Ep #130: The Fuel Episode with Jen Lamplough: Listener Q&A

Jen Lamplough:   Although, I will say I did have a friend who didn’t have a lot of nutrition knowledge and she was eating 10 bananas a day. I was like, maybe you’re overdoing it on the bananas, because I don’t think she like pooped for a week.

Welcome to The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. If you’re a woman who has never felt athletic but you still dream about becoming a runner, you are in the right place. I’m Jill Angie, a certified running and life coach and I teach women how to start running, feel confident, and change their lives, and now I want to help you.

Jill Angie:    Hey Rebels. So, I am here with the amazing Jennifer Lamplough this week, and we are going to talk all things food, and running fuel. Basically, we put a call out in the official, Not Your Average Runner Podcast community Facebook group a couple of months ago, and just asked people what were some of their fueling and eating questions that they had. Because Jen’s a chef, and she knows a lot about nutrition. I love food, and so we are going to answer a whole bunch of those questions. So, thanks so much, Jen, for joining me today. How you doing?

Jen Lamplough:   Yay. I’m so good. I’m so glad to be back. So good.

Jill Angie:    So, I have to apologize. Both of us are kind of losing our voices because we just finished doing a Ragnar coaching call for our Run Your Best Life Ragnar team, and it was the first call of the training season because the … What is it, in September? I can’t even think that far ahead.

Jen Lamplough:   Yeah, September 16th, or something.

Jill Angie:    So, we’ve just been like talking, talking, talking, talking about all things Ragnar, and coaching, and so forth. So, we’re both kind of like a little hoarse of voice, but it’s all good. So, how do you want to do this? Should we just dive in?

Jen Lamplough:   Yeah, let’s just dive in. We have some awesome questions.

Jill Angie:    All right, so I’ll just read, I’ll read them and then we can both just take turns answering them. How’s that sound?

Jen Lamplough:   Perfect.

Jill Angie:    All right. So, Vicky Straw says, “What is good to eat before a race? If I don’t eat something before a race, I have no fuel to get me through. But if I eat too much, I feel sick to my stomach.” I think that happens to a lot of people when they first start running.

Jen Lamplough:   I think so, too. I think people often feel like, “Oh, I need all this fuel, and I need to eat, eat, eat so I have enough energy to get me through the race.” I think people end up often overeating when that happens, and that’s when the feeling sick to the stomach comes in. Also, you’re amped up before a race and you have a lot of adrenaline going on, and you have a lot of cortisol, probably, in your system because your stress is a little high, so it makes you feel a little nauseous probably anyway, or feel nauseated, rather, anyway. So, I think people feel like, “Oh, I need to all this stuff before I run.”

Jen Lamplough:   Really, depending on how long your race is you could probably get away with three or four bites of something and be fine. I usually, like my go to is usually like half a banana, and then maybe like a bite of a Larabar, maybe two. That’s usually, I would say, probably for anywhere from a 5K to a 10K, because I don’t fuel during that race distance. Anything over a 10K I’m usually fueling during the race, as well. So, once that initial fuel wears off, I have something with me. But for 5K to 10K distance, like probably four to five bites of something gets me through.

Jill Angie:    Yeah, it really doesn’t take much. I usually have, for me it’s like half a piece of … Whole Foods makes this harvest grain. I can’t even think of the name of it. Is it Harvest Valley or Harvest Grain bread? It’s got like all kinds of seeds on the outside, and the inside. I’ll take like a half a slice of that, toast it, put a little nut butter on it, and that’s like just enough to fuel me before say a half marathon. Before a 5K or a 10K, I actually don’t eat. So, I’m not sure … Vickie doesn’t say what race distance, but if you’re going to do a 5K, you don’t necessarily even need to eat, in my opinion, unless that’s how you’ve been training. I think that’s the important thing. Whatever you are doing for your training is what you should be doing on race day.

Jen Lamplough:   Yeah, nothing new on race day, especially in the food department.

