Whether or not you’re diabetic, blood glucose has a major impact on your performance and recovery when training and racing. I’ve enlisted the help of a registered dietician to explain the ins and outs of blood glucose, insulin, diabetes, and fasting as it relates to running.
Meghann Featherstun
Blood glucose – also known as your blood sugar – used to be a topic primarily reserved for doctors and individuals with diabetes. But as athletes have become more tuned into nutrition and the impact it has on performance, glucose monitoring is becoming more widespread. The tools for monitoring blood glucose have also come a long way from repeatedly pricking your finger!
If you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, you’re likely all too familiar with monitoring your blood glucose. Newer devices called CGMs – continuous glucose monitors – allow for simple, ongoing monitoring with an app on your phone. While these are mostly used by diabetics, some athletes are using them to look at how their training and fueling impacts their blood glucose.
Meghann Featherstun on blood glucose, fueling and fasting
While blood glucose is simple to measure, understanding the multitude of factors that influence it is far more complicated. With a topic this far outside of my comfort zone, I sought the assistance of a top notch sports dietitian.
This week’s podcast episode features Meghann Featherstun – a Registered Dietitian and board certified specialist in sports dietetics – to help us understand this complex aspect of fueling. Meghann is also a talented runner, having broken 3 hours in the marathon after starting to run as an adult in 2009.
Throughout our discussion Meghann answers questions from listeners, in addition to many of my own! Some of these include:
- What’s a normal blood glucose range and why might runners be different from the average population?
- What impact does training have on your blood glucose over time?
- How is your blood glucose and other lab work impacted by an event like a marathon?
- How should diabetics think differently about pre-run/pre-race fueling?
- What is the impact of carb loading on blood glucose?
- Is pre-run fasting ever beneficial?
Meghann Featherstun does an outstanding job of making a complex topic interesting and relatable, and you’re bound to learn a lot from her expertise!
Subscribe to the podcast in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, or Google Play.
Links & Resources from the Show:
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