Organic Gels & Healthy Fats for Female Runners

Good morning from Philadelphia and Happy Friday.

Hey, thanks for the encouraging words on my stress fracture(s) diagnosis. Have you heard of the 5 stages of grief? These include Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.  I totally went through all of these over the past 7 weeks and am now in the final stage, Acceptance. I’m actually really enjoying the cross training, yoga, strength training, and stretching regimen I have built for myself. It’s a nice change and quite honestly, I feel awesome. I don’t have any sore muscles and I can feel myself becoming more flexible. Usually when I’m training, every time I stand up I must look like an elderly woman. So this is a welcome change!

A couple things are on my mind this week that I’d like to share.

First, NaturaStride is finally offering ORGANIC energy gels. (Applause!!!) Ever since we launched NaturaStride, I have been searching for organic gels, since these seem to be the preferable in-race fuel for most distance runners. Plus, I personally have a hard time finding gels that don’t make me want to vomit. Anyways – our friends over at Honey Stinger have had a line of organic gels in the works, and we were chomping at the bit to get our hands on some. Coming in three delicious flavors (Vanilla, Fruit Smoothie, and Acai Pomegranate – my favorite!), the gels contain 95% organic ingredients and 100 calories each. As always, Honey Stinger’s formula is based on natural honey (simple sugar) and also contains organic tapioca syrup (simple & complex sugar), plus 50mg of sodium and 50mg of potassium. As you know, we only sell products on NaturaStride that we would actually use ourselves, and these are no exception.

Check out this excellent irunfar blog post comparing different energy gels – great information on what makes an effective gel and the performance benefits of certain ingredients.

Second, I stumbled upon this study earlier this week that I had to share with you. This is one of the most informative, thorough, and useful nutrition/running-related articles I’ve read lately. It discusses a study published by the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, regarding the correlation between fat intake and injuries in female runners. I highly suggest reading the entire article because the data and findings are quite detailed and compelling. The ultimate findings is that although adequate energy (calorie) consumption is important in the prevention of injuries and maintaining reproductive health in female runners, of even more importance is the amount of fat from calories. “A lower daily fat intake and lower percentage of total energy from fat were associated with increased injury risk among competitive female runners.” The study followed different groups of female runners with different percentages of calories from fat intake. The article indicates, “sports nutritionists may want to consider ~36% as a conservative minimum fat intake for avoiding injuries, as long as carbohydrate and protein needs are also met.”

I have written on here in the past that healthy fats is one of the factors I try to pay the most attention to in my diet. After reading this study, I decided to write down everything I ate on an average day (this past Wednesday) and look up the calories, fat, and calories from fat for each item.

For comparison purposes, I also looked up my BodPod results from last year, which indicated that my body requires 2,200 calories per day to maintain weight. Anyways, based on what I ate on Wednesday, the results were:

Consumed: 2,097 calories, 54.5 g fat, and only 489 calories from fat.

Based on the article, and on my suggested diet of 2,200 calories, I would need 792 calories from fat, to avoid injury. Woah.

Honestly, I thought surely I was getting enough calories from healthy fats, but apparently not. Time to step it up! More guacamole for me. Because after these SFX’s heal – I AM NEVER GETTING INJURED AGAIN.

Anyways – have a fun weekend :)