Sunday, August 3, 2008

Feeling rushed in the morning? I know I do. I get up at 4:45am and I am working by 6am. It is almost impossible to squeeze in a filling, nutritious meal in, after dashing into the shower and heading out either on my bike or in my car to the Hospital. While breakfast might be the last thing on your mind as you dash out he door, it is important that a morning meal has a place in your routine. For many of us, consuming large late night dinners, or many calorie-rich evening snacks, reduces the urge to eat upon waking. Eating dinner within an hour or two before bedtime may cause poor absorption of food and a restless night of sleeping. Give yourself at least three hours to digest a healthy dinner before going to bed.

Working out on an empty stomach is recommended for workouts lasting around an hour (or less), but neglecting to refuel post-workout is an unhealthy start to the day. The body has enough stored glycogen in the muscles to help you finish an hour long moderately intense workout fist thing in the morning so long as the daily diet is balanced with several small protein and carbohydrate snacks and healthy meals every day.

In order to have plenty of energy for your morning workout, eating late at night is not recommended. Workouts become compromised when undigested food is sitting in the stomach or you wake up bloated due to a late-night meal. Also, eating too many simple carbs in the evening increases the chance for unstable blood sugar levels, poor storage of muscle glycogen and the probability that excess calories will be stored as fat. Breakfast is the first chance to refuel liver and muscle glycogen after sleeping all night. Eating breakfast will not only help you recover quickly after a morning workout, but your mind and body will also feel energized all day. People who skip breakfast have a tendency to snack excessively, feel starving at lunch, and experience uncontrollable cravings throughout the day.

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending"

2 comments:

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

OKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK I am putting down the chicken parm. sub that I am eating now :-( geesh it's only 11pm

Seriously I am doing very well with my food thank goodness, nothing like a 100 miler to get you focused on the food... AND I never miss a breakfast, my favorite meal, ummm I also don't run in the morning except on race day--LOL ahhhh sad part it is true the other SAD part is not only do I only get up in the early morning to run for a race but that is also when I run trails-- on raceday:-) wooo Hoooo

ahhhh you have to love FL ultra training... HOT sealevel pavement at 3pm is the best!!

Good night!!!!!!!!!

meredith said...

If you like thinking about recovery food and healthy food in general...you'll get a kick out of what I do for a living www.eatingandlivinghealthy.com

Can't wait to chat this weekend! Oh, that's right, I have to keep up with you first ;)
meredith