What Is Sports Nutrition? | El Paso, TX (2021)

 

Introduction

In today’s podcast, Dr. Alex Jimenez, Health Coach Kenna Vaughn, and Sports Dietitian Taylor Lyle discuss what does sport nutrition and a healthy diet does to the body and how it improves professional athletes’ overall wellness.

 

Who is Taylor Lyle?

 

[00:00:00] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: And we are live, guys. OK, so today, we’re going to be presenting an amazing young lady who has hit the El Paso Times. Taylor Lyle comes from many different places, and we’re going to be discovering exactly how she has contributed to the El Paso community. And she’s a fantastic addition because El Paso was a town that needed a lot of different talents, and a lot of us sometimes don’t know what the talent is. And as you can see, I’m way over here on the picture we’re running in our COVID era. Yeah, let’s show them the whole studio a little bit. And during this COVID era, we function with distancing and complexities. But today, we’ve tested everybody out here that we are unfazed at this time. So we’re going to be making sure that we talk about issues about wellness and fitness, and Taylor comes with a lot of great experience. Taylor, hi, how are you? Taylor, tell us about yourself because we’re excited to see you. We got to meet you in the process of looking up the highly talented individuals in El Paso. And you are one of the ones that came in as one of the health coaches’ fitness trainers. Tell us who Taylor Lyle is? Tell us about what’s the beginning? What started your story?

 

[00:01:34] Taylor Lyle: Yeah, I started as an athlete. Growing up, I played competitive soccer, basketball, and volleyball. And then my own experience, I found out how nutrition impacted my performance and overall health. So, you know, as an athlete on the go, you’re looking for quick choices. So a lot of times, it ends up being fast-food restaurants. And with that, it just didn’t sit well with me before a competition or after. So I had packed my own things in advance. I saw how that impacted my energy, performance, and physique. So that’s really where I got started in sports nutrition. And then I continued. I went to the University of Oklahoma, and I got my one, my bachelor’s degree, and it’s just all sciences. When I was there, I volunteered as a sports nutrition student. And so, with that, it just reaffirmed my decision to take this career path. So, I have over seven years of experience in sports nutrition and a variety of sports, and I’m a certified specialist in sports dietetics. And so with that, I have a variety of backgrounds with collegiate high school and professional athletes as well as in the military.

 

[00:02:56] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: So that’s a fantastic story. One of the things that we see here is that when we look at this resume that you have here, we see that many different talented individuals highly bring you in and see you from a distance. How did El Paso end up finding you? Tell us a story about that?

 

[00:03:16] Taylor Lyle: Well, I got set up by a recruiter to work with the army. And so with that, it just really was the timing was right. I was ready to relocate back to Texas. That’s where I’m from. I was in West Virginia at the time. I helped create their football program.

 

Football and Nutrition

 

[00:03:35] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Wait. Football. I mean, can you help the UTEP Miners?

 

[00:03:42] Taylor Lyle: You know, if they wanted me to, I’d be more than happy to assist them with their nutritional needs. But yeah, I have a strong background. I have experience with Oklahoma, Clemson, Oregon…

 

[00:03:53] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: No way. The Red Tide? No, that’s the Clemson. They are The Tigers. OK, I messed up so much. I love football.

 

[00:04:09] Taylor Lyle: And then I had the opportunity to spend two seasons of the Dallas Cowboys and then obviously, West Virginia after that.

 

[00:04:15] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, you spent some time with the Dallas Cowboys. Tell us about that a little bit.

 

[00:04:19] Taylor Lyle: Yeah, it was great. You know, professional athletes, they’re a little bit more in tune with their bodies because they’re just competing at a significantly higher level. And so it was great. I loved everyone I worked with, and I just really learned a lot. I got to do a lot more testing. We looked at muscle glycogen. We got to do all sorts of body composition tests.

 

[00:04:42] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: These guys have unlimited funds.

 

[00:04:44] Taylor Lyle: Yeah, they do. And just, you know, the nutritional, you know, whether it was supplements or just different foods we could use, we’re fortunate with the resources we had.

 

[00:04:57] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We’re going to be talking about mindset and all that kind of good stuff. So don’t let me forget about the mindset, Kenna. One of the things that we’re looking at here that we want to discuss is how that talent can translate to the people here in El Paso. There’s a lot of fitness, mental positioning, and many dieticians. Were you able to work with different types of providers out there in Dallas?

 

[00:05:19] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. And honestly, really, in a lot of my experiences, I mean, you work with strength and conditioning coaches, athletic trainers, doctors, sports medicine, sports psychologists play a considerable role.

 

[00:05:32] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Sports psychologist? OK.

 

[00:05:34] Taylor Lyle: They have implemented parts for the athletes. And then you have all sorts of support, whether in college, academics, life after sports, and just different things how to survive out in the community and then professional athletes. They have to also participate in community service so that they have a lot of basically every resource they need.

 

[00:06:00] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Do athletes have to participate in community service? Yes. OK, great. Did you work with any of the doctors out there? Because from my point of view, and I look at an athlete, OK, and when I look at our athletes here because we have a lot of great athletes in El Paso, I mean talent that just comes and goes. And one of the things that happen is no one pays attention to the nutrition people until they’re hurt, OK? And then that’s what happens because now I’m making $10 million a year as a football player, and my ACL just snapped right. So I know that part of it will be the surgeon, OK? And part of it’s going to be the rehab. But the most crucial thing there is the dietitian, OK? So as the person that works with the dietary changes, tell me how you were able to assist athletes in returning to get their dreams back?

