Hello, Happy Hump-day!
This was me at midnight last night, finally done my day!
Eric was also hard at work…
He did the first coat of paint in my workout room!!!! :D
Check out his blog this morning (around 9am) for the finished product!
Also, you still have 1 day left to enter the amazing Neal Brother’s giveaway!
Yesterday, a fabulous OSG reader named Michelle, directed me to this awesome Q+A featured on the New York Times Health website.
Below is a summary of Tara Parker-Pope’s interview with Leslie Bonci, director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and a certified specialist in sports dietetics.
Leslie is also the author of a new book, “Sports Nutrition for Coaches” found on Amazon.
I summarized the key points below that I found were interesting regarding fueling for exercise- a topic that I have been very interested in lately!
- Think of food as your inner equipment. You wouldn’t drive a car with a flat tire, right? Well, we shouldn’t exercise without fuel in our tanks either!
- Two common mistakes people make are A) Not fueling before exercise (you will be weak) and B) Eating too much before exercise (your stomach will feel too full and uncomfortable). It is a fine line to achieve a happy medium!
- Eating 1 hour before exercise is generally good for most people (mostly carbs).
- One hour before exercise, you should have 20 ounces of liquid. It takes 1 hour for this amount of liquid to leave the stomach and make its way to the muscles.
- If you workout longer than 1 hour, you need to fuel during exercise. Aim for about 30-60 grams of carbs per hour. Gels, honey, sugar cubes, or sports drinks are suggested sources.
- Eat within 15 minutes of exercise. “The enzymes that help the body re-synthesize muscle glycogen are really most active in that first 15 minutes. The longer we wait to eat something, the longer it takes to recover.”
- Refueling after exercise helps prevent delayed-onset muscle soreness. Especially after intense exercise you MUST refuel or you risk a lengthened recovery time!
- Peanut butter sandwiches are often recommended because they have both carbs and protein. They are also inexpensive and nonperishable! You can take them anywhere.
- Fluid intake should be between 14 ounces and 40 ounces per hour depending on how much you sweat. It varies widely by the person.
10. If you don’t take in enough fluid, you risk heat injury and joint injury. Your speed, stamina, and strength will also diminish.
11. To gulp or sip your water? Gulping your water is apparently better because having a greater volume of fluid in the stomach stimulates the activity of the stretch receptors in the stomach. This increases intra-gastric pressure and promote faster emptying.
12. Three meals a day is not enough for someone who is physically active. You should have at least 3 meals and at least 2 snacks a day to keep your energy up.
You can read the full interview here.
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Some things I found interesting in the interview:
- 1 hour before exercise try to have 20 ounces of water.
I must say aside from my recent 10k race, I don’t tend to give my liquid intake much thought before exercise. I am usually on my way out the door for a run, when I stop and go, ‘oh crap- water!"’ and I gulp some down and hit the road. I really want to pay more attention to my water intake 1 hour before and see if this makes a difference.
- Peanut butter sandwiches are a great fuel source.
Ok, I guess I knew this, but it never really ‘sunk in’ just how awesome PB sandwiches are- tasty, filled with carbs and some protein, portable, nonperishable, and CHEAP! The wonder snack! :) And come on…who doesn’t need a few more reasons to eat some PB?
- Gulping water is better than sipping water.
I am still not 100% convinced of this claim, but it is worth a shot! :)
What are your thoughts of this interview?
Now I have a fun question for all of you today that isn’t really related to the Q+A, but I thought I would ask it anyways!
What ‘health products’ do you LOVE but HATE how expensive they are???
I’ll go first:
- Coconut oil
- Brown rice syrup/agave nectar
- ALL organic produce
- Tea Tree Oil Astringent that I buy
- Almond butter
- Organic canned salmon (like $5-6 a CAN! what the heck!)
- Bagged TEA (Yogi tea, anyone!?) Which is why I have switched to loose leaf for the time being!
- Veggie burgers
- Amy’s products (I find they are highly overrated personally. Every time I check the nutritional info they are loaded with sodium!)
- Vitamins and supplements
- Vegan margarine
- Specialty cereal (Kashi, and the like)
- liquid garlic (Kyolic)
- CHIA seeds!! I tried buying some yesterday and it was going to be like $40 for 2 cups worth! I had to put them back :(
Ok, I will stop now! lol…
What about YOU?
Thank you to everyone for submitting your green monster stories to me ([email protected])! I will be updating them this morning, so be sure to check for your post! Submit your story today!
There are so many health foods I love but are pretty expensive: Nut butters (besides pb), chia seeds, Adora calcium supplements, coconut milk/ice cream, agave nectar/maple syrup, healthy cereals, steel cut oats, wild rice… The list goes on!
Pretty much everything I eat is expensive! Larabars, Sunshine Burgers, greek yogurt, tea, and other baking ingredients like spelt flour, tvp, etc.
Thanks for posting that interview.. I’m having trouble finding out the right pre workout snacks for me! What are your favorites?
