Debby asked: "Question: a quarter of a banana is enough to fuel you/hold you over for a run first thing in the morning? I would be afraid I would be just ravenous when I finished and/or I wouldn't have the energy to finish the run."
For me, it seems to work...although I did feel hungry for my spackle when I was done! I don't want anything too heavy, and my morning numbers tend to be my most challenging, so I don't want anything that's going to drive them up a ton, so 7-15 grams of carb seems about right. This run was for about a half hour, so I went with 1/4 banana (7 grams). If I'm going to go longer, I'll eat something small but that has the equivalent of one carb serving (15 grams) and 1 protein serving (7-8 grams), like a South Beach Bar protein bar. On racing days, I definitely eat breakfast before I work out.
Where did I come up with this? I have a book called The Diabetic Athlete by Dr. Sheri Colberg. (It's great; I highly recommend it, especially for insulin-dependent diabetic athletes.) In it, she has a general recommendation section for those with a non-insulin and oral medication regimen. She recommends testing before & after when you're getting started, to get a sense of how your body is responding. She also says that "for prolonged activities, you may need to eat up to 15 grams of carbohydrate per hour."
Debby also noted: "Even when you're not eating nuts, you're eating nuts."
Ha! Too true...
Biz commented on Panda Express: "When I worked in downtown Chicago I was at Panda Express probably 3 times a week! That was a long time ago - they may have better options now."
Well, "better" is probably a relative term here. I love Chinese food but rarely choose it, so this was a treat. Nutritional info is here: http://www.pandaexpress.com/menu/nutrition.aspx. They have a lot of carb-friendly options, but it might not be the best choice if you're watching your salt and fat (although they use soybean oil, so the saturated fat counts are pretty reasonable). And of course, stuff with the breading and sweet sauces are going to be pretty high on the carb and sugar count...*sniff*, like my good ol' orange chicken.
Breakfast: Spackle (1/4 cup oat bran, 1/4 cup flax seed meal, 1 tsp inulin powder, 2 Tbsp peanut butter, 2 Tbsp sugar-free maple syrup), a little green tea, and a big mug of coffee with half and half and almond milk.
More AM stuff: *Real* coffee with almond milk and half-and-half. Ah, that's better.
Lunch: I went for a walk, then headed over to Whole Foods to buy some protein to go on my salad, my flax bread, and some things I wanted to share with my mom and for Mr. Handsome-and-Handy to eat on his flight.
I found this item for Foodie McBody (who wrote a hilarious review of Cafe Gratitude here, yet also gracefully acknowledged their helping a guy she met at one of her solo performances to turn his life around here):
I AM GRATEFUL that I had no desire to spend $7.50 on a tiny package of cookies, no matter how vegan, raw, or delightful. (Before you applaud too loudly, see "Snack".)
Here's my spinach salad, with veggies and orange brought from home, lite Italian dressing I already had here at work, and some rotisserie chicken from the hot bar at WF on top. Yum!
Virtual lava lamp: Crystal Light packet dissolving into a bottle of water. Grooooovy, baby!
Snack: So my snarky victory over the Cafe Gratitude cookies is sort of a hollow one, because I did buy at least one overpriced, pretentious food at Whole Foods today. This package had me at "slow roasted artisan nuts" and more importantly, "smoked paprika pecans". I checked the ingredients (yay! no sugary stuff!), blanched slightly at the price, and then put them in my basket anyway. After photographing, I finally read all the text on the back. The food writing was hilarious: They claim that their "nuts are vibrant and crunchy, tiny bits of sensory perfection that will amuse your taste buds and excite your mind." (And the creator's bank account, no doubt.)
So were they "all that?" Well, they were tasty, but I have to say I prefer the simplicity of Trader Joe's roasted & salted pecans. (Or even their rosemary marcona almonds, for that matter.) They were really rich - I actually put three back in the bag from what's pictured here, and I probably ought to have put a few more back as well. They were profoundly smokey, with a little afterkick of heat to them, not what I'd expected from paprika. But what I really started noticing after eating a few is that the tasted really, really salty. The flavor was like a high-quality BBQ potato chip, but without the sweetness (or the high carb count). It was fun to try something new, but it's not something I'd buy again.
Dinner: I have a picture on my phone, but it's on the charger and I feel too lazy to get it. :-) I had steak, Brussels sprouts with vinaigrette, and salad with romaine lettuce, tomato, and vinaigrette.
That's pretty interesting how you can know how many carbs you need to eat for a certain amount of exercise.
ReplyDeleteI liked your title, and I really liked the idea of continuing the conversation. We don't do that enough in the blogosphere.
I bought some oat bran, and noticed the calorie count was about half of irish oats. Haven't tried it yet except for in the muffins.
Now I want those roasted and salted pecans at Trader Joe's. And I feel the need for a trip to Whole Foods. My only trouble with Whole Foods is that I spend 90% of my time there obsessing over the baked goods department. And I am not even kidding.