People diet for endurance (long reply)

["Carolyn Burgess" <carolyn_burgess@hotmail.com>]

<<<I suffer from extremely low blood pressure and my blood sugar can be 
normal one minute and drop like a boulder down a ravine the very next.>>>

Kristene:

I have asked this same question, and have gotten minimal response.  It 
appears that most endurance riders don't care about their own bodies as much 
as they care about the horse.  My concern is that if I am not cared for, how 
can I possibly care for my horse.  I have the same problem that you do, and 
I've found that carbo loading is not the way to go.  My blood pressure 
hovers around 100/60, on a good day it is 110/70, and I also have blood 
sugar issues as well.

To maintain good blood pressure, you will need to electrolyte and hydrate 
yourself.  That means a combo of water and electrolyte fluid, or in your 
diet, if possible (I can't do it by diet alone).  The best electrolyte I 
have found is Gatorade.  Powerade does not have as much electrolyte as 
Gatorade, but Gatorade really is not sufficient either, but it is the best I 
have found so far.  I have been told about other electrolytes used by 
endurance athletes of other sports (super marathoners, triatheletes, etc.) 
but there electrolyte beverages have other stuff that I don't think you'd 
want. You need to be well hydrated all of the time, and especially before a 
ride.  I like to drink 16 oz of fluid per hour, a mix of 3 bottles of water 
to 1 bottle of Gatorade.  This means that I need to have someone at the 
holds to swap bottles.  I buy 16 or 24 oz bottles of water and Gatorade and 
my Snugpax can hold these bottles in place of the Snugpax bottles.  At the 
hold, I pull the empties and replace with fulls.

Food is another issue.  With low blood sugar issues, carbo loading can make 
you worse not better, because there is no staying power, or slow release 
into the blood stream.  You get a big shot of sugar and then the plummet.  
To control blood sugar in our situation, you can give yourself a "shot" of 
sugar (should be a complex carbohydrate as straight sugar is not good for 
us) with a bagel or other carbo source, but follow with a vegetable protien, 
that will slow release, like peanut butter (just ground peanuts, not Skippy 
or Jif, which has sugar) which not only has complex carbohydrates, but has 
protien and fat.  You need all three elements to maintain blood sugar 
levels. Foods like beans, peanuts, sunflowers, are good.  Just make sure 
that if you eat something like orange juice, to give your blood sugar a 
shot, that you follow with something that will be releasing suguar to the 
blood as you come down off of the orange juice sugar high. Also, people like 
us need to eat continuously in small meals, to maintain blood sugar.

Even though I am not a diabetic, I tend to eat like one, with the exception 
of the addition to complex carbohydrates to the diet.  I like food for 
dinner like: steak, chicken or fish, lots of vegetables like portobello 
mushrooms, zucchini, green beans, asparagus (low carbo veggies), I might 
have some corn on the cob or a baked potato with butter, and bread, and I 
would start hydrating with Gatorade and water at this time.  Breakfast the 
day of the ride would maybe be eggs or yogurt, some fruit like a banana.  I 
would take some kind of snack with me for the ride, like sunflower seeds, 
pumpkin seeds, and I would probably have a peanut butter sandwich for lunch.

I'd really like to hear if others have a better source of electrolytes for 
humans.  Gatorade only has sodium and potassium in it and I can get the 
equivalent by salting foods using either regular of light salt.

Carolyn Burgess

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