Bananas - making me...
 

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Bananas - making me feel funny?

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Most Monday evenings, eldest HTO daughter goes to ballet. The last few weeks, I've gone for a trail run whilst she's at her class.

Because it's just before when we'd usually have tea, I've been eating a banana about half an hour beforehand to give me a bit of energy / fuel.

But, I've found that around 20 mins into the run, I've started to feel a bit spaced-out / light-headed / 'funny'. I need to stop running and walk for 10-15 minutes, after which the feeling dissipates and I can carry on nearly-normally.

Now, it's not associated with running as an activity, as at other times, I can knock out 10-20km with no issue.

So, is it the banana that is doing this? Should I avoid eating one, or should I aim to eat it eg an hour before running?

 
Posted : 09/06/2025 8:00 pm
 Drac
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Eat something else next week and see. 

 
Posted : 09/06/2025 8:51 pm
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They'd usually make me want to barf 10 mins after eating,  when running.  Scrambled eggs on a slice on of toast became my go-to before running (when training for triathlons).  

But i could get similar at times if I'd had a more substantial meal then gone out biking.

I wonder if it's something to do with loads of blood being diverted to digestion, only then to need to be diverted to moving legs hard ? 

 
Posted : 09/06/2025 8:53 pm
 beej
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I used to get this. High GI banana spikes blood sugar, insulin dumped into blood stream, exercise is using up sugar, total sugar crash and dizziness.

Either eat the banana 2 hours before, or 10 mins before, or don't have the banana.

I used to have to have a lie down after a 20 minute walk home until I figured it out. Some people are more sensitive to this than others, I'm now very careful on food intake before exercise.

 
Posted : 09/06/2025 8:59 pm
nicko74 and susepic reacted
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Either eat the banana 2 hours before, or 10 mins before, or don't have the banana.

Yeah sounds like a sugar/insulin and that's I would do. Or carry a sports drink/gel. Are you sure you actually need any fuel/energy, especially if you have had lunch?

 
Posted : 09/06/2025 9:32 pm
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Back when I used to do frequent 2+ hour road bike rides, I'd eat a banana at least 30mins before heading off.

I suspect it's the timing of you consuming the banana, a while since your last meal and just before exercise.

 
Posted : 09/06/2025 9:43 pm
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I suspect it's nothing to do with the Banana and more to do with lack of fuel

 
Posted : 10/06/2025 5:46 am
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The fact that the OP recovers after a 10-15 minutes break and can then carry on suggests a sugar crash which stabilises.

 
Posted : 10/06/2025 8:11 am
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He is unlikely to get a spike in insulin when exercising to cause the crash though

 
Posted : 10/06/2025 11:01 am
 beej
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In my case, the spike was before the activity, and the crash during. Eating closer to the start of exercise helped - so the 10 mins before. My worst time to eat was 45-60 mins before activity.

Obviously this is all speculation without a continuous glucose monitor.

 
Posted : 10/06/2025 11:12 am
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The op says banna 30mins before and bonks 20mins into run. I would suggest it's just lack of food rather than the banana as it's occuring 50mins post banana.

 
Posted : 10/06/2025 1:04 pm

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