good or like you said, it doesn't taste as good when you have to reheat it. We like to fresh or we go out with our friends and like, it's a social thing or... So, there's a lot of that too, that I think affects how we look at food as far as fueling ?? 8:31> fueling for performance is not really the greatest like fun. You know, when you're trying to cut down or lean up and it's like, I gotta do what? JESSE: Yeah, I have trouble with that. And so like, lately, I've kind of gained weight, kind of almost inexplicably. I don't feel like I've changed what I'm eating and I'm like, I look just as lean as ever. So, I’m like what's happening and what-- Which I’m gonna diagnose now with my coach. We're in the process of that. But yeah, there's definitely this-- I mean, food culture like I got a portrait and quote from Anthony Bourdain downstairs, a big fan of his. May he rest in peace. ?? 09:20> there's a Food Network and all these food shows and it's an event, it's something we do to get together with friends. So, it’s an excuse to be social, like it's way more than just my body needs these things so I’ll take them in. Like I've got like a nutrient block, it's got all the vitamins and minerals I need and I'll eat it I'm good. Like it's a whole experience and that plays a factor into okay, maybe like a peanut butter and jelly is the best thing for me. But I really want a piece of chocolate cake because it's Sarah's birthday and we're gonna go out and celebrate with her. VICTORIA: Right. I’ll have one glass of wine, a bottle later. JESSE: Right. VICTORIA: But there's only three glasses in a bottle right? JESSE: Well, I didn't know that but it depends on how big the glass is I guess. VICTORIA: Well, yeah, I don’t know. It’s cool though. JESSE: I think what, and I'm curious kind of what your experience is but I asked a lot of people, which we'll get to this question. I asked a lot of people about food that I talked to because it is universal. And often even the people that are performing very very well, like my friend Todd, I've had him on a couple times. He has his PhD in exercise physiology. One of his like, favorite recovery foods is just peanut butter and jelly. And then often I'll get responses of like I really love ice cream or pizza or beer or whatever after a hard workout. It almost seems like half the time or more than half the time, I get these responses that are like comfort foods rather than food for fuel. VICTORIA: Right. Yeah. I think especially with the long term performers that like I said before, a lot of it’s mental. I mean, you can't have it like every single day, every single hour, you know what I mean? But if you don't let yourself indulge a little bit on those things, I mean, those things have sugar, they have carbs-- they have things-- protein, so they're good you know, in a certain time frame, certain here and there you know. You can't always have it after every single workout. But if you're like, “Man, I need that ice cream today.” Like it's not terrible. You're still replenishing the glycogen and everything you need. But you can't just do it all the time, obviously, that's not the best. I guess you could. Some people, they just can perform whatever. But I think a lot of it too is a mental thing where sometimes people they just want to feel good ?? 12:01> happy for a little bit. As long as they have the control, I don't think there's anything...every once in a while as long as they’re getting protein... JESSE: Yeah. I kinda think about it-- So, one of my coaches, she's a former professional triathlete, she competed in the Olympics, I think in 2004. She always suggests basically 90/10 like if you're eating well, 90% of the time and you have a treat 10% of the time, it's not a big deal. Like don't punish yourself because you decided to have a treat every once in a while. So, that actually leads me to my question. This is the question I asked everybody like I kind of alluded to, is especially pertinent for you since you do nutrition. But I like to ask so after a hard workout, maybe not your channel crossing because it's kind of unique. But after a hard workout, or a race, if you can only choose one food for recovery for the rest of your life, what do you choose? VICTORIA: That’s a tough one. After a race, what do I choose? I don’t know. I just eat like I change it a lot, you know? It really depends on what I'm in the mood for and what I-- JESSE: Do you have a top three? VICTORIA: Huh? JESSE: Do you have a top three? VICTORIA: Been a while since I've actually raced. I haven’t raced in like a year and a half. I’m trying to remember what I ate. I'm usually pretty like right away-- I mean right away I have protein right now, I have a protein shake like mix it with water. That's like always what my go-to is. I just get in the habit of doing that. And then like to be honest, a lot of times races they'll have stuff like hamburgers or ?? 13:48> and things and I’ll grab that. I don't have like a set, go-to thing I have to eat. But I do make sure I get like chicken after... But it's not like taste... I guess if I wanted to like indulge I would want something greasy or something. But yeah, I usually just eat what they have as long as it's nothing too crazy, and then..something...usually starch. JESSE: Okay. Just the fruit of convenience, that'll work. VICTORIA: Yeah. JESSE: Victoria if people want to find you, follow you, see what you're doing especially with the, I guess say firefighters, policemen stuff, where can they find you and kind of see what you're up to? VICTORIA: Well, I mean, I'm on social media. I have Instagram where I post a lot. I have a website, which is my name, VictoriaBurgess.com. But I'm more active on my social media, so Instagram’s ?? 14:57> V, and then my Facebook is just my name. JESSE: That sounds good. Thanks for coming on today, Victoria. VICTORIA: Thanks for having me. Go to Part 1 Go to Part 2
Smart Athlete Podcast Ep. 35 - Victoria Burgess - PADDLE LIFE - Part 3 of 3
This is a kind of curiosity from the business standpoint, do you end up building the department to work with the guys? VICTORIA: Yeah. That's the goal for this is...like a department type of a, I guess you call it government contracting in a way.