 

[00:06:50] Taylor Lyle: So there’s a lot of different modalities. I mean, it depends on the injury. But you know, more most importantly, you want to make sure that they’re consuming enough calories. And then, from there, they’re getting adequate macronutrients. So you look at carbohydrates, depending on the injury; it’s generally lower, right? You have decreased physical activity level right there, not as mobile. And then protein, you need that for tissue and repair. And so with that, it’s you know, you need adequate protein, higher needs generally. And then, in fact, you need that for reducing inflammation just for your body to function correctly, your organs, tissues. So with that, you want to make sure that they have good fats high in monounsaturated and omega-three fatty acids. So those will be things like fatty fish like salmon and tuna, you know, different oils, olive to canola oil, peanut oil, nuts and seeds, avocado. So you know, just your good, healthy fats. Those are all going to accelerate injury. And so also you look at different micronutrients. So you know what, when you have a stress fracture or a bone injury, you’re going to be looking more at your calcium and vitamin D. Those are important for bone health information, right? And as well as the immune system. So then you’re also going to look at, you know, you hear a lot about vitamin C with immune function, but it’s essential for tissue repair, wound healing, and collagen production. So actually, collagen is also a form of gelatin. And so it’s a primary protein found in your connective…

 

[00:08:41] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Connective tissues?

 

[00:08:41] Taylor Lyle: Ye, thank you. So, you know, that includes things like your bones, ligaments, tendons, skin. So as you increase that production, make certain tendons and ligaments stronger. So that is something that you can use even in injury prevention.

 

[00:08:58] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We’re going to talk about that a little bit. We’ve been focusing a lot on inflammation, huh? Kenna, tell us what it is; our main topic is inflammation. As it has been, it seems to be a part of everything, whether it’s working out or anything. So what have we been doing with that? What is one of the essential things with inflammation that we’ve learned?

 

Inflammation and The Gut

 

[00:09:19] Kenna Vaughn: We learned that it all stems from the gut. And this brings us back to why Taylor is such a great guest to have today. I’m talking about, you know, dietary needs and everything that you need. And she is talking about great supplements. And it’s not just supplemented we need, though. Sometimes our body does better when we get the nutrients from real foods like she mentioned, avocados and salmon. Because you can break it down differently? But all in all, the end goal is always to reduce inflammation and heal the gut. We don’t want anything in there to get through the permeability. We want it to be our gut, solid so that our nutrition can be solids, and our muscles can be solid. It’s just everything is all connected, and everything leads down to, like we just said, inflammation.

 

[00:10:05] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Taylor, we now know that you’re surrounded by people that love inflammation. So let’s assume you got an athlete out there, and this dude needs to run; he needs to be a 4-40. You know, he’s got to be a big lineman. He’s going to run in 4-40. You see, he’s got to be a fast guy, a tight end or something, and they’re just having joint pain, and they constantly have issues besides the external things like ice and the anti-inflammatories and all the kind of things that he does. How do we change our diet kind of things that, you know, you mentioned some foods there, can you go a little deeper into that so we can help people.

 

[00:10:39] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So just kind of like injury, it’s similar. You look at the macronutrients I mentioned: protein, fat and carbs, and overall energy. But for joint pain, you know, fish oil also stems from healthy fats.

 

[00:10:54] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Are you talking about the omega oils? Omega-three, six, and nines?

 

[00:10:57] Taylor Lyle: Yes. So that would be omega three, which includes DHEA and EPA.

 

[00:11:04] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Are there any ratios that you guys like a little bit better? Or is it different? Two to one, three to one? What do you what do you like?

 

[00:11:13] Taylor Lyle: Generally, I want to say two to one.

 

[00:11:18] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Two to one, that’s the one I’ve heard. That two to one is the one we’ve seen the most, like 500 mg to 1000 back and forth.

 

[00:11:25] Taylor Lyle: Yeah, that’s generally where the most research is at.

 

[00:11:27] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes.

 

[00:11:29] Taylor Lyle: And so that can help joint pain, reduce inflammation, and enhance brain functions. And so then you might have heard things like turmeric.

 

[00:11:42] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Oh, yes, absolutely.

 

[00:11:43] Taylor Lyle: So those are some spices that can help with inflammation.

 

[00:11:47] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Would you offer that to the athletes too?

 

Whole Natural Foods and Supplements

 

[00:11:50] Taylor Lyle: You know, I would say, try adding that in your food first with the spices. There are supplements available for that as well. You know, with supplements, it’s just tricky. You want to make sure that it’s safe to use and consume. And so with that, you know, the US Food and Drug Administration, they don’t regulate those until something…

 

[00:12:15] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Big goes on?

 

[00:12:16] Taylor Lyle: Yeah, exactly. So with that, you generally give guidance as a sports dietitian and recommend third-party certification. So that will be logos that you would see on supplements that have NSF Certified for sport informed choice for Sport Banned Substance Control Group. So those are going to be more of your elite certification.

 

[00:12:40] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Particularly with inflammation. One of the things that we’ve seen is inflammatory issues such as joint issues. I’ve noticed that Omega’s, curcumin, vitamin D, you know, all the vitamins As, Cs, and Es, the anti-inflammatory, the antioxidants. Those are cool, particularly when it comes to omega; sometimes, you don’t know where to stop. You know, sometimes you can tell, like for vitamin C, as you dose up, you can usually tell when you’ve just crossed over the line because it does end up giving you a little bit of diarrhea. So you’ve gone too far. So, it could be 1000 for some people. Sometimes you can dose up to three in specific individuals, but you want that at a high level so that it helps with the proteins, the omega. If you go too far on those, sometimes you’ll be laughing, and you’ll be bleeding from the nose. So you’ve gone too far because we often don’t want that. So when we do that, we try to figure out ways to limit our ability to overpass. And that’s where someone like yourself would be critical to developing a diet. I’m a big believer. I’ve always been is that fitness is probably about 10 percent. Ninety percent of the athlete comes from feeding those genes, which is nutrition. And that’s the whole thing and the genetic design in the sports genes. So what I look at is that when you look at some of these athletes, I know I touched on it, but when you work with the orthopedist? Would they come to you and say, “Hey, you know what, this guy. He’s got to be back in six weeks,” because that’s the same thing that happens here in El Paso. We got athletes that are national champions. We got Division One, Division Two, Division Three, and NSAI. It’s vital to get these kids back up with the right foods when they get hurt. So in the event of someone with, let’s say, a shoulder injury or knee injury, how would the orthopedist look for the Dallas Cowboys? Because you did mention that you worked with them, would they want your help?

