Olympic Winter Sports I feel privileged and excited to be chosen to answer questions on a panel for the Olympic Games. The panel provides a a platform for athletes from all over the world to ask a Sports Dietitian questions. Many of my answers to the athletes will be reviewed by a sports journalist and perhaps written up in her articles for circulation to the athletes. You may remember my article in Runner’s World (International), April 2009 that brought lots of glory to Optimal Nutrition for Life (aka “me”, “Ilana”) … That article was so well […]
4 Keys For a Healthy Marathon Runner’s Diet
Image via Wikipedia Training for a marathon or half marathon can ask a lot of your body. Your body may be in some state of recovery almost continuously. If you are eating exactly what you should be now, you may need to take in more calories. But more important than how much you are eating is WHAT you are eating and WHEN. Unless you are running 70 miles a week, you probably can’t eat ice cream every night without gaining weight. Do the math. Running a mile burns roughly 100 […]
4 Keys For a Healthy Marathon Runner's Diet
Image via Wikipedia Training for a marathon or half marathon can ask a lot of your body. Your body may be in some state of recovery almost continuously. If you are eating exactly what you should be now, you may need to take in more calories. But more important than how much you are eating is WHAT you are eating and WHEN. Unless you are running 70 miles a week, you probably can’t eat ice cream every night without gaining weight. Do the math. Running a mile burns roughly 100 […]
What should I eat the week before my marathon?
Should you worry about carbohydrate loading before your marathon? Is the pre-race pasta party the best answer? Specifically what should I eat the morning of the race? You can find all these answers here. Marathon Diet – Carbohydrate Loading Most marathoners, even first timers, have heard of carbohydrate loading -“carbo loading”. Though most have no idea what it really means, beyond a vague notion of eating a lot of pasta the week before their marathon. The old thinking was that you would starve your body of carbohydrates for several days […]
Ideal foods to eat before your marathon
Now the big day is here! What are your best food choices for race morning? Before you decide exactly which foods to eat, review our guidelines for what to eat before your training run. If you are reading this the day before your race, you should probably stick to what has worked for you in the past. Don’t be tempted to change anything. If you have not yet settled on a pre-race menu, here are options that work. Foods to eat before the race should be foods that can easily […]
What should I eat before each marathon training run?
Firstly to ensure your overall marathon training diet is balanced, read Nutrient Balance for Athletic Performance. You also need to figure out what you can / should eat before each run. During your training, use this time to practice what you will eat on race morning. Don’t overdo it You may not need to eat before every training run. My rule of thumb is I don’t take in any calories if the run is under 10 miles (unless the workout is a speed workout or other intense session). You want […]
6 Ideal Foods to eat before your marathon or training run
Fruit with eggs Applesauce baby food liquid meals sports bar with protein coffee, tea, water 10 minutes before
Surviving the Travel Challenge for Athletes
Whether it is for business or for an event, competitive athletes face many challenges associated with travel. An athlete must maintain a regular eating schedule to ensure proper carbohydrate and protein levels, daily vitamin needs, adequate energy and hydration. Travel, however, very frequently disrupts this schedule and exposes the athlete to foreign food and water which may lead to gastrointestinal distress. This article focuses on key points that will help athletes adapt and reduce the nutrition stress of unfamiliarity. Some of these points include planning ahead, researching destinations and their […]
Race Day Nutrition
Without a doubt, advances in sports nutrition have enabled athletes to make tremendous performance gains, and high-tech, scientifically-derived products (such as bars, gels and sports drinks) are crucial to top race-day results; however, consider that, during long-course events, triathletes race from the early morning until, in many instances, well into the night. During this time, athletes will miss four to six regular meals and snacks — all while the body churns through up to 500 calories per hour. Thus, balanced, well-planned nutrition is required to make up for these missed […]
Recovery Nutrition
The body stores carbohydrates, in the form of glycogen, in very limited amounts. It is thus important to maximize that storage capacity, to prevent the risk of running out of energy before the training session is over. The enzyme responsible for storing glycogen is elevated after exercise. It is elevated within 30 minutes post-exercise, but remains above normal levels up to 24 hours later. It is therefore vital to take in an adequate amount of carbohydrates as soon after exercise as possible. Adding some protein to that meal or […]