Jill Angie:    Yeah. If you’ve been going through your whole training plan without eating before you run, then eating on race day is not necessarily recommended. So, practice it all during your training and give everything a try. I would say you don’t want to have a lot of, or any, dairy before you would go for a run. That’s usually a no-no. I wouldn’t eat like a salad, or anything. I would eat things that are-

Jen Lamplough:   Not unless you want to gas out all the people running behind you.

Jill Angie:    I know, right? Well, I-

Jen Lamplough:   It might be a strategy.

Jill Angie:    Years ago, I had a client who said, “Well, you know, I was eating yogurt before all my training runs and I kept having to stop and throw up.” I’m like, “Don’t eat yogurt before you run. That’s not working for you,” but it doesn’t work for most people.

Jen Lamplough:   Well, dairy creates mucus and so it makes you phlegmy, and makes you like, makes it harder to breathe, and makes you cough. So, that’s why it’s not a good idea to eat dairy before.

Jill Angie:    Oh, I did not know that. Interesting.

Jen Lamplough:   That’s why if you have a cold, or a cough, they say don’t eat dairy, because it actually produces more mucus. Mucus is such a disgusting word.

Jill Angie:    It is. Mucus.

Jen Lamplough:   It’s like moist.

Jill Angie:    Let’s say it a few more times.

Jen Lamplough:   It’s like the equivalent of moist. Moist mucus.

Jill Angie:    Why do people hate that word so much?

Jen Lamplough:   It’s disgusting.

Jill Angie:    I’m one of those people, by the way. I just don’t understand what’s so awful about it. I can’t put my finger on it. So, things to eat before a race are things that are easily digested, too. I guess like bananas, obviously, a great thing, something with rice in it. I think the BRAT diet, you know that diet the B-R-A-T diet that they give you when you are coming off of a stomach flu, they give you foods that are easily absorbed and don’t upset the stomach. That’s probably a good way to go if you feel like you want to eat something before you are going out for a run. If you’re doing like a long race, though, you should be practicing your fueling on your long runs, so you shouldn’t be waiting till race day to say, “Oh, I wonder what I should eat during this run?” You should have been practicing it all along.

Jen Lamplough:   Yeah, for sure.

Jill Angie:    Also, there’s commercial race fuel, too, that you can try, like Clif Shot Bloks or GU. I’m not a huge fan of Gus, other than the birthday cake flavor, which I’m kind of sick of now. I’m done with that.

Jen Lamplough:   It sounds disgusting.

Jill Angie:    It’s disgusting at this point. It tastes … The first few times I had it tasted just like buttercream frosting.

Jen Lamplough:   Well, that I love.

Jill Angie:    I know, right? It’s a bit-

Jen Lamplough:   I’m not sure I would love that on a hot race day, but-

Jill Angie:    We’ll have to give that a try sometime. Anyway. Anything more to add to that?

Jen Lamplough:   No, I’ll choke a little bit. I just would caution everybody like don’t overdo it. I think often the mistake that’s often made is overdoing it either before or after a run, and you don’t need that much, especially after anything under a half marathon distance.

Jill Angie:    I think your advice, just a few bites, that’s it. Half a banana is-

Jen Lamplough:   Plenty.

Jill Angie:    What’s that, like four bites? Yeah, that’s plenty. Sarah Doke says, “I do not eat before a run and I don’t eat immediately after a run. I’ve been told this is bad for my body, but I just don’t have an appetite. I do drink plenty of water before, during and after, but it is usually several hours afterwards before I start to feel hunger. This goes for a short two-mile run, or a long half marathon run. Is this bad for my body?”

Jen Lamplough:   I mean, if you’re okay and it works for you I don’t … Especially the eating before, you don’t ever have to eat before, like you were saying earlier, especially on those shorter distances. The after run, the only reason you’d want to get a little something in you is just to help sort of repair, like a little bit of protein to repair your muscles, and a little bit of carbs to replace your stores, your glycogen stores. If you don’t need it, and you’re not weak, or shaky, or having trouble, or you’re having cramps, or I don’t know what else would happen if you don’t eat. I don’t understand this concept of not wanting to eat. What is this not wanting to eat concept? I’m not sure I understand those [links 00:08:17] of words.