 

[00:14:40] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So I mean, there are several different discipline areas involved, but nutrition does play a huge role. And so that’s conversations you would have with sports medicine, whether that’s the athletic trainer who spoke to the doc, you know, because they have a busy schedule or if it’s the physician talking directly to you. So depending on the injury, it would obviously change your nutritional approach.

 

[00:15:05] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: One of the things that I remember doing is that each sport has different types of nutrition. And many people don’t know that. People think you can feed the volleyball player the same thing that a football player eats. It’s not the same.

 

[00:15:17] Taylor Lyle: No. One size fits all.

 

[00:15:19] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: So this n equals one component. I remember that one of the Dallas Cowboys orthopedic surgeons is Daniel Cooper. Daniel Cooper at the Carroll Clinic is one of the top reconstruction of knees and has been able to work with many people from Oklahoma. Many Oklahoma wrestlers go to Daniel Cooper, and he does his job. And I got to tell you, the guy will do a reconstruction of a knee in 20 minutes, and he’s done. He walks out and says, I’m done; bye now. You have the best knee job, but then that’s when you come in. You come in with a nutritionist and, as well as the coaches for the rehab, the therapist. And that’s all about nutrition. Talk to me. Wrap yourself around, let’s say, just like someone with a knee injury. OK? And let’s talk about taking them back into recovery from the beginning, from the time that says, you know what? We got the physical therapist, he did this thing, but we want to feed this guy the right way. How do we do that?

 

[00:16:13] Taylor Lyle: Yes, so look at overall diet. You know, it would assess nutritional needs. Calculate what they would need and then factor in the macronutrients, as I said earlier.

 

What Are Macronutrients?

 

[00:16:24] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: What are macronutrients? Tell me a bit of macronutrient, and so we can speak with the El Paso, so we got moms out there right now. Moms are the most complex people to deal with. Because I got to tell you, you know, little Bobby, he’s an athlete. He’s seven years old; he’s 12 years old, 13 years old, and will be a national champion. Moms in the kitchen want to know what to give their kids who are hurt similarly. What are macronutrients? And we want to go there.

 

[00:16:52] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So carbohydrates, that’s your primary energy source that’s a macronutrient as well as protein and fat. And so you want to focus on, you know, protein because you’re trying to regenerate, rebuild that muscle tissue, right, and you want it to grow. So it’s a protein needs to be a focus and fat because that will help reduce inflammation and help the healing of the tissue. And so those are the two primary ones that you want to look at, and then carbohydrates you definitely still need even just for brain function, right? And so you just don’t need as much when you’re injured because you’re not moving as much. So those are the macronutrients you want to look at. And then, when you have that confirmed, you want to start looking into micronutrients. So if it’s just a tissue injury instead of bone, you know you’re going to want to look at more of like zinc. So you’re going to need that. Well, that’s a micronutrient that you’re going to need for tissue repair regeneration. It also helps with immune system function. Vitamin A also helps with tissue repair and renewal as well as supports. Once you have an injury, it helps reverse the immune system suppression. So those are going to be what you look at, as well as vitamin C. So vitamin C plays a role in wound healing, tissue repair, boosting the immune system. So those are going to be ones that you’ll want to pay closer attention to.

 

[00:18:27] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Collagen. I’ve heard a lot about collagen, and I use it here. But what is the perspective they do at a collegiate level or the National Football League level?

 

[00:18:38] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So we actually would make gelatin. So just store-bought gelatin. Yeah, and you would add that with vitamin C, whether you want to have a cup of orange juice or supplement vitamin C powder and gelatin. And so vitamin C helps enhance collagen production. So you want those two together gelatin and vitamin C to help with collagen. And so what that does is it’s going to strengthen that tendon and ligament, making it stronger, making it less prone to an injury.

 

[00:19:18] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I got to tell you that’s excellent knowledge and I love hearing about this stuff because a lot of these people, we kind of go in there, and we read about, you know, gelatin or cartilage or what does that mean the hydroxyproline hydroxylysine? What do those things mean? And we learn that tissue repair vitamin C needs it. Yeah, many people don’t know this, but you know, the whole ascorbic acid thing happened a long, long time ago, which was back in back in the day with the conquistadors because we have a lot of conquistadors here. The conquistadors came here, but they were called Limes. Did you know that they were called Limes? They would lick limes to make it through the long traveling trips between the ocean, right? Because this was back in probably the fourteen hundreds and fifteen hundred, right? They realize that vitamin C would stop this thing called scurvy. They would bleed in the gums. But if you licked lime, OK, it would eliminate the process because, you know, vitamin C is so important to vascular repair and tissue repair that it’s so necessary. So we can’t forget it because one of the most considerable demands is, do you think an athlete will be stressed out, worried? And that’s where their emotional stage burns the stress level? You mentioned something fundamental to me, and many people don’t know about it. This is the psychological component of an athlete and the dietary issues. How do you help your athletes and the people you work with handle their lives in terms of an injury or make them better with nutrition and psychology?

 

[00:20:56] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So psychology, I do refer that out to the expert. But with nutrition, you know, I just help manage a lot of time. I mean, eating is such a big part of your day-to-day, and hopefully, you’re eating most of the day. I mean, you know, just having a good relationship with food and making sure that people are enjoying food. You know that they don’t have any negative relationship that obviously ties into psychological. But I do refer them to the expert. But you know, there’s a lot of things that can influence not just, you know, an injury or whether it’s weight, anything like that body composition, but you know, you have to look at other factors. So the stress, right, psychological sleep, you know, is there any environmental factors, socio-economic? You know, there are just so many things that can impact an athlete. You know, just even beyond nutrition. So it’s fascinating when you come together as all discipline areas because everyone plays their part, you know, to the holistic approach of improving performance and overall health.

