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!