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!
What ‘health products’ do you LOVE but HATE how expensive they are???
I pretty much hate how I have to pay EXTRA for my food to NOT be covered in pesticides! It should be the opposite;)
Jeez Lawhhheeeeez–Almond butter, good cereals, and greek yogurt are SO expensive!!!! I think the healthy foods in America should be cheap so that more people will buy them. Maybe our obesity rate would decrease too!
I saw that same article and thought it was great!! I definitely hear ya on the pricey organic produce — so worth it to me, but I wish others less fortunate had the opportunity to purchase affordable produce that isn’t covered in pesticide!
OMG! You’re going to love my giveaway/coupon this week!!! $10 for 32 oz. coconut oil!!! :)
Oh, and i HATE how spendy almond butter is, i love it and its so expensive. I usually cave and buy it anyway, but its quite ridiculous.
greek yogurt for sure!!!
almond butter, greek yogurt and non sugary cereals. It’s so unfortunate that the healthiest foods in our diets are often the most expensive!
Agave nectar, definitely. Larabars, Clif bars…buying them by the box really puts their individual prices into perspective. Sunflower seed butter, and almond butter (which is so expensive that I haven’t gotten to try it yet).
Grrrr, all of the “health” food is more expensive – so wrong.
The one that really gets me is the Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal. It’s sooooo darn good but crazy expensive. $6.99 a box at the Superstore here!!!
Great post, it was really interesting to read the interview. All healthy foods seem to be expensive over here, even simple things like fruit and veg. It makes me made that it’s so much cheaper to eat junk!
Most of mine have been named already, but I’ll name them again.
Almond butter (OMFG!!), healthier cereals, organic produce, larabars and the like, soy yogurts, and some of the meat alternatives (I’m especially fond of the meatless sandwich meats or burgers, which get pretty pricey sometimes)… All of these are staples in my kitchen, and all of them cost way more than is reasonable.
Angela, I love your question about expensive food products!
Mine are:
-Agave nectar
-Almond butter
-Coconut oil
-Really good oils and vinegars
-High quality/fairly-traded chocolate
-Vanilla essence (a weakness for Tahinitian, Mexican and Madagascar vanilla!)
I guess we sometimes need to ask ourselves, where are we willing to sacrifice a bit, so that we can spend on what really matters. I have always found that despite the sometimes high cost of eating the best quality foods, it is still so much more fulfilling and thrifty to invite others to eat and drink in my home than to eat out. Once in a while it is great to get out, but the pleasure of sharing wonderful food and times with others far outweighs the expense.
Great question – I so enjoyed reading others’ responses and seeing the common items (i.e. agave, a.butter and greek yogurt)!
i read that article yesterday and found it very interesting as well. i wish interviews like that were more common than the typical diet ones, particularly because of that last point. far too many magazines or talk shows encourage people to amp up their exercise without reminding them that more exercise means more food! even if you’re trying to lose weight, this is still true.
products i love that are way too exxpensive: almond butter!! also, organic produce, fage, tea (loose leaf can be expensive too!), maple syrup, and non-dairy milks. but the list could go on and on and on!
I love all health foods, but they can be pricy.
Nuts
Peanut butter or all nut butters
Amazing Grass
Green Tea
Raw vitamins, etc.
Pam
www.alovefornewrecipes.blogspot.com
I am glad that you liked the article. I thought it was interesting.
I hate having to buy organic food. Its SO expensive here. Since I was in Timor..they only ate organic and/or free range becuase they couldn’t afford fertilizer. Man…five mandarins for a dollar. Organic coconuts for 50 cents.
That drives me crazy coming back to Oz.
Hemp Milk!!!!
coconut oil and almond butter for sure…but I can’t live without them….I’m hoping that I finally have time tonight to make a batch of your cookies!!!
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/33979/8-perfect-fitness-foods/ – This is a yahoo article from today on the best “fitness foods” – it sort of goes along with your post!
Very neat interview! I actually never heard about the “gulping” water either. I guess I figured it would be worse to do that since our body probably couldn’t take in all that liquid at once. But I suppose it does have its benefits too! :)
MaraNatha Raw Almond Butter. Crazy expensive, but SOOOOO worth it!
xxoo
Heather
I’m glad you said bagged tea. I thought I was the only one that thought they were so over charging for them. I was shocked when I first realized how much cheaper loose leaf really is.
definitely almond butter, larabars, and amy’s anything. i live on mostly fruits and veggies so those aren’t too expensive (most of the time) but adding these things into the mix always makes my grocery bill shoot up so high.
also, i loved the first thing you mentioned – think of food as your inner equipment. when i am running or doing a really tough workout, i talk myself through it by reminding myself how i have fueled my body to do that workout. i go through the different healthy meals i’ve eaten in my head and it gets me through the tough workout every time.