 

[00:22:08] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, you mentioned something there, and it was the sleep, the recovery time, and the ability for someone to, I mean, without getting too theological, you know, the designer intended for us to have asleep, but we were pressed if we had anxiousness. Suppose we have a rise in cortisol, an abnormal flux between cortisol and melatonin in the brain. You don’t rest, and you don’t repair. So how do we talk to them? How do you speak to them about how important sleep is as a nutrition expert?

 

Is Sleep Hygiene Important?

 

[00:22:48] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So I talk about sleep hygiene.

 

[00:22:52] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: What is that? What is sleep hygiene? That sounds interesting.

 

[00:22:54] Taylor Lyle: Sleep hygiene is kind of like getting your bedtime routine, right? So, you know, making sure that you have good hygiene, that your sheets are clean, those have hygiene. And you know, the research shows having a cold room generally 68 degrees Fahrenheit, a dark room eliminating noise.

 

[00:23:13] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Oh, I’m starting to love everything you say. You know what, we love this. OK, so wait, you got a lot of subjects there. OK, so first of all, sleep hygiene. So no bugs in the bed and clean sheets, right? Talk to me about that.

 

[00:23:27] Taylor Lyle: Well, I don’t know how much more to go on that.

 

[00:23:29] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: But the research is important.

 

[00:23:32] Taylor Lyle: Like, you just put in the washer.

 

[00:23:34] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: But it’s simple, clean sheets have been determined to be so important, huh?

 

[00:23:38] Taylor Lyle: Yeah, just good hygiene does promote better sleep quality versus going to bed dirty. So that shows that that’s important. And then, you also look at the blue light emission. So from your TV, your phone, tablet, whatever it is, you are trying to set a timer for yourself to put that down at a certain point before bed or getting the cool orange glasses.

 

[00:24:12] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes.

 

[00:24:13] Taylor Lyle: Yes, they can help the blue light disappear. And so there are some routines you can do for nutrition. You know you want to avoid processed foods, higher fat foods, and high saturated fat, trans fat. So those will be your fried foods, your baked goods.

 

[00:24:35] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, now that you mention that you were talking about processed foods, Kenna, you have a neat way of figuring out where processed foods are in the store. What is that way?

 

[00:24:43] Kenna Vaughn: Oh yes, when you go grocery shopping, shop along the edges of the store, don’t go into the aisles because as soon as you start going into the aisles is when you start getting into all the processed foods, all of the added ingredients that aren’t necessarily good for you. So if you’re trying to stay on the outsides, that’s where you’re going to get most of your produce and your meats and veggies. Everything you need is just right on the outside. Don’t go in.

 

How Much Sleep For Athlete?

 

[00:25:10] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Don’t go in. Well, I’ll tell you what, I realize that we have to go in there and go into that area of the inner aisles. But the more organic, the more we can control our budget on the outside room and minimize the internal areas, specifically those areas where things are in bags. Those are the areas that are processed food, and we got to avoid those specifically for trying to recover from an injury. Moms, look, I know you’re the craziest of all people when we want our kids to be good. You know, little Lincoln. If Lincoln gets throttled and Lincoln is Kenna’s young little boy who has got a lot of energy, and if he gets thumped on the field, right, what’s mom going to do? Oh, happy Lincoln. No, I have seen most moms get all over their kids, but they can give them proper nutrition, which is an important part. And sleep hygiene is so important, and I don’t want to leave that subject because it’s so cool. The sleeping process, and you mentioned something about the sheets being clean. I can tell you right now; sometimes, we don’t have the help because of the COVID. Everyone is limited from going to help you at the house. So what happens is your sheets a little longer, you know, maybe dirty, you don’t have them as clean, and that may occur. So if that happens, you don’t sleep as well, right? So I hope that makes sense to a lot of people. So I don’t want people telling their wives that you need to clean my sheets to sleep better. But it does matter. How about the timing of sleep for an athlete? Is there a better time?

 

[00:26:39] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So you want to get eight hours of sleep if you can at some ages require more. So when you’re younger, you need closer to probably nine to 10 as a child, and then as an adult, you don’t need as much because you’re not growing and developing. But you still want to aim for eight, if not more. Research has come out that if you have the luxury of taking a 30-minute nap during the day, that also contributes to the overall quantity of your sleep.

 

[00:27:10] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Right now, we’ve been going through the COVID protocol, and there are kids in school that are athletes, and I got to tell you it’s one of the craziest things to watch. One thing is that the athletes are going crazy because they can’t run around a lot. One unique thing that has happened as a result of sleep, I got to tell you, I mean, I’ve seen this in my own house. My daughter grew about an inch just because she’s sleeping more, and they’re under a lot of pressure when they’re in school. Because of the COVID thing, they’re sleeping better. They’re not spending as much time going out of the house. They can’t leave. They’re stuck in their homes. But I got to tell you, my daughter grew, and she’s 17 years old a whole inch. From five foot six to five foot seven. Why does that happen? And tell me a bit of what sleep has to do with growth because that’s important.

 

[00:27:49] Taylor Lyle: So growth hormone is released when you’re sleeping. So when you get up optimal hours of sleep, it allows that to develop and be appropriately produced entirely.

 

[00:28:02] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Will it work for me?

 

[00:28:04] Taylor Lyle: Maybe not the same way of growing in.

 

[00:28:09] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I want to grow.

 

[00:28:13] Taylor Lyle: Yeah, that’s pretty much it.

 

[00:28:14] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, so growth hormone has been known to spill out of the bloodstream by the pineal gland at a certain time of night, a few hours in your sleep. And man, it’s magical. It makes you grow. I mean, it makes you grow and ain’t going to happen if you don’t get enough sleep. So as an athlete, it’s one of those things that nature has provided for us that provides a magical ability for just a natural way of healing. So it’s essential. So what else do we do for athletes in terms of recovery processes, assessing not only their sleep hygiene, but I killed you there. Sorry, I tackled you there. So hope you can regain the whole thing because it’s so important.