Jill Angie:    I would say if you are finding that you’re really sore the next day, or if you’re really tired for the rest of the day after you run, even if you’re not hungry maybe go ahead and just try a little something. What would you recommend that’s a good mix of carbs and protein? Like a nut butter?

Jen Lamplough:   Yeah, like a protein pancake. Like the Kodiak pancakes.

Jill Angie:    Oh, I love those.

Jen Lamplough:   I’ll make little silver dollar ones of those and spread natural peanut butter on them and eat like one or two of those, or you could have … The Larabars, again, are a great one because they’re like a really nice mix of protein and carbs because it’s like blended nuts and dried fruit usually. You could have … This is the time where you could eat the dairies. You could have some full-fat yogurt with some granola in it. Those are some good, because that kind of gets your protein, fat, and carb all in one.

Jill Angie:    I would say you don’t need to eat a ton of it. Again, maybe like five or six bites.

Jen Lamplough:   Maybe not even that much. Just take a couple of bites and see if you feel any better. You may be feeling bad and not even realizing it. You’re like, “Oh, that’s just how I feel after a run,” but you might try getting a little bit of nutrition afterwards and see if you do feel better.

Jill Angie:    Yeah, and I would also try, maybe not so much for the two mile runs but for your longer half marathon training runs, I would try re-hydrating with Nuun instead of plain water, because that’ll also bring in a lot of electrolytes, which is also pretty important after a hard workout. Kelly Miller says, “What are some strategies to increase calcium in your diet when you are lactose intolerant?” I have no idea.

Jen Lamplough:   Well, I think, … You could always see a registered dietician to help you with that kind of stuff, when you’re having to replace nutrients because of like food allergies, and that sort of thing, and they could give you some good strategies, but there’s also a couple of ways to get it that’s really easy, that doesn’t have lactose in it. So, things like beans are high in calcium, dark leafy greens are high in calcium, seeds, especially like chia seeds, are really high in calcium. Those are some of the kind of I would say easier ways to do it. You can also find foods that are fortified with calcium so they have calcium added to it. Some tofu does. Then, you can also just do calcium supplements. They make chews, and that sort of thing, where you can get calcium added.

Jen Lamplough:   I take a calcium supplement every day, because I take calcium and vitamin D because I have really low vitamin D, probably because I live in Midwest and it’s not as sunny here as most places. When I broke my foot a couple of years ago, she tested my vitamin D and my vitamin D was super low, so she put me on a supplement. You could talk to your doctor, or registered dietician, and they might be able to help you with that kind of thing. But, beans, seeds, nuts, dark leafy greens, tofu, because tofu is a bean, too, so those sorts of things are generally pretty high in calcium.

Jill Angie:    I did not know that. I eat, probably … You know those giant tubs of spinach? There’s like the normal size and then there’s the family size. By myself I eat a family-sized tub of spinach …

Jen Lamplough:   Wow.

Jill Angie:    Over four days for salads. My sister is just like, “You’re going to die of like iron over sufficiency.”

Jen Lamplough:   That can cause kidney stones. If you get an over amount of those kinds of dark leafy greens that are high in iron, you can get kidney stones from that.

Jill Angie:    Interesting. I have been doing it for five years. I’ve had no issues with it, but I also don’t eat let … I eat that instead of lettuce, so it’s not like I’m eating like a bunch of other leafy greens on top of it. I just love my spinach.

Jen Lamplough:   I love spinach, too. I like cooked spinach, though, better than raw spinach.

Jill Angie:    Oh God, no. I mean, it’s okay … Well, you probably do a good job with it.

Jen Lamplough:   I just sauté it in olive oil and garlic and salt. It’s the best, like most delicious way to eat spinach.

Jill Angie:    That actually does sound good.

