Reading 9
Fast Food
By T.J. Murphy
Surely by now, nutritionists, dietitians, coaches and athletes — long on the rampage when it comes to
nutrition — should have produced a chunk of ground upon which we could be certain of a few things when it
comes to answering the question, "What should I eat if I’m a runner?" Indeed they have, but it’s not always
easy to see, or, because of an overwrought lifestyle, the task of giving a copious amount of attention to a diet
is just too much to think about.
I was serving as a journalist at the 2004 Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii last October,
amidst some 1,600 of the best multisport athletes in the world. Qualifying for Hawaii is one of the noblest
accomplishments in the world of endurance athletics. To get there, you have to be talented, smart and hard
working. Surely these hotshots would know the ins and outs of cutting-edge sports nutrition. Yet throughout
pre-race week, at the myriad symposiums and workshops staffed by the top professionals in the world of
triathlon, I listened to countless triathletes — puzzled beyond belief, unknowing, confused and unsure — ask
question after question about the basics of what to eat and what not to eat. The athletes didn’t know, and the
panelists rarely agreed.
For example: An age-group woman asked a panel of stars, including fitness icons Dave Scott and Paula
Newby-Fraser, if an endurance athlete who is focused on long triathlons can subsist successfully on a
vegetarian diet. Scott said yes; Newby-Fraser, aghast at Scott’s response, said no way. To say the debate
between the two greats didn’t slide near the edge of hostility would be smudging the truth.
I have deep roots in track and field and road racing; and if I may be so bold as to speak for the bulk of us, I’d
like to say that sports nutrition falls right up there with hiking as far as things on our to-do list. (I say hiking
because I’ve never met a runner who liked to hike. Why hike when you can get your run in?)
Run enough mileage and enough races, and no exercise physiologist has to tell you that you burn a lot of
calories. You know you need to eat, and just about everything tastes good after six one-mile repeats on the
track. But opening up a sports nutrition cookbook, carefully planning and executing a shopping list and
elaborate cooking probably aren’t going to happen unless you have nothing else to do in your life. More
often than not, after a day crammed with work, errands, training and family responsibilities, a famished runner’
s sports nutrition program comes down to opening the refrigerator and all the kitchen cabinets and seizing
things. And so read on, my friend, because the remainder of this article is dedicated to mixing a few essential
sports nutrition pointers with the fact that our reserves of energy and free time are chronically starved. Let’s
begin with an analysis of this truth, breaking it down into several parts:
41. We’re Americans and we live in America. We’re never going to follow a single diet forever — runners or
not. There’s a billion-dollar industry cranking out books that sell secrets, promises and breakthroughs,
enticing millions of Americans year after year to put a ding in their credit card. But none of us ever stick to
these diets, which is, oddly enough, a good thing: Most of them are stupid. Inside Triathlon editor Tim
Carlson once wrote a fantastic piece that chronicled the rise and fall of every fad diet dating back to the
1960s. You name it, it’s been done. It was as hilarious as it was disturbing. Of course, there are, to be sure,
many nutrition books worth owning and with knowledge worth following. Get them. However, now we come to
problem #2.
42. We’re human. Busy humans, in fact, and unless we can hire someone to man the kitchen — or be lucky
enough to have a spouse who loves to cook healthy food and shop for groceries — reading a nutrition book
leaves us feeling guilty. Why? Because we come face to face with all we’re doing wrong. Nutrition books read
you the riot act. There’s little room for error if you want to be healthy, they say to you. You feel overwhelmed
by the new task at hand.
Some of us have encountered this dilemma when going to see a physical therapist after getting injured: they
give you the once over, pinpoint the weakness and then create a rehabilitation routine to correct imbalances
and build strength and flexibility. They show you the routine, and as you struggle to learn the exercises, you
wonder how long it’s going to take to do all of it. I went through this process once. When I got home, I found
that the exercises I was instructed to do to repair an ailing hamstring took an hour and a half. And I was
supposed to do it daily for weeks. I recall thinking, ‘Come on. Give me three exercises and I’ll do them. But 10
to 15? You must be kidding!’ The same thing goes for nutrition, in my book. Keep it simple, keep it quick.
43. The hard-training runner isn’t going to stick to a diet of wheat germ. That’s a bit overstated, but here’s
the point: Many sports nutrition books have recipes that are fine and all, but so often the recipes seem
freakishly prohibitive. For example, a recipe calls for cheese, and they say ‘sprinkle with a half a teaspoon of
low-fat or non-fat cheese.’ Have you ever tasted non-fat cheese? It’s like chewing on a cat toy. And then it’s
as if the authors sense that their readers might be getting a little weary of the restrictions. So they try and
cheer you up with the dessert page, listing healthy alternatives to the real thing — like a bowl of fruit and
yogurt rather than Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Or they say sure, you can have a beer — one beer, once a
month or so. And make it a light beer by the way. Life starts looking a little gray when we read this stuff. So
we neatly shelve the volume between a few old college textbooks and tell ourselves we’ll get on that another
time.
44. We need a nutrition plan grounded in realism. Essentially, point four is a summation of the first three
points and is best illustrated by Dr. Ed Coyle’s answer to a question about the famous 40/30/30 diet,
marketed by Barry Sears, in the mid-1990s. Coyle, one of the most highly respected sports nutritionists in the
world, was asked what he thought about the diet at a symposium in Vancouver, British Columbia. Regardless
of any science that might be behind eating a diet divided into 40 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent fats and
30 percent protein — science that Coyle diplomatically said that he was not aware of — he went on to
question the practicality of such a nutritional discipline: "It sounds to me like making sure everything you eat
is worked out into a 40/30/30 ratio would be quite a time-consuming job."
Starting Out — Quick & Easy
The following suggestions are meant to do two things: one, to be powerfully effective steps into the world of
sports nutrition; and two, to be quick and easy to do.
41. Start your day off with a power smoothie. The nice thing about a healthy smoothie is that it’s easy to drink
and you can jump out for a run with it still in your gut. (See the sidebar for a great recipe.)
42. Start dinner off with a vegetable or fruit salad, or both. A recent article in the New York Times reported
that nutritionists have found that the most optimal (and healthy) way of reducing the size of how much you eat
at a meal (for those watching their waistlines) is to start off with a plate or bowl of food that has a high volume
of water. In other words, fruit and vegetables. The effect is such that a natural decrease in appetite occurs,
and hunger pangs from workouts and/or a long day won’t lead you astray into eating (for example) an entire
pepperoni pizza. The best part about this for runners is that this strategy helps you realize the daily goal of
eating plenty of fruit and vegetables. Another good part is that salads are usually easy and quick to make. (A
good homemade dressing for a runner, by the way, is a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a bit of
fancy mustard.)
43. Seek out whole grains rather than processed foods. Processed foods (like most boxes of cereal on the
market) are low in nutrient value, loaded with high-glycemic sugars, and blast your system with blood sugar
because of the insulin spike. Opt for brown rice, oats, wild rice, black beans, pinto beans, etc., as a base
element of meals. This isn’t as bland as it sounds. I used to think of rice as white rice. After I shifted to brown
rice — which is unprocessed — I found it just as tasty, and more importantly could sense that my blood sugar
didn’t spike when I ate it. Brown rice registers lower on the glycemic index, and appears to release energy
more evenly. (A rice cooker is a good investment. Having hot, fresh rice ready makes it easy to scoop out a
cup, and along with some veggies you have a quick meal.)
44. Limit red meat and include fresh fish like salmon, tuna and swordfish into your weekly diet. Fish contains
protein and essential omega-3s, especially salmon. Stay away from farm raised if you can; keep things wild.
Also, lean chicken and turkey are relatively low in fat and high in protein and iron. An occasional steak or
burger, in moderation, is not a bad thing either for the distance runner.
45. Try and mix in as much variety as you can, particularly with fruits and vegetables. Fruits and veggies, in
all forms, come with a specific mix of antioxidants and phytonutrients that are about as close to the fountain of
youth as we’re ever going to get. Scientists will surely spend another century or so unraveling all their
secrets, but the thing about antioxidants and phytonutrients they’re certain about is that they naturally
counter damage from the free radicals that are associated with the damage caused by stress on the systems.
Hard training, by the way, is a stress. Antioxidants are there to help you.
46. Hedge your bets with vitamins. With your breakfast or early lunch, swallow an antioxidant complex vitamin,
and maybe an additional vitamin C and Vitamin E. Habitually take these vitamins to ensure you’re getting all
the bits and pieces you need to recover from training and to be healthy.
47. Drink 100 ounces or so of water every day. Every chemical reaction going on in your body and brain is
taking place in an aqueous environment. And your exercise habit helps create the need for replenishment.
Eating fruit helps in this regard too. So do sports drinks and herbal teas.
48. Occasionally go for it. Once or twice a year, when your schedule is relatively mellow, take a couple of
weeks and turn them into a rigorous 14- to 21-day spring-cleaning of your body. Stop drinking caffeine, avoid
alcohol and all fatty foods, and give yourself some detoxifying medicine by relying on organic foods, green
tea, purified water and juiced fruits and vegetables. It’s a revitalizing experience.
Fast Super Foods
To keep good nutrition close at hand, have the following super foods within your reach when you’re at home,
in the office, at the gym or on the road.
Almonds - Research indicates that adding almonds to your diet may help you ward off colon cancer.
Apples - Research conducted at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, New York, shows that eating apples may help
prevent prostate cancer, thanks to the phytonutrients in apples. They’re also a quick boost of natural energy
— great fare for after a track workout.
Oranges - Acid fruits, like oranges, grapefruit, tangerines and tomatoes, provide a detoxifying effect on the
body. They’re also an excellent source of vitamin C, fiber and folic acid.
Blueberries - In addition to fighting off the harmful effects of free radicals, blueberries contain a specific
antioxidant known as "anthocyanins." Anthocyanins have been shown to aid memory by increasing
communication between brain cells.
Cantaloupe and Watermelon - Both are full of vitamin C and are great hydrators as well. Watermelon has as
much iron as spinach.
Broccoli - Broccoli is packed full of powerful antioxidants.
Sweet Potatoes - One of the best vegetables around, sweet potatoes are high in fiber and carotenoids. Skip
the russets and stack these into your cart.
Beans - Fiber dense and full of protein, there are plenty to choose from — including lentils, black beans,
kidney beans, navy beans and garbanzo beans, just to name a few. Hummus spread on a sandwich or
cracker counts too. A can of organic beans takes only about two minutes to heat up for a healthy meal (like
rice and beans, homemade burritos with salsa, or sprinkled on a salad).
Execution and the Golden Rule
As mentioned, tackling all at once the steps needed to adopt a high-performance sports diet can be the
hurdle that stops a runner from taking on the challenge. Here’s a suggestion: Don’t go for the whole
enchilada at once. Pick one to three things and focus on these tasks first. For instance, you might aim to
start with these three things:
1. Eat a vegetable at every meal.
2. Eat a cup of blueberries every day.
3. Eat salmon once a week.
After a week or month, when the tasks have been absorbed into your daily life (like brushing your teeth),
write up another list. Use some of the other suggestions from this article, or dig into those sports nutrition
books you have on your bookshelf. And don’t forget the golden rule: A little bit of quality sports nutrition
every day is better than none.