 

[00:28:54] Taylor Lyle: You know, you have to look at nutrition timing too. So what does an athlete have to eat or drink right after a workout? And that plays a vital process and jumpstarting that recovery. So depending on the intensity and duration of the exercise, when it’s more moderate to high intensity, you’re going to want to make sure that you have enough carbohydrates and protein because you would have used those energy stores up and depleted those in your muscles when you work out. So carbohydrate and protein allow you to refuel and regenerate those energy stores, as well as the muscle. And so, normally, you have a three to one ratio of carbohydrate to protein. So that would mean, you know, 60 grams of carbohydrate to 20 grams of protein. So if you have a nice tall glass of chocolate milk, you know two cups about that should be adequate to refill and replenish those needs.

 

[00:29:54] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Chocolate milk OK, now you pick chocolate milk. Now, most people think it’s a bad thing, but tell me why it’s such a good thing.

 

[00:30:00] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So it’s full of the macronutrients we talked about earlier. So it has good, healthy fats too, it’s natural. And then it also has electrolytes. So electrolytes, as you know, primarily you lose sodium through sweating. And so those are things you’re also going to need to replenish to make sure that you have optimal hydration after working out. And then there’s typically it’s fortified with different vitamins and minerals, so you hear a lot about bone health and drinking milk. Yes, it does have calcium and vitamin D, and a lot of times, it has some other vitamins like vitamin A. So, it’s just a reality you get everything in one, you know, one beverage, which is fantastic.

 

What Is Mifflin St. George Scott?

 

[00:30:44] Kenna Vaughn: You mentioned earlier something about calculating what each athlete needs. How do you have a certain formula that you use for that? Or how does a very poor athlete? Because even if they’re in the same sport, you know, they could be in different positions, which could vary what they need, right?

 

[00:31:04] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So energy needs I typically use for athletes; it’s an active equation. So it’s called Mifflin St. George. So that’s what. I use it for adults, healthy adults, and active adults.

 

[00:31:16] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Is it Mifflin St. George Scott?

 

[00:31:21] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. Sorry. It might have been.

 

[00:31:22] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: No, I like repeating because I’m thick-headed.

 

[00:31:28] Taylor Lyle: So you could google that and find that. And it’s gender-specific. So you know, there’s one for female, one for male. And from there, that would give you your energy needs, which consider age, height, and weight. And so from there, you look at how active individuals once I have their basic needs just to exist. Well, you don’t just exist. You, you move around, right? It takes energy to just get out of bed, brush your teeth, and then start having physical activity of exercising in there. The needs go up, right? So with that, you have a physical activity level, but you know, it’s great now that you have all these GPS data. So whether it’s like a Fitbit, Garmin, even Apple Health, if you have an iPhone, it tracks your steps or the distance you’ve gone intensity. And so all that calculates your calories burned, which has to be factored in into the overall equation, right to assess needs properly. So then, when you get to sports specific, you can have all that data to determine what that person needs. But then you also have to look at your macronutrient needs to be different for sports. So, you know, a marathon runner was going to need a lot higher carbohydrate intake versus your lineman football player. So those get taken into account, and protein and fat generally stay the same no matter what the sport is just because you need a certain fat percentage just for central fat storage.

 

[00:33:07] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: In terms of each individual. And I’m thinking in football; I’m looking at a linebacker who is the metamorph unbelievable athlete usually is butt up against the fullback. They got to kiss each other somewhere down the line. Right? And then you have your center who looks a little different than the outside tackles, right? So the weight that we typically do is through a BMI test and BIAs, basal metabolic systems, or bioimpedance assessments. Do you use those in the military to assess and help the athletes with an awareness of how much muscle, how much bone density, all that kind of stuff?

 

[00:33:51] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So you mentioned BMI, which is used in the military and clinical settings to determine if an individual’s healthier or unhealthy. Still, it is not the best way to determine that right. It doesn’t take into account gender. It doesn’t consider age or your body type body composition. So you mentioned biological analysis that would be body composition. So body composition takes a look at fat mass. You’re fat-free mass, which is also referred to as lean mass, and then you get a body fat percentage, which many athletes tend to care about is their body fat.

 

[00:34:28] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, I do. At my age, I do.

 

[00:34:32] Taylor Lyle: There’s a lot of different methods and tools you can do to assess that, and that is a better indicator for if an individual is healthier, unhealthy, and general guidelines for body fat percentage are different for male versus female. So, you know, a male, you don’t want anything over 21 percent body fat. Female would be anything over 31 percent body fat deemed unhealthy more than overweight, obese category. So anything under that, you know, is good optimal. And then, you know, you have the even lower end of the ranges. It’s typically your pretty athletic population, so there are different standards. And with the military, we have the BOD pod, which measures by composition through air displacement.

 

[00:35:23] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: And is that the one where they get inside of it?

 

[00:35:28] Taylor Lyle: Yes, it looks like a pod. Some people say a spaceship or, you know, everyone has their analogy. But so what it does is you want to compress all the air out. So generally, you’d wear compression shorts, and some people have dreads or just really long hair.

 

[00:35:47] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Dread in the military. Tell me how that will work out?

 

[00:35:54] Taylor Lyle: I got more into that more athlete thinking.

 

[00:35:57] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Hey, Sergeant Carter, we got the guy with dreads.

 

[00:36:02] Taylor Lyle: Yeah, that’d be the more athletic population.

 

[00:36:04] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I got it.

 

The Bod Pod and InBody

 

[00:36:05] Taylor Lyle: But yeah, so that is a method we could use, and it’s just a quick test. It’s not invasive. So we’re not pinching your skin; you’re just getting into this pod, and then it measures through the air and measures if your fat mass is your lean mass. Then you get a body fat percentage and then the biological opinion’s analysis. A common brand is Inbody and what you’re holding is…

 

[00:36:39] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: An eight-point impedance assessor?

