Nutrition - eating before running

Okay, maybe you should go ahead and list what you are eating, since for some reason it does not seem to be giving you the desired results of energy and vitaliy. As far as hydration goes, stick with 64 to 100 ounces and you should be at adequate fluid levels. Please list few details such as specific foods at meals and sleep patter?

Breakfast - big bowl of cereal w/ sim milk, sometimes eggs and toast + peanut butter

Snake - carrots

Lunch - Sandwich (chicken), yogurt, banana, carrots

Snack - apple, banana

Dinner - pasta or steak or chicken, always a well balanced dinner with vegetables, rice or potatoes

I drink about 64 ounces of water a day but am always going to the bathroom

That looks like a fairly good eating plan. What about your stress at work? Your sleep? Your efforts during your runs? Your inherent running form? Have you tried running in the morning instead?

Carrots are not a snack. It is a garnish for salads.

I was wondering if the time period between lunch and when I run was too long, might try eating more than just some fruit 2 to 3 hours before running. I haven't really tried running in the morning before work, I would have to get up at 5am and I think the extra sleep is more important, although morning running definitely appeals to me (get it done and not have to run after work), I might try it though. What is your opinion on running in the morning before work, what about workouts that early.

I think that eating plan is too restricting and bland. If u have a bland boring eating plan, you will have a boring bland life in the long term and your running and even social life will suffer. U need some spice and differnt foods. Runners do not have to eat like the Jared dude from subway.

Provide some examples of snack foods.

How is your weight/maintenance?

There doesn't sound like a whole lot of CHOs to me, need to keep those glycogen stores up esp before runs, suggest more CHO at lunch and afternoon snacks

but personally I have always found running after work a tough ask, just mentally and physically tired and ready to get home, relax and eat

good luck

your diet is horrible. milk, peanut butter, pasta, chicken... this is truly poisonous stuff. you also overeat.

i know this will sound irrational and stupid, but try not to eat anything but fruits (preferably organic) until after your run.

no breakfast. if you feel hungry, drink water until you get really hungry and have to eat. then eat a few apples, or pears, or bananas (try not to mix), very slowly. then wait until you get hungry again and eat a second type of fruit. drink water and eat fruits until you run. after your run, eat some pasta if you want, although i'd recommend organic steamed potatoes with a big salad consisting of greens (no iceberg lettuce, though), shredded carrots, whatever you can get, but veggies only!!!! no meat, eggs, fish, just steamed potatoes seasoned with spices (such as dill or whatever you want and some oil, preferably cold pressed organic unfiltered extra virgin olive oil) and a big salad. salad dressing preferably made of lemon juice and olive oil.

do give this a try for a few days varying the salad ingredients and the fruits.

most people think that they should eat a lot to get energy. that's not true. if the food you ate gave you energy, why do you feel heavy afterwards??? why do you have to keep eating? undereating and fasting prolong life, clear your thoughts and make you feel alert and in control. you'll have lots of energy.

i can offer other advice, which is probably not going to be welcomed. good luck!!!

Uhmm you are either crazy, looking for a bite or just a freak? but who cares... pis* off and get some fixes from some other source

Barefoot runner,

I am intrigued by your ideas. I don't necessarily agree with everything you said, but do understand and can see the reasoning for what you have said. I'm interested in any other ideas you'd be willing to share.

His diet sounds fairly typical to mine and I feel I do a pretty good job with it as does he. I'd like to know why these foods are bad and why you say he overeats. I understand as Americans we generally overeat. I will acknowledge that fact, even as a runner I think I could probably eat less, especially if I wanted to be the best I could possible be. I also understand the theory about some meats, rotting in your stomach, weight you down, etc. Please continue here or feel free to email me.

Thanks

GS

ghost and others,

first of all, i'm not a guru on food and health. there're no gurus because the human body is so incredibly complex that nobody really knows how things work.

please review my other posts on health. that will give you some ideas. let me try to summarize some concepts and ideas without going into much detail.

food is needed by the body to give it nutrition so it can regenerate itself. food should have life-giving properties. such food must be RAW food. only in raw vegetables and fruits and sprouts, and sprouted seeds and nuts (alfalfa, beans, radish, cabbage, greens, and so on and so forth) is there life.

i'm personally against eating meat. some people eat raw meat, seems to work for them.

once food is consumed, it must be digested, which is a very complex process. eating cooked food no matter what it is (granted, cooked veggies are way better than cooked starches and especially cooked fats and cooked proteins) makes the body spend a lot of energy. NOT ONLY DO YOU KILL THE VITAL LIFE FORCE IN FOOD WHEN YOU COOK IT, THEN WHEN YOU EAT IT YOUR BODY SPENDS A LOT OF ENERGY DIGESTING THE FOOD. that's why you feel tired and heavy and sleepy after a meal: the body is so overwhelmed, it diverts lots of blood to the stomach to help digest the poisons that are formed in food during the cooking process. let me mention something else. if you feel thirsty after a meal that's because you poisoned yourself: your body uses water to dilute the concentration of poisons. i rarely drink water. raw veggies and fruits and sprouts have so much organic water!!! one more thing about digestion: it's much easier to digest food if your stomach is only 2/3 full!!!