Jen Lamplough:   Oh, my God, it’s so good, and I put it on everything, eggs. I put it on pizza, all the things. Oh, it’s so good.

Jill Angie:    All right. You need to make that for me sometime.

Jen Lamplough:   I’ll see you this weekend.

Jill Angie:    Not the eggs, but the spinach on the pizza. Good stuff. Marsha says, “How much does cutting out sugar really help for joint pain and mind work? It sounds daunting, but maybe something I should tackle?” So, I want to answer this one because, Marsha, I will tell you that cutting out sugar for me it has been a game changer. Several years ago, I cut out sugar from my diet and I was starting to, not starting I was actually in perimenopause, didn’t realize it at the time. I had a lot of joint pain. I had really bad hot flashes. I just had like all those typical symptoms of perimenopause. When I cut out the sugar, in combination with caffeine, which horrifies so many people. The sugar really did the most of it. I watched the joint pain sort of fade away. When I would stand up from sitting down for a while it wasn’t like, I didn’t feel like the tin man anymore. I just didn’t like ache and feel awful all the time, and I found that my head got a lot less cloudy feeling.

Jill Angie:    Think about it. Sugar. We’ve got so much sugar that’s added to our food that we don’t even realize, and it’s just not a great thing. It’s not something that occurs in nature. When you eat a piece of fruit, there’s sugar in it but it’s got lots of fiber, and lots of vitamins and minerals to go along with it. When you eat something that’s just got a bunch of added sugar it’s just not great for you. I think, yes, I know what you mean when it sounds daunting because it can be kind of like overwhelming to think like, “Oh my God, I’ll never have a cupcake again.” I like to take the approach of like, “I’m just choosing to not eat sugar today.” I don’t get really vigilant about, “Oh, my God, that ketchup has sugar in it,” or whatever. I just try not to eat foods that have a lot of added sugar, and then I do have a little bit of fruit every day. I find that that does really help a lot with my joint pain, and it gives me a clearer mind.

Jill Angie:    So, I think it’s worth tackling, and I also think it’s like … Instead of saying, “I have to be perfect,” you just kind of want to, let’s see what happens if you go a day without eating sugar, and don’t eliminate other carbs from your diet or you’re going to end up with headaches, because if you try to like do this crazy low-carb thing … Not that low carb is crazy, I didn’t say that. If you try to like go all in on being low carb, you will have a few weeks where you feel pretty shitty and you’ll be like, “It’s not working, I feel worse.” So, if you’re going to eliminate sugar, I think it’s wise to make that up in your diet with some healthier unprocessed carbohydrates, like maybe potatoes, or rice, or beans. What do you think Jen?

Jen Lamplough:   Yeah, I agree with all of that. I think people get real vigilant about the sugar like, “I’m not going to eat any fruit.” Fruit’s not the problem. It’s the Oreos are the problem, it’s not the fruit.

Jill Angie:    Right. Exactly. It is not the fruit. Nobody overdoses on fruit. Nobody got diabetes from eating too much fruit.

Jen Lamplough:   Although, I will say I did have a friend who didn’t have a lot of nutrition knowledge and she was eating 10 bananas a day. I was like, maybe you’re overdoing it on the bananas, because I don’t think she like pooped for a week.

Jill Angie:    Right. Your body won’t correct for that. It’ll just be like, “All right.” Right, right.

Jen Lamplough:   So, I think you can overdo it, but fruit is not your problem. So, if you’re going to cut out … I would sort of qualify that as cut out processed sugar.

Jill Angie:    Yes, definitely.

Jen Lamplough:   I would start there and then see how it goes. Then … I’ve done it too, and I know that I do very well when I cut out processed sugar. My sister has really severe osteoarthritis and when she cuts out sugar, she notices a huge difference in her joint pain. So, I know that it is a thing, and it does work. I mean, because sugar has the same effect in your brain as drugs. So, if you think about doing drugs, you’re going to have a cloudy mind, right? You’re not going to be in you’re right … It’s basically it’s very similar. So, it does help with mental clarity a lot. Plus, you’re not using sugar to mask your feelings or emotions, and so the mental clarity comes because you have to work on your mental stuff if you’re not stuffing a blizzard in your face every time you feel a little sad, which I would not know from experience at all.