 

[00:36:42] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So it’s kind of like electrodes that get the electrical signal through the nerves. And so from that, it’s able to calculate your body composition as well. And it’s pretty quick. It’s a lot more accessible and at a lower cost than a BODpod would be. So we do have that available as well. And then, you know, if you have many resources like some of the professional teams and collegiate programs, the DEXA is the gold standard for body composition. But you know, it’s not accessible. It’s pretty expensive. And the nice thing about that is minimal x-ray exposure, but you can wear loose-fitting clothing as you don’t have to worry too much about apparel. And then it just depends on the machine. It’s a seven to 12-minute scan. And then the cool thing about it, it doesn’t only just break down your body composition, but it looks at a bone mineral density so you can see how strong your bones are. And it’s an excellent tool to have that. Hopefully, if you have a scan before a stress fracture, you can take a scan post-stress fracture and see you know where your bone mineral density was before the injury and try to work back to that.

 

[00:38:06] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, the DEXA test has been the gold standard for osteoporosis, the hips, and it’s what we use all the time to determine if they’re improving with whatever they’re doing. Suppose the numbers changed drastically in one or other direction, hopefully, and so sensitive that we can see the betterment or the deterioration of the bone density. So, you know, doctors that do, let’s say, hip replacements, they do the DEXA because they want to know what they’re going to be working on and if this bone is going to be brittle or not. And it’s a great way of doing things. We have discussed the Bod pod and the different things like Inbody. And what we’ve come up with that simplicity is probably the fastest, and by the DEXA, the cost, the bod pod, the complications of finding a facility, and then also have the US military. But the Inbody seems to be a great way of doing that. UTEP has those, and they use those for their personal trainers and their fitness-trained physical therapist to do that. So it is an excellent way. And maybe it’s not as accurate as a bod pod, but it comes within one percent. But here’s the cool thing it’s consistently accurate. So, in other words, even if it’s a one percent difference, it stays that one percent difference, so you can see variations. So I’m glad that they do that in the US military now.

 

[00:39:19] Taylor Lyle: The models have improved, over time, too, so they’re getting more and more accurate.

 

[00:39:24] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes. Let me ask you about the military and how you train the athletes because you’re part of us now. One of the things about El Paso is that once you live here for about three to four years, you become part of the community, and people start knowing about you. Tell me what you want them to know about you, OK? Because this whole podcast is about you, and we want them to know what kind of resources, how they get connected. I’ve seen your website. It’s a beautiful website. It’s got incredible information there, and I recommend it. What’s the website again?

 

[00:39:58] Taylor Lyle: It’s tailored for performance dot com

 

[00:40:00] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Where you can see her there, and she’s doing some training with some athletes. And but tell us what they can look for in terms of you as an individual, and why would someone seek you out? And what kind of things do you like to work with and the thing that you enjoy?

 

[00:40:16] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So my thing would be working with elite athletes or just someone interested in sports.

 

[00:40:22] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: OK, moms, you hear that. Do you want little bobby to get stronger? Go ahead, continue.

 

[00:40:28] Taylor Lyle: And so I’m all about individualized, personalized nutrition. So really tailor nutrition to improve your overall performance and health. So that is what you’re going to get from me, whether you seek me out on my website, Instagram, whatever, you know that is what I offer. So whether that is to improve your body composition, you have weight goals. Maybe you want to lose weight, you want to gain weight, and you’re struggling to do that. You know, perhaps you have some food allergies or food intolerances, different food sensitivities. I can help you through that.

 

[00:41:07] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: What does that mean? Now, as you touched on that subject? That cherry is not going to go by without me plucking it. OK, so food sensitivities, what does that mean? Tell me.

 

Food Sensitivities

 

[00:41:16] Taylor Lyle: Yeah, so you know, you could have a big one is right, lactose intolerance. So you might not entirely have a dairy allergy. Or completely lactose intolerant, 100 percent. You might be able to have different variations of dairy. So it usually has to do with the portion size. So maybe you can only have a cup of milk instead of having milk throughout the day, you know, and it doesn’t bother your digestive system. You don’t have an upset stomach, anything like that. Gluten is another one. So celiac disease people that can’t have gluten products. So you know, you might have gluten sensitivity.

 

[00:41:56] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: That’s been big on the news lately, OK? Why is that? Why is gluten so in like crazy, like all over the information, and what are the things that we can do because it appears that gluten is horrible, and I want to put it in perspective for people from an athletic point of view?

 

[00:42:12] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So gluten, you know, if you don’t have a sensitivity to it, you want to encourage it because that will be your carbohydrates. It’s going to be your primary source of energy, right? Some foods are gluten-free that will still give you the carbohydrates that you need for performance, so those are things, you know, you want to sit down and figure out exactly how sensitive you are to that because for an athlete, you need that to perform best as well as recover.

 

[00:42:44] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Taylor, if we have an individual who is gluten sensitive or food sensitive or different foods or different issues with different types of varieties, how is it that we can pinpoint that in your experience that you’ve done the pinpoint the actual thing, that’s the culprit causing the food sensitivity because I got a lot of people says I eat this and I just feel bloated. I feel sick. I don’t feel my food. My brain is foggy after I eat the food. What are the things that we can do to assess and come up with a plan that is of a higher level than just say, stop eating?

 

[00:43:16] Taylor Lyle: So sometimes it’s tough to pinpoint exactly what food is causing the issues because generally, you don’t just have one food group by itself to say, if you’re having a meal, you’re not just going to have the pasta right, you’re going to have maybe protein with that and perhaps the sauce and different things. So it can be tricky, but a way to determine what it is causing in those GI issues is to focus on the one food group, so you would try to have it by itself. And then, OK, you see if you have any symptoms, maybe 30 minutes up to a few hours afterward, and then if you don’t have any symptoms, you move on to the next food group. And that’s how you can assess or pinpoint.

