Jogger's diet

Jay Pentatonic

Hey,
Well, I'm a jogger hoping to do the marathon in Oct, & unlike the pros I'm not too sure what I'm eating is the best (for energy & all that)

Anyway, my usual intake is...

Breakfast - 2 weetabix + toast + banana + water

Lunch - either chicken or tuna sandwich & water

Dinner - patatoes, peas, usually some kind of meat & more water

Snacks in between - tends to be toast, special k or fruit

So should I be adding or taking away anything in particular?

Thanks loads in advance:cool:

EileenG

It's hard to tell without an idea of amounts, but just reading what you've written, it looks like your diet is a bit low in protein and fat. You've a lot of carbs, which is fine because as a marathon runner, you'll use a lot of energy, but you might want to rethink the sources. Perhaps less toast and Special K (notorious for the amount of sugar) and more low gi vegetables and wholegrains?

Porridge is an excellent breakfast, but add a protein source, perhaps an egg or some nuts or greek yogurt.

I'm not fond of sandwiches for lunch, they tend to have too much bready carbs and not enough protein/filling. Can you replace it with a salad and more fresh veg?

Get in some healthy fats in there, either olive oil dressing, or more eggs, or oily fish, something like that.

Cluster your high gi carbs (bread, pasta, cereals etc) around your training sessions, stick to lower gi the rest of the time.

corkcomp

it depends on your goals op, if you just want max energy your current diet is fine, if you are lacking enery just increase calorie intake. you dont mention whether you want to maintain your current body weight or drop weight? a lot of the advice given above would be more suited to somebody wanting to drop weight (sorry eileen!)

Jay Pentatonic

corkcomp wrote: »

it depends on your goals op, if you just want max energy your current diet is fine, if you are lacking enery just increase calorie intake. you dont mention whether you want to maintain your current body weight or drop weight? a lot of the advice given above would be more suited to somebody wanting to drop weight (sorry eileen!)

:eek:oh, well I definitely DON'T want to lose weight, I'm skinny enough as it is:(
But still thanks Eileen for the advice, I guess I should be eating more veg apart from peas , & I never knew there was such a thing as "good" fats:)
Thanks again guys

BTW, what exactly do you mean by "G.I."?

EileenG

GI is the Glycemic Index, which is a measure of how fast a food turns to glucose in your body. Foods with a high gi tend to give you a quick rush of energy, then leave you feeling shattered as soon as the sugar rush is gone. Lower gi foods break down more slowly and release their energy over a longer period, so you'll feel full longer and have more consistent energy.

As a general rule, the fruits where you throw away the peel tend to be higher gi than the ones where you can eat it.

How Strange

Jay1989 wrote: »

Hey,
Well, I'm a jogger hoping to do the marathon in Oct, & unlike the pros I'm not too sure what I'm eating is the best (for energy & all that)

Anyway, my usual intake is...

Breakfast - 2 weetabix + toast + banana + water

Lunch - either chicken or tuna sandwich & water

Dinner - patatoes, peas, usually some kind of meat & more water

Snacks in between - tends to be toast, special k or fruit

So should I be adding or taking away anything in particular?

Thanks loads in advance:cool:

Have your banana as a snack around 11. You should have something small to eat every 3 hours or so.

Instead of sandwiches for lunch try having some soup a couple times a week with wholegrain bread if you need it.

Maybe switch from potatoes to something else on a few nights. Look up receipes for lentils, beans, chickpeas. If you're making a casserole or stew add some a tin of lentils, beans or chickpeas. Have wholegrain pasta or brown rice with your casserole. Get a receipe book and start being a little adventurous so you're varying your diet a bit.

Skip the toast and special k for your snacks and choose dried fruit, nuts, oat cakes. It will be better for your sugar levels.