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race nutrition that's zone-diet friendly?
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 2009-07-27 5:16 PM |
Member  15 metrowest MA |  Subject: race nutrition that's zone-diet friendly?hi guys, apologies if this has been covered, but i didn't find it on a few searches. i'm new to but totally loving eating according to the zone diet, primarily due to blood sugar/reactive hypoglycemia issues. i'm not having trouble training on what i'm eating, but what to do about eating during races? i just did my second international distance this weekend, and the total of 3 hammer gels and endurox i took in during the bike/run may have caused my intense GI discomfort; i think it's because i'm not used to eating sugar now. but i can't imagine eating string cheese, almonds, and grapes during a race, either... any suggestions, tried and true zone race fuel, or recipes for homemade bars? thanks a ton!! |
| 2009-07-27 7:18 PM in reply to: #2311151 |
Master 1810   Morse Lake, Noblesville, Indiana | Subject: RE: race nutrition that's zone-diet friendly? You probably already know this, but most people don't perform well training/racing with zone diet. Plain and simple, there are not enough carbs to fuel the body for exercise. It'd probably be better to get your body used to having some carbs for racing/training. http://www.enterthezonediet.com/learn/zone-diet-athletes.html: The Facts About Fitness web site, makes a calculation that a hypothetical athlete who weights 180 pounds should have 2106 calories daily on Zone Diet. But the human body is known to burn 12 calories per pound per day if leading a rather sedentary life. That means our 180 pounds athlete should have 2160 calories only on his rest-day. Some sources do not recommend the Zone diet for any kind of performance sport. Its main inconveniences are said to be: •low calorie limits •much higher protein consumption than endurance athletes are allowed to have http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/9-27-2001-4858.asp: The Zone diet does not provide enough energy to meet the needs of a competitive athlete. From a study at Vanderbuilt - http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/psychology/health_psychology/TheZoneW... It is very easy to get caught up in all the hype these days with wonder diets and drugs that claim to make you lose weight fast and many times the claims are untrue. Despite the fact that this Zone diet does indeed seem to be getting people the results that they have yearned for in a weight loss program, the overall healthiness of the diet must always be considered. It seems as though the high protein diet would be a good choice if you were severely obese because individuals under the program do experience significant weight loss. However, the long term effects of the diet concerning, for example, protein damage and bone loss, do not seem worth while. The findings of this new diet craze remain poorly researched and until the such people as Dr. Sears can get some of their research in medical journals that we can trust are true, my contention is to stick with a balanced diet and exercise to lose weight. |
| 2009-07-27 7:34 PM in reply to: #2311356 |
Member 15 metrowest MA | Subject: RE: race nutrition that's zone-diet friendly? tjtryon - 2009-07-27 8:18 PM You probably already know this, but most people don't perform well training/racing with zone diet. Plain and simple, there are not enough carbs to fuel the body for exercise. hey, thanks so much for all the helpful links! so far i haven't been restricting my calories at all by liming myself to "blocks"; i agree that what's calculated by the zone based on your height, weight, and sex are inadequate calories for someone who trains seriously. i just eat when hungry. i actually had to stop doing weight watchers when i began training because i simply wasn't allowed to eat enough. i wasn't losing weight with that limited caloric intake, and even increasing it by an extra 1000-1500 calories a day didn't make me gain anything. but i sure had more energy to train. it's not that i'm doing the zone to lose weight (although that certainly wouldn't be unwelcome); it's the only thing that has worked so far to control the reactive hypoglycemia i started having as soon as i began training for triathlons this past february (i would almost pass out in the pool or during spin class due to a sudden drop in blood sugar. i am having series of testing done but the doctors are honestly not sure what's going on; they say it's not insulin-mediated. in that case i wonder why food affects it). i agree that my performance might benefit more from taking in more carbs, but i have found that doing the zone, my energy is more level, my insomnia is gone, and i'm not experiencing the blood sugar spikes and drops that i was before. if i have to compromise some of my athletic performance in order to have a better quality of life, it's unfortunate but i think i may have to make the sacrifice. that said, i am also open to other ways of eating that might help me with my problem, whether it's cutting out all refined sugars and starches or upping my carbs but keeping a 40/30/30 ratio at each meal, etc. any suggestions are totally appreciated! |