 

[00:44:02] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: So let’s say it’s albumin like an egg. You would be able to track it down. If you stop eating the food and you just feel better, right? Yeah. Well, I’ve got to tell you there’s a lot of technology that I did not realize that’s out there specifically regarding food sensitivities. And we talk about it often, and it’s great to see the roleplay of interdisciplinary approaches you have. You know, one of the things is about a multidisciplinary type of practice is you have dietitians, you have orthopedics, you have physical rehab people, you have people that can understand the most profound understandings of genetics because the tests are efficiently run to find out the susceptibility to the homozygous, the heterozygous genes, the snips, what they call, you know, singular nucleic polymorphisms is that what they call it? The word is SNPs that further assess the person’s predispositions are. It’s fantastic that you’re here. When you’re saying that, you talk to people. And then you work with people. Do you do telemedicine as well?

 

Taylor Lyle’s Information

 

[00:45:05] Taylor Lyle: Yes, I am right now just because of COVID 19 restrictions. But yes, I can do things virtually, whether that’s over a Zoom call, phone call, or email.

 

[00:45:19] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: What’s the phone number you can call? Because we’re going put it all over the place, or what’s a good number that you like?

 

[00:45:23] Taylor Lyle: We can do it later,

 

[00:45:25] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I’ll do it later then. So we’ll do that.

 

[00:45:29] Taylor Lyle: I can give out my email right now.

 

[00:45:30] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: First of all, a lot of things that we’ve learned is that she works with a lot of unique athletes, people on there that sounds like special forces out there so that she’s connected with the science of dealing with the most elite athletes. So her privacy is very important. So that makes sense. That’s right. So I don’t want people calling me. Well, I’ll tell you what it’s essential to see that you have. You know what? If I was watching this, there is no way then I would not find you OK. I would find you, you know, Taylor Lyle, and I would make sure I’d nail you. And at that point, we would call you and say, You know, little Bobby, little Lincoln, little Alex. They need some help here because we got many people who want the best for their kids, and these athletes are just incredible. So you have that knowledge and the way to sit down and work with moms and dads, primarily moms, because moms don’t want little Lincolns to get thumped. That’s why I use Lincoln because it’s Kenna’s little boy, and he’s a little energy machine. So one of the things is is that we want to do is figure out what we gather. What other ways do you communicate with your clientele?

 

[00:46:38] Taylor Lyle: Face to face, if I have the opportunity to. I put out a lot of blogs and different social media posts. So actually, yesterday I talked about gut health in my blog, and then also yesterday I pushed out, you know, vitamin C food sources on my Instagram. So, you know, that’s another way people can contact.

 

[00:47:01] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Can you give out your Instagram address?

 

[00:47:03] Taylor Lyle: It’s just my name: Taylor, T-A-Y-L-O-R underscore Lyle, L-Y-L-E.

 

[00:47:09] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: OK, perfect. We can find you that way because I’ll be a follower, and we’ll be following those ideas. It’s very important to stick together a little bit of background. El Paso has been a town where it’s been very segregated, but now it’s getting very well connected, and the talent is coming from afar. You came from Oklahoma, from Dallas. Where else did you go?

 

[00:47:30] Taylor Lyle: South Carolina, West Virginia, Oregon? I was in England at one point.

 

[00:47:36] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It sounds like a song. You have been everywhere. You’ve kind of you’ve raked up knowledge. Oh yeah, I have. And now you brought it here to El Paso, right? Yeah. From England to Dallas Cowboys to the rooms to the first places, you get it to El Paso. For us, we feel very privileged. I know I speak for Kenna too. I do, don’t I? No, I don’t. But I can say that she’s very knowledgeable, and we need people like this around El Paso. And I got to tell you it did not exist ten years ago. Not to this level. Maybe a little more ten years ago, but 20 years ago, when I first came to town, it was non-existent. This kind of intense knowledge. What brought you here? Where were you recruited just to give back a little bit on that? Were you recruited? And what do they say?

 

[00:48:22] Taylor Lyle: So they wanted me to work with the army. And so it’s a pilot program. So we’re still trying to develop the resources and just its standards. So it’s exciting. I get to help create some of the policies and procedures and how we operate as a department. So it’s me, a couple of trainers, conditioning coaches, athletic trainers, and physical therapists. So we operate as a performance team. So yeah, it’s pretty cool. And so, you know, it was closer to home for me. My experience was in college and professional athletes, so I wanted to tap into the military tactical athlete, which brought in my practice.

 

[00:49:08] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Well, the famous Taylor Lyles here. And as she becomes the gold standard of fitness, please tell me where you are headed? What kind of things are you headed for, and what will the future hold for you and the total experience of what you’ve done in the past?

 

[00:49:24] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So the future, I’m, you know, sitting there for performance right now. As I said, I cater to elite athletes trying to tailor nutrition, improve their performance and health, and I’m in the process of developing an app right now. So that’s exciting for me. Hopefully, I can disclose more when it finishes the development. Yes, the first of next year. So that’s what I have going on personally. And then, you know, professionally with my full-time job, I think that you know, I want to stay in the military sector. Even tapping more special forces would be very, very exciting.

 

[00:50:03] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Can you talk about that? Can you talk about the experiences that you have in special forces? Because I got to tell you all these athletes, they will one day be adults, and the wrestlers, the football players, the linebackers, those are the ones that go into special forces when they get the military. So how is it like to deal with them on the adult version of crazy athletes, intense athletes?

 

Military Members and Their Nutrition

 

[00:50:21] Taylor Lyle: Yeah. So along with combat forces and professional athletes, it’s different. They typically have a family, or they have other things going on in their life besides just themselves that they have to consider. So you have a little bit more variation, more real-life experience, and application, right? So it’s different, but it’s exciting. You can get a little bit more technical with them, and they’re just more likely to do it sometimes. Although you have your younger athletes, too, who want to get better and want to look like whoever their idol is, that’s maybe a professional athlete, or so they will do what it takes to get to that level of performance an athlete.

