Do as I say not as I do……

The other important aspect of our training that is hammered home at every opportunity by our trainers is calorie intake. While our bodies crave fluids, so too does our body need to replenish the calories we are losing through physical exertion. I am starving all the time!

A small breakfast gets me started before training that includes meat protein (3oz.), carbohydrate (Nature Valley Oats n’ Honey granola bar), a tablespoon of low-fat peanut butter (the best food ever invented!!), and small banana. I really do not want to eat any more before I run as it makes me feel lethargic. Usually, I will have a bowel movement before I head out, and with short gut that can leave me feeling hungry again. I will eat another granola bar on the way to training. Once training is over, there is an assortment of healthy snacks to choose from. I like to eat a banana and bagel.

The key is to take in frequent small meals. Again, as a short gut patient, this is a schedule that I have followed for 15 years. Only this time, I am pretty much grazing all the time. With my anatomy, if I eat too much at one setting, it will pass right through me with my body receiving little, or no benefit from the calories or nutrients.

You are what you eat! Make sure you make the right food choices to maintain your optimum level of performance. Incorporate lean meats, chicken, fish, pastas, low-sugar cereal or granola bars (without nuts for patients/consumers), fruits & vegetables. I try to limit my fruit & veggie intake at meals as it tends to go right through me. The rule for short gut patients is about a 1/2 cup of either per meal.

“I am not a role model”. These words were uttered by Charles Barkley, the hall-of-fame basketball player, to the parents of kids who looked up to him. While I am preaching the “you are what you eat” sermon on nutrition, the Vermette’s caved in to a craving after training a few weeks back. You see, the local root beer stand, actually called, “The Root Beer Stand“ opens every spring to a hoard a people craving the chili dogs, and homemade root beer (made in a cellar below the stand). I knew it was open and posed the lunch-time question to Stacey and Bailey. It didn’t take much coaxing to win them over.

We headed on over.  After (2) chili, onion, and mustard Coneys, along with a bag of chips, and a small root beer, which tasted unbelievable!!, I paid a hefty price. I paid for the next 2 days. In the words of my late father, Don’t do as I do, do as I say!”  Looking back I would do it again, but I knew what to expect after I ate what I shouldn’t have.