Adventures in Eating

So, I have told you how I started running, which is half of the focus of my blog. But a number of you have already also asked me to write about what I eat and why.  As I mentioned in my first post, I am a vegetarian. As of now I still eat fish every once in a while for the nutritional value, but no red meat or poultry. I never eat fast food (if you do, please watch Super Size Me sometime). Also, I haven't eaten sweets in over two years. That includes cookies, chocolate, cake, ice cream, donuts, pastries, brownies, hard candy, muffins... pretty much whatever you can think of.  I don't even have birthday cake on my own birthday. The closest thing I still have is frozen yogurt- and not the loaded-up cookies-and-cream kind, just plain yogurt with fruit. I also hardly ever drink alcohol (sometimes not at all for months at a time), and I mostly only eat low glycemic/complex carbohydrates (what the heck are those? I'll tell you in a bit).

Now, these are some reactions I have had to this in the past: that I'm crazy, that I am too restrictive, that it's impossible to do all of this, that I must just eat lettuce, or that I must have the "world's strongest willpower."  But I would like to remind you that I didn't implement all of it at once; rather, I have been phasing all of this into my lifestyle over a period of a couple of years. And yes, I do eat; in fact, I truly enjoy cooking and eating.  And believe me, I'm definitely human, and I still have vices (I love my morning coffee). But the reason I eat this way is because I consider my body to be a machine which I need to fuel efficiently in order for it to work properly, and certain foods and drinks are like poison to your body.  You wouldn't pour landfill sludge into your BMW, would you? It's the same idea for your body: if you don't treat it right, it won't function right, and your physical and even mental health will suffer. Before you implement any of these kinds of changes, though, you should talk to your doctor (this is just my personal testimony and what works well for me). Anyway, let's go through a little more backstory before I tell you more.

Growing up, I was as skinny as a rail. Sure, sometimes my parents would take me to McDonald's after swim practice , but I was pretty healthy in general (my mom would never let me have Fruit Loops, for example). By the time I was in middle and high school, though, I was no longer a rail, but I was still trying to compete at the top level in swimming. This resulted in attempts to control my weight to a "desired" level through crazy diets which ended up hurting my body. When I went to college I stopped using those crazy diets AND stopped training so hard (as I mentioned in my last post), and the result was a less-than-fit lifestyle. So, why am I telling you this? because I found out that there IS a healthy way to maintain fitness and health, and I had to learn that the (very) hard way.  But I didn't go sign up for Adkins or Jenny Craig.  I started talking to people and reading.

The first phase was that I stopped eating sweets in March of 2009, and as far as I am aware, I am one of very few to do so for this long. So I'm not suggesting that this is the only way to be healthier, but it is possible.  I consider America's addiction to sugar to be akin to smoking, and it is possible kick the habit (or at least minimize it).  If you are interested about recent research on sugar's effect on you, read this recent article in the nytimes:


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html

Now, as I said, I'm not trying to get you to go throw away your M&M's and say "never more." But now that it has been so long, I barely even think about eating candy or cake anymore- I no longer even crave them. I don't know from first-hand experience, but I imagine it's like quitting smoking in that over time you no longer even want it (in fact, it may eventually disgust you). Why did I stop eating sweets in the first place? I realized that those cookies, candies, and cakes were simply not doing anything good for me. Yes, people do things that are unhealthy for them every day, and yes, most things are fine in moderation. But my problem (which I'm sure is the case for some of you) was the moderation part. Would a smoker try to only smoke one pack a day instead of two to "quit"? No. So, one day, I stopped, and I never looked back.

It wasn't until last fall that I started the next phase, after I read a book about low glycemic carbohydrates. The "low glycemic index" sounds science-y and complicated, but really it isn't.  It just means that you try to eat less-processed foods which don't raise your blood sugar as much, and therefore don't create a resulting crash in your energy.  This means trying to avoid white breads, white rice, white pastas, and white potatoes (noticing a theme here?), and eating more complex carbohydrates like lentils, whole grains, sweet potatoes, quinoa, bulgur, chickpeas, beans, brown rice and some kinds of wheat noodles in moderation. There are some fruits that are considered higher glycemic as well, such as bananas and grapes, which should not be eliminated but at least more limited.  Seems easy enough, right? It's impossible to keep any simple carbohydrates out of your diet, but this is how I think of it: I try to stay as close as possible to the original element from nature.  The reason for this is that is how your body is meant to digest it, which means that it has to work harder to do so, and the energy is released over a longer period of time. Overly-processed foods like white bread have been leached of the best nutritional value and get converted straight into sugar in your bloodstream, resulting in high blood sugar and a resulting crash (not good for a distance runner!).  And guess what: these kinds of carbs often have more protein in them! Again, this is always the BEST way to go for fueling, but having some higher glycemic starches now and then isn't going to kill you. My rule of thumb is to stay on the outside of the supermarket (where the produce and other natural goods are) as much as possible, and only go to the center for a few items like canned chickpeas or brown rice.  The middle of the supermarket is where all the highly-processed foods take residence. If you read the label of a food you are about to buy, and there are a ton of ingredients you don't recognize or understand, it's probably not so great for you, right? For more info on processed food vs. cooking whole, natural foods, check out Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (by the way, Jamie is also a good resource for you meat-eaters, as he cooks a lot of non-vegetarian food):

