Sometimes I get this bonking sensation early in practice: shakiness, a starved feeling, weakness, odd lights in the visual field (not migrainal here), dizziness--the kind of stuff I usually associate with low blood sugar.
So I started eating a package of Lance ToastChee crackers before every practice, and I almost never get the bonking problem if I do so.
Alas, now a new problem has emerged: just lost my final lower molar, which cracked down the middle like its three predecessor brethren. It's now hard to eat crackers (I can kind of hamster-chomp them with my incisors and other non-masticating teeth).
It's actually hard to eat anything right now, given evacuated-tooth-related pain. My question: are there any forms of liquid nourishment that can take the place of solid food and provide enough of the right kinds of calories to let you swim without bonking?
Note: William Faulkner was once advised that a diet of whiskey alone was not sufficient to sustain life. His retort: There's a lot of nourishment in an acre of corn.
Alas, I have become a teetotaler and thus any recommended liquid nourishment must be of the non-spirited variety.
Thanks in advance for your advice. BTW, diets that allow all you can eat of one specific food really don't work long term. I have been on the Ice Cream Diet for two days straight now, and I never believed how much I could grow to hate this foul cold substance.
Parents
Former Member
Do any of you also get that odd (and very disquieting) bonk sensation?
Jim,
Yes, I know the feeling. I have a lot of problems with this, especially at meets. I don't know whether I could ever be a morning swimmer because I need to eat a full meal about 2-1/2 hours before a swim practice. At meets it's a problem because I'm usually working as well as swimming (check-in, measuring the pool, etc.). I get so busy that I forget to eat far enough ahead of my events.
Here's what I did, being the geek that I am. One of my diabetic co-workers had an extra glucose monitor. He gave it to me, along with some test strips. I take it to meets and use it to help me figure out whether I've eaten enough. I played around with it first at home and at swim practice. If I started to get that shaky feeling, I'd get out of the pool and test my blood sugar.
After doing that a few times I had an idea of how low it had to be for me to feel shaky (70) and where it needed to be for me to feel pretty good in the water (100).
The monitors aren't very expensive; it's the test strips that are the killer. Mine is the One-Touch Ultra; the strips are $25.00 for 25 strips! Insurance covers the cost for diabetics, but not for geeks. I don't go through very many strips and so far I've been able to coax a few from my co-workers (it doesn't matter to me if they're past their expiration date).
By the way, I love the phrase "hamster-chomp".
Anna Lea
Do any of you also get that odd (and very disquieting) bonk sensation?
Jim,
Yes, I know the feeling. I have a lot of problems with this, especially at meets. I don't know whether I could ever be a morning swimmer because I need to eat a full meal about 2-1/2 hours before a swim practice. At meets it's a problem because I'm usually working as well as swimming (check-in, measuring the pool, etc.). I get so busy that I forget to eat far enough ahead of my events.
Here's what I did, being the geek that I am. One of my diabetic co-workers had an extra glucose monitor. He gave it to me, along with some test strips. I take it to meets and use it to help me figure out whether I've eaten enough. I played around with it first at home and at swim practice. If I started to get that shaky feeling, I'd get out of the pool and test my blood sugar.
After doing that a few times I had an idea of how low it had to be for me to feel shaky (70) and where it needed to be for me to feel pretty good in the water (100).
The monitors aren't very expensive; it's the test strips that are the killer. Mine is the One-Touch Ultra; the strips are $25.00 for 25 strips! Insurance covers the cost for diabetics, but not for geeks. I don't go through very many strips and so far I've been able to coax a few from my co-workers (it doesn't matter to me if they're past their expiration date).
By the way, I love the phrase "hamster-chomp".
Anna Lea
