Nutrition webchat this Friday

RUTH MCKEAN

Aliscott78 wrote (see)

It's as simple as a big pasta meal with some garlic bread on a Saturday night, a bowl of porridge & honey 2 hours before my long run Sunday morning and I'm good to go for a 2 & half hour 20 miler with just a 500ml bottle of water to keep me going on the way round.

Gels / drinks / sachets / fuels etc are all a fad and convenience for not preparing in advance. What do you think they did in the days of a few cups of water around the London marathon course?!

Build up your miles and prepare in advance and your body will soon adapt. 

I do think the fluid is over rated, drink to thirst when weather conditions are mild but plan to drink  when hot!

The gels etc are useful in marathon racing for reasons mentioned but I agree too many people use these too often in training however you must use these in training a few times if going to use in a race, to find out if they are going to work for you and some people do train better on long runs using these- everyone is an individual and must find out what works for them.  Carb loading may well mean you need less duirng a race.

Elite runners do not eat or drink much during races but they finish in just over 2 hours!

Good day to day nutrition will also make a big different on race day as good recovery and good overall nutrition can help you adapt to the trianing you do.

RUTH MCKEAN

Run Wales wrote (see)

Hello Ruth,

Some athletes... notably Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, have famously moved to gluten free diets - despite not being "gluten intolerant"...  with apparently startling effects.    I have 3 questions on this subject.

1/ In a sentence or two, how does this help someone who is not gluten intolerant?

2/ If you're going "gluten-free", do you believe that you get 90% of the benefit if you cut out 90% of your gluten?   Or is it one of those things that you really need to virtually eliminate in order to gain much benefit?

3/ Is there some way of finding out how much gluten is in consumer products?  For example, normal porridge oats and many rice-based snacks often say "contains gluten" on the back of the pack. But I expect that the gluten content in such products would be very small (but they obviously have to declare it as an allergen).   My motivation here is that, if I'm not actually gluten intolerant, I don't want to pay triple the price for "gluten-free" versions of porridge, just to eliminate the last traces.

Any guidance would be welcome (though I recognise that this is a bit of a niche question)

 

Hi there

Interesting questions. There was no apparent reason for these athletes to go gluten free  but I suspect it just made them think longer and harder about what food they could actually eat  which may well have improved their diets(and Andy Murry changed coaches which may have been a big factor) . It is a   fad in the elite world at the moment (with some groups) and can help people lose weight and feel full of energy but simple because they are eating less bread (often people eat 6 slices or more of bread a day which from a nutritional view point is a lot) or eating better & placebo effect. There is  no evidence that is will make you a better athlete but if it makes you in around about way eat better then perhaps this is for you. Unless allergic to gluten then excluding 100% is not needed and you could not do this anyway. I would suggest if you want more information go to coeliac.co.uk website as loads of great info and explain all about the oat issue.

Ruth

 

RUTH MCKEAN

Thank you for all your posts. I think I have answered all your questions and I really hope my answers have helped!

Good luck in all your various marathons and eat well!

Katie RW

Thanks Ruth - really great answers. Food for thought (pardon the pun!)

Have a good weekend everyone 

Katie RW

Minni

Thank you very much Ruth!