Most of mine have been said too … organic produce, and meats/fish, greek yogurt, almond butter, etc. Raw nuts too, which is weird, because you’d think the roasted would be more expensive since roasting would ADD an extra step to the production. Ah, agri-biz…you so crazy!
Thanks for the tips!
Oh yeah, and I meant to mention — I actually find the green monster makes a great pre-workout snack for me. It takes care of (some of) the hydration, and the carbs/sugar from the fruit give me energy. I have to have it about an hour before I work out though, otherwise I’m too full.
I definitely hear you on the almond butter and Yogi tea. I also want to buy organic spinach for my green monsters, but I just can’t justify the price….Uggg…I know, I really should, but you get 1/4 of the amount for the same price as a regular huge bag of spinach!
looks like you guys had a busy day!
i hate that almond butter is so expensive, but I CAN Make my own so I should do that more often.
oh and greek yogurt!!! we don’t have a Trader Joe’s here so the only kinds I can get are FAge and Oikos which are rarely on sale.
-Veggie Burgers
-Organic Produce and Ground Turkey Breast
-Greek Yogurt
-http://www.lydiasorganics.com/ (loveTheLemonGingerBar!)
-http://www.goraw.com/
(loveTheBananaBreadBar and Almost everything else)
-HomeHealthAlmondGlowSkinLotion(AMAZING!)
On the other hand I love how inexpensive I can get
-My Old Fashion Oats, Oatbran, Barley, Coucous, and other grains
-Canned pumpkin
-Raw Nuts and seed (except Walnuts, Pistachios, and Cashews bc their ALWAYS high)
-And I almost ALWAYS buy Larabars by the box and use coupons for my Kashi Goods/Catch them on sale Buy 1 GEt 1 Free at Publix =]
[I like to the that they help balance eachother out. A HAPPY MEDIUM!]
I agree with your list of health foods that are expensive, let me add Greek yogurt (I wish my Costco would sell it, I eat it every day). Especially organic produce and meats (I am a total Carnivore).
But I guess on the flip side, there are some things I love that are inexpensive (oats, brown rice). I recently found organic quinoa at my local Costco and scored a big bag for $10. I love this stuff.
After being a lurking reader, I finally took the Green Monster plunge… :)
http://www.mrssouthernbride.com/2009/07/new-ride-and-green-monsters.html
My favorite item would be Organic Milk, I think it tastes so much better, but it’s so much more expensive!
-Greek yogurt. I still buy mass quantities of Fage 0% despite its cost.
-any natural nut butters
-agave nectar
-lean organic meats
-Larabars, sometimes Kashi bars but they now carry my fave kind at Costco
-Amazing Grass – this is a recent addition…I am addicted to the Amazing Meal!
Kashi cereal -I love it but it’s hardly ever on special. However I have learned to look at it as an investment in myself. I mean it would be much worse if I was eating cookies or cake everyday, right? :)
Peanut butter on half a wholemeal bagel with a banana is my usual pre-race snack. It’s portable and has all the energy factors in there!
Love this interview, thanks a lot for sharing! I am just about to graduate and am studying dietetics, and I want to do something in sports nutrition, so I may have to pick up some of her books. It was very interesting to me!
I would have to say organic milk, almond butter, greek yogurt and chia seeds!!
Greek yogurt, agave nectar, Amy’s products among many others. They need to start offering coupons for these products.
I swear, in downtown Chicago ALL health food products seem to be expensive. One thing that comes to mind is almond milk – I wish it came in bigger sizes, I hate that I am paying money for packaging and that it is SO much more $$ than soy milk, and even more so compared to regular cow’s milk! They make it so hard to be healthy sometimes!
Foods prices just keep rising! And it’s mostly the healthy foods. My list: organic/all natural peanut butter, organic/ raw/etc almond butter, tea, produce, and about a billion other things. Haha. Great post!
<3 jess
xoxo
Hmmm…the eating and drinking before a workout is good, and I notice the difference on the weekend.
But mid-week, I am at the gym 2x a week at 5:30 am and the alarm only goes off at 5. So there’s no food or drink in there at all. When I was working with a trainer at 6 am, I would try to eat a banana first.
I do drink water during my workout (you inspired me to do some cross training, and now I do 15 mins hard cardio, then a weight circuit, 15 more mins cardio, weight circuit, takes an hour and isn’t boring!)
I also don’t eat within 15 mins of finishing because I shower first. But definitely within 30.
Another great post! I was just commenting to a fellow gym goer yesterday that I don’t think I drink enough water before my runs at lunch sometimes because there are days were I feel like I could just die of exhaustion!
A few things I HATE the price of are,
*agave
*Artisana products
*hemp seeds/chia seeds
*Medjool Dates
*goat cheese
*Some bagged tea…Mighty tea Leaf for example
*pure maple syrup
The list could go on for much longer, but I’ll spare you the rant! :)
My sister sent me that article yesterday! The “gulping” water thing struck me too, since I have a camelbak, I usually sip away during runs.
Organic dairy and low/no sodium stuff!! There’s this one brand of low-sodium organic pressed cottage cheese that is $8 a package. That’s ridiculous.