Do you find that running makes you hungry all the time? How do you balance running and fueling your body? Here are some tips for eating on the run:
1) Fuel before you go. Find something that settles well with your stomach and know what your body can handle. Keeping a food diary to see what sits well or what causes problems. How long before you run can you eat? What do you need to eat? Get to know your stomach. Before a long distance race (marathon or half marathon), it’s important to eat breakfast to have fuel in the tank.
2) Carry something with you Going long? There are lots of great fuels to use during your run. UCAN is a slow burning starch that was originally designed for children with a condition that makes it necessary for them to eat every few hours. They found that this product would allow them to sleep through the night and would burn slowly. When running I have found that taking a serving every 45 minutes to an hour is highly effective for longer training runs
3) Refuel! After a run you have a window of 30-60 minutes for optimal refueling. Your body needs to replenish those nutrients lost and to jump start the rebuild process. It is important to get something with carbs and proteins. Research has described a 4:1 or 3:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio is optimal for recovery. Hello chocolate milk!!
4) Graze. Runners can have higher metabolism and can become hungry during the work day. Always be prepared! Carry something in your work bag with you. Preparing healthy snacks 1-2x per week to grab every day will help you make good nutrition choices. Something simple and natural. Good Options: Raw Veggies, Hard boiled eggs, mixed nuts, piece of fruit, oatmeal, yogurt. Something quick and nutrition dense to get you back to feeling good. Plan ahead. If you don’t plan ahead it can lead to eating whatever is easily available like a bag of chips from a vending machine which is not as great of a choice 😉 . If you have an alternatives it will help to avoid foods that don’t fuel the body well.
5) Food log!Again this is a great way to realize what your body runs best of and when you need it. It can also help you see if there is a deficiency in any area of your diet. A great application I recommend is MyFitnessPal. It gives a macro and micro breakdown of your diet/eating log.
Everyone has different caloric needs. It is important that you get enough fuel for your body to function.
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