Exercise and moods
A twofold warning for anyone who does intense exercise and is experiencing negative moods.
Beware Blood Sugar Drops
After a long hiatus, I got back on a regimen of intense workouts; but to my surprise I began suffering severe post-exercise feelings of agitation, depression, and fatigue. Never had this problem when I was a competitive athlete, but for whatever reason it's a big problem now. The Senior Fudge, who is a personal trainer, immediately recognized this as a blood sugar problem. I was always working out on an empty stomach, and it was causing my blood sugar to plummet. I started eating half of a banana and an ounce or two of lean meat one hour before working out, and then the other half of the banana and another couple ounces of protein immediately after exercising, along with some water. That completely cured me of the post-exercise symptoms I was experiencing.
Beware (Certain) Protein Drinks
I experimented with using protein drinks (Muscle Milk) after exercising, but found that the stuff was having an adverse affect on my mood. For days, I experienced nonstop feelings of intense agitation and rage, seemingly out of nowhere. My poor husband suffered through these berserker rages until one day when I skipped MM after a workout, and my mood immediately settled back to normal. A quick Google search revealed that other people have experienced the same problem after consuming MM. I don't know, or really care, what the causal link is, but it seems wise to just stick with fruit+meat from now on.
Beware Blood Sugar Drops
After a long hiatus, I got back on a regimen of intense workouts; but to my surprise I began suffering severe post-exercise feelings of agitation, depression, and fatigue. Never had this problem when I was a competitive athlete, but for whatever reason it's a big problem now. The Senior Fudge, who is a personal trainer, immediately recognized this as a blood sugar problem. I was always working out on an empty stomach, and it was causing my blood sugar to plummet. I started eating half of a banana and an ounce or two of lean meat one hour before working out, and then the other half of the banana and another couple ounces of protein immediately after exercising, along with some water. That completely cured me of the post-exercise symptoms I was experiencing.
Beware (Certain) Protein Drinks
I experimented with using protein drinks (Muscle Milk) after exercising, but found that the stuff was having an adverse affect on my mood. For days, I experienced nonstop feelings of intense agitation and rage, seemingly out of nowhere. My poor husband suffered through these berserker rages until one day when I skipped MM after a workout, and my mood immediately settled back to normal. A quick Google search revealed that other people have experienced the same problem after consuming MM. I don't know, or really care, what the causal link is, but it seems wise to just stick with fruit+meat from now on.