Jill Angie:    I think the one thing with runners that there’s a little bit of a, I don’t know if conundrum is the right word, but a lot of the running fuel, like commercial running fuel, is basically glucose and a bunch of electrolytes in a small concentrated form. So, people are like, “Oh, if I’m not supposed to be eating sugar why’s it okay to eat it if I’m like doing a run?” Well, the thing is like when you’re going out there and you’re running 10 miles, or 20 miles, that little bit of sugar gets absorbed and utilized immediately as muscle fuel by the body. When you’re kind of sitting at home watching Netflix, eating Oreos that sugar is absorbed immediately by the body, but it is not used immediately by the body because it’s not necessary. Then, it just kind of runs around and wreaks havoc. Sugar creates a lot of inflammation. It’s an inflammatory substance, and so that’s what joint pain is, is just inflammation in your joints. So, eliminating sugar cuts down on a lot of the inflammation.

Jen Lamplough:   You could get running, or make running, fuel that has no sugar in it whatsoever but is carbohydrate based. You know, carbohydrates turn into sugar in your system. It’s just some of them take longer than others. Some of them go quicker than others. When you’re running and you’re replacing those stores with race fuel, you want something that’s going to do it quickly, so that’s why those little shot bloks and gels work, because they instantly go into your muscles, like you said. So, you could eat things like potatoes, and white rice, that do the same thing, or even something that is like honey-based, that sort of thing that does it without adding the processed sugar in.

Jill Angie:    Although honey is basically sugar.

Jen Lamplough:   Honey is sugar but it’s not processed sugar, it’s natural sugar. So, as long as you’re getting nat-

Jill Angie:    It’s like a step up.

Jen Lamplough:   Yeah, yeah. I mean honey, it does the same thing metabolically that sugar does, so if you’re counting carbohydrate grams it’s got the same amount of carbohydrates, but the nutrients in honey, and the way it’s processed, is much better for you then eating processed cane sugar.

Jill Angie:    Yeah, agreed. Brittany Olson says, “What is the best way to eat without counting anything? I’m finding great success with you and following Corinne Crabtree’s way of losing weight, and I’ve loved not counting anything?” Before we answer that, I just want to say, if you don’t know who Corinne Crabtree is, she is the host of the Losing 100 Pounds podcast. She takes the same approach to losing weight that we here take towards running, which is doing a lot of thought work and a lot of really kind of understanding the reasons why you overeat, or the reasons why you eat in general so that instead … She doesn’t tell you, “These are the foods you should eat, and she doesn’t teach you how to count calories, or anything. She’s more about like, “Hey, let’s work on the reasons why you’re overeating and address that root cause.” She’s fucking amazing. She swears a lot on her podcast. So go check that out. Okay, now we can answer Brittany’s question. I always like to give a plug for Corinne because I love her. She’s amazing.

Jen Lamplough:   I do, too. I do, too. I mean, if you’re having success and not counting anything just keep doing what you’re doing. It sounds like that’s okay. If you’re worried about am I getting enough carbohydrate for fuel? That’s really up to you and your body, and you just kind of have to test that out on your training run. You can overdo it on fueling and end up getting sick and throwing up, do you know what I mean? Or you can under do it and bonk, right, and like hit the wall. So, that’s why you do it during your training runs to like figure out what works for you. You don’t have to be like, “Oh I have this many grams of carbs, so now, …” unless you have diabetes and you have to count grams of carb. I think what you’re doing sounds like it’s fine.

Jill Angie:    Yeah, yeah. I think the best way to eat without counting anything is to do exactly what’s working for you right now. We kind of talked about this. Neither of us really has an opinion on counting macros and what percentages of carbs, and protein, and fat you should be eating. I think everyone’s body is different. I don’t think there’s really any … Everyone’s body is different from day to day. So, the right percentage for you one day might be different on another day. So, we kind of don’t really recommend trying to find a percentage and stick to it, because … Just listen to your body. Your body will tell you if it has enough fuel.

