Sports Nutrition Principles with Tailwind R&D Director, Dr. Art Zemach

Welcome to Episode 13 of the Eat for Endurance Podcast, featuring Director of Research and Development at Tailwind Nutrition, Dr. Art Zemach.

Art (or Dr. Z, as his patients call him) is a retired pediatrician and endurance athlete based in Durango, Colorado who competes in multiple sports, including white water kayak racing, mountain biking, skiing, Ironman, ultra trail running, and others. Jeff Vierling, the co-founder of Tailwind Nutrition, was scheduled to join us on this episode and unfortunately couldn’t make it at the last minute, but Art did a great job of sharing Tailwind Nutrition’s story, how Jeff came to create the company’s signature Endurance Fuel, and how Art later joined the team and co-developed their recovery product, Rebuild. 

Art and I had a detailed discussion exploring the science behind key sports nutrition principles, using Tailwind's products to help exemplify many of these principles, including: 

• Specific nutrient needs for athletes (especially with endurance sports), including protein, carbs, electrolytes, and fluids
• The timing of these nutrients
• Real food vs sports products
• Solid vs liquid calories
• Training the gut
• How many calories we can absorb
• The Low-Carb High-Fat (i.e. ketogenic style) diet and how high carb sports nutrition products are used when following this diet 

As a sports dietitian, I also found it interesting to learn a bit about how a nutrition product like Tailwind comes to life, going from a tiny business out of a garage to a multi-million dollar company. There are SO many products out there, and I always wonder how people go from seeing something missing in the market to creating it and selling it internationally.

FYI - I happen to be a fan of Tailwind products and am on their Trailblazer team, but any opinions expressed about their products are my own and not the result of a paid partnership.

Links and Resources:

•  Tailwind Nutrition Website: https://www.tailwindnutrition.com
•  Follow Tailwind on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter

Announcements:

• Please SUBSCRIBE to and rate/review the show if you're enjoying these episodes!
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• Have nutrition questions, a guest or topic request, or any other feedback? Email me - claire@eatforendurance.com.
• Music Credit: Joseph McDade
• Disclaimer – all information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes only and is in no way meant to replace individual medical and nutrition recommendations.