Exercise on an empty stomach

Question: Hello. I keep hearing and reading that you shouldn’t train on an empty stomach. I myself find that training before the first meal works very well. At the same time, I want to get the most out of my training sessions and am therefore wondering if it is better to train with nutrition in the stomach?

Answer: Hello! Funny you should ask about that. I have just jogged after eating pancakes beforehand. Usually I always jog on an empty stomach in the morning, 16 hours after my last meal. It was noticeably more uncomfortable to jog after eating, so I’ll probably go back to exercising on an empty stomach. Doing so should also be beneficial in relation to autophagy. When the body has not had food for several hours, it will start to “eat” itself, and sensibly enough, it starts with the worst cells – those cells that are at risk of developing into cancer or in other ways contribute to increasing the state of inflammation in the body.

Check out this YouTube lecture on the subject from Dr Berg: https://www.drberg.com/blog/autophagy-exercise-vs-fasting

In any case, there is no reason to advise against training on an empty stomach. However, if there is a race where you need to perform, it may be an advantage to consume carbohydrates along the way, preferably in liquid form. If you have a fixed route that you usually run, you can test running it with and without food.. I haven’t been able to detect any difference in time usage so far.
Good luck!

Regards, Dr. Torkil