Jen Lamplough:   There’s no like general rule of thumb for that. If you have diabetes, or some other chronic disease, where you have to do that to manage that disease then you should be talking to a registered dietician to be able to figure that out what works for your body, what kind of percentages you need. There’s no, “Well, women that are age 50 should have this much percentage of blah blah, blah.” That’s like saying like, “Oh, wear just any running shoe.”

Jill Angie:    Right?

Jen Lamplough:   It’s like you have to tailor it to yourself. So, if you need it for chronic disease management then you should be seeing a registered dietician to figure that out.

Jill Angie:    I think that’s disappointing for a lot of people to hear because they just want to know what’s the thing I should do?

Jen Lamplough:   Just tell me what to eat. People tell me that all the time.

Jill Angie:    Right? That’s not how any of this works. Nobody wants to figure it out for themselves, they just want to be told what to do. The unfortunate thing is we cannot tell you what is the best food for you. We just can’t.

Jen Lamplough:   Nope.

Jill Angie:    You have got to figure it out on your own. So, Lisa Bartlett says, “I need alternatives to all the white flour I eat like bread, crackers, sandwiches that have bread on them,” as opposed to the sandwiches that don’t have bread?” Maybe lettuce sandwiches, I don’t know.

Jen Lamplough:   Yeah, you could do a lettuce wrap.

Jill Angie:    What do you have to say about this, Jen?

Jen Lamplough:   Yeah, I think if you’re trying to … White flour is basically the same thing as sugar, so it does the exact same thing in your body that sugar does, so it’s the exact same thing. If you want to replace that with something that’s going to take longer to metabolize, which for running purposes it’s great if it metabolizes fast because we want that to happen and to replenish our muscles quickly. But, if it’s a day-to-day thing and you don’t want something to metabolize fast because it’s going to turn into fat faster, you want something that’s going to take longer, that’s higher in fiber. So, what you’re looking for is fiber-rich foods.

Jen Lamplough:   You can get that through things like whole grain bread, instead of plain white bread. When you’re looking at bread, and you’re looking at whole grain or whole wheat, just because it’s brown doesn’t mean it’s high fiber. So, you got to look at the nutrition information. The first ingredient should be whole wheat or whole grain. Then, if you look at the nutrition content under carbohydrates it’ll list the grams of fiber, and you should be looking for 2-3 grams of fiber per serving. That’s what’s considered a high-fiber food. What fiber does is it … Fiber passes through your system unmetabolized, and so the more fiber that’s in it the less carbohydrate you’re getting, and it takes a long time for your body to work it out. It’s like the difference between drinking a soda and eating an Apple. They might have the same sugar content but it’s going to pass through your system a lot differently.

Jen Lamplough:   You can look for whole grain things like whole grain brown rice, barley, especially hulled barley. So, there’s two different kinds of barley. There’s hulled and pearl barley. That’s the same thing as like brown rice versus white rice. So hulled barley is the equivalent of brown rice. It’s got all the whole grain in it. Pearl barley is more like eating white rice. Quinoa is an awesome substitute. You can look for … Instead of white potatoes go for sweet potatoes. Those are going to have much more fiber in them and fewer carbs. They’re going to metabolize slower.

Jen Lamplough:   Bread substitutes. If you want sandwiches, and crackers, and things like that, you could always do a lettuce wrap for a sandwich. You can buy whole grain tortillas. You can use corn tortillas. Corn tortillas are usually whole grain. Corn is actually a whole grain, and so you can use that. You can substitute sandwiches for like a bowl, like make a bowl. So, instead of eating a burrito, eat a burrito bowl, like put a base of brown rice or roasted sweet potato, and then layer it with your taco meat, and your lettuce, and guacamole, and all that good stuff. There’s lots of ways to substitute out those white flours, those white things. So, white rice for brown rice, white bread for whole grain bread, those sorts of things. Those are probably going to be your best bets.

