Nutrition: Its not Magic

Image taken from Tumblr.

Nutrition is one of the primary factors in fun and successful endurance bike rides. Cyclists need to maximize efficiency and reduce fatigue, but also often want to get in many of the other health benefits associated with sport (weight loss, etc.). One thing that no one needs in their diet is magic. And today's magical topic is vitamins.

There is plenty of evidence that vitamins are important for health. For instance, they aid in metabolizing our food — without them, the body cannot absorb nutrients (hence diseases like scurvy and rickets). That fact has led many to grant them divine powers of healing. But the fact is: too many vitamins (through non-medically supervised supplementation) can cause disease and disorder.

That was the finding of two studies reported on in the New York Times:

In a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1994, 29,000 Finnish men, all smokers, had been given daily vitamin E, beta carotene, both or a placebo. The study found that those who had taken beta carotene for five to eight years were more likely to die from lung cancer or heart disease. 

Two years later the same journal published another study on vitamin supplements. In it, 18,000 people who were at an increased risk of lung cancer because of asbestos exposure or smoking received a combination of vitamin A and beta carotene, or a placebo. Investigators stopped the study when they found that the risk of death from lung cancer for those who took the vitamins was 46 percent higher.

Offit, "Don't Take your Vitamins," New York Times (June 2013).

The craze in vitamin supplementation ostensibly started in the '70s when Linus Pauling decided to wander out of his field of expertise and advocate for high-dose vitamin C supplementation. However, his ideas were proven wrong, but not until millions were wasted on unnecessary vitamins.

The conclusion here is: get the facts about supplements before you take them. Don't self-medicate and don't break the bank. Eat a well-balanced diet, high in protein, full of fresh vegetables and fruit, and a decreasing amount of fat and sugar. Get enough calories for the amount you exercise. And visit your physician regularly for checkups and for diagnoses and treatment of unexplained conditions.

Love,
Your Bear

Magical Diet

Clean, nutritious food is vital to our well-being. It's not shocking that people invest their food with magical properties. The problem is that fad diets are simply not a panacea for all life's ills.

Image Credit, Eliad Cohen.
To look this good, you have to eat well.

Instead, a focus on healthy diet, properly balancing macro and micro nutrients, and enough but not too-many calories is most beneficial. The real magic comes from our bodies' ability to remain healthy and fit from a great variety of foods. What we need to remain healthy is:

• Macronutrients — Carbohydrates, Proteins, Fats: You need to consume a varied diet from all macronutrient sources — carbs, fats, and proteins — in an equitable proportion. (http://www.thecookingcardiologist.com/cardiologist-blog/balance-carbs-protein-and-fat-better-health.)
• Micronutrients — Vitamins, Minerals: You need to get a healthy balance of micronutrients in your diet on a regular basis. (http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/list-all/.)
• Fiber: Some of your carbs should come with fiber. (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fiber/NU00033.)
• Healthy Weight: Weight loss comes from consuming fewer calories than you burn each day, and not from the magical properties of carbs or fat. Sugars and fats contain a higher percentage of calories relative to nutritional value; that's why we should avoid them. (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/metabolism/WT00006.)

Additionally, there's hype about this food or that diet. Most of them are bollocks and not worth the time and energy people devote to them.

• Low-Carb Diets: Reducing the percentage of carbohydrates in your diet is not a health panacea and may cause serious long-term health problems. (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/low-carb-diet/NU00279, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14672862.)
• Paleo-Diet: There is no evidence that eating like proto-humans is healthful and may cause serious health problems. (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-paleo-diet-half-baked-how-hunter-gatherer-really-eat.)
• Genetically Modified Organisms: "GMO" has nothing to do with the nutritional content of the food (except to sometimes enhance it), pesticides, or mythical monsters. Instead, this technology can help to feed the burgeoning population. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gmo, http://www.cfr.org/biotechnology/genetically-modified-foods-can-feed-worlds-hungry/p4629.)
• Organic Farming: "Organic" does not mean grown locally, without pesticides, or without chemical fertilizers. (http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4166.)
• Vegetarianism v. Carnivores: You can get protein from animal and vegetable sources. (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/protein-full-story/#protein_alike.)
• Gluten-Free Diets: These diets are only proven effective to treat diagnosed celiac disease (there is no evidence for other, nonspecific "gluten sensitivity" conditions). (http://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/gluten-free-diet.)

The up-side of all these fad diets and food fears is that people are thinking about what they are consuming. They are demanding a wider-variety of nutritious foods with less fat and a better balance of nutrients. The down-side is that clinging to a food or diet as a panacea is magical thinking, which is its own harm.

So, if you're wondering: "What's the harm? I feel like the changes I've made to my diet are beneficial." If you're getting enough nutrients, you're probably not going to hurt yourself physically. But for me, the reasons why we do things are as important as doing them. Choosing a diet because it is emotionally satisfying confuses and annoys me, especially when it is paired with a firm political stance. That stance can influence others who might be at risk from duplicating the choices you've made for yourself.

Those others might choose to treat symptoms identified by the proponents of diet-as-magic, eschewing real medical care. Even once those others get medical advice, the use of a diet may mask the real causes, undermining a doctor's ability to diagnose the real causes. Instead, it's better to focus on getting enough calories including the recommended balance of macronutrients and micronutrients, and visiting a doctor when necessary to diagnose and treat symptoms.

So, eat well, exercise and visit your doctor if you have worrisome symptoms or make a change to your routine. Also, if you're cycling, eat like an athlete!

Love,

Your Bear