Hey everyone and welcome back to another mini episode of Ask Dr Hazel. I'm your host and I'll be

answering all your burning questions. Okay, let's hear from this week's listener. Hi, Hazel. I'm running my

first marathon this year, London, 2022 and I've never really done any runs for longer than an hour. And I also

suffer from IBS. So I was just wondering if you had any tips for what to eat pre-run, what to

have during a run to fuel, because that's not something I've ever really done before. Thank you.

First of all,

big congrats on signing up to the marathon and I'm sure you'll do amazing. So I guess there's two questions in this, what to eat for marathon and how to avoid triggering IBS symptoms or

causing gut issues during the race. So let's tackle the common gut issues that runners often experience

first and why this happens. So symptoms like feeling nauseous, bloated, diarrhea and cramping are some of the

common symptoms that people report during exercise, particularly during endurance sports, such as running, cycling, triathlons,

that kind of thing. Now, we don't know for certain why this happens, but there's a couple of factors

that come into play. So during a high intensity exercise, blood flow is redirected away from the gut

to the working muscles, the heart and the lungs. And this can cause your gut to be slightly low

in oxygen, which impairs absorption of nutrients and fluid from the gut as well. And mechanically speaking,

the repetitive movement, so the up and down movement of running can also trigger symptoms.

Nutrition also plays a role so what you eat and how

much you eat also contribute. Fiber, fat, protein and fructose have all been associated with a greater

risk of developing gut issues. And pre-workout supplements are another thing to consider because

they often contain caffeine

and other stimulants which can trigger nausea and irritate the gut so don't try anything new on race day

also it's a pretty stressful experience so your hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol are also

high and they can contribute and And unfortunately, those with a

...