Sports Nutrition for Runners: Part 1

The annual and infamous Bridge to Brisbane event is just one week away, and our Growlife team are training hard for the 10km event. Seems like an opportune time to learn a bit about sports nutrition! Join us on this two-part blog series as we explore how food can help us prepare and recover from a run. The first question on everyone’s lips - how can we use nutrition to optimise performance on race day? Let’s find out!

Most of us wouldn’t try to run 10km without putting in at least some training, however, considering how we are fueling for this exercise is often completely overlooked! Whether you are a seasoned athlete or someone who exercises recreationally, giving a little bit of thought to fueling and hydration, both for training and race day, can reap huge benefits. Please note that within this article we will refer to all active individuals as athletes, regardless of competitive level or ability.

Sports nutrition incorporates the food we eat and the fluids we drink before, during, and after exercise and sport. It also includes our nutrition and hydration for training and competition/race day. An athlete’s fueling strategy will depend upon a number of individual factors such as:

How well trained you are
The length of the event (training/race)
The intensity of the session
Conditions such as temperature, humidity, and wind
Your finishing time goals
When your next exercise session will occur

There are several different types of eating disorders, as outlined in the diagnostic and statistical manual VI (DSM5), each with unique characteristics. Below is an outline of the different types of eating disorders and related experiences:

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) - is "characterised by extreme food restriction, significant weight loss and an intense fear of gaining weight.” (Inside out institute, 2023)
Bulima Nervosa (BN) - is "characterised by episodes of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviours, which are intended to prevent weight gain.” (Inside out Institute, 2023).

Binge eating disorder (BED) - “characterised by recurrent episodes of binge eating, which involves eating a large amount of food in a short period of time. During a binge episode, the person feels unable to stop themselves eating, and it is often linked with high levels of distress. A person with BED will not use compensatory behaviours, such as self-induced vomiting or overexercising after binge eating.” National Eating Disorder Collaboration (2023)

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake disorder (ARFID) - “is a serious eating disorder characterised by avoidance and aversion to food and eating. The restriction is NOT due to a body image disturbance, but a result of anxiety or phobia of food and/or eating, a heightened sensitivity to sensory aspects of food such as texture, taste or smell, or a lack of interest in food/eating secondary to low appetite” National Eating Disorder Collaboration (2023)

Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorder (OSFED), previously known as Eating Disorder Not otherwise specified (EDNOS) - is "...a person with OSFED does not meet the criteria to be diagnosed with another eating disorder, however, is presenting with many of the symptoms of other eating disorders. OSFED is just as serious as other eating disorders and is associated with complex medical and psychiatric complications. A person with OSFED may present with many of the symptoms of other eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder but will not meet the full criteria for diagnosis of these disorders. This does not mean that the eating disorder is any less serious or dangerous.” (National Eating Disorder Collboration, 2023)

Unspecified feeding or eating disorder (UFED) - “Applies to where behaviours cause clinically significant distress or impairment of functioning, but do not meet the full criteria of any of the feeding or eating disorder criteria.” (Eating disorder’s Victoria, 2022).

Orthorexia is not considered an eating disorder despite affecting how a person eats and relates to food with negative impacts upon a person’s health and functioning. Orthorexia is a term used to describe an obsession with eating only those foods which are considered ‘healthy’ and avoidance of ‘unhealthy foods’. Although a person with orthorexia may not necessarily be underweight, they can still be undernourished.

It can be helpful to think of eating behaviours as occurring on a spectrum with a healthy relationship with food and body existing at one end and eating disorders sitting at the opposite end of the spectrum. In between there are varying levels of disordered eating which do not met the diagnostic threshold, but can still negatively impact on a person’s wellbeing and quality of life. Eating disorder hope (2023), explains that disordered eating is “when an individual regularly engages in abnormal eating patterns or food behaviors.” It is also recognised that disordered eating can lead to the development of an eating disorder.

There are a number of factors which can place an individual at higher risk of developing an eating disorders. These include but are not limited to:

A history of dieting and weight loss attempts. In fact, dieting is widely recognised by experts as being a very strong risk factor for the development of an eating disorder. This includes being exposed to diet culture in the family home, at school and through social media.
Genetics, for example, having a parent or family member who has experienced an eating disorder
Personality traits for example perfectionism, obsession, impulsivity. It is not uncommon for people who experience an eating disorder to be a high achiever and to believe they are fine. It is important to note that despite excelling across various areas of their life, if the person is experiencing signs and symptoms of an eating disorder these warrant investigation and treatment.
Co-occurring mental illness eg Obsessive compulsive disorder, social anxiety, borderline personality disorder, depression
Experiencing childhood trauma and abuse
Neurodivergence including ADHD and Autism
Body dissatisfaction
A lack of secure and consistent access to food
Having an illness that requires a person to pay close attention to what they eat for example Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes
Inflammatory GI diseases for example Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis

Preventing vascular disease is as simple as checking and managing the above risk factors. When you see your Grow Medical GP for a vascular risk checkup, you can expect to be well looked after and have all your questions answered. We will check your:

height
weight
blood pressure
smoking status
discuss any symptoms you may have experienced like chest pain, weakness or cramping in the calves.

For patients with risk factors for vascular disease, the nurse will obtain an Ankle Brachial Index reading for the doctor (a screening test for blood vessel blockages to the legs). Your doctor will check your cholesterol, sugar and kidney function blood tests, and where necessary arrange for you to update these tests. Based upon your risk assessment, your doctor may order an Electrocardiogram (electrical tracing of the heart rhythm) or refer you for a cardiological assessment if necessary. Depending on the complexity and your individual requirements, we may be able to do this over one long appointment, or split between a number of appointments.

Having a plan for managing your nutrition before and during exercise can help to optimise your performance as well as your health and wellbeing. Within this article we have covered the basics of nutrition and hydration for exercise. For more information or for help understanding how to apply these strategies to your circumstances book an appointment with our sports dietitians or call Growlife on 07 3154 2393. Growlife Medical can help you to understand how to fuel your body so that you are at your best on and off the track (or field!).

Stay tuned for part two of this post, where we will explain the role of nutrition in helping your body to recover following exercise.