Runner's Diet: 7-18-2011

As you can see I generally eat a lot of the same things. They are quick and generally pretty easy to make. During the weekdays its more about refueling than any sort of culinary experience. I will generally cook a few larger portions on Sunday for the first part of the week. The problem is that I normally eat several meals throughout the day so it's a lot to cook. Normally I'll grill some sort of meat and have a simply side of streamed veggies.

I drink mostly black coffee, Yerba Mate and water throughout the day. I have recently started drinking Almond milk but the stuff I have found in the store seems to have a lot of "other" stuff in it that is more than what is in an almond. Here is what I ate yesterday.

7-18-2011/ 4:50am: 4 Scrambled eggs with Spinach and salsa and a glass of almond milk

2nd Breakfast 7-18-2011/9:30am: Grilled beef tips and zucchini

Lunch 7-18-2011/2:20pm: Grilled beef tips and steamed broccoli

Supper 7-18-2011/7:15pm: vegetarian chili and a glass of almond milk

2nd Supper 7-18-2011
Chipotle fajita bowl, I don't really eat out much but if I need some fast food I will generally go with a Chipotle fajita bowl. I ask for no rice and both the black beans and pinto beans instead. I avoid the tortilla, which is delicious but horrible for you, and I also avoid the sour cream and cheese.

You Must Eat Like 10,000 Calories a Day Right?:Ultramarathoner's Diet

Usually the first question I get when talking to people about ultra running is "Why?" The second questions is "How?" then usually the third or forth is related to how much and what I eat. A lot of people hear that Michael Phelps, the Olympic swimmer, eats 12,000 calories a day yet still have less than 5% body fat and they assume that an ultra runner has a similar diet. (Michael Phelps' diet)Though I do eat more than the normal person, probably a lot more, it's not anywhere near the 12,000 calorie mark.

To be honest I don't count calories and I'm beginning to believe that calories are really not the best way to measure nutrient in-take and when exercising output. Back to Michael Phelps he does consume around 12,000 calories a day and who knows how many calories he is burning but from what I have read he has a pretty "loose" diet. Meaning that he pretty much eats whatever he wants. Yes, this from the guy who consumes about three times the amount of donuts as the normal person and eats snickers bars during workouts, but my daily diet is fairly healthy.

As I have mentioned before I do not have a specific diet and it has changed a lot over the past few years as I am always trying new things in search of nutritional guidance to enhance my running performance. I have been a vegetarian for a month, intended to tried a 100% raw food diet for a month but only lasted 5 days, tried an all liquid diet (not alcohol) or juice feasting diet for a week and I did the Tim Ferris's Slow Carb diet (Tim is the author of the The 4-Hour Workweek
and The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman
both of which I highly recommend)for 30 days. As a side note, I really do believe that the Slow Carb diet works and actually lost about 6lbs, just through changing my diet, my exercise levels pretty much stayed the same. 6bls in 30 days is not that much but considering that I have around 7% body fat and already live a very active and fairly healthy lifestyle I'd say that's pretty significant. i.e. I don't really need to lose weight but thought the diet was so ridiculous that I had to prove it wrong.

Now I'm reading about and slowly incorporating some of the practices of the Paleo Diet from the book The Paleo Diet for Athletes: A Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performance. So far it is a really good book that talks about a lot of general nutrition for all athletes, especially endurance athletes. It has been an interesting dietary journey these last couple of years and I'm sure I'm not at the end.

Right now I am doing a hybrid of a few different diets and still figuring out what works best. My basic guidelines are lean proteins, a lot of veggies, no dairy except some Greek yogurt, some fruit and avoid processed food as much as possible. Yes, my beloved donuts do not align very well with any of my current or past diets, however, I will argue avidly that their physiological benefits greatly outweighs there lack of nutritional content.

So what do I actually eat? Well let me show you. I have been taking pictures of everything that I consume for the past few days using my cell phone camera. It turns out that this is a quick and easy way to log all of your food intake for any of you who track or need to record the food you consume. I don't really count calories for the reason stated above, I am really more focused on getting the nutrients I feel I need in order to meet my training or racing goals. Losing weight is really not one of them so I don't know that I'd recommend you follow my lead if that is your goal. One other key is that I drink a lot of water, depending on the type of workout I do I will consume 150oz-200oz of water a day.

