Diving on an empty stomach

  • How do you guys dive??? At least for me its the only way I can dive well. It seems when I put any food in my stomcah my dive times are cut in half.


    Ive experimented eating something lite, and eating breakfast.. and it is shit.
    The night before diving I have dinner with a good amount of carbs to last me the next day and I will just drink water and gatorade throughout the diving day.

  • im the opposite. i need to pig out before diving or im all out of wack. i usually eat a big breakfast and then take a box of something heavy like fig newtons if im on the kayak. on a boat its different, dan knows, four egg mcmuffins and pancakes.

    Scupper Pro Gives You Wings!

  • I used to eat alot before and during diving. I mean alot like buttered toast, eggs, banana, chocolate milk etc. in the morning. Then a sandwich in afternoon and gatorade and water throughout the day.


    Then I switched to oatmeal with raisins and banana because some freedive instructor recommended it. Gatorade and water throughout the day.


    Then one day in the keys I'm there making my breakfast and I notice none else is eating anything. They say it hurts diving so from then on I didn't eat anything except gatorade and water.


    Now I just drink water unless we are doing some tough diving, then I also drink gatorade.


    I never noticed a difference though, except I get about 30 minutes more sleep now.

    Davie Peguero

  • In the spring and summer I dive from 6am till dark on offshore spots,with a break@ 1200. I live on Chocolate Insure, it does not make me feel full.On the boat at night I feast on sea food and stove top stuffing and Guinness.
    When I was filming Blue Water Hunters in Tahiti for 2 weeks I took 4 cases of Ensure.
    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    Edited once, last by Don Paul ().

  • I am with you Alan, if I eat during or right before diving I am screwed. I get lazy after I eat but it does affect my dive time too. Same goes with my buddy but his case is even worse, it makes him puke till he is empty again.

  • Alan when you eat food before you dive and then you feel you have no air or not much is because your stomach is now in digest mode and when your stomach is in digest mode it raises your heart rate up considerably because it needs to push blood and other digestive elements to your stomach and surrounding area in order to digest the food. As you know when your heart rate goes up in diving it affects your ability to hold your breath well.

  • I EAT 3 EGGS AND 3 CUPS OF COFFEE BEFORE DIVING,right now its an hour drive south before getting to dive spot.,so there's plenty of time before the dive to settle in.after a couple of hours in the water it feels like I'm hungry again.

  • Bring "Nature Valley Sweet and salty" bars and take a bite every once with a sip of gatorade and another sip of water. You will feel strong for the whole day.

    Marco Melis

    A bad day fishing is ALWAYS better than a good day at work.

  • x2 on the sweet and salty bars...they are the perfect blend of fat, carb and protein for a good preworkout snack.



    I agree that the digestion raises heartrate and biocaloric consumption, however...if my muscles are not adequately nourished i do not dive as well and i can feel the difference in performance... i find the trade off from slight increase in 02 consumption to huge increase in physical performancetips the balance such that it makes me eat before and during a dive.


    usually a banana (so i dont cramp) and a sweet an salty bar and some trail mix w a lot of water...I eat plantains on the yak.

    i like to spear fish

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