http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2014/08/04/the-10-biggest-sports-nutrition-myths-2#BvP4mQ3gpHvePmob.01
The recent death of the young football player should be kept in mind. There is no reason to try and consume excessive electrolytes and water to make cramping go away. Good training is a better answer.
6. Muscle cramps are caused by dehydration. The idea that exercise-related muscle cramps are caused by dehydration and/or electrolyte depletion originated from a single flawed study conducted almost a century ago. More recent science has clearly shown that there is no correlation between dehydration levels and risk of cramping.
Instead, muscle cramping appears to be a symptom of a type of neuromuscular fatigue that is caused by unaccustomed exertion (this is why muscle cramping occurs almost exclusively in races) and occurs in athletes who have some sort of innate susceptibility to cramping. Drinking more fluid and consuming more electrolytes have not been shown to reduce cramping risk in susceptible athletes in races, with the exception of one study showing that sodium-loading before prolonged exercise delayed the onset of cramping.
7. All sports drinks are the same. So much research has been done on sports drinks that many products share the same basic formula—the combination and concentration of ingredients that are proven to work. But there are some significant differences that make some products generally more effective than others and make different sports drinks better for different individual athletes. For example, the addition of a small amount of protein to the typical sports drink formula, with a 6-8 percent concentration of carbohydrate, has been proven to increase endurance and reduce exercise-induced muscle damage. But a small fraction of unlucky athletes cannot tolerate protein ingestion well during running and therefore must use traditional sports drinks without protein.
So maybe there is something to the tactical dehydration. I can agree with number 4 in this article because with longer races in the past, I have tried to drink gatorade/water prior to racing and every few miles but I had to make many pit stops. When I run at home I usually dont feel thirsty until after 8-10 miles. I guess it is individualized.
Lori
Any input on protein supplements/meal replacements?
I am looking to drop a few lbs but I cannot seem to stay full. Then i end up binge eating. I read an article on ideal race weight and am hoping to be a little faster if I'm lighter.
Personally I am not big on protein supplements and meal replacements. God made the food we need to fuel our bodies. Use that. It contains everything we need. Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Do you cook? Eat vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fish and lean meat protein. I'm a Michael Pollard fan. And he says "eat whatever you want as long as you make it yourself". You will be surprised how many times you eat french fries or anything else that is time consuming or hard to make.
Limit eating out. Or don't eat out but that's hard to do.
Drink water.
Eat breakfast, snack. lunch, snack, dinner.
I eat 5 times a day. And I carry food about everywhere with me in case I get hungry. Usually it is food I make. Make your meals and snacks a combination of carbs/fat/protein. You need all of those to stay full. good carbs. good fat. and good protein.
And if you need ideas on what to eat/make, I have those too.
Runners World has lots of ideas for eating and snacks etc.
That's my two cents.
- itri -
I cook some but maybe I should snack more. Sometimes I think it's stress eating and I do count calories which doesn't seem to work. I eat a lot of peanut butter and fruit, and muscle milk isn't cutting it either. Thanks!
So what's a typical day? What do you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner? snacks?
I never count calories. I realize people have different body types and our bodies handle food differently. I eat more than anyone in my family. Even more than my 16 year old son. People don't believe that. They think I don't eat.
I think eating out and sodas (even diet) will sabotage your nutrition and weight and exercise goals.
So what's a typical day? What do you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner? snacks? I never count calories. I realize people have different body types and our bodies handle food differently. I eat more than anyone in my family. Even more than my 16 year old son. People don't believe that. They think I don't eat. I think eating out at the wrong places and ordering the wrong foods and sodas (even especially diet) will sabotage your nutrition and weight and exercise goals.
I think eating out at the wrong places and ordering the wrong foods and sodas (even especially diet) will sabotage your nutrition and weight and exercise goals.
Fixed that for you
I would start by stopping the peanut butter. I would be interested to know how far off your "race weight" you think you are. I doubt dropping weight is going to make you faster. Right now you just need to run more.
I am off by about 6 lbs. I am running more !!
A typical work day is: 1.5 scrambled eggs, 2 cups coffee with coconut milk cream and .25cups 1% milk, lunch; whole grain tortilla with beans or turkey/cheese/kale combo, apple, muscle milk; supper; bourbon chicken, couscous, steamed green beans. However I do add that mio energy stuff to my water but it doesn't have calories.
On my days off I usually eat special k granola/ muesli in almond milk instead of eggs. At lunch usually 2tbsp reduced fat crunchy pnut butter and fruit.
