More Fuel You book review
If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re eating a correctly balanced diet for trail and ultra running, Renee McGregor’s book More Fuel You is for yo It’s about understanding your body’s needs, in particular what to eat and drink (and when), if you take part in endurance sport and outdoor adventures. As soon as I heard Renee mention it when she spoke to Jen Benson at our ShAFF online talk, I pre-ordered the book and was really excited to take her expert advice on board. I’ve waited a while to review the book, because I wanted to take some time to put the learning into practise.
Before I read More Fuel You I was hoping to get inspiration to eat a wider range of foods, support recovery from longer runs, and be sure I’m getting all the vitamins and nutrients I need. For context, I’m pescetarian and always cook fresh food. I love carbs, vegetables and cheese, but don’t really like fruit. I run about four times a week (hiking/walking on non-running days), and I am occassionally low in iron. I’m really happy with my race day/running food, using a mixture of Mountain Fuel, bananas and cheese sandwiches, but not so confident that my everyday food is varied or nutritious enough.
The first part of the book explains what nutrients your body needs, outlining the requirements for carbohydrates, protein and fat in grams, which you can calculate for yourself based on your body weight. Most useful is that it breaks down the different requirements on rest/low intensity days, days with 1 hour exercise, 1-3 hours exercise and 4-6 hours exercise. Renee also explains what these look like in real food, for example a banana is 25g carbs, 150g greek yogurt is 15g protein. I would have found it useful to have even more examples to choose from, as I often struggle with ideas for variety, but if you follow Renee on Instagram she often posts useful suggestions.
I realised straight away that I don’t eat anywhere near enough protein, and a bit too much fat. On the positive side, the carbs that I love and eat a lot of (bread, wholemeal pasta and rice) are all good and necessary for the amount of running I do. I’ve been able to add a bit more protein through foods like tuna, or greek yogurt, and I’ve reordered the Recovery Fuel protein supplement that I’ve used in the past after long runs. I’ve also swapped to low or no-fat options where they’re available, like yogurt and cottage cheese. To be honest though, I’m still going to put a lot of butter on my toast, because that’s one of the joys of life!
The advice in More Fuel You is very clear. I found it easy to understand and apply to my own circumstances. However, I did learn that it’s very hard to change eating habits and buying something new doesn’t mean I’ll want to eat it (like mackrel and nut butter). The main lesson I learned was to be a bit stricter about the timing of food in relation to a run. It’s a simple change to be sure that I eat carbs (a hot cross bun) before a run, and has given me a prompt to remember to eat a combination of carbs/protein (banana & yogurt/smoothie or protein shake) after a run to support muscle recovery.
Later there are chapters that analyse various diets (vegan, low carb) and about the effect of periods, pregnancy and menopause. They aren’t long, so if they’re not relevant at the moment they’re still really worth a read to gain a better understanding of how these could affect you, your loved ones or friends.
This book doesn’t replace personalised expert advice, but it’s a really informative introduction and I feel much more confident now that my diet is along the right lines. A highly qualified and experienced sports dietician, and an ultra-runner herself, Renee is a safe pair of hands and always focuses on maintaining a healthy mindset in relation to food and exercise.
You don’t have to consider yourself an ‘athlete’ to find More Fuel You useful. I would recommend it to anyone that likes to spend long days out running, cycling, climbing or hiking, and anyone who is active several times a week with various sports (and even walking to work). All that actvity adds up, and More Fuel You is a great resource to sense check whether you’re giving your body the fuel it needs to support all those adventures.