ok, so consumption of raw organic food, then digestion. and then elimination. needless to say (but i'll say it), elimination is greatly hampered if you eat cooked food. some of it stays on the walls of the intestines and the colon. milk (which other than being poisonous by itself with the exception of goat milk is also cooked, i.e. pasteurized), cooked fats, cooked starches, and cooked proteins are aweful. most people are chronically constipated and they don't know it. most people carry a lot of impacted fecal matter in their intestines because of years of abuse!!! despite that fact our bodies are amazing!!!! you load up your body with devitalized and denatured food year after year and it still lives, can't be killed so easily!!!

imagine the enegy your body spends trying to digest food, break it down and use it, and then eliminate it. on top of it it carries out vital functions. all of these activities require energy. most of the energy is spent on fighting the effects of cooked food, and not using it. that's why people eat a lot, they feel hungry. their bodies are constantly being toxicated!!!!!!

give your body a rest. skip breakfast. it's not natural to be hungry in the morning. you just woke up from a night of sleep and recovery, you should feel strong and good and energetic and elated. no food is necessary.

that's about it for now. please review my other posts if you're interested, there're some more details there.

let me kow if you need more info. i'll be glad to reply.

best to all,

br

Many religious cults tell people to stop eating protein so that they become easier to manipulate and brainwash.

thanks for telling me that. i'll be more alert from now on.

I'm not sure which idea of yours I think is the worst. Maybe skipping breakfast. It is natural to be hungry first thing in the morning. You probabaly haven't eaten for 10-12 hours. All this time you body is using energy. And no, most of that energy is not spent breaking down "toxic" cooked food. Most of that energy, especially when sleeping, is simply your body keeping itself alive. You brain needs calories. Your heart needs calories. Everything needs energy to maintain itself, even when you are in a resting state. So during those 10-12 hours when you haven't ingested food, but have still been using energy, your body has been tapping its stored energy reserves. Most of this energy comes from stored carbohydrates, in the form of glycogen. Some will come from fat. And some will come from protein. But the bottom line is when you wake up, your energy stores have been depleted, and need replenishing. Ideally, you will want some simple sugars such as fruit (limited amounts though) and mainly complex starches like oatmeal for example.

Second dumb idea: food doesn't give you energy. That is exactly what food is. It is energy, stored in a chemcical for in the various bonds within the molecule's that make up the substance. However, if you feel chronically tired, there may be more at work than simply a lack of calories. You may be getting enough calories, but are unable to matebolize these things due to a lack of essential vitamins or minerals. B-vitamin deficiencies and iron deficieny are common causes of this. But blood tests are needed to detect these problems. Don't self diagnose yourself - you will probabaly do more harm than good.

There have been studies that show that a moderate calorie reduction in healthy people has lead to longer life. This is primarily due to a reduction in free radicals. Free radicals are formed when molecules are broken down, and they are thought to be the cause of aging. Hence, the thinking is that by slightly reducing the amount of food you eat, you can slow the aging process. However, you have to make suer that you are still getting the nutrients and calories your body needs. As a runner, those needs will be higher than those of normal people.

Another note (to barefoot runner): you sound like you could be aneorexic, and/or have some kind of eating disorder. I say this for four reasons. You say that the body doesn't need food for energy. It does. You also eliminate major food groups from your diet. This is one of the warning signs of aneorexia nervosa. You also don't eat a lot. Another sign. And the fourth reason, and perhaps most worrying, is that you say that by fasting and undereating you feel in control. This is classic aneorexia - people feel that they need something in their lives to control, since there are some many uncontrolables, and so they choose to control their food. Because they can.

Next - there is no vital life force in food. This sounds like ridiculous, superstitious, new age mumbo jumbo. What there is in food is calories and nutrients. Your body needs both. And different foods will supply different nutrients.

There is a worrysome lack of vital nutrients in the food you have suggested for a diet. You lack animal products. Not only are complete proteins found in animal products, but many other vitamins and minerals that the body needs to survive are found in meat and milk etc. The few protein sources that you have given (beans and nuts) are incomplete proteins, meaning that they do not contain all the essential amino acids (the builfing blocks of protein that the body requires. You will be deficient and run into problems.

Another idea of yours which has absolutely no scientific basis is that by cooking food, you are somehow poisoning the food. I really don't follow this. If you would like to provide some study or anything that proves that cooking food turns it into a poison, I would be happy to believe you.

Also, if you feel thirsty after a meal, it is not because you have poisoned yourself with the food, it is probabaly because you have eaten salty food, whihc stimulates that body's thirst response.

I am getting slightly tired of responding to the amount of bs that is being touted here. So, in response to the intial poster's question, I suggest that you either see a nutritionalist or read some literature on the subject. You will get some good scientific facts that may help you solve you problem. And you will avoid the harmful crap that some people like to belive in.

Thanks for your post. I sincerely appreciate your response. I will not respond, however, to your reply and the questions you pose. Even if I say I don't have an eating disorder, people will not believe me. Even if I tell you that I'm not religious (nothing wrong with it) and am not part of a sect or cult, you will not believe me. You will think I have bought into some really crazy and potentially damaging ideas.

I think I achieved what I wanted to achieve: I posted my ideas and some people read them and even if one person changes their eating habbits, I am fine. If you are of reasonable intelligence, you will do research and find answers; there're books on raw foods nutrition, living foods, and so on.

Thanks you reply. It shows that you think (using information you think is correct) and were kind enough to offer advice to me.

happy running,

br

How many grams of carbs do you eat in a day?

Check the below link for some of the most ideal diets for runners.

I just figured out that from 6:30am to 5pm I eat between 180-200 grams of carbs, then I run around 5pm, this seems like a low amount of carbs, what do you think?