I do have dessert sometimes on the weekends only.
I try to stay within 1200 calories/day give or take. If I take in more food, it will be over my limit but I am so hungry lol. Maybe I should ditch the calorie counting
I'll agree with your correction. Just curious, what do you consider the "right" places? I have a really hard time deciding where to go when we want to go out to eat. So I would like to hear your suggestions.
Sounds like you are not eating enough to me.
Here's yesterday for me:
about 12 ounces of water to start
Breakfast: 2 homemade ww banana nut muffins and 2 eggs. 2 cups of coffee.
Snack: plain non fat greek yogurt with honey and fruit mixed in and another muffin
32 ounces of water while at work.
Lunch: grilled cheese, hummus and crackers, and grapes, water
Snack: apple and peanut butter
finish off the 32 ounces of water that I started from the morning
Dinner: 1 salmon patty, butter beans, mashed potatoes, kale and a homemade biscuit. seconds on the beans and potatoes. maybe tea but mostly water
And 1/2 cup cereal in almond milk before bed.
Then I wake up starving at 5am.
Breakfast is big for me. I like to eat a good breakfast. So I cook grits, eggs, cheese toast, ww pancakes, ham & egg casserole, homemade egg mcmuffins, hashbrowns, sausage gravy and homemade biscuits, etc.
Snacks: greek yogurt with fruit mixed in, muffins, power breakfast cookies, pumpkin cookies, energy mix from costco, apple/pb, banana pb. something like that. the cookies I make.
Lunch: usually leftovers from dinner. I make enough to have for lunch the next day. I also make chicken salad and pasta salad alot. and black eyed pea salsa is good for a snack or with lunch.
Snack: hummus or just something little like the energy mix at like 3 or 4 to take the edge off before dinner.
Dinner: Dinner varies greatly. I have meatless Mondays, chicken, beef, fish, anything from potato soup and cornbread to cheeseburger pie to chicken casserole, steak, baked potato, cubed steak, turkey tenderloins, I cook alot of beans and veggies to go with all that. Spaghetti, roast beef, etc.
I am off by about 6 lbs. I am running more !! A typical work day is: 1.5 scrambled eggs, 2 cups coffee with coconut milk cream and .25cups 1% milk, lunch; whole grain tortilla with beans or turkey/cheese/kale combo, apple, muscle milk; supper; bourbon chicken, couscous, steamed green beans. However I do add that mio energy stuff to my water but it doesn't have calories. On my days off I usually eat special k granola/ muesli in almond milk instead of eggs. At lunch usually 2tbsp reduced fat crunchy pnut butter and fruit. I do have dessert sometimes on the weekends only. I try to stay within 1200 calories/day give or take. If I take in more food, it will be over my limit but I am so hungry lol. Maybe I should ditch the calorie counting
I hate quoting other people (because I am afraid I might be misquoting) but Rick Katouf, who is a local coach and gets his athletes down to freakishly low weights, is a big believer in small snacks every 2-3 hours and avoiding big meals. I personally am not a good person to ask for advise beyond loosing excess body weight since I carry a lot of weight myself. I do know that when I was doing 15-20 hour workout weeks during IM training my weight fell tremendously. I had to eat everything in sight and drink 4-6 cans of ensure to maintain my weight. Ironically, I was never really hungry during that time and had to force myself to eat. When I cut back on my workouts during the taper I became incredibly hungry, all of the time
Restaurant 17, Rick Erwins (Tuna) Outback (Tuna), Copper River (Black and Bleu salad), Block House (oysters and a Black and Blue salad) any nice seafood place Nantuckets (broiled not fried) Theresa and I eat out a lot but I am very picky with my choices. Unsweetened ice tea.
It is very unlikely for you to see me at a meat and three, Golden Corral or Fatz.
I want your recipes for those cookies and energy mix sometime! Maybe if I start eating like you and stop counting calories that will help. That helps a lot. I will try it.
We eat out about once a week. My fault is that I don't like fish. (I am in love with Jersey Mikes mini italian sub) However, on the weekends eating at mom's may be the culprit lol. And I don't think I can give up my peanut butter, but I've been wanting to try that PB2 stuff.
Kattouf is exactly where I gained a lot of knowledge about why I was hungry all the time and how to eat better and fuel my body. I attended a nutritional seminar he did and he completely made things make sense to me. I have his dvd if you want to borrow it. I will also put together some recipes for you. I have them on the computer so I can put it together and email to you.