To Eat or Not to Eat...

Exercise On an Empty Stomach

During the week I tend not to eat before I go out for a run.  On the weekends when time is more on my side I sometimes have a hard boiled egg, or if it is before a race and I really have some time to digest I will have a smear of almond butter on a whole wheat sandwich thin!

If you exercise with a high intensity, there’s nothing worse than feeling sick to your stomach because you felt forced to eat before you hit the gym or pavement. There’s a lot of science that shows eating before a workout is important, but “before a workout” is a much wider time range than you might think.

In the simplest sense, your digestive process is very complicated. When you eat, the food does not go directly to your muscles or your gut. It takes time—a lot of time, in fact. So if you eat many hours before you train, there’s still plenty of fuel to help you perform and feel great.

The fad-free truth: Research published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism found that the protein you eat digests anywhere between one gram per hour and 10 grams per hour. So if you have a meal consisting of 25 grams of protein, that meal could last in your system for up to 25 hours. Hydration level and sleep patterns also play a significant role in performance, so make sure you’re well rested and have plenty to drink, and then eat when it feels best for your body, even if it means a small meal or no meal at all.