http://www.jamieoliver.com/philosophy


Now, the final part of my lifestyle (I always call it that, not a "diet," because a diet implies something you are going to stop doing) to fall into place was becoming a vegetarian.  I have never been a huge fan of red meat. My family used to go through five steaks in one meal, and eventually I realized that I just didn't really like it.  So for the past couple of years I would mostly eat lean meats like poultry and some fish.  Then what changed? Well, once again, I just started listening, and watching, and reading.  To be sure, I had read about the effects of the meat industry on us and on the environment before, but I was never really listening.  Remember when I used to say I could never be a runner, and then one day I just started running? I have had friends and relatives who were/became vegetarians and vegans before, but I always just said to myself, well, that's for them, and not for me. I need meat to be an athlete, because otherwise I can't get enough protein. If that's what you are saying to yourself, I completely understand (I have had many conversations with my environmentally-conscious brother, a college varsity rower, about this). When I say that I have become a vegetarian, most people ask me whether it was for health, environmental or animal rights reasons- and to tell the truth, I consider it to be all three. If you think about it from a certain point of view, you already know that it is. How many times have you heard someone say they are becoming a vegetarian, and thought, that's so bad for your health, animals, and for the environment? Exactly.

I could list all of the books, documentaries, and testimonies in the world to tell you the compiled reasons why I became a vegetarian (some of them are under my "related links"), including talking about the antibiotics and hormones in chickens, blah blah blah, but it really doesn't matter. The main point is that I realized that being an athlete and eating meat are not, in fact, mutually exclusive. There is a huge myth about how much protein you need, and most people who use that as an excuse not to become a vegetarian are not doing Iron Man Triathalons. But people ate meat from the Stone Age! you might say. We evolved this way! Well, yes, but we evolved to only eat it very rarely and in very small portions (history major here). There are lots of really healthy and natural foods that give you a full serving of protein: soymilk, beans like garbanzo and edamame, grains like quinoa, tofu, nuts, and even vegetables such as spinach.  For more info on being a vegetarian athlete and veggie protein sources, try this site (and yes, I found it after I had named my blog):

http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegetarian-diet/


I won't even go into my restriction on alcohol that much, because you already know what I'm going to say- it's obviously not good for you (some doctors even call it "liquid fat").  There are some studies that one glass of red wine a week has health benefits, especially for red meat eaters. So if you're really going to have that steak, go ahead and have a glass of wine with it! But really, how many people just have one glass of red wine a week? In general, I just try to be very conscious of my consumption, and during the official marathon training I will probably hardly ever drink.

So what DO I eat? Lots of stuff. I basically try to give my body what it wants and needs, and I'm constantly trying out new recipes. The biggest rule I try to stick to is filling up at least half of my plate with produce (fresh fruits and veggies) and having the other half be at least part protein, part low glycemic carbohydrates (this assures about a serving or two of protein and one carb at each meal).  There are days when I am running a lot when I need more carbs, so I eat more (again, shocking!). I also eat a lot of protein for breakfast, either eggs/egg whites or protein shakes with fruit, soy milk and soy protein. My vegetarian roommates and I have a Community Supported Agriculture farmshare, so we get fresh, in-season fruits and vegetables every week. And I take lots of vitamins and supplements. If you want more tips on the kinds of food I eat, just keep up with my blog, because I will periodically post more recipes and foods as I go.

Once again, I'm not saying that you all should go and do all of this at once, or even at all. But enough of you have asked me to explain my food choices that I figured I should lay it all out for you.  You can feel free to discount me as a (low-fat) granola-cruncher, and tuck into your burger and chocolate shake.  As I said, I have been evolving this lifestyle over a long period of time, and I plan to sustain it. Diets don't work because eventually you "fall off the wagon"- so implementing small and sustainable changes towards better health is my personal philosophy. The bottom line is this: I realized that it's really actually very simple, and I already knew deep down what is good for me and what isn't. It's just about letting that knowledge actually filter through all the garbage of food culture and consumerism in the twenty-first century. And I'm telling you, after becoming vegetarian, I have never felt better. I'm running faster, I feel leaner and lighter, and I don't go hungry. I never feel like I am restricting myself because being so healthy makes me feel like a better "me," which is all I am attempting to inspire in you.


Next post: An exercise in humility (my first 5K)