I have been experimenting with portions and timing of eating as well but still do not have it down to a science. Many athletes eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day which is thought to help maintain blood sugar levels and reduce the amount of food stored as body fat. However, I have recently read that while doing this will help maintain blood sugar levels there is no evidence that it will help to reduce the amount of fat that body stores. Actually Ben Greenfield, an endurance athlete and top nutritionist for endurance athletes, recommends intermittent fasting for periods of around 8 hours. This is said to help the body get used to utilizing it fat stores, which is something that endurance athletes utilize during long workouts and races.

Anyways I've posted the pictures below and I hope they give you an idea of what I eat on a daily basis. Enjoy!

Breakfast 7-13/5:00am: 4 scrambled eggs with spinach, black beans, corn and peppers


2nd Breakfast 7-13 /7:15am: Lean grilled beef tips and broccoli

7-13/7:30am:Yerba Mate with breakfast

Lunch 7-13/11:25am: Broccoli with grilled Chicken breast with Thia Curry Sauce

Dinner7-13/5:20pm: Pork and Red Cabbage Lettuce Wraps(Almost forgot to take picture there were 5 of them)

Snack 7-13/6:00pm: Flax Seed Veggie Chips and Salsa

2nd Supper 7-13/9:50pm: Sauteed Chicken Breast, Asparagus, Yellow Squash, Zucchini and Tomatoes

Breakfast 7-14/5:10am: 4 scrambled eggs with spinach, black beans, corn and peppers

Breakfast 7-14/5:10am:Dunkin Donuts Coffee (I drink about 3-4 cups a day)

Snack 7-14/9:05am:Handful of Raw Almonds

2nd Breakfast 7-14/9:17am: Grilled Lean Beef Tips and Steamed Broccoli

Lunch 7-14/2:25pm: Grilled Chicken Breast with Thia Curry Sauce and Steamed Broccoli

Supper 7-14/5:55pm: Can of V8

Supper 7-14/6:10pm: Chicken, Peppers, Red Onion, Corn and Black Bean Lettuce Wraps

Late Night Snack 7-14/9:44pm: Carrot Sticks

Nightcap 7-14/9:45pm:Norcal Margarita

Breakfast 7-15/4:55am: 4 Eggs over-easy, spinach and salsa

2nd Breakfast 7-15/9:40am: Sauteed Chicken Breast, Tomatoes, Asparagus, Yellow Squash, Zucchini

Snack 7-15/11:30am: Carrot Sticks and Edamame Hummus

The Greatest Addiction Ever:

Just more reason to enjoy that cup of joe in the morning, then for me 2-3 more throughout the day.

Carb Loading:

Now that we are fully into marathon season many new runners are looking to make sure they are properly fueled and experienced runners are trying to fine tune their hydration and fueling for their races.

Carb Loading has been associated with endurance sports for quite some time now and most people feel that it is an essential part of getting ready for that big race. Though it is important to maximize your carbohydrate reserves most people actually go about it the wrong way. The idea behind carb loading is to maximize the readily available carbohydrate stores in your muscles and liver. Most people can store about 2000 calories within their muscles and liver, which equals out to be about 19-21 miles. Once you run out of these readily available carbs your body will switch to burning body fat, which is a much less efficient fuel source. The process of the body switching from readily available carbs to body fat can generally be felt by the runner and is often not a pleasant experience. For me it is a sudden feeling of a loss of fuel, almost like I have not eaten anything is days, this is often referred to as "Hitting the Wall."

Runner and other endurance athletes want to maximize these stores in order to avoid hitting the wall as much as possible. In order to do this many runners just assume that you should just eat a lot of carbs leading up to the race. This is actually not what you really want to do, yes you will get more carbs and hopefully max your stores to a degree you might also gain some weight due to an increased amount of carbs and decreased exercise due to tapering.