Jill Angie:    Love it.

Jen Lamplough:   Yeah, fiber. Fiber is the key. Look for high fiber.

Jill Angie:    Those are all great. I’m kind of hungry now.

Jen Lamplough:   I just ate a whole grain pita for dinner and made like a little pita wrap, so I had a whole grain pita and I spread a little cream cheese on it and some ham and rolled it up and that was my dinner.

Jill Angie:    Nice. Delicious. Sounds good. Kristen Kriegel says, “Any tips for type 2 diabetics and fueling for day-to-day and longer runs?”

Jen Lamplough:   Basically, what I just said about the fiber. I mean, that’s the big thing. I would say number one, if you have type 2 diabetes, you should be working with a registered dietician to manage that. Everybody’s different, and your level of diabetes that you have, and how you’re managing it is really important to work with a registered dietician. So, if you aren’t do that first. Secondly, following the diabetes protocol, so that basically means that you’re counting your carbohydrate grams, basically 15 grams of carbohydrate is considered one carbohydrate exchange, and so that you’re getting a balanced … It’s really about balanced eating so that you’re getting protein, and produce, fruits and vegetables, and whole grains at every meal pretty much. So, that’s what you want to do kind of all the time.

Jen Lamplough:   Again, with the running, and refueling, you just have to sort of work probably with your dietician to find out what’s going to work best for you. You’re probably going to be better off not using the stuff that’s the quick sugar. So, working with using something that might go a little slower like a potato, or a sweet potato, but there’s a lot of great resources out there. The American Diabetes Association is the first place to go.

Jen Lamplough:   If I may plug my own books, I write books for the American Diabetes Association, and my most recent book is called The Diabetes Cookbook. It’s out right now and you can get that. It’s tons, 300 recipes, and this year I’ll have another one coming out that’s really called The Basics of Cooking, and it’s really like the basics, like how to hard boil an egg, and how to cook brown rice, and how to roast a whole chicken, like real basic. That won’t come out until the end of this year, in 2020. The American Diabetes Association also has a website called the Diabetes Food Hub, diabetesfoodhub.org, and a lot of my recipes are out there. It’s really just following that protocol and really working with a registered dietician to make sure you’re on the right track, and that you’re measuring your blood sugars so you know where you’re at.

Jill Angie:    Nice. You need to write a race fuel for type 2 diabetics.

Jen Lamplough:   Let me recover from this one I just finished writing last night at midnight.

Jill Angie:    Excellent. I love it. We’ve got time for like … I think we’ve got time for one more. So, why don’t you pick the question that you want to answer.

Jen Lamplough:   Ooh, okay. Hold on. How about … Let’s see. Jessica Thomas says, “My diet isn’t totally garbage, but I know I’m not feeling like I should, or could.” I love that word should. “When I start thinking about it I feel overwhelmed. Is there a good way to sort of ease into optimal fueling?” There’s a lot to unpack in that question. The majority of that is around your thought work, Jessica, about what you’re telling yourself you should or should not be doing. First of all, if you’re using the word should you’re in perfectionist mindset and you’re like, “Well, I should be perfect at this, and I should be eating this way, and I should, should, should.”

Jen Lamplough:   That leads to thinking about being overwhelmed and, basically, it leads to doing nothing, because if you can’t do it perfectly, you’re not going to do it. So, that’s just like anything else, like any habit building, which we’re talking a lot about in our group, it’s starting small. Change one small thing each day, or each week. Maybe you want to drink more water, so start there. Maybe you want to switch from … We were talking earlier about white flour, like maybe you want to switch from white bread to whole wheat bread, and start making small changes.

