Eating on the run

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Barefooters
Nov 30, 2012
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I'm beginning to run longer distances more frequently now, with a run in the range of 1 1/2 or 2 hours every week or so. And I'm finding that I really need to eat something. I want to avoid gels and sports drinks and eat real food if possible, and I need a way to carry it.

I'm gluten-intolerant, so wheat-based foods need not apply for this position.

What suggestions do you have for (1) what to eat, and (2) how best to carry it?

P.S., anything as sweet as raisins is going to be hard for me to deal with unless it's mixed with much less sweet stuff.

P.P.S., for hikers, one answer to this question is Joe's Moose Goo (http://www.ultralightbackpacker.com/moosegoo.html). Does anyone use that for long distance runs? Would it be good for that?
 
2 hour long runs do not require eating. In fact eating while running is bad, especially for the gut. Digesting food and running don't work well together. Also depends, depending on some other things...
You are supposed to manage 2 hour long runs well without eating, even longer runs than that. I presume up to 6 hours without eating should be doable (but this does require diet to be correct; and very probably does require drinking water while running), but if longer than that then yes something to eat, something that digests quickly, also to eat very little at a time.

If you make sudden changes, then the body will need time to adapt. So it is natural that you'll feel hungry in the beginning, but give a week or two and your body will see what is going on and make the needed changes.

One thing that is good and gives energy for far longer periods than starches and sugars, is animal fat. Eat animal fat, like beef fat, or fatty fish, or egg yolks, or any other good animal fats you can find in your area (the more variety, the better; and... well... best effect if all raw...). But not while running. The gut keeps fat for several days ready for use when needed, if I remember correctly. Animal fat is highly satisfying and gives energy for long periods.

I've ran 1.5 and 2 hours twice a week for about three months. I didn't eat while running. Had no problems. Though that was when I still wore shoes and ate garbage (which now I know was a problem), about 3 years ago.
I've eaten twice a day for a while now, many months. No snacking in between. In between meals stay 5-8 hour period of no eating anything. That's the time I usually do physical exercises, including running. And I tend to do them closer to the end of the 5-8 hour period, so when I start training I haven't eaten for 3-6 hours. Very rarely I do closer to the beginning of the 5-8 hour period, but still keep at least 2 hours in between, unless all I eat are eggs and they digest in like 30 minutes, so... Sometimes I do the training, including running, in the morning before the first meal, which means not having eaten for about 12-16 hours.

*But for longer runs real honey should be good. Or this brown sugar ("Indian sugar"? or however it is called) that has the minerals and stuff still in it. Because these digest quickly and are not harmful with toxins and other crap they do with "conventional" foods. Everything else digests far too slow, thus doing more harm than good while running.
*And best to make "honey water" or this "brown sugar water", as for longer runs extra water is needed anyway.
*And if can then I'd suggest to use mineral water, as when sweating the body also loses minerals. Or rather make your own mineral water using MgCl2 and/or MgSO4 (for magnesium); KCl (for potassium); NaCl (sodium) (or even better - himalayan salt, pink - many trace minerals; or yet even better if black himalayan salt - even more trace minerals); baking soda (sodium and HCO3); borax (sodium and boron).
Three in one. Though don't know about the taste, though shouldn't be bad... I know the self-made mineral water alone doesn't taste bad.

Though sometimes hunger might actually be the need of water, not food. Body has more ways than one to show the need for water. Not just thirst, can also be the so-called "hunger", or that the eyes feel dry, or have an headache, or skin feels dry, or digestion/gut issues, fatigue, sleepiness, etc. Many things that can cause similar symptoms...
And it's not just water, it's also the water's molecular structure. Wrong structure and your body isn't getting what it needs, resulting in health issues. So not just water clean of toxins, but also water that is structurally correct. And well... water structure can be changed using intention and emotions and thinking... so bad structured water can be turned into good structured water (this is actually verified with experiments and tests).
 
Hard to find those "studies" again... Managed to find youtube videos about it, but not exactly the ones I watched many months ago. Such videos are actively removed from youtube and other similar places (and then uploaded again, then removed again, etc.), as are studies. And most search engines are designed to withhold results that reveal mind-opening information.
This sort of information is actively suppressed

Dr Masaru Emoto Hado Crystals Full Documentary www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDW9Lqj8hmc

(this one has polish subs... couldn't find better) "Water the Great Mystery" 1:25 long (in one place claims removed due to copyright issues by the request of "Jupiter" something, in another place the same by another company, and then in another by "Gaiam" - they are giving ridiculous excuses to remove these videos...) www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsgZAOAv_kk

Oh right...
Some texts about it:
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/salud/esp_salud16a.htm
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/salud/esp_salud32.htm

But then might as well give the whole thing: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_ciencia_agua.htm#menu -- Lots of texts there, should contain many references to "studies" in those texts. As the keepers of that entire site say "the reader of the materials decides what is true or not". It's essentially an online library of suppressed information...
 
Congrats on running longer distances! Agree with the others that at first you tend to get hungry but after a season of doing the occasional long runs you find that you get used to it and your body doesn't crave food as much. Have you read any of Maffetone's stuff? If you've never done these long runs before I'd wager our bodies simply aren't used to needing more than short term energy, but as you train your aerobic system it adapts to store more energy and rely less on sugars and whatnot that give you the shorter duration of energy.

But back to your question... What I typically take on long runs are medjool dates. Even if I don't 'need' them, eventually if you get more into long distance training and/or racing you will need to fuel on the go, so it can be good to experiment and figure out what works for you and train your system. Whole medjool dates seem to give a pretty high sugar content, as I recall a couple of them is similar to one of those gel packs. But its all natural and non-processed. They do have high amount of fiber, which doesn't bother my gut but others might have issues. However as I have trained more I find that I hardly need them anymore, and as my pace increased I tolerate less. So I usually only take them on the really long, slow, runs. I just put a few in a baggie and it goes in one of the front pockets of my hydration vest. I like them well doing multi-day backpack trips too. I'll usually take a bag of gorp or trail mix and another bag of dates and dried apricots.

Sometimes if I don't really need to 'fuel' but just want a little tiny something to fend off a hungry stomach I just take a baggie of grapes and pop a few of them at a time every couple miles after I hit 12 miles or so. They don't amount to much, just a tiny bit of sugar and water but enough to make your stomach not feel so empty.

As far as animal fats, I haven't been able to tell myself what works best ahead of time... my go to breakfast is usually 3 eggs, maybe 4 on high mileage weeks. Prior to races I've tried eggs and I've tried lots of fruits, smoothies, etc. I can't tell that any seem to work better than others for races from 1/2 to full marathons but I have yet to get into ultra distances.
 
I find that I usually find some calories useful between 3 and 4 hours into a run. I usually run in the morning, fasted, and it depends on my pace and what I ate for dinner. High carb dinner, I can go longer. Salad for dinner, 3 hours is about it. I'm running at MAF. Faster, and I'd need calories sooner. For my really long runs I make a homemade gel, putting 4Tb honey, 2Tb chia seeds, 1/4 tsp lite salt, and water into an 8 ounce flask. That's the equivalent of 3 or 4 gels ... haven't needed all of that yet for runs up to 5 hours.
 
... Have you read any of Maffetone's stuff? ...

I second this. If you can't run easy for 3 hours before eating breakfast, your diet could benefit from some tweaking. Whatever you do, diet-wise, beware of ketogenic diets. They're a bit of a fad right now, but they're pretty darned risky with little benefit. Maffetone's Big Book approach of determining your personal carb tolerance is pretty reasonable.
 
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