An Active Eater’s Manifesto
Ever since I was a child I have spent my days playing tennis, soccer, tag, skiing and biking. My grandmother is eighty years old. She plays tennis three times a week, goes swimming each morning, attends lectures at the University of Toronto and finishes the crossword puzzle in the newspaper every evening. Her whole life she has been an active person through body, mind and soul. I believe my values of activity and energy in all parts of life were bestowed upon me by her. I remember early mornings as a child waking up with the sun to walk to the grocery store to get a newspaper. Before we left we would have a quick bowl of cereal and a glass of water, as she believed we needed the energy to get to the corner store. While it was not a special meal by any means, it was just the beginning of her food practices that I have come to rely on. After a few hours of reading the comics, other members from our family would awaken and while they ate a hearty breakfast, my grandmother and I would be eating brunch. Later lunch followed by what my grandmother referred to as ‘cocktail hour’ followed by a late dinner was her mantra. All the meals were and are fun and delicious.
Now-a-days I am an elite athlete and as of last fall a full time student as well. Some days I wake up at five in the morning drive an hour to the ski hill. I train for a few hours before heading back to Denver to make it to class on time. After finishing classes I have skis to prepare, stretching to do, not to mention homework. My days, just like many peoples, are fully filled, mind, body and soul working their hardest. Fitting meals into my life could be difficult, but I would not survive, let alone excel at the things I want to without healthy energy filled meals.
Keeping a consistent energy level is necessary to be able to last throughout each day as well as the accumulation of hard days. An active lifestyle in itself can help to maintain an energy filled body. Certainly sleep in required, yet my years as an athlete have taught me that certain foods or food practices do not work. Sugars and caffeines feel good in the moment yet can lead to an energy spike, and then low. When one is required to be performing well all day, an energy low can be detrimental. Luckily I have grown up with an energetic and active family which has helped me to develop key aspects of keeping a healthy diet that can maintain the active eater.
My first and most important piece of advice comes not in the form of food. Water is the key to life. It is the main component of the human body, yet we rarely consume it. My grandmother always ensured I started my days with a large glass of water in addition to the orange juice I desired. She was ahead of her time. According to Dr Susan Shirreffs the ‘pre-exercise hydration status of an athlete is vitally important’. She goes on to explain that ‘dehydration is common for many athletes’ and that ‘dehydration levels between 2% and 7% of body mass can significantly affect performance’ (Coe and Williams, 262) . Many people are consistently dehydrated yet are so used to the nagging effects that they do not even notice. I myself am often guilty of it. As an athlete we are often told that 8 glasses a day of pure water is the minimum for any human, and those doing physical activity require even more. The moment you begin to feel thirsty you are already at the first stage of dehydration, yet after spending a day on a cold mountain, a hot chocolate seems more appealing than ice water. There is a common misconception that all fluids are hydrating this is not true. Caffeinated drinks may bring temporary energy, but the dehydration they instill is much more long lasting. It has been found by Professor Patrick Ritz that ‘water intake tends to decrease with age’ though dehydration can be linked to frailty in bone fractures, brain functions (including dementia) impaired muscle function and diseases associated with aging’ (Coe and Williams, 261). I hope that I, who like my grandmother starts her day off with a large glass of water, will not suffer from any of those symptoms.
The second most important piece of diet I have found is in the practice. Eating many smaller meals a day as opposed to two or three larger ones can help keep a person consistently energetic without feeling the slowness of over eating or the ache of a starving belly. This practice helps the body digest nutrients better than shocking the digestion system with a large, hard to consume meal. In a study conducted by Toschke and Küchenhoff on the relation between meal frequency and childhood obesity they found that “Although infrequent consumption of huge meals appears to favor fat deposition, frequent consumption of small servings adding up to the same total caloric intake does not.” This means that while a person eating less meals may be eating the same number of calories, fats, etc. the body cannot digest all of it so it stores the energy as fat. If the food is eaten in smaller portions the nutrients can be digested and used as active energy.