Jen Lamplough:   If you try to like, “I’m going to have the perfect diet starting tomorrow,” you are for sure going to fail at that because you can’t change like that overnight. So, just start small and build those micro habits and you’ll start to see, “Oh.” Your brain will say, “Hey, when I eat like this, I feel better, and my run seems to go better, and I recover faster.” It’s like, “I like the way that feels.” I’m going to choose that over going face down in a bag of whatever, Oreos. I seem to be bagging on Oreos today. I’m not sure why. I haven’t had an Oreo-

Jill Angie:    We are talking a lot about Oreos, I know.

Jen Lamplough:   I know. I don’t know why. I haven’t had an Oreo in a long time, but lord knows I love on them. I don’t think Oreos are the devil, but something like that. It’s like building that micro habit. So, it’s compounding it every time. You build one and it’s working for you, and now you add the next thing, and then you add the next thing, and you do that over whatever works for you in the period of time it takes to create that habit.

Jill Angie:    Yeah, I love that. Can we recommend the book Atomic Habits by James Clear …

Jen Lamplough:   Yes.

Jill Angie:    … as a way to build … I feel like I’ve talked about his book extensively over the past few podcasts.

Jen Lamplough:   I feel like I talk about James Clear like once a day.

Jill Angie:    I know. We have to get him on the podcast.

Jen Lamplough:   I know. His stuff is so good.

Jill Angie:    He is. Sometimes I’m like … Every quote that he puts out there I’m like, “Oh, my God, that’s the secret to the Universe.” He’s just so good. So, we have got to get him on the podcast.

Jen Lamplough:   Yeah, and if you don’t read Atomic Habits right away at least subscribe to his weekly newsletter. It’s called 3-2-1, and it’s three thoughts from him, two quotes from others, and one question, and it’s a weekly newsletter. I swear to you it’s like the quickest read and it’s the best content out there. I talk about it all the time. It is constantly like blowing my mind.

Jill Angie:    Really, you should get his book and get a hard copy of it because it’s like a textbook. I mean, it’s not a textbook but you’re going to want to use it that way. You’re going to want to highlight on it. You want to write notes in it. You’re going to want to put tabs on the pages, it’s that good. So, yeah. All right. I think we should just like dedicate this episode to James Clear.

Jen Lamplough:   I’m 100% down with that.

Jill Angie:    Poor guy. If he ever listens to this podcast, he’s going to be like-

Jen Lamplough:   Um, are you guys my stalkers?

Jill Angie:    You guys talk about me so much it’s kind of freaky. I know, right? I don’t know where he lives, but I’m going to find out.

Jen Lamplough:   He’s cute, too.

Jill Angie:    He is. He’s easy on the eyes for sure. All right. We actually got way more questions than we were able to answer today in the time that we have, but we will … I think we’ll do another one of these sometime …

Jen Lamplough:   Yeah, for sure.

Jill Angie:    … in the future. This is fun.

Jen Lamplough:   Totally fun. It’s always fun spending time with you, even virtually.

Jill Angie:    I know. So, Jen and I are going to be together in Chicago in like five days. We’re doing our 2020, kickoff the year team meeting with Megan, who is our operations manager, and be planning out some crazy stuff for Not Your Average Runner in the next 12 months.

Jen Lamplough:   So excited.

Jill Angie:    I’m so excited. I’m extremely excited because this is a food show, so I’m going to tell you that Megan is preparing a cheese and cured meats platter for us.

Jen Lamplough:   One of my favorite things on the planet.

Jill Angie:    I know. She’s just like, “I will have that ready.” I’m like, “I’m all in.”

Jen Lamplough:   All good.

Jill Angie:    So yeah, going to be good. I think, and on that note, we can say goodbye.

Jen Lamplough:   All right.

Jill Angie:    All right.

Jen Lamplough:   Sounds good to me.

Jill Angie:    We’ll talk to you next week. Bye.

Jen Lamplough:   Bye.

Oh, and one last thing. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you have to check out the Rebel Runner Roadmap. It’s a 30-day online program that will teach you exactly how to start running, stick with it, and become the runner you’ve always wanted to be. Head on over to rebelrunnerroadmap.com to join. I’d love to be a part of your journey.