Featherstone Nutrition

This post is for the ladies. We’ve all been there – cramps, bloating, fatigue…the list goes on with what we experience during our menstrual cycles. How can our nutrition support our bodies and lessen side effects in daily life and performance?

Fatigue – Increased hormones and body temperature can disrupt sleep, contributing to fatigue. What can help? Don’t go to bed hungry or too full & eat enough throughout the day.

Bloating – This is one that I get questions about A LOT. Bloating occurs due to increased hormones. What can help? Keep exercising, hydrate well with the right amount of sodium, eat whole grains for fiber to keep your GI tract regular and fruits & veggies for potassium.

GI issues – Change in hormones can cause increased contractions in your GI tract. You may experience more GI issues on your runs or an urgent need to use the bathroom. What can help? Keep it simple when you eat before runs and the night before long runs <avoid high fiber and high fat foods>, and hydrate well.

Cramping – The first day of your cycle is usually the worst and then hormones that cause cramping will decrease. What can help? Omega-3s and magnesium may help.

Headaches – Often occur from constricting blood vessels during this time. What can help? Nitrates can help dilate blood vessels <think eating beets, spinach, other leafy greens, and watermelon>. Plus, make sure you are staying hydrated.

Follicular: Hormones are low after menstruation. We often feel stronger and are able to perform and recover our best here. Hydration is predictable and easier to maintain. The body cools itself more efficiently. 

Nutrition Tips: Fuel during workouts + after. Hit those hard efforts – this is the best time to get after it!

Ovulation: Estrogen is high, and progesterone is low. With more inflammation, it may delay recovery from hard workouts. You also may not store carbs quite as efficiently, so stick a gel in your pocket for that run & rely on carbs to fuel you during runs. 

Nutrition Tips: Eat before runs and fuel during all workouts over 60-70 minutes. Really nail that recovery meal and add some extra protein.

Luteal: Hormones are high. The body is less tolerant to heat because body temperature rises, the ability to cool ourselves during exercise is delayed, plasma blood volume is decreased and fluids in extracellular tissues increased. You may experience higher perceived exertion, a higher heart rate and take longer to recover. 

Nutrition Tips: Focus on hydration – before a workout, you may need to hyperhydrate <more sodium & water> to increase plasma volume, listen to your body, and try to stay cool pre-workout. Increase your carbohydrate intake during runs. Increase recovery nutrition – carbs and protein. You may need to increase sodium in your diet by adding salt to foods. 

Iron – Iron needs are higher for females with a menstrual cycle. You may need to supplement during your period, regularly or increase high iron foods in your diet. <Please reach out to a nutrition expert to help with this – do not blindly supplement!>

PMS Cravings – In order to reduce food cravings during PMS, eat enough during the day <3 meals + snacks>, nail your protein at all meals, and increase calories if needed to stay satiated.

Hunger – If you find yourself extra hungry the week before your period, there is a reason for that! Your resting energy expenditure increases, so allow yourself to eat more – add an extra serving of protein, veggies or whole grains at meals or add an extra snack in there.

In all my years a sports dietitian, there are some nutrition mistakes that I see time and time again. Below are some of the most common nutrition mistakes I see and tips on how to avoid them.

This is a big one. So many runners experience GI issues <nausea, cramping, vomiting, diarrhea, etc> on runs and the first thing they do is blame their gels. While it is possible for gels to cause GI distress, gels are usually not to blame. So what should you look at first, before blaming your gels?

Food choices – the night before a long run <or sometimes the whole day before a long run> or what you eat pre-run. Are you eating too much fat or fiber?

Tip: Keep it simple. Easy to digest carbs and a little fat. The night before a long run, think white pasta with a little butter and parmesan instead of fettuccine Alfredo. For your pre-run snack, try a bagel instead of a donut.

Dehydration – if you aren’t adequately hydrated going into your run and/or get too dehydrated during your run, that creates less blood flow to your GI tract, which causes delayed gastric emptying, nausea, vomiting, pain and/or diarrhea. Where are my heavy/salty sweaters?? You will notice this first before average sweaters.

Tip: Know your sweat rate & sweat composition <free resource here>. Choose products to support your hydration needs pre, during, and after your run to avoid GI issues.

Practice fueling – Many runners don’t practice their race day fueling plan and then on race day, they expect their bodies to tolerate gels and sports drinks. You need to train your gut to be ready for race day.

Tip: Practice your race day fueling on your long runs. If you need help with your plan, we can build you a Customized Race Day Fuel & Hydration Plan!

Antioxidants – More of a good thing is always better, right? Wrong. Mega doses of antioxidants can actually be harmful and can impair your body’s natural response to training.

Tip: Talk to your medical professional about which supplements you need.

Iron – I see many runners start iron supplements without checking labs because they are fatigued, not hitting paces, etc. This can be very dangerous – too much iron can cause another host of symptoms and be harmful to your heart and other organs.

Tip: Get your iron panel & ferritin checked and have a professional interpret the results and give recommendations <check out the Featherstone Lab Consult>.

Research has shown that when we fuel before exercise, we can train harder & recover faster. If we skip fueling, it can actually be harmful to our hormones and metabolism, as well as feeling worse during the run due to inadequate fuel availability.

