My wife’s grandmother lived to 103, and the holidays just past have reminded me of how she lived. She was not a runner, nor did she do a lot of cardio, except for sauce stirring and daily walks to markets and church. Our own local legend Frank Buckles who lived to 110 ate in this…
Category: Nutrition
Do Runners Have a Sugar Addiction?: Is the White Stuff Running You Down and Wearing You Out? “Probably,” says Dr. Phil Maffetone
“Sugar,Sugar” Sugar, ahh, Honey, honey. You are my candy girl, And you got me wanting you. Honey, ahh, Sugar, sugar. You are my candy girl, And you got me wanting you. –The Archies (1969) Sugar is my vice. My Big Bad. It’s the arch-nemesis of my life’s ambition to remain physically active and healthy. This…
Olympic-sized Sell Job: Promoting Unhealthy Eating to Fans and Athletes
by Dr. Phil Maffetone. The lead story in a recent Sports Illustrated article online began, “Almost every dominant performance in London has raised eyebrows, if not questions. These are today’s Olympics.” While the article went on to discuss the unhealthy issue of doping in sports, those two simple sentences brought to mind an even more…
Health Risks of Drinking Too Much Water Before or During a Race: Beware of Intoxication and Hyponatremia
by Dr. Phil Maffetone. Drinking fluids during training and racing will soon be reaching a boiling point of controversy and not for reasons most runners might suspect. Dehydration, and how to keep it under control, is nothing new. What’s been bubbling up in the media for the past few years is hyperhydration—drinking too much and…
Health Warning: Can Your Recovery Drink or Energy Bar Be Toxic?
by Dr. Steve Gangemi aka Sock Doc. Could your energy bar, fluid replacement drink, or post-workout recovery meal ultimately be hindering your performance? It’s very likely due to the many artificial processed ingredients out there. Many foods athletes consume contain the infamous MSG. We all know that person who can’t eat Chinese food because they’ll…
Looking Beyond Dietary Fat and Heart Disease
by Dr. Phil Maffetone. The publishing of objective research plays an important part in our understanding of how the human body works. As scientific studies better demonstrate certain relationships between food and health, previous recommendations may be updated. The U.S. government, and others, often does this through their agencies such as the U.S. Department of…
How Body Weight and Nutrition Affects a Runner’s Gait
Tom Osler, a top ultrarunner in the 60s who later became a math professor and author of The Serious Runner, conducted a comprehensive study of runners and found that for every extra pound you carry, you will be 2.5 seconds per mile slower. Dr. Steve Gangemi aka “Sock Doc,” examines the biomechanical relationship between excess…
Who Needs a Fuel Belt, When You Got a Fridge?
Pete Digby, a former paratrooper, carried a 40-pound fridge on his back at the 2010 London Marathon as part of a fundraising challenge for the Royal British Legion. Pete finished in 5:49. Will he run in this April’s race also toting a cooler? And does he keep his mobile fridge filled with ice-cold brewskis and…