The Hub November 2022

IN THE

LONG

RUN

By CHARLIE UPSHALL

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

“The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not.”

~ Mark Twain

“The second day of a diet is always easier than the first. By the second day, you’re off it.”

~ Jackie Gleason

I slept well the last two nights, much more soundly than usual. I realized that I had not eaten any meat for five days, not part of a plan, but just what happened. I wondered if there could be any connection. Because I have a bit of an obsession with 6 day races, and with trying to unlock the secrets of the massive puzzle of success in such long-distance events, I am always thinking about new ways to achieve any incremental improvements. The most important tool for recovery from serious exercise is sleep. It is more impactful than food or any special gimmicks. So anything that might improve the quality of my sleep is worthy of investigation. In my case, because of my knee issues and my age, I certainly don’t sleep as deeply or as steadily as I did when I was younger.

If there could be a connection between my diet and my sleeping pattern, I want to explore it. This interest, coupled with the fact that I am now trying to become less resistant to change and more into viewing change as an opportunity, is leading me to explore what altering my food choices has to offer. The goals of any change are two-fold: one, to improve my health and, two, to get me more miles at 6 Days at the Fair, my annual event each May.

I am beginning with two questions: Can adopting a more vegetarian diet lead to better sleep? Can it lead to less inflammation in my body?

Am I sleeping well enough to feel and perform my best every day? I’m not really sure, but I have the

impression that my sleep is too interrupted to be of maximum benefit. I often wake up several times a night and I also remember my dreams in great detail. Perhaps that is a sign that I am not getting enough deep sleep. I don’t want to be sleep-deprived because of its detrimental effects on my mental health, physical health and recovery from daily workouts.

Plant-based diets are high in complex carbohydrates, including fibre and isoflavones (compounds with antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties), which may help in getting quality sleep. Greater fibre intake results in more time spent in the stage of deep sleep. Deep sleep is key because that is the time when growth hormone is released in the body. This stimulates muscle growth and repair, bone building and fat burning. Carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes, brown rice and oatmeal stimulate the release of serotonin, which helps with sleeping well. Serotonin is used by the body to synthesize melatonin, a hormone the body releases in response to changes in light. Fatty foods, including meat, take longer for the body to digest. This can be a problem since digestion slows by up to 50 per cent when you sleep.

It seems that the answer to the first question is that possibly a more vegetarian diet can lead to better sleep.

Inflammation can be exacerbated by not getting enough sleep, increasing health risks. Consistently getting sufficient sleep is a significant factor in longer life spans. Vegetarian diets have been linked to lower levels of inflammation, so if you have achy joints and muscles that cause you discomfort and interrupt your sleep, switching to plant-based eating might improve your symptoms. In addition, there are benefits to reducing inflammation that exceed simply the discomfort of aches. Too much inflammation in your body is harmful and can cause arthritis, heart problems and inflammatory bowel disease. Foods that aggravate inflammation include anything fried, white bread, pastries, sugary drinks, red meat, lard and margarine. Already I rarely have any of these.

I can tell I have excess inflammation in my body, particularly showing in my lower legs after

being on my feet for a long time. I will only know if adopting a more plant-based diet can have a positive effect by trying it. If successful, it would be of significant benefit to me physically and mentally. My dinners during this time of experimentation are going to be salad with a rotation of spaghetti with meatless sauce, salmon with brown rice, chicken with brown rice and some vegetarian pies. I purchase the delicious pies from Lee Ann at her terrific new gourmet grocery shop, Dover Mercantile (313 Main St. in downtown Port Dover). If I feel like some variety, I’ll make vegetarian chili. We’ll see how it goes. I will monitor my sleep, inflammation and energy. There are no guarantees that I will see improvements but it makes sense for me to try, in my view. I am not aware of any downside as long as I get enough protein. I will add protein with whey powder to my morning oatmeal and by having snacks of nuts and seeds. We are all an experiment of one.