How bad for performance is a high-sugar diet?

If you're otherwise eating a normal mix of food, the brownies are probably not hurting you a bit. In 10-20 years, the same eating pattern could lead to weight gain. If you stop running, it definitely will. But for your mile time on Friday? It's all fuel.

Your details are meaningless. How many grams of sugar are in each brownie and cookie? You need sugar for high-intensity performance. Can't say anything more specific unless you give us more details like grams of sugar, bodyweight, and training plan.

odo wrote:

Your details are meaningless. How many grams of sugar are in each brownie and cookie? You need sugar for high-intensity performance. Can't say anything more specific unless you give us more details like grams of sugar, bodyweight, and training plan.

I weigh about 126 lbs and my training looks like this:

Monday: easy 4-5 miles

Tuesday: intervals, usually 4-6x400 with some 200s thrown in, 5:20 pace

Wednesday: recovery, 2-3 miles

Thursday: race

Friday: recovery, 3-4 miles

Saturday: long run, 8 miles at 7:30-7:45

Sunday: easy 3-5

I don't know how many grams of sugar are in all of the things I eat but I'm guessing around 15 for the brownies? I may be way off.

You're too light.

Eat more protein and try to increase the protein/calorie ratio.

I think you are just burning the sugars and not building the slowtwitch muscles after running.

I was listening to an interview last week of a guy in the NFL, who had gotten into great shape since the end of the season. He talked about eliminating junk food from his diet. When the interviewer asked "do you think a hamburger here and there is all that bad?" the reply was "It may not hurt, but it isn't helping" - that quote shed some light on your situation ... It may not hurt, but it isn't helping.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Especially natural sugars have no negative impact. In other words, drink all the Orange Juice you want (don't let Crossfit_Douche convince you about "Junk Fruits").

A high carb diet is healthier than a high fat diet.

I even put sugar in my salad dressing so it is a bit more filling without the added fat from e.g. bacon.

gain weight wrote:

You're too light.

Eat more protein and try to increase the protein/calorie ratio.

I think you are just burning the sugars and not building the slowtwitch muscles after running.

I have heard that red meat is high in l-carnatine and it contains a lot of protein, but it still has a lot of fat. What other stuff has a lot of protein but doesn't have much fat? Beans maybe?

tracknoob wrote:

odo wrote:

Your details are meaningless. How many grams of sugar are in each brownie and cookie? You need sugar for high-intensity performance. Can't say anything more specific unless you give us more details like grams of sugar, bodyweight, and training plan.

I weigh about 126 lbs and my training looks like this:

Monday: easy 4-5 miles

Tuesday: intervals, usually 4-6x400 with some 200s thrown in, 5:20 pace

Wednesday: recovery, 2-3 miles

Thursday: race

Friday: recovery, 3-4 miles

Saturday: long run, 8 miles at 7:30-7:45

Sunday: easy 3-5

I don't know how many grams of sugar are in all of the things I eat but I'm guessing around 15 for the brownies? I may be way off.

You have asked this question before. I have gathered based on your previous post that you are 15 (seems old for a freshman) and 126 lbs.

If you are a female - everything seems fine (takes this lightly).

If you are a male - I think you have some changes to make. Diet aside, you are underperforming for your age. Specifically, how fast your pace drops as you go from 1600m to 3200m.

Are you trying to loose weight? How tall are you? Your diet composition seems fine to me (you described it better in your previous post). I have already stated this before. It does however seem low in caloric content.

You mentioned feeling fatigue. That is concerning. Start there.

Prelin wrote:

You have asked this question before. I have gathered based on your previous post that you are 15 (seems old for a freshman) and 126 lbs.

If you are a female - everything seems fine (takes this lightly).

If you are a male - I think you have some changes to make. Diet aside, you are underperforming for your age. Specifically, how fast your pace drops as you go from 1600m to 3200m.

Are you trying to loose weight? How tall are you? Your diet composition seems fine to me (you described it better in your previous post). I have already stated this before. It does however seem low in caloric content.

You mentioned feeling fatigue. That is concerning. Start there.

I have indeed asked this before in a thread that didn't go over as well. I am male and about 5'10", and as for the underperforming I think it's more about race strategy and mentality than anything else. I have run a 2:19 800 since the last thread, and I have yet to run another 3200 or a 1600. In my last 32 (12:04) I was pacing very poorly and was too unsure of my endurance to begin pushing early in the race. I could probably run an 11:30 or below if I could work out my pacing issues and mental stuff. For my mile I'm thinking around 5:20, maybe a little below, but I will find out later in the sesaon.

As for the diet stuff, I'm certainly not trying to lose weight. That would be really stupid since I'm already skinny as a twig. The fatigue I mentioned only happens occasionally and is never very severe, and I can usually push through it. Usually, I can trace it to not sleeping well, but I also find that I get much more tired when I eat less protein and more grains (I now eat eggs or Greek yogurt for breakfast often and this seams to help). Generally feeling sluggish from eating too much, not necessarily eating the wrong stuff, is what I struggle with more.

