Thoughts on Managing Your Diet

Thoughts on Managing Your Diet
By Bernard L. Gladieux, Jr.

Eventually all sincere, dedicated endurance athletes and a great many other serious athletes get weird about their dietary habits. If you doubt it, go ask their spouses. That is not to say that all such weirdness is irrational or that it represents wasted effort or baseless concern. Au contraire. If runners, triathletes, cyclists, skiers and others of the genre, spend time, energy and money on state-of-the-art gear and ear deep in the technology of their sport, why shouldn’t they at least be equally concerned with what they take in themselves to feed, fuel, restore and refresh their own, internal equipment?

Problem is that among diverse physiological, psychological, cultural and economic influences that may act on a consuming athlete, to say nothing of the myriad scientific and pseudoscientific information floating about, how can you make sense of it all, get the most out of what you eat and drink and still enjoy it? Here are some thoughts on the subject:

FUN:
“If it tastes good, spit it out.” The spiritual income some folks get from such self-denial undoubtedly compensates for the loss of enjoyment, but it need not be so. There is plenty of exquisitely delectable, wholesome food out there and available for the most demanding athlete/ gourmet palate. “If you don’t like it, don’t eat it.” Seems to make more sense.

VEGETARIANISM:
People who are into it seem to do well. They tend to have less body fat and lower cholesterol levels than heavy meat eaters. A meatless diet does present some challenges in providing for such nutrients as protein, including the amino acids that make the protein available in the body for muscle development. Vegetarians also need to conscientiously consume adequate amounts of calcium, iron and certain B vitamins.

The stricter the vegetarian regimen, the higher the challenge. For example, if the diet allows for poultry products, including eggs, dairy products and fish, there is no inherent likelihood of a deficiency, but then the diet is not really vegetarian.

If the diet allows only cheese and eggs, the user needs to be aware that these foods, while providing both high quality protein and calcium, are also relatively high in fat and cholesterol.

CALORIE RESTRICTION:
Recent studies with laboratory animals suggest that if you were able to keep yourself on the brink of starvation, but otherwise presumably healthy, (if not happy) you might be able to live for a long, long time. Although it might sound intriguing, for the athlete, long term calorie restriction is a risky route. Dehydration, mineral deficiency, osteoporosis, muscle loss, cramping, chronic fatigue and cardiac arrhythmia are just a few of the possible consequences of over dieting.

SNACKING:
Despite its bad rap, picking throughout the day seems to be better for you than skimping and then gorging at suppertime. When you take in smaller portions, over a longer period, you tend to metabolize the food and use it as glycogen in your body’s activity. Conversely a large meal followed by rest, tends to encourage the storage of excess calories in fat tissue.

FASTING:
Some dietary gurus speak about the body’s need to cleanse itself of toxins that build up in it from time to time. Certain teas and food are promoted to facilitate this supposed cleansing. Contrary to the claims, there is apparently no evidence that such toxins actually do build up or that they need to be purged. Depleting the body of carbohydrates before carbohydrate loading is also of questionable usefulness. Better keep yourself well fed and watered through all your training and competing phases.

WATER:
Endurance training and racing, especially in hot weather, presents a constant dehydration challenge. Physicians who treat athletes have reported a huge increase in the incidence of kidney stones in marathoners who become chronically dehydrated. It is a problem that to some extent you can train yourself to overcome, but at what might become a high cost to your health. Get used to drinking until you slosh.

SALT:
It used to be that every coach training athletes in every sweating sport would make salt tablets available. The practice has been roundly discredited in recent years, and endurance athletes especially do better on relatively lower salt diets. The advice is for trained athletes, not for people in poor physical condition. Moreover, Gabe Mirkin, M.D. advises against starting a salt restriction program during summer training. Better do it gradually beginning in cooler weather.

POTASSIUM:
Unlike salt, this vital mineral is one that you can and will deplete in summer training. A chronic deficiency of it will manifest in chronic fatigue and weakness. These are the most pronounced symptoms. Fruits like bananas and fruit juices are among the best sources of dietary potassium and are among the best foods to take before, during and after strenuous effort. Some research has shown that the harder and longer an athlete trains, the more potassium stores are depleted since it is dumped into the bloodstream in order to widen blood vessels and to oxygenate and cool muscles. It is then lost in sweat and urine. So the best advice is the more fruit and their juices you consume, the better your shape and the harder your training and racing load can safely be.

Enjoy.

In Good Heath,
By Bernard L. Gladieux, Jr.
President
The Pressure Positive Company®

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