In order to be able to follow this one must be prepared. Going from one activity straight to another, you don’t want a vending machine snack to be your only option. Travelling with trail mix, cut up veggies or some other energy filled snack can help keep you going from one meal to the next. Again eating portioned foods is important. Often in American food cultures when people hear of a new diet trend it becomes an additive to their current diet instead of incorporating it. In Pollan’s essay Unhappy Meals he depicts one of our latest health trends as ‘eat more low fat foods, and that is what we did’ yet the original goal of the fad was set about by McGoverns recommendations of eating less fatty meats and milk products (6). So if eating three large meals used to be the norm, switching to six meals does not mean you eat six large meals. The food intake should be the same rather spread out over the day with a brunch, or ‘cocktail hour’ in between breakfast, lunch and dinner.
My final piece of food advice should be a part of your life regardless. Enjoy it. Enjoy the lifestyle you are living, the people you are with and the food you are eating. If you don’t enjoy the food you will not be able to build healthy habits. In this case I cannot give food advice as how people prefer their food is their own preference. Taste is the most important part. We developed the sense of taste for a reason to detect sweetness which signals carbohydrate energy or bitterness which could be toxic. Do not as Pollan in Our National Eating Disorder believes we have, ‘lose all confidence in your sense of taste and smell’ when picking out foods (2) . If you are having to choke down tofu or protein shakes in order to get some recommended health benefit they probably are not working. They will definitely not work in the long run as you will probably discontinue to consume them.
Finding healthy foods you like to prepare and eat is the only way you will continue to follow a healthy diet. So if hamburgers are your top craving then work with that. Find whole wheat buns, perhaps grilled chicken instead of a frozen patty or substitute fries for salad. There are ways to work around every desire and no one is the same. Not even the way we metabolize food is the same. Pollan states in Unhappy Meals that ‘the specific ecology of your intestines helps determine how efficiently you digest what you eat so the same input of 100 calories may yield more or less energy depending on the proportion of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes living in your gut’ (6). So finding out what works well and tastes good for you is important and if it that means having a cookie for dessert then I am all for it. A small indulgence is better than a binge any day and you might begin to find that the more you consistently eat a healthy diet the less you begin to crave the unhealthy one. This works the other way too so developing habits towards the right side can help with long term change.
Looking back over my manifesto of an active eater I realize the only way to stay true to one’s food values is to have goals that are balanced and possible to achieve. Deciding to cut out sugar or fat does not seem to do anyone any good. My goals are to have a diet that can help me to maintain my active lifestyle for the rest of my life. Keeping that as simple as possible I believe that this is an achievable goals as long as one puts in a small amount of effort. Carrying a refillable water bottle to stay hydrated, keeping a consistent food intake by balancing meals frequently and between activities. And of course opting for tasty healthy choices. “Worrying about food is not good for your health” Paul Rozin concludes (Pollan, Our National Eating Disorder, pg 4) So eat a cookie if you want to, have a cup of coffee but stay hydrated and stay energized.
As I write this I can feel my stomach growling and realize it is time for a snack. I aspire one day to be an eighty year old avid skier with a fully functioning mind enjoying life with the same vigor I do today. There is no way a body mind or soul can work properly if not being fed enough to fuel it. So like a nice car a body must always be oiled and fed premium fuel on a regular basis to keep it running perfectly far into the future.
Works Cited
Coe, S., and R. Williams. "Hydration and Health." Nutrition Bulletin 36.2 (2011): 259-66. British Nutrition Foundation, 12 May 2011. Web. 18 May 2013.
Pollan, Michael. "Our National Eating Disorder." N.p., 17 Oct. 2004. Web. 19 May 2013.
Pollan, Michael. "Unhappy Meals." N.p., 28 Jan. 2007. Web. 19 May 2013.
Toschke, Andrea M., and Helmut Küchenhoff. "Meal Frequency and Childhood Obesity." Obesity Research 13.11 (2005): 1932-938. 12 May, 2013. Web.
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