You want to decrease your carb intake in order to condition your body to retain as many carbs as possible. For example if your race is on Saturday, the Sunday before the race you would want to eat about 60% less carbs than normal, then 50% on Monday, 40% Tuesday 30%, Wednesday 20% Thursday 10% Friday equal or more than you normal carb intake. When you are loading up on carbs remember that is it not just a lot of pasta, you need to also top off the carbohydrate stores that are in your liver. These are more glucose stores, so I will often have some fruit, which has more glucose than just pasta or potatoes. Remember to be careful when increasing any carb intake because many carbs like oatmeal, wholewheat pasta and grains have a lot of fiber in them and this can cause stomach issues and more trips to the bathroom than you may want...not something you want to worry about when running.

There is another easier way to maximize your carbs before a race. You can eat a normal diet throughout your taper week and simply get up the morning before your race a do several (5-10) 100m sprints or striders then eat a high carb diet the rest of the day. This will have the same effect of depriving your body of carb over a week. I have not tried this method before so I cannot really say if it works or not but it has been proven to have a similar effect. Now next time when you getting ready for that next race be sure your carb loading the right way.

Eating on the Run:

Video post about what I eat while out on long runs. I know I say that I'm headed out for a long run tomorrow, but I recorded a while ago on Saturday and went for 36 miles on Sunday Feb. 6th.

What I ate during the 36 mile run.
44oz of gatorade
1 banana
1 bagel with cream cheese
8 oz of excelerade
4 snickers bars
32 0z of water

I should have been drinking more I go pretty dehydrated towards the end. I have a 50 mile run planned for tomorrow Feb. 19th so we'll see how that goes. Definitely going to be eating on the run.

Lunchtime Runs:

I have recently done a few lunchtime runs, mostly because I have been too lazy to get up in the morning and get my AM miles in so I have had to get them in over lunch time.

A few of the problems that I have run into are:

1. Not having enough time.
2. Refueling
3. Continuing to sweat after my cool down and shower.

Overall, it is actually a good opportunity to get in a run though only a short one. Here is a pretty good article from Running Times magazine that talk about some good example of how to refuel after those noon hour runs.

Enjoy!
Lunchtime Runs? How to Refuel Fast!

50 Healthy Foods for Under $1 a Pound:

Nutrition is a major part of running and just being health in general.

There is an unlimited amount of products and foods that you can buy

to help your performance to lose more weight or heal a sickness. But

you don't need to spend a lot of money to eat healthy. Here is a great

article that list 50 healthy foods for $1 or less.

Enjoy!

50 Healthy Food for Under a $1 a Pound:

Fast Fact:Coffee

Quick article about the effects of coffee. I myself don't think that coffee is bad for you, yes if you drink 2 pots a day there will be some negative effects. Like everything else moderation is the key.

I am currently not drinking much coffee right now, primarily because the gels that I use when I race have caffeine in them 50mg (equal to 1/2 cup of coffee) and if you lay off the coffee for a month or two prior to the race you will feel the effects of the gels more. After this Sunday though I'll be back on the bean.

Fast Facts: Coffee

Why Soda(Pop if you're from MN) is so bad for you:

I have since given up soda a while a go and prefer simple water, juice, coffee, tea and of course an occasional beer now and then. I am glad that I have changed my ways from back in high school sitting in the senior commons (lounge for seniors) downing 2-4 Mountain Dews a day.

Read this yahoo article on why soda is so bad for you. (As evident by the picture above) Enjoy!

Why Soda is So Bad For You:

Green Smoothies!

As I have said earlier, nutrition has been a big part of my focus this year.  I do not have a specific diet but I tend to eat what allows me to run better.  I find that a lot of fresh fruits, veggies and lean proteins seem to do the trick.  

One thing I do almost every morning and often as a post workout refueling is a Green Smoothie.  A green smoothies is defined as a fruit smoothie that has some sort of leafy green incorporated into it.  There are tons of recipes out there just google it, here is the recipe that I use.  The main advantage of a green smoothie is that you can get the benefits of those leafy greens without having to eat them straight.  Plus I add in a few extra ingredients for protein, vitamins, minerals ect...  

Jordan's Green Smoothies recipe:

2 bananas

1/2 cup of berries ( I often use frozen blue berries or strawberries)

one medium leaf of Kale

1 tablespoon of hemp seed

1 tablespoon of dulse flakes

1 tablespoon of bee pollen

1-2 cups of water or coconut water (amount of water depends on how thick you like your smoothies)

Blend them all up in a blender and enjoy.  It doesn't have to be a expensive one, I have a $15 one from Kmart.   Hint: use frozen berries and your smoothie will be ice cold if using fresh berries add a few ice cubes.  

