Paleo for Running

Running, like pretty much everything else under the sun, has its trends and phases. Nutritional advice comes in and out of fashion as scientists, trainers and seemingly everyone else in the world offers up opinions and evidence on what may be optimal for people seeking to get the most out of their running. Paleo nutrition, which is a diet designed with the idea of eating foods that only our ancient ancestors would have had access to, is the latest idea to come along, but is it one that runners should embrace?

The basic idea behind eating paleo is that we’re only ten thousand years or so removed from our Paleolithic ancestors, hence the name, and that our digestive system and metabolism have not had time to adapt to foods that were not included in the Cro Magnon diet. In other words, grains and sugars.

The theory behind the paleo diet is that we’re not adapted to these foods and that consuming them in mass quantities is detrimental to our health to greater or less degrees, resulting in what’s called the diseases of civilization: heart disease, diabetes and cancer. If we eliminate the foods that didn’t existed when our bodies evolved, then we would be healthier and fitter.

This is at odds with what a lot of runners have adopted as their mantra, which is carbs, carbs, carbs. While the paleo diet is not necessarily low carb, it’s a lot harder to eat 500 grams of carbs in green leafy vegetables than it is to chow down on bread or pasta. But is this carb focus really optimal?

The idea is that running needs energy, and energy comes from carbs. Which is true, for about 400 meters. But long distance running pulls much of its energy from your fat stores, since the amount of energy stored as glucose in your blood, which is what carbs convert to, is really pretty minimal. So runners may not need all those extra carbs anyhow.

Which doesn’t necessarily mean that paleo diet is the way to go. Some runners have tried and done extremely well. Ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes has switