Usually when I first get up, I have breakfasts and lunches to prepare for my family. By the time I get everyone out the door, I'm very hungry for my own breakfast. When I was at my parents' house, I wrote that I felt so good when I exercised first thing in the morning, then had breakfast. A few days later I read something that confirmed my feelings. It said that when you run before breakfast you force your body to break down fat for fuel. However, yesterday Debs wrote, "I used to run in the morning before breakfast but was told by a fitness instructor that it was ill advisable because I was burning glucose. Even though I had my brekky when I got back. Have you heard of this before?"

One thing about journalists, we are not afraid to ask questions. So, while I was at the gym today doing the 4th of my 5 free workouts, I asked the head personal trainer. Here is what he said.

If you are going to do weight training, you should eat breakfast before you work out. You are strenuously stretching your muscles, and if you do that without fuel being immediately available, your body will begin breaking down the muscle to provide energy. If you are going to do a cardio workout like running, you can do that before breakfast. A light to medium cardio workout on an empty stomach will force your body to break down fat for energy. However if you are going to do a long and very strenuous cardio workout, eat first, because again you run the risk of destroying muscle tissue. He said that when he works with clients doing cardio machines in the gym, he monitors the point at which they would begin breaking down muscle by checking their heart rate.

On another subject, since I started the Type O Diet, I've been careful to take a calcium supplement because almost all milk products are avoids. I came across a chart about calcium sources. It says

1 cup milk 291 mg calcium

3.5 oz almonds 266 mg calcium

1 can sardines 340 mg calcium

1 cup cooked collard greens 350 mg calcium

Somehow our culture tells us that you have to drink milk to get calcium, and that's not true. However it is true that 2 cups of milk a day is not unreasonable, where 2 cups or collards or 2 cans of sardines would seem excessive.