 

[00:51:12] Kenna Vaughn: I know many military members have to eat like MREs and stuff like that when they’re in the field. Have you noticed a change in their performance or anything like that when they return? Since those meals aren’t, I mean, I’m sure they’re not quite what the nutritional standards are, but they do the job.

 

[00:51:32] Taylor Lyle: They definitely don’t prefer MREs, especially those I’ve dealt with and in the field. And, you know, that’s the only sources they have a lot of times. And so, I have noticed a trend of losing weight and just being under-perform dehydrated when they’re out in the field.

 

[00:51:56] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know when you said that, what is it about the MRE they don’t prefer? I don’t know of it.

 

[00:52:01] Taylor Lyle: I don’t know if you’ve ever seen one that has a lot of different components. There’s it just depends on what you get. But many times say it’s a packet that’s already like powdered, right? You have to add the liquid, and then they have this like a heating pad to heat up. Still, it’s you’re not having you’re having a lot of dehydrated foods that you’re heating.

 

[00:52:28] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: That would be processed foods? Is it more processed, or how is it? Yeah. How is that? I guess the military will take care of its people, right with MREs. How have they balanced the or maybe it’s a question that no one knows because it seems like a top-secret, but the ability to make food, not with preservatives, but still good quality for these individuals in the sense of following the most holistic approach for their health?

 

[00:52:55] Taylor Lyle: I don’t know that they don’t have any preservatives because they have to be shelf-stable for so long, so they have to have those to be able to be good.

 

[00:53:05] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I wonder if what it would be to eat MREs while you’re pregnant, huh? Have you ever have you done that?

 

[00:53:10] Kenna Vaughn: Not while I’m pregnant, but I can say MREs are not going to cut it. They’re not very tasty.

 

[00:53:17] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Is there a favorite one?

 

[00:53:19] Kenna Vaughn: My husband has a favorite one. Which one is it? I can’t remember what it is, but he’s like, “Yeah, I always try to trade it with someone.” Yeah. And they feel like, Oh, you got this one? And some of them have a little skittle pack. And so he’s always trying to get the skittle pack one.

 

[00:53:37] Taylor Lyle: I think I heard the alfredo one is the favorite. And sometimes they’ll have a little protein bar or a bag of pretzels, so they get other things besides just that, you know, main entree option, too.

 

Conclusion

 

[00:53:52] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Well, I got to tell you, it’s been a joy. I could go on for like another two hours talking. We’ve been on an hour, by the way. Oh, wow. Yeah, it doesn’t seem that way when we’re having fun, and I want to bring you back. And I know you have a lot of friends that are in the world of fitness. We love to hear what El Paso has to offer, not only to present you guys and to showcase you as an individual primarily but also for the awareness of El Paso to see what kind of options are. It doesn’t matter that you may be in the military; you offer a lot of knowledge, and moms with little Lincolns I use as an example. They want the best for their kids, and they’re not going to put up with little Lincolns and thumped. So, one of the things is that I want to give my child the best. I know that you mentioned things like chocolate milk, right? To me, that’s good. But I’ve also noticed that people like wrestlers that are, let’s say, one hundred and thirty-eight, and they got to go to 112, right? Those guys that go to 112 breaks; they break from doing that. And suppose they have the proper nutrition through the process, specifically the micro micronutrients and macronutrients. In that case, you’re going to send your kid through a hurricane, and you’re a hurricane fighter in those airplanes that go into the deep storm; you’re going to make sure the bolts are on that airplane well. If the kid has poor nutrition and he goes into a battle, he’s going to snap, and you’re going to see it in the form of a broken ankle. You’re going to see it in a snap shoulder, a clavicle dislocation. It will come out that way because, you know, these nutritional insights are excellent, like chocolate milk. My secret was for my kid, it was Ensure just because it was the old for the older people, good enough and the kids don’t want to, you know, they want to carry chocolate milk on them, but they’ll Ensure everything in classes. But the point is micronutrition, macro nutrition, and making sure that each child has the right stuff. So I appreciate that you brought this to our light because it’s information that I want to go over. So I want you to come back and and and you’re going to enjoy because we’re going to put your grill everywhere. We’ll get you to the metal grill for teeth. I’m just going to make it look good. So it will be the Taylor Lyle grill. So we’re going to put it everywhere so people can see it. And we’re very proud to have you because of this kind of experience that you are international at this point, right, because you have gone all over the place, right? It sounds like a pitbull song. So it is something special, and I look forward to having you back with people so that you can discuss even more complex issues because I know, you know, a lot about BMI. OK, BIAs and that deep science. We have a lot of highly intelligent individuals here. We got UTEP; we got engineers everywhere. We got the people with thick glasses that will tell you about, you know, the macronutrients, micronutrients at the molecular level. So what we want to do is bring the kind of knowledge here and showcase what practicality comes because it’s not good that it’s in a book. We need people to explain it to us, and I appreciate you coming out and sharing that with us. Any other comments as to what you want to leave us with?

 

[00:57:07] Taylor Lyle: Just thanks so much for having me. It’s been a pleasure just talking to you guys. And if there are any questions, anyone has, please feel free to reach me at my website that’s tailored for performance dot com. That’s with a Y, not with an I, and then again at my Instagram, Taylor underscores Lyle. So thank you so much for your time.

 

[00:57:27] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes, we’re appreciative of you and go, we can see ourselves here, and we’re in the little podcast. And though we’re, we’re experiencing a little bit of social distancing. If I come down with sickness, it was her.

 

[00:57:42]Taylor Lyle: I get tested every day.

 

[00:57:44] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Do you really?

 

[00:57:45] Taylor Lyle: It’s mostly reading my temperature and things like that.

 

[00:57:47] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: The temperature every day. Yeah, because we’re testing everybody, you know, we got to do that for and make you feel like you’re going to be shot in the head somewhere in there. It’s kind of a crazy thing. But anyway, thank you so much, and we definitely look forward to having you back because you’ve been a great source of just being a good conversation. Thank you so much, and we look forward to having it.

 

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