Vending Machine Nutrition

Everybody knows that it's important to have a good diet, in order to be successful. But what are you supposed to do when it's three o'clock in the morning, you're hungry, and you only have access to a vending machine? Not very many people have addressed how to eat when you don't have many options. If you're stuck on campus without access to a car, all the cafes are closed, and you need to get a paper done in the next five hours, what are you supposed to eat?

If you notice yourself starting to sag, and you don’t have or want to use stimulants (adderall, ritalin and the like) to help you out for a short burst of time (like for classes or assignments shorter than 2 hours), pure sugar is an OK substitute if used properly. Sleep is important, so I advise against eating much chocolate or using soft drinks for sugar - especially those with caffeine, because caffeine is so disruptive to sleep (AND causes blood sugars to fall faster - exactly what we’re trying to avoid). Most energy drinks are the same way.

Research is being done on the glucose uptake in brains of people with ADHD - those studies have suggested that glucose uptake is reduced up to 20% from other brains. Why not replace that sugar? The benefit of sugar (and high GI snacks) is that it is extremely fast acting. The drawback of sugar is that it’s extremely fast acting, and if you have blood sugar problems, can cause way more harm than good if you’re not careful. In addition, unlike muscles (which can burn stored fat, etc), the brain does NOT have any reserves of energy; it pulls ALL of its energy directly out of the sugars in the bloodstream [I believe I read this in You, The Owner's Manual, but I could be wrong].

Warning: A diet full of high GI foods (those with simple carbs) are linked to numerous problems later on in life (Read Sugar, Sleep, and Survival for a better idea); do not use sugars as an everyday thing, but only in emergencies.

The trick is to eat just enough to give you a boost, without taking you over the top. You must pace your intake to avoid a sugar high. If you don’t, and you eat it in a burst, you’ll get exactly that - a huge burst of energy followed by a drowsy, non-functional sugar crash. You must eat slowly, and methodically to provide just enough fuel to keep your brain on full alert.

With vending machines, I’ve discovered that a bag of Skittles appear to be an excellent pure-sugar option - they’re small and there are lots of them in a bag, so it’s easy to keep track of how much you’re eating. What’s worked for me is to eat 3-5 Skittles every 5-10 minutes. Resting, your body burns roughly 1-1.5 calories per minute - eating at this rate roughly replenishes the calories lost by sitting in class (or in front of the computer), keeping enough sugar in your brain at all times to function. A vending machine sized bag of Skittles (250 calories worth) should last about 3 hours.

I would advise eating a little protein with the sugar, especially when you start your run - protein lasts longer and can temper the downsides of the sugar. The whole goal is to prevent a blood sugar crash, which will ruin everything.

If you need to focus for longer than three hours, proteins and lower GI snacks are a much wiser option. Many vending machines have nuts of some sort - those are a good option (in spite of the fat). Snickers bars have a lower GI than most other candies, and are a good option.

I have not covered chocolate in this section because I avoided using it (experimenting with it) to stay awake. Chocolate is a much more complicated substance than sugar is - sugar is readily absorbed by the body, and its effect is easiliy measured, controlled, and predictable. Chocolate also contains caffeine, fat, and some amount of protein; all of which affect the body differently.

I will discuss caffeine and sleep in a different post.

Note: This worked for me - I don't know offhand whether or not this will work for everyone...I need your help to let me know if this has worked for you. Post comments - what you used, how long you ate it for, and how fast you ate it...and of course, whether or not it worked. I used Skittles because they're pure sugar, and come in small, easiliy measurable units. Gummy bears will also work. Just be careful you don't average much more than 2 calories per minute while eating, or it's gonna hit you 20-30 min after you run out of fuel.

If you're sleep deprived...that'll affect how well this works, and sleep deprivation contributes to insulin resistance (meaning your body will have a harder time absorbing the sugars in your blood), as well as making the final 'crash' even more severe [read "You, The Owner's Manual," among many other books, for more details].