 

How to Peal a Banana

Ok, almost everyday I have a Green Smoothie for breakfast, which are great and I'll post on them later. I always have struggled slightly with pealing bananas, here is a great video on a much easier way.

Enjoy:

How to Peal a Banana:

Red Wine?

Yes, I labeled this under nutrition.  Check out this post from Dean Karnazes' blog, he states that a glass of red wine helps him recover.   Red wine is full of antioxidants and also has a chemical in it that is thought to reduce the affects of aging.  WebMD Article on Red Wine:

Read on for more info.  Makes You Feel So Fine

Coffee Time!

There has always seem to be controversy whether coffee is good or bad for you, especially for runners and other athletes.  Though the debate still continues I being a coffee lover must share this interesting article from Runner's World done this May 2009 on the effects of caffeine.

Most people do not know that coffee is very high in antioxidants, and it is often the main source of antioxidants for most regular coffee drinkers.  However, most athletes have avoided coffee because of the possible diuretic effects that can lead to dehydration.  

As the Runner's World article shows the average person can have up 500mg or about 5-6 cups of coffee before they will feel any diuretic effects.  You can actually benefit from the caffeine. Check out the articles below.    

Good Buzz

Coffee's Surprising Health Benefits 

The Carb-Loading Myth

Carb-Loading has always been the thing to do for distance runners, but is it still the thing to do?

A guest ask Runner's World's Sports Dietitian about this and the short answer is "yes...but."

Runner's World Article:

Eating Right on a Budget

This year I have focused a lot on nutrition, I have really been trying to eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies along with lean proteins.  Distance runners tend to eat a lot and I'm certainly no different, so when you are eating a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, you tend to have to eat a lot of them to get enough calories.  This is fine, but can be very expensive, my food budget is generally around $150-$200 a month and I usually don't buy strictly organic produce, that's a lot for a single person.  

That is why I love the Farmer's markets, not only are they generally less expensive, they are almost always organic and they help support local growers.  For those of us apartment dwellers who are unable to have a garden this is a great resource.  

I bought all of the produce pictured above for $6, not too bad.  Also another quick tip, organic produce is the best when/if you can afford it, but as a general rule if you are going to peal the fruit or veggie it doesn't necessarily have to be organic.  Here is a great article of picking out health groceries on a budget.

How Healthy People Eat Cheap

Need More Energy?

Believe it or not this little guy is the key to more energy.  It's a mitochondria and it is what convert food into energy...more or less.  So what helps these guys work the best?  Well these mitochondria become damaged from oxidation and so anti-oxidants help maintain them.  So this means a lot of fresh fruits and veggies.  

Here is a great article from Experience Life Magazine about how to get the most from your mitochondria.  

 

Read Article 

Nutrition-Juicer Part II

I got my juicer today and tried it out.  It works great so far and is super easy to use and clean.  I made some apple carrot juice which was quite good.  I also made a strawberry, kiwi, mango juice for breakfast tomorrow, which I tried and was great.

It has a screen so that you don't have to get the pulp, but I don't mind it and it just adds some fiber.  The strawberry, mango kiwi, tastes very similar to the Naked Juices that are like $4 each. Granted this is still not cheap, but allows you to do a lot more.  

I have some wheat grass seeds in route and I'm going to try and grow some this spring and summer, I heard that it is really good for you and I can juice it in my new juicer.  

  

Nutrition

I have been treating myself to a few rewards and here is one of them.  No, its not a meat grinder, it's a juicer.  It is the Healthy Juicer Electric GP62 by Lexen.  It is a masticating juicer, which means that basically it grinds the fruit though an auger, not by shredding  and spinning like centrifugal juicers.  Masticating juicer produce more juice, but are a bit more expensive.  This guy was on sale for $145.  

But I think it will be well worth it especially for breakfast on the go and refueling after the gym. Plus it is a great way to get the nutrients that you need quickly and easily.  It is suppose to arrive this Thursday the 12th, so I'll have to let you know how it works.