Love to Snack? This Computer Game May Help

 Image courtesy of rakratchada torsap/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of rakratchada torsap/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As runners, our appetite levels rise when we are in the middle of our training. However, we often snack a little too much when we aren’t on a hardcore schedule. It’s easy to keep eating the same amount of calories during the off-training season. If this describes you, an online computer game may help control your snacking impulse.

In a study published in the journal Appetite, researchers from the University of Exeter and Cardiff University used 41 adults and had them complete four 10-minute sessions of playing a game involving snack control.

How the game works: Users avoid pressing on pictures of certain images, such as photos of heavy foods, while they respond to other images, such as images of fruits. The goal is to trick your brain into associating heavy, calorie-laden foods with stopping.

Participants were weighed and given food-rating tasks and diaries to complete one week before and one week after the training.

The results showed that participants lost an average of one and a half pounds and consumed around 220 fewer calories a day with a simple computer game. In addition, the reduction in weight and unhealthy snacking was maintained six months after the study.

“These findings are among the first to suggest that a brief, simple computerized tool can change people’s everyday eating behavior,” said lead researcher Natalia Lawrence of the University of Exeter. “This opens up exciting possibilities for new behavior change interventions based on underlying psychological processes,” said Lawrence.

Ten minutes isn’t too long to spend changing the way your brain looks at food.

You can watch this YouTube video to find out more information abut the game.

Source:

http://wap.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/online-computer-game-may-help-fight-obesity-115062600590_1.html

You Should Run Like a Kid

imagesWe are used to running for extended periods of time, especially that one long run each week. But if you are pressed for time, you actually should change your workout from a moderate pace to short bouts of high-intensity training instead.

A recent study published in the journal Metabolism: Clinical and Experimental suggests what we’ve all been hearing about HIIT (high-intensity interval training): It may have a better effect on your overall health than long, moderate workouts.

Mirroring the way children exercise, workout hard for a short time and then rest, is actually better for you.

In this study, adolescents had their blood sugar, blood pressure, and fat metabolism measured at intervals over eight hours and consumed a fatty meal for both breakfast and lunch. Participants were told to exercise at a moderate and high-level of intensity for four different periods. Both moderate and high intensity exercisers performed the same amount of work. Researchers found high-intensity was more effective in improving blood sugar levels, fat metabolism and blood pressure in adolescents after consuming a fatty meal.

Dr Alan Barker, of the Children’s Health and Exercise Research Centre, Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Exeter, said: “Children and adolescents tend to perform brief bouts of exercise. This study shows that the intensity of this pattern of exercise is important, with high-intensity providing superior health benefits than moderate-intensity exercise.”

What does this mean for running? Running four miles at a moderate pace may not be as effective as running four one-miles hard broken up throughout the course of a day. You will reap greater rewards in shorter bursts than something longer. Breaking it up like this may also keep you motivated. Knowing you only have run one mile is something much more reasonable.

 

Source:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-06/uoe-tse061015.php

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150610111123.htm

 

Do Runners Have Amnesia?

imagesCA32IXH9Completing a marathon can feel exciting, but no doubt, it hurts. Still, most runners choose to sign up for more. A new psychological study offers some explanation of why, by finding that some marathon runners seem to develop selective amnesia and forget what the true experience is like.

Where:

The new study was published in the journal Memory. Przemyslaw Babel, a professor of psychology at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, focused on the marathon because the experience combines pain with emotions.

The Research:

At the finish line of the 2012 Cracovia Marathon in Krakow, Babel asked 62 of the finishers to rate the intensity and unpleasantness of the pain they were feeling right after they finished, as well as their general emotional state.

The runners reported a moderate intensity and unpleasantness of pain at the time, averaging about a 5.5 on a scale of zero to 10.

Then either three or six months later, the same runners were asked to remember how much pain they were in after they finished the marathon.

Their memories proved  quite different than how they responded three to six months previously. Most of the runners recalled the race as being much less painful than they said at the time, averaging a three on a 10-point scale.

Results:

The runners who had reported less happiness at the race’s end later remembered their pain more accurately than those who felt elated after crossing the finish line, even if their pain at the time had been about the same.

Conclusion:

According to the study, “The results of the current study suggest that memory of pain and affect is influenced by the meaning and affective value of the pain experience. This may help us to understand why the previous research on the memory of pain were so diverse.”

Source:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25056190

Snacks for Runners

FTTF_Background_3-BIGI can’t count how many gels I’ve taken over the years. I find them the best source of fuel for a long run and easy to digest. However, I wouldn’t mind shaking it up a bit. Sometimes I find myself out of gels or I’m traveling and forgot to pack some and wonder, what can I do?

I found a few snacking alternatives you take while running that shouldn’t be hard on the stomach.

Bananas
We see these at race aid stations–one of the few foods you see distributed. Bananas offer plenty of potassium runners need to excel at this sport. However, they are hard to carry and can get mashed pretty quickly if you keep it in a pocket of your running shorts. Try mashing it up and spreading it over a whole wheat tortilla, like your own fruit quesadilla. Keep it in a Ziplock bag and stick this in your pocket instead.

Ensure
Elderly people drink this when they have trouble digesting foods. It offers a high number of calories but is easy on the digestive system. If you are doing long runs of 15+ miles, you need the calories and this is a fast way to get them.

Raisins
Are you someone who loves the sports jelly beans? I eat them sometimes for my workouts and try not to feel guilty that I’m using a dessert to fuel my exercise. However, I should be swapping that out with raisins instead. A study by Louisiana State University found them as effective as those jelly beans.

Green Tea
If you’re tired of Gatorade or looking for a healthier, less sugary choice, green tea has been known to improve endurance and V02 max. You can fill up a water bottle and get a friendly flavor than regular water.

Sources:

http://greatist.com/fitness/run-snacks-improve-marathon

http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-runners/super-snacks