Runners And Pasta

Do runners eat too much pasta?

Pasta has a mythical quality for distance runners. Everyone talks about having a big pasta meal before a long distance running event, but really it's about carbohydrates rather than just pasta. Too much pasta and you might end up finishing your training schedule bigger than you started and carrying more weight on your run than you ever intended. Lots of runners eat too much pasta. Here you'll find out a bit more about pasta, its positives and its negatives.

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What is it?

Pastas may be divided into two broad categories, dried and fresh. Fresh Pasta is often mixed, cooked, and eaten right away, whereas the pasta secca is dried in order to be stored and to be prepared later. Pasta is made from unleavened dough of durum wheat flour mixed with water or eggs and formed into sheets or various shapes, then cooked in boiling water. There are more than 200 shapes and hundreds of different options when it comes to eating them! Everyone thinks of pasta as Italian but that's not always been the case. It appeared in many countries before it became a default Italian dish.

Running nutrition is all about balance

As with all things a runner's diet is all about balance. It's about integrating all the key food groups and not focusing exclusively on carbohydrates, even though they always seem to be the most high profile element! And it's not just about pasta. There's also rice, whole grain bread and potatoes. Don't become fixated on pasta for your carb requirements.

Importantly you must ensure you are eating plenty of healthy fats like avocados and nuts, along with lean proteins like fish and lentils and plenty of fruit and veg. The latter will make sure you're having plenty of vitamins and minerals. Vegetarians and vegans still have plenty of options, although vegans will of have course have less to choose from than vegetarians. Carbs will be the fuel for the majority of a distance runner's calories, with lean protein and healthy fats making up the rest. Carbs fuel our energy stores (in the form of glucose stored in the liver and muscles) and if you don't have enough glucose you'll hit the proverbial 'wall') If you're not into carbs, or you're trying to cut them out of your diet you will struggle to train for a distance event. Most people who are trying to reduce carb intake do so because they know they can cause weight gain. If you're training for a distance event, weight gain won't be an issue unless you eat too many carbs!

What is carb loading?

Many active people want to improve the way they feel and perform during exercise.

It is well-known that the right nutrition strategies can help you accomplish these goals.

Carb loading is one of the most common of these nutritional tools, often used by athletes to improve their performance. It involves adjusting your diet and physical activity levels to boost the amount of carbohydrates stored in your body. During many types of exercise, your body uses stored carbs to provide you with energy. In the body, carbohydrate stores are called glycogen. This glycogen is mostly found in two places: your liver and muscles

Carb loading is simply a nutritional strategy to increase the glycogen stored in your body above its normal amount This typically involves several days of eating more carbs than usual while also decreasing exercise to reduce the amount of carbs you are using. The number of carbs you can eat ranges from 2.3–5.5 grams per pound (5–12 grams per kg) of body weight per day. If you weighed 154 pounds (70 kg), that would work out to 350–840 grams of carbs per day

What is good about pasta?

Plenty:

• It tastes great, especially with a nice sauce - but this is also one of its downsides. it's often the sauce that's the problem.

• Whole grain pasta has a high fibre content which helps in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and tumours.

• It contributes to the proper functioning of the nervous system due to the amount of vitamin B that it contains, and it supports the synthesis of serotonin, the neurotransmitter of the well-being feeling.

• Pasta is perfect for runners as it delivers a slow release of energy due to its mix of complex carbohydrates.

• It helps to prevent the onset of severe foetal malformations. Pasta is full of folic acid, a water-soluble vitamin B group that plays an essential role for women’s fertility. On average, a portion of dried pasta provides the equivalent of 100 mg of folic acid, around 25% of the daily recommended dose.

What is bad about pasta?

Also plenty:

• It is packed with carbohydrates, which when you're training for a distance event and burning it off every night is a good thing. If you keep putting off your next run, or don't go that far, but still keep eating pasta then only one thing happens. Weight gain due to excess calories. It's not the pasta itself that causes this, it's just that you're eating too many calories and not burning them off.

• And it is so easy to eat too much. It tastes great and it's very easy to consume, with the 'feeling full' moment often not coming until way past the point where you've eaten too much.

• If you're eating whole grain pasta that's better, but most of us don't. White pasta is easily converted to sugar once inside and this can increase blood sugar levels.

• The bigger issue is often the sauce that you eat with the pasta. Have a look at the ingredients next time. Most contain a frightening amount of sugar and that combined with the sugar generated by the pasta is a bad combination. Creamy sauces can be even worse.

• Try and use your pasta as the basis of a meal, not the whole meal. Add vegetables and pulses to increase the volume, rather than just adding more pasta. Cut down the amount of sauce.

• Importantly only eat big volumes when your mileage really starts to build. Too many people eat too much pasta in the early stages of their training, when they really don't need to worry about carbo loading.

There is however a big difference between whole grain and white pasta. White pasta has the bran and germ removed during refining and this means most of the nutrients contained within the wheat kernel are removed. As a result white pasta is lower in fiber and higher in calories than its whole grain cousin. It is fortified with plenty of nutrients and vitamins though so it's not a complete write off. The difference with whole grain pasta is that it's made from the whole wheat kernel and has in addition lots of protein and fibre. The fibre keeps blood sugar levels stable, which is especially important. Low blood sugar levels often lead to poor eating choices.

Making your own is a healthier option

Final thoughts

Pasta will be a staple of most runner's diet for ever more, but there are clearly plenty of things to take into account. Firstly try and swap white pasta for whole grain. Agreed it doesn't always taste as good, but it is way better for you. Secondly, go easy with the sauces. They can be dangerous. Thirdly add lots of veggies and pulses to your pasta meal and fourthly try and reduce your overall pasta intake, especially in the early stages of your distance event training. Finally, don't just rely on pasta as your source of carbs. There are so many options and variety is always the spice of life.

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