Tip: Eat 25g carbs before runs <60 minutes & 50g+ for runs >60 minutes. Find some ideas here.

Macronutrients <carbs, protein, fat> each have a role in your daily and performance nutrition – knowing when to consume each to support our training is important. Focus on carbs pre-run for quick fuel, and then after your run, protein <to stop muscle breakdown and repair muscles> AND carbs <to aid in recovery and replace glycogen>. Fat should be added in throughout meals & snacks but avoid large amounts in your pre-run meal or snack.

Tip: Pre-run = carbs, post-run = protein + carbs <and fat anytime except pre-run>

So many people <especially Americans> save calories for the end of the day to eat “whatever they want”. Your body doesn’t like this. Saving calories for the end of the day can result in undesired body composition, overeating, not seeing expected gains in fitness and can contribute to an unhealthy relationship with food. We want to surround our runs and workouts with solid nutrition, so we can get the best out of our training and recover well. We also want to eat 3 solid meals per day <carbs, protein, fat and color>.

Tip: Surround your runs and workouts with solid nutrition <pre and post>, eat 3 meals per day, eat snacks if you need them, nail protein at all meals.

No fad diet is going to fix poor nutrition habits. There are no shortcuts. You put in the time to train hard day in and day out, so why not provide your body with the fuel that it wants and needs?

Tip: Just say no to fad diets. Focus on supportive nutrition for your daily life & performance.

On the heels of last week’s blog post, weight loss & running, let’s talk about calories. We get tons of questions asking how many calories to eat. We all know runners <or were that runner> following 1,200 calorie weight-loss diets while trying to train. Or, thinking we should consistently eat 2,000 calories a day not thinking about the running mileage that is piling up each week. There’s a lot of misinformation out there, and there may be factors you haven’t considered when it comes to determining your calorie needs. Let’s take a look into calories together.

Calories are a unit of energy and come from carbohydrates, protein, fat & alcohol. Last week, we discussed the main principle behind weight loss, you need to expend more energy than you consume (calories out > calories in). But, it’s not that simple. It’s actually very complex. There are LOTS of ways that we can under or overestimate calories & plenty of ways our body can adjust how many calories it needs for different activities if we under-fuel it long enough.

Calories In

Did you know that nutrition facts labels can be off 20% and still be considered accurate? That margin of error means the difference in 200 calories vs. 240 calories in a serving of your favorite snack. Multiply that by X foods that you eat in a day, and you can be looking at hundreds of calories different from what you thought you were eating. There’s also human error in estimation. As a whole, humans usually underestimate portion sizes and overestimate calories burned through exercise, leading to much less of an energy deficit (if any deficit at all).

Calories Out

There are many factors that determine how many calories you burn in a day, including heart rate, body temperature, weight, hormones, body composition, exercise & NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis aka activities of daily living). These factors vary by individual and some change on a day-to-day basis. We know that extreme caloric restrictions, large intra-day energy deficits, hormone changes, excessive stress or exercise, and lack of sleep can change our body’s calorie burn through all of these factors.

Smartwatches estimate calories burned based on heart rate, however, the estimations can vary greatly between different brands of watches, the temperature outside, cadence lock, etc. The number you see is truly an estimation, and you should not rely on this for accuracy.

Most Americans have heard of the recommendation to consume 2,000 calories per day for an adult. This number was determined by the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) as a standard for the average adult. It might be a good place to start for some people but varies based on height, sex, weight, activity level, etc. As runners, we are not the average American. We are asking our bodies to perform at a high level, requiring more energy. Calorie needs for runners can range from 1800 – 4000+ calories per day.

The average American has a very calorie-heavy back-end of their day (i.e. little to no breakfast & lunch and then eats a large dinner & snacks at night). If you remember from last week – any periods during the day with large calorie deficits actually have negative consequences for men & women. There are certainly better ways to time your nutrition and distribute your calories throughout the day. Balancing your nutrition intake throughout the day and surrounding exercise with supportive nutrition is best for body composition, performance, recovery and injury prevention. Give your body what it needs, when it needs it. Do not ‘save’ calories for dinner & beyond, especially if you are running, lifting, or cross training in the mornings.

Counting calories or tracking nutrition may work for some people, while it can be detrimental to others. Or, what may start out as helpful accountability & self-education can turn into unhelpful or even harmful to your mental health, and thus, your performance. Counting calories can lead to an obsession with numbers and restriction. That is why I generally recommend NOT focusing on calories. There are other ways we can get the right amount of nutrition to support your daily life & performance goals.

Instead of focusing on calories, think about supporting your body for daily life & performance. Your meals should have a balance of protein, carbohydrates, healthy fat, and color. This balance will help keep you satiated and support your performance goals. You should surround your exercise with solid nutrition to provide fuel for the work you are doing & for recovery. Once you start to make this shift, great things will happen!

You are eating 3 meals per day + snacks if you need them

Your meals are balanced with carbs, protein, healthy fat & color

You are fueling before + after exercise

You are nailing your protein at all meals

You aren’t binging in the afternoon/evening

You aren’t starving at any point in the day

You aren’t overly full after meals

You aren’t waking up at night hungry

You feel good and well-fueled during exercise