Everyday Systems

Here's today's tip from the Duke Diet Program:

"Healthy Preworkout Snacks
Do you often have a snack before your workouts? While eating before you exercise may seem a little counterintuitive — after all, isn't one of the aims of exercise to burn calories? — it can actually be a good move. If it's time for your workout but you haven't eaten anything for a few hours or more, a snack can give you the energy you need to get going. And it can prevent you from being so hungry when you're done exercising that you make poor food choices.

The best preworkout snack is one that includes carbohydrates, which provide an energy boost, and protein, which sustains the energy boost and helps you feel satisfied longer. Here are some ideas:

Half a bagel with low-fat cream cheese
An apple with reduced-fat cheddar cheese
A banana with peanut butter
Yogurt with berries
A few crackers with tuna
One slice of bread with turkey
The key is to keep your portion small — around 50 to 100 calories. Eat your snack 30 minutes to an hour before you work out, keeping in mind that the body takes a little longer to absorb the energy from foods containing fat.

And before you stock up on energy bars or other products that promise to give you a boost during your workout, take note: While these products can be a convenient option, they can also be high in calories. If you do choose a sports bar, look for small ones that contain 100 calories or less."


The whole mentality behind this diet approach is that you have to carefully calibrate food intake against energy expenditure so that you are between being so hungry that you have no energy and overeating so much that you gain weight.

I am now working parttime for five hours four days per week. I eat breakfast at 6:30 AM (a bowl of Cheerios with craisins and a glass of milk) and then don't eat again until I get home from work about 2 PM. It is amazing to me that I don't even think about food during that time!

It's been a long, long time that I've gone longer than two or three hours without eating. I bought into the whole idea that hunger is a crises.

Oh, the relief of not having to constantly pay attention to your belly!

Kathleen

I pack my lunch and find that enough of a chore without having to portion out even more food for yet another mini-meal. Frankly, some of those options represent about half of what I eat for lunch.

I'm too lazy to snack, I guess.

GEEZ, as much as I like to pick and poke on the weekends and NWS days, I JUST LOVE not snacking on N Days! I can't even tell you how effective that one single change has been in making my work days more productive and successful.

AND being productive FEELS SO GOOD! Much better than spending too much money on food that I don't need and then wasting more time on figuring out how to undo the damage of eating excess food ... blah blah blah!

Glad that's all over with!

Blueskighs

What I particularly like about this post is that it not only tells you that you need to count also that you need to figure out the timing for snacks, adding into the equation the fat content of the snack! GEEZ is right!

As part of my attempt to figure out how to lose weight, I listened to the book on the Duke Diet on tape. It works all right. It works by making your food intake the center of your life. NO THANKS!

Kathleen

Wow. I think most bench biologists would have a hard time getting these prodedures precisely right -- on lab rats. How on earth are lay people going to pull this off, on themselves, several times a day for the rest of their lives? I don't know what's more astonishing, how ignorant or how prevalent this kind of advice is.

Thanks for the post, Kathleen!

Reinhard

That's some staggering calculating we're supposed to do. Over the long haul, that's a load of concious thought to dedicate to a diet while you actually have a life outside the research lab. Tell me, why do most diets fail again?

This seems really counter productive to me.
I can understand having a small glass of juice if you are really very hungry before working out, cos that can be pretty uncomfortable, but think having solid food in your stomach seems like it would be bad if you are trying to burn body fat.
Even in yoga practice, it's recommended to have eaten at least a minimum of two hours before you practice, so your stomach is empty.

I'm glad you have learned that normal hunger, in between meals, isn't a crisis Kathleen
Debs