| 2009-07-27 8:02 PM in reply to: #2311151 |
Master 1810 Morse Lake, Noblesville, Indiana | Subject: RE: race nutrition that's zone-diet friendly? You may try to continue with not eating the sugars/starches, but eat more fruits/veggies. Change the protiens to those with fewer fats, unless they are the "good" fats. You'd still be eating the protien you need, have less fats and hopefully more and better carbs. Just try to stay away from the sugar/starch carbs. That should give you the carbs you need, and still help the hypoglycemia. Just remember, your body needs the carbs to function properly, your brain needs them to function properly. If you are burning all your carbs training/racing, your brain is starving ;-) Edited by tjtryon 2009-07-27 8:05 PM |
| 2009-07-28 6:15 AM in reply to: #2311151 |
| Subject: RE: race nutrition that's zone-diet friendly? sabominator - 2009-07-27 6:16 PM hi guys, apologies if this has been covered, but i didn't find it on a few searches. i'm new to but totally loving eating according to the zone diet, primarily due to blood sugar/reactive hypoglycemia issues. i'm not having trouble training on what i'm eating, but what to do about eating during races? i just did my second international distance this weekend, and the total of 3 hammer gels and endurox i took in during the bike/run may have caused my intense GI discomfort; i think it's because i'm not used to eating sugar now. but i can't imagine eating string cheese, almonds, and grapes during a race, either... any suggestions, tried and true zone race fuel, or recipes for homemade bars? thanks a ton!! You probably had GI distress because you ate too much - 3 gels AND sports for a bike ride of an hour and a half, and a run of an hour (approximately, for slower folks)? Most people take gels every 45 minutes to an hour. Plus mixing gels and sports drink might have been too much sugar - it has nothing to do with you eating low-sugar, but most likely the fact that you consumed way too much in a short amount of time, WHILE exerting yourself, which can cause problems with a lot of people. Perhaps Hammer and Endurox are products that don't work for you. Have you tried other products? Had you tried these products before your race? You need to see what products work well for you. In longer distances, eating "real" food is common, but in an Oly or a Sprint, you need something that will hit your system fast. Food takes too long to digest. For a sprint, fuel isn't even often necessary if you ate a good dinner and breakfast, and for an Oly, you shouldn't need a whole lot either. As others said "diets" and endurance training don't mix well. I'd experiment more with the kinds of stuff you use in training. |
| 2009-07-28 8:01 AM in reply to: #2311850 |
Member 15 metrowest MA | Subject: RE: race nutrition that's zone-diet friendly? wurkit_gurl - 2009-07-28 7:15 AM You probably had GI distress because you ate too much - 3 gels AND sports for a bike ride of an hour and a half, and a run of an hour (approximately, for slower folks)? it may be more than some people need, but 1) i'm large (5'11" and 185 lbs) and 2) i live in fear of hitting that blood sugar drop during an event, since it happens during training. when i train, i basically have to eat a few hundred calories with protein and carbs before doing anything longer than a half hour; and if i train for more than an hour, i begin to take in something. if i eat straight carbs (a bagel, a banana, a granola bar) before training, i crash with bad hypoglycemia. Perhaps Hammer and Endurox are products that don't work for you. Have you tried other products? Had you tried these products before your race? endurox is something i use on every long training ride, and also used the endurox/hammer gel combo during my first oly. i didn't have GI distress during that one, and i actually had 4 gels and fnished my endurox instead of drinking half of it on the bike (that one was a longer course and took 3 hours; this past one was a tad shorter and took me 2.5 hours). i agree that if i try a sprint, i probably won't need anything - possibly just a gel at the beginning of the run, which is my slowest event.i'll definitely try other products during training, thanks for the suggestion! although part of why i picked endurox was that it has some protein in it, which may help me from crashing; and the hammer gels have less sugar than most gels. maybe i can look up what diabetic triathletes use and try those strategies. |
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