Many times in conversation, my dad, a former steeplechaser
at the University of Florida, and I will steer the conversation toward running.
And on more than one occasion, he’ll say, “I wonder what we could have done had
we known then what we know now about nutrition.”
It was with this in mind that I sat in our basement
yesterday afternoon watching the Redskins, a Sam Adams chocolate bock (my
second) in one hand, and a slice of asiago peppercorn bread (my fourth) in the
other. The sweet potato pancakes I’d ordered earlier in the day at brunch had
largely disappeared by then, but the never ending hunger from yesterday’s 16
miler had not.
I don’t normally sit down and go to work on a loaf of bread,
but yesterday was not normal. It was effectively my farewell tour to processed
carbs for the next eight weeks. No bread. No pizza dough. No rice. No *gasp*
pasta. No pancakes (wipes away tear).
Let me explain.
Back in August, I downloaded Scott Jurek’s book, “Eat and Run” about his journey as
both an ultra-runner and a vegan. I tore through it like an herbivore grinding
up a fresh batch of kale. I was by no means prepared to give up meat, but I did
take pause and begin to incorporate some of the book’s principles, namely
taking on a plant-based diet. So, my meals centered on fresh vegetables rather
than meat, and, in fact, I only ate meat at dinner these days.
I noticed that I grew leaner, felt more alert, and recovered
more quickly from workouts.
Then the holidays hit, not quite as bad as last year, but still. Then, I discovered what I can only
describe as a food hangover. Over indulge the day / night before – and BAM! – wakeup the next morning hit by a
bus. Same symptoms: bloated, headache, grogginess, self-loathing. I won’t even
get into what’s going on in the bathroom.
Finally, that brings us to this past Saturday. Mrs.
Onthebusrunning is an avid cross-fitter in addition to a runner, and her gym
(or box?) held a seminar / kickoff for its New Year’s nutrition kickoff. In the
past, this has been billed as a “Paleo Challenge,” i.e., the eat like a caveman
diet, or no processed foods (including all our favorite running carby foods and
beverages – see chocolate bock above) or sugars. The program predicates itself
on eating whole foods: fresh vegetables, fruit (for now), meat, oils. This one,
however, is a “nutrition plan” based on the book “It Starts with Food.”
In the past, I took the same cafeteria approach to this plan
that I did the Scott Jurek one: "I like this, I’ll pass on that…." Namely, as a
runner, I want my quinoa and pasta, my Kashi blueberry clusters, my yogurt.
Well, Mrs. OTBR wanted to try it and asked if I’d go with
and both see what it’s all about and also know about the guidelines so as to
help her with the process.
So I went.
And the more I listened, the more intrigued I became until
finally, I was in too. Here’s what got me:
This isn’t a paleo diet, per se. It’s a reset of your body.
They called it healing. A purging of all the western diet ills that plague us.
The fact that there’s added sugar in everything.
That’s all well and good but, it also teaches your body to burn energy more
efficiently. Your body learns to burn fat first and leave the glycogen in your
muscles for later. That means no more wall, or at least prolonging it.
Then Mrs. OTBR asked my question: “What impact will this
have on a long distance runner, whose diet is based on the things you’re taking
away?"
The answer: there are tenets of every sport that everyone
holds to be true; a huge one for runners is that we need processed carbs for
fuel. Once and a while, someone comes along and challenges those tenets and it
gets scoffed at because it’s not the norm. See minimalist running.
So, I was in. I wanted to be the guinea pig. Even though I
was in a room with cross-fitters, I tapped into a Loop friend, Healthy Gumbo, who
is an ultra-runner and logs many many more miles than I do for her advice and
support and who has taken the paleo template and modified it to suit her needs.
And the beauty of these next eight weeks is not to deprive
myself for the rest of my life of these things, it’s to reintroduce things
after the reset to see how they’ll affect my body and performance. Even if it reacts
badly and I still want it, at least I know the consequences.
Really, in the end, can eating whole foods really be that bad of an
idea to try?
Part of our plan is to
log the food that we eat at each meal. Check out my Tumblr, “Food for the Long Run” to see what I’m eating and just how this "whole" plan is going.