Eat more. Try some Whey protein after hard workouts or any strength work.

There are a few mechanisms by which sugar could affect performance. I seriously doubt any of them would apply to you given what you have told us.

1. High dose sugar consumption, especially in sedentary people, can cause non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. A fatty diseased liver will impair performance. This takes a long time to manifest and would almost certainly be preceeded by the symptom of overweight.

2. Sugar is devoid of building materials and so a sedentary person eating too much sugar puts themselves at risk of nutritional deficiency. Runners have a different fuel-to-building-material requirement ratio than sedentary people. Your training permits you a little leeway to eat some food with poor nutrient density.

3. Foods high in sugar can cause blood glucose spikes. High blood glucose causes damage to the structures of your body and the functionality of your endocrine system. As a runner, especially one your age, you will have good blood glucose control. People with poor blood glucose control typically have the symptom of overweight.

I don't want to give you license to eat a bunch of junk but the fact is that runners can 'get away' with a lot more sugar than normal people. For a sedentary person 50g of sugar each day is far too much. For a runner it isn't unusual at all. From what little you have told us I'd like to offer a couple of suggestions:

Try avoiding dairy the day before a hard workout or race. It's notorious for affecting running performance. Noakes' recommendation in Lore of Running is something like 3 days without dairy minimum going into a race I think. I eat dairy sometimes but no way would I eat it on the day of a workout or race. It makes me feel like my blood has turned into cement.

Don't have too much protein going into a race or workout. Especially fatty stuff. Your stomach can process a carby meal in a couple of hours but eat a bunch of fatty meat and your stomach can still be working on it 12 hours later. Your blood chemistry is different when digesting fats and proteins, and it is completely the wrong blood chemistry for fast running*.

Try fuelling coming out of workouts and races rather than going into them. That is, eat your crap foods afterwards: not before.

Good luck.

* There is a case to be made for eating fat to alter blood chemistry in the hours leading up to a marathon. It's a bit controversial and doesn't apply to you so don't worry about it.

It never seems to bother the Kenyans.

This person also appears to have a focus on food beyond what is healthy. I suspect disordered eating but on an anonymous message board what can really be done to help these people?

Thanks for all the replies. After reading your advice I think I'll try to eat less dairy and more protein. Usually I drink a lot of milk, like two full glasses a day and then some. My pre-meet meal consists of yogurt and a PBJ sandwich, so I may change that.I will try to eat more lean meat and pure vegetables and fruits, and less sugary stuff and grains. A teammate recommended Whey protein shakes after hard workouts and energy bars to replace desserts, so I may try that stuff too.

Limey UK Runner wrote:

...From what little you have told us I'd like to offer a couple of suggestions:

What else did you need?

tracknoob wrote:

Limey UK Runner wrote:

...From what little you have told us I'd like to offer a couple of suggestions:

What else did you need?

Even if you posted a full food diary and your training schedule it would be very difficult to say definitively if food was causing you any problems. Your comments regarding pizza, meat and 'eating too much' just triggered alarm bells with me and the very common problem many people have with running in the hours after eating.

I'd like to stress that dairy can be a great food if you can tolerate it. It's food designed for constructing mammals so think twice before cutting it out. Athletes have been drinking whey shakes after workouts for decades for good reason. It's just worth being aware that it is very common not to get along with dairy close to hard running.

cappy wrote:

It never seems to bother the Kenyans.

I thought their staple food was ugali, not chocolate brownies.

OP

At your age you should not be worried about what you eat. Eat what you want. If, by chance, you feel guilty, then run more.

Consult with a board certified dietitian.

Had you mentioned that your first 3 laps in the 3200m were under 70s all would be fine. Instead though, you are going out too slow and are unable to reel it in. A 6min mile followed by 5'25" should be no problem. I don't think you are recovering well and also don't have the energy to perform because of your diet. The following statements are concerning:

"I usually feel fine on runs, with the exception of a total death march once or twice a week due to fatigue, under-hydration, or eating too much pizza, meat, etc." - Lack of sleep for one night, not drinking enough water during the day, or eating too much before your run SHOULD NOT hinder your performance for a given day. Your body is rather resilient. These singular events alone are not enough for a poor performance. This points to a greater problem that is being compounded over many days.

"Contains a lot of protein, but it still has a lot of fat" - Fat is good for you.

"Generally feeling sluggish from eating too much, not necessarily eating the wrong stuff..."

My humble advice is to eat if you are hungry and drink if you are thirsty. Practice this in moderation and have variety in your diet. Does your food plate have a lot of colors? It is that simple. If you still have questions, seek a dietitian.

I hope in the future we can entertain more questions about your training.

"Eat when your hungry" Is that good advice for someone with a potential eating disorder?