Pyramids & Personal Decisions on Health

I started a journey to better health about a month ago and I just thought I would give an update on how things have been going and some of the specifics on what I'm doing.  I never thought of myself as a "lazy" person because I always love to be up and moving.  I see myself as an adventure-seeker, albeit I'm not the most hard-core on the planet.  I am certainly one who appreciates taking risk for the chance to achieve something I've never done before.  But when it came to my diet, I was a disaster.  In some ways, it's amazing I did what I did on such poor nutrition.

Many times athletes (and non-athletes alike) think that it's alright to eat highly-processed food because "you'll just burn it off later."  After all, if you aren't getting fat, is it really all that bad?  The answer is yes, a resounding and no-negotiations yes.

This shouldn't even be called "food."

The truth is, the harder you are working your body (ie. the more stress you place upon it), the more important nutrition becomes.  I let a poor diet do much more than affect my performance…that stage of overtraining had already passed me…it was beginning to affect every aspect of my life.  My symptoms ranged from the expected- chronic fatigue, increased anxiety, poor sleep quality, increased body fat, significant orthostatic hypotension, getting sick often, to the less familiar- like increased light sensitivity.

On occasion, when I talk to people about this, many seem to think that feeling tired often and getting sick is normal.  I would argue that it isn't normal.  Much like being overweight and/or obese has become the norm in America today, I think the same can be said of feeling chronically tired and getting sick several times per year.  Maybe I'm living on a cloud, but I believe those symptoms are normal ONLY in a certain environmental context- that is- when your habits are unhealthy.  It is never a good idea to ignore the body's signals.  Your body wants you to be healthy and will almost always tell you if you are not.

And you thought hamsters just ran on wheels

So if you're in the same boat as I was I can tell you there is a better way.  It all begins with learning to listen to your body.  Many times people will mask their symptoms with medication.  A multi-billion dollar industry, these pharmaceutical giants want to protect you from all of your body's signals- a dehydration headache, indigestion from eating too much processed food, knee pain from poor muscular strength or being too heavy, inflammation from eating a poor diet, etc.  My recommendation is that unless it is a medical necessity, avoid masking your symptoms with drugs.  There is a strong mind-body connection that can tell us some very important things.  Learning to listen to your body is the single greatest step towards health you can make.

Neuroscience: Could Listening to Your Body Help You Lose Weight?

Personally I had driven myself into mild anemia and a solid Vitamin D deficiency.  But those were just a few parameters that modern science is able to test and measure- something we can put our finger on and say, that needs fixing.  The truth is, there are countless unmeasured markers of health that were undoubtedly affected as well.  It's nice to have something you can measure and gauge, but it's just as important to continue to listen to your body as you practice better health habits.  As Einstein once said, "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

Vitamin D & Athletic Performance: The Potential Role of Muscle

In the past month I have elevated my red blood cells and vitamin D levels to normal.  I personally  needed supplements to achieve this as the Colorado winter sun isn't enough to help me make the normal amount of Vitamin D, even though I am outside as much as possible.  My diet has been extremely simple - eat less processed food.  I eat a great deal more vegetables, beans, whole-grains (avoiding wheat most of the time), sweet-potatoes, raw nuts and seeds, naturally raised meat (no cold-cuts), free-range chicken eggs, fish on occasion, and lots of healthy fats (fish oil, avocado, olive oil, etc).

Yummy...

I also run slower.  Much slower.  In the past month I have averaged no faster than an 8:30min/mile pace on a training run.  I have run marathons at 7min/mile, so I look like a different person when I averaged about 12min/mile on a trail run.  But I am heart-rate training with the goal of keeping my heart rate in the aerobic zone, also known as the "fat-burning" zone.  Higher intensity exercise for the same amount of time burns more calories, and so a lot of people have gravitated towards these harder workouts in order to burn lots of calories (and build strength, power, speed, etc).  So why in the world would someone want to train ALL aerobic (other than training for an ultra-marathon, which I am doing)?  The short of the story is that training too hard (anaerobically) can quickly lead to overtraining and burn-out.  It also limits your ability to build endurance because you haven't maximized your aerobic base.  You need oxygen to exercise, even when you're going hard.  If you don't have it you will burn sugar and you won't last long.  If you have trained your oxygen delivery system (which can only be done at low intensities) to build more capillaries, mitochondria, and important metabolic enzymes, you will have a huge base on which to build your faster and harder workouts.  In addition to that, I now run 5 days a week to improve my recovery; I used to run 6-7 days a week.

You can't fully maximize your aerobic base eating a high-carb diet and training fast- however nearing a competition there will be a time and place to temporarily increase carbohydrates and train at faster paces (unless you're running 50+ miles, then it's best to stick with just endurance).  I am biased for sure, but I feel that everyone can benefit from some amount of true aerobic training, even sports with almost entirely anaerobic work (improved aerobic capacity will improve recovery).

The Basics of Aerobic Training

I'm going to lump everything else together for the sake of time, but it is no less important.  Getting steady hours of quality sleep (8+), controlling daily stressors, and spending time working on supplemental/recovery (core training, foam rolling, joint mobilizations if you have issues like me) is imperative.  You simply can't get stronger if you can't recover.

the better pyramid

All of my work is beginning to pay off.  My body is not fully recovered, however it is making great progress.  I am able to run 2 hours (at a slow pace) very easily and feel more energized than when I started.  The other day I ran up to Barr camp and back down, ~ 3,800ft up in 6.5 miles (from 6,571 to about 10,371ft) and I felt good!  My energy levels are improving and I do not have energy "crashes" after eating meals.  I do not crave sweets or other junk food as I used to (goodbye energy bars and mounds of tortilla chips).  My aches and pains from past injuries are less bothersome and limiting.  I keep very loose tabs on my body weight and it has remained steady at 125lbs since I started eating healthy, although I feel I am slimming down somewhat (losing fat and gaining muscle).  Weight has nothing to do with my goals, I've been at ~125lbs since I stopped growing taller.  I bring it up because people often wonder how weight might be affected, and if you have excess weight you will likely lose some or most of it over time when you adopt healthier habits.  My goal is entirely to be healthy (and be fit enough to enjoy life).  It's only been about a month, I am very interested in seeing what my body does after several months of listening to it and adopting healthier habits.

This is a very cool journey and it's never too late for anyone to start.  Although this is a physical journey, I have felt the emotional, mental, and spiritual changes have been just as great.  To get in touch with your body and learn to properly take care of it is peering into the great design of our creator.  Appreciate the beauty in life.  Be amazed at its design.  Moving away from what has become the norm in America isn't as hard as you might think.  Our bodies are sick of the modern way of doing things.  Our bodies want to move, to go outside and play, to have fun, to be fueled by REAL food, and to be listened to.  Step outside (literally and figuratively) and learn what it means to grab life!