The Athlete’s Kitchen
Copyright: Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD January 2012
What’s best to eat for recovery after a hard workout?
That’s what runners, triathletes, and body builders alike repeatedly ask. They read ads for commercial recovery foods that demand a 3 to 1 ratio of carbs to protein, tout the benefits of a proprietary formula, or emphasize immediate consumption the minute you stop exercising. While these ads offer an element of truth, consumers beware: engineered recovery foods are not more effective than standard foods. The purpose of this article is to educate you, a hungry runner, about how to choose an optimal recovery diet.
Which runners need to worry about a recovery diet?
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We were recently interviewed by the New York Times for an article on women’s running. The article will be published in the lead up to the 2012 Summer Olympics and will examine women’s participation in running from the ground level up to elite athletes.
We may not be Olympic calibre athletes, but we all have accomplishments for 2011 that we can be proud of. Many of us tend to focus on the times when we fell short of our objective and forget our achievements.
List your top ten accomplishments for 2011. Read them out loud. Recall how you felt at those points in time. Take pride in them.
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During the holiday season, many runners are strapped for time but not for calories. How can you keep your hard-earned fitness and not gain weight under these conditions?
The answer is to substitute the CESW (Convenient Efficient Speed Workout) for one or more your regular runs.
Why? This workout really cranks up your metabolism so that you burn calories long after finishing.
Convenient? You can perform the CESW right out your front door, without having to travel to a track or gym. You can also run the CESW indoors on a treadmill.
Efficient? The entire workout including warmup and cooldown takes only 30-40 minutes.
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One area where women runners differ from their male counterparts is caloric requirement. When running the same distance, men burn more calories than women due to their higher muscle mass and lower body fat.
A man training 40-45 kms (25-30 miles) per week requires 19-21 calories per pound of body weight. A 180 lb man training at this level should consume approximately 3600 calories daily. A woman running the same weekly mileage requires 17-19 calories per pound of body weight. Therefore, a 140 lb woman needs about 2500 calories daily to fuel her activity.
Carbohydrate requirement is another area of nutrition where women runners’ requirements differ from those of their male counterparts. Why? In addition to burning more calories when running, men utilize more carbs as fuel than women, even when running the same distance. Therefore, women runners need fewer carbs than men.
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THE ATHLETE’S KITCHEN
Copyright: Nancy Clark, MS, RD, CSSD December 2011
If you are a winter runner, you want to pay careful attention to your sports diet. Otherwise, lack of food and fluids can take the fun out of your outdoor activities. These tips can to help you fuel wisely for cold weather workouts.
Winter hydration
Cold blunts the thirst mechanism; you’ll feel less thirsty despite significant sweat loss and may not “think to drink.”
Winter runners (especially those at high altitude) need to consciously consume fluids to replace the water vapor that gets exhaled via breathing. When you breathe in cold dry air, your body warms and humidifies that air. As you exhale, you lose significant amounts of water. You can see this vapor (“steam”) when you breathe.
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Jane has a very hectic work schedule and often finds herself training when her energy level is at a low point.
Jane: Like many women, I have a crazy, busy job. I commute at 6:30 AM every day and get home around 5:30 or 6:00. I have two challenges:
- Fuelling for evening workouts – I don’t have time when I get home to eat before I workout/train. I have lunch around noon which is normally a salad with salmon and an apple. It is a challenge some days to eat a snack given the meetings I attend. I often am doing my workouts hungry. Any suggestions?
- Energy – at almost 48 years old and with a busy life – any suggestions on keeping up the energy levels?
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The Athlete’s Kitchen
Copyright: Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD Sept 2011
Gluten-free seems to be the latest sports nutrition buzzword. Gluten is a protein in wheat, rye and barley that must be avoided by people (including runners) with celiac disease, an inherited autoimmune disorder. Symptoms of celiac vary greatly and can range from digestive problems (diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gas) to health problems such as anemia, stress fractures, infertility in both men and women, migraine headaches, canker sores, easy bruising of the skin, swelling of the hands and feet, and bone/joint pain. The person feels lousy. Yet, some runners don’t even realize they have celiac disease. They feel fine—until they experience iron-deficiency anemia or stress fractures due to poor absorption of iron, calcium, and vitamin D. Other runners complain about “runner’s trots” and undesired pit stops.
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The Athlete’s Kitchen
Copyright: Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD August 2011
Why Is Weight Loss So Hard?
(part 2 of 2)
To read part 1, click Why Is Weight Loss So Hard? (part 1)
Weight loss tactics: So what’s a hungry athlete to do???
Drugs are not the answer. For the past 20 years, no successful weight-loss drugs have been developed and none are in sight in the near future. Drugs that regulate appetite impact many other regulatory centers and create undesired side effects. Hence, we need to learn how to manage the obesity problem at its roots—and that means prevent excessive fat gain in the first place, starting in childhood. Here are a few tips on how to do that.
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The Athlete’s Kitchen
Copyright: Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD August 2011
(part 1 of 2)
How to lose weight is the number one reason runners choose to make a nutrition appointment with me. They express frustration they “cannot do something as simple as lose a few pounds.” While none of these runners are obese, their frustrations match those of dieters in the general population.
At a conference presented by Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, and the Boston Nutrition Obesity Research Center (July 13-14, 2011), researchers addressed some of the issues that contribute to difficulty losing weight. Perhaps the following highlights might offer insights if you are among the many runners who struggle with shedding some unwanted body fat.
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The Athlete’s Kitchen
Copyright: Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD June 2011
Nutrition for Injury Recovery: Update from ACSM
Each year, more than 5,000 health professionals gather at the Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM; www.acsm.org). At this year’s meeting (Denver, June 1-4, 2011), exercise physiologists, sports medicine doctors, and sports nutritionists shared their research and offered updates. One of the updates will be of utmost interest to women runners.
Nutrition for Injuries
Unfortunately, part of being a runner seems to entail being injured; no fun. Runners with injuries should pay attention to their diet. If they are petrified of gaining weight (yes, petrified is a strong word, but it seems fitting to many injured athletes who seek my counsel), they may severely restrict their food intake. One marathoner hobbled into my office saying, “I haven’t eaten in two days because I can’t run…”
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