Ginger,
Thank you for putting that question in your post! It is something that even I have wondered about occasionally, although i know that eating carbs for exercise really won't make you gain weight if you are smart about it - I have still felt like I am at a disadvantage by always having to eat before exercising, unlike my friends. Sometimes I will eat a meal and then just over an hour later, I want to go running, but my blood sugar will be at some perfect number like 95. Then that almost makes me not want to exercise because I am not hungry and don't want to eat. Do you know what I mean?
Hey Svati :)
Here's the thing, even trained atheletes without diabetes eat before their workouts. So putting diabetes aside, the most important times around exercise to eat ARE: BEFORE your workout and right AFTER your workout!
People often think they shouldn't eat after a workout because it will somehow "undo" all their good work, but actually, you need to fuel your body in order to keep your metabolism going. So if you don't eat after a workout, you're actually hindering your ability to lose weight.
We should get into it in more detail in another post, but basically eat frequently smaller meals helps maintain or lose weight because it keeps your metabolism regularly fueled.
Does that make sense?
Yea I know it is a good thing to eat before and after your workouts (I suscribe to Runner's World and hear about it from my coach a lot so I pretty much understand the importance), but at the same time, it is tough on the stomach to be substantially full and fueled before a workout and then have to load up on extra stuff just because of low blood sugar.
As far as eating right after workouts, I always get a good snack right then...running makes me hungry:)
Eating well after working out helps speed recovery and, for us diabetics, prevents delayed-onset hypoglycemia, which is a pesky side effect of exercise sometimes
Actually, that reminds me of a great thing I've noticed about eating low-carb is that I tend to have lows MUCH less often because I'm not constantly spiking my blood sugar with carbs and then taking large amounts of insulin. So, I also find that when I do need carbs for exercise, I need a whole lot less than I used to.
Check out the link to "dextrose" in the AskGinger -- maybe helpful carb source for your running that won't leave your stomach FULL!
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Ginger,