We ran across an interesting article in The New York Times the other day as we were searching for ideas on how to improve our Give n’ Gobble training program. As Thanksgiving Day and Sherwood’s “turkey trot” are only a couple weeks away, and knowing that we usually overindulge on the sweet and savory goodness on turkey day, we found this information about exercising in the morning before breakfast quite interesting.
A study published in The Journal of Physiology suggests exercising in the morning, before eating, seems to significantly lessen the ill effects of holiday gluttony.
The study notes that eating a high-fat, high-calorie diet during the holidays may not only make your waistline grow, it could have more serious health consequences like increased increased blood sugar and insulin resistance, potentially increasing the risk for Type 2 diabetes.
From the article, “Phys Ed: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast,” in The New York Times:
“Just how exercising before breakfast blunts the deleterious effects of overindulging is not completely understood, although this study points toward several intriguing explanations. For one, as has been known for some time, exercising in a fasted state (usually possible only before breakfast), coaxes the body to burn a greater percentage of fat for fuel during vigorous exercise, instead of relying primarily on carbohydrates. When you burn fat, you obviously don’t store it in your muscles. In “our study, only the fasted group demonstrated beneficial metabolic adaptations, which eventually may enhance oxidative fatty acid turnover,” said Peter Hespel, Ph.D., a professor in the Research Center for Exercise and Health at Catholic University Leuven in Belgium and senior author of the study.
At the same time, the fasting group showed increased levels of a muscle protein that “is responsible for insulin-stimulated glucose transport in muscle and thus plays a pivotal role in regulation of insulin sensitivity,” Dr Hespel said.
In other words, working out before breakfast directly combated the two most detrimental effects of eating a high-fat, high-calorie diet. It also helped the men avoid gaining weight.”
Read the whole article here.
It’s always important to check with your doctor before making changes to your training or exercise routine.