Nutrition Tips For Runners Part 2: Nutrition During The Day
I mentioned in Part 1 of this series that the majority of us eat more than our body’s actually need to in order for it to function at its optimal best. Therefore, this theory that we need to be jam-packing our days with endless eating as soon as our weekly mileage amps up, is not really necessary nor beneficial. Don’t get me wrong, there are the minority who certainly need significantly more calories in their days when training load increases i.e. those who are already underweight (or bordering), those with very fast metabolisms, children/adolescents generally speaking, and those who simply don’t eat enough.
However, for most of us, we tend to overeat a little as it is. We may not think we do, but the science would indicate that we could function quite well on less than what we consume so long as we meet our daily nutrient profiles. And that’s what I would like to talk to.
Nutrition for athletes shouldn’t be focused so much around ‘how little’ or ‘how much’, so much as it should be focusing on the quality of what we consume. How can we fuel our body to have the best engine possible so we can run at our absolute best on all 6 cylinders? We can get too caught up in either extreme - “eat whatever you see, it doesn’t matter, you’re training heaps now!” OR the opposite, “I must count every calorie and be the lightest I can be to run faster.” Neither attitude is healthy. And when I say “healthy” – I mean both physically and mentally!
Our bodies need to be nourished and treated with respect.
If we put too much garbage into our body such as processed sugars, saturated fats and additives, we put additional stress on our organs and it makes training harder. You may have experienced that 'food hangover' type feeling after consuming too much junk food - this is your body telling you it's NOT HAPPY! A lot of foods that are high in these unnecessary ingredients also have an inflammatory response in the body which can lead to bloating, joint pain, disease and sickness.
It’s equally important to remember that if we don’t eat enough during the day and don’t meet our daily nutrient requirements we can run into problems such as weak bones from not enough calcium which commonly leads to stress fractures. Females will also run the risk of suffering from the 'female triad,' a condition consisting of the interrelated disorders of disordered eating, amenorrhea (cessation of menstruation), and osteoporosis. A common result of this is again stress fractures, but also infertility. There is some new evidence to suggest that skinny bodies produce insufficient levels of the feel-good brain chemical serotonin, which can lead to depression. Furthermore, your immune system will be under constant attack!
So how do we get the right balance of good foods?
Read on to Part 3 of this series for some simple and tasty recipe ideas for breakfast, lunch and dinner to help your body feel its absolute best, whilst helping keep you healthy on the inside. You’ll also find some easy snack suggestions to keep you going in between meals.