Bonking and liquid nourishment

6 ice cubes 1/2 cup vanilla frozen yogurt (I try to find the brand with the highest amount of protein) 1 Banana 1 tbs peanutbutter 1/4 c Milk Finely Crush Icecubes in blender Add the rest and blend Makes one 13ish ounce drink approx. 420 calories (depending on the brands you use it makes a big difference) All the protein makes it very filling. Many other variations can be had but I found this one keeps the smoothie calories down without sacraficing flavor. I've also done the carnation instant breakfast thing. A hardboiled egg (or two). You could probably try any number of gels - there was a whole section of them in this months Swimmer Magazine.

The slimfast suggestion reminded me about Ensure/Ensure Plus. I like the flavor of it better and it's advertised as a dietary supplement rather than a diet meal replacement.

Thanks for the excellent suggestions. Do any of you also get that odd (and very disquieting) bonk sensation? I've tried the Instant Breakfast route, and for some reason, it didn't work as well as those Lance crackers. I thought maybe it was because of all the sugar in milk, plus whatever is added to the IB itself. In terms of the bonk, there have been times that I just slowed down and swam through it, eventually feeling normal again after maybe 1000 yards. Sometimes, though, it doesn't go away and I think I might faint, which can be problematic in the deep end. In any event, it's time for my next Ensure as I await the diagnosis and nutritional advice of my fellow armchair clinicians with a passing knowledge of pre-diabetes in toothless swimmers.

Carnation Instant Breakfast Chocolate Milk Campbell's Soup "Soup At Hand" Banana-Strawberry Smoothie (Ice, Banana, Strawberry, OJ, and Milk) The Slim Fast milkshake is a good idea too!

There are obviously lots of suggestions for foods to eat. I guess for us arm-chair clinicians it sounds like you've hit the nail on the head. You probably haven't eaten adequately for your workout to begin. Especially if you say having a snack eliminates the problem. I've definitely experienced this before blinky lights and all. I had that happen more in college when I didn't get proper nutrition at the right times. I haven't had this happen in a while though. Except it is the same as the feeling when you've been sick/napping all day then suddenly run to the front door for something. Or, if you tip your head upside down for a few minutes and then sit up really fast. If eating didn't cure this problem you would probably want to talk to your doctor.

If you get sickened of the "sweet" liquid food replacements, try making a bowl of hummus or babaganoush (or order out from a decent Middle Eastern restaurant. I don't have a baba... recipe handy, but the hummus is simple. Use either raw chickpeas soaked and cooked (read the package) or canned. Dump the cooked chickpeas in a food processor, add a clove of garlic (to taste), add lemon (to taste), add tahini (if you have it to taste). Then add some olive oil to blend. I lived on this stuff when I had dental surgery a couple of years ago.:drink:

hey, jim, my several times a week lunch starts with a great big bowl with an eight ounce fruited yogurt in the middle. Add a package of chocolate instant breakfast, about an equal amount of nutrition yeast, a spoonful of crushed flax seed, wheat germ, roasted sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and some raisins. Blend it all then add banana chips and chow mein noodles. Obviously you can leave out any of the above additives if they are not handy or the chips and noodles are too daunting for your teeth at the moment. If it is too much, wrap it up for later. Caution: try this only at home, 'cause you'll want to lick the bowl.

6 ice cubes 1/2 cup vanilla frozen yogurt (I try to find the brand with the highest amount of protein) 1 Banana 1 tbs peanutbutter 1/4 c Milk Finely Crush Icecubes in blender Add the rest and blend I'm gonna make one for MYSELF! Yum!

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

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. LOL I was going to suggest a slimfast shake as a pre workout snack...but seems you may be off dairy! Peanut butter from the spoon works too!