Q & A - Feeling Woozy After a Workout

Here is a reposting of a question posed after Thursday's Blog on Tactical Nutrition for Intense Prolonged Drills, along with my response. I figured many would benefit from this posting.

Question:

I strength train 4 days a week, on an empty stomach, and follow the recovery meal schedule. I play basketball for about 2 hours, with little rest between games. My pre-workout meal is typically fruit or nuts. I used to drink Gatorade during, but after I read your article about cortisol, I stopped and drink only water. What a difference! I finish with Gatorade (which I probably should not). I noticed within an hour I get woozy and feel like eating anything in site. Why is that?

My response:

If you train your body to shift from carb fuel to fat fuel, over time your body will gain the ability to shift gears without hitting the wall. Saying that, I recommend for those engaged in prolonged drills (over an hour) to have a light pre-exercise meal, either oatmeal or preferably a high quality low glycemic protein shake.

I use the Warrior Diet Meal Replacement 1 hr – 30 min before my training. It nourishes the body without spiking insulin and helps sustain performance for a prolonged period of time.

What you're experiencing now is most likely a hypoglycemic reaction (low blood sugar) because your body is still depending exclusively on carb fuel. This condition should be avoided. Having Gatorade may cause more collateral damage in the long run. When you take away sugar from a "sugar addict", there will be withdrawal symptoms such as a hypoglycemic reaction, with dizziness, fatigue often involving a headache and craving for sweets. Avoid pre-exercise sugar if you can. The size of pre-exercise meals is also important – I take about 4 tbsp. of Warrior Diet Meal Replacement with water and ice until reaching a thick ice cream consistency. It tastes like a real ice cream and gives you a "sugar kick" without having any sugar added. Sometimes I like to mix the Meal Replacement with Warrior Whey in a 2/1 ratio. It tastes slightly less sweet but still creamy and with a higher content of amino acid. Some of my friends like to add a tbsp. of Warrior Rice to the mixture. In any case, 4 -5 tbsp. of this low glycemic meal replacement is highly effective in supporting the body's nutritional demand without spiking blood sugar, and therefore can be the best option for a pre-exercise meal and also as a safe protein snack at any time of the day to help prevent hypoglycemic reaction during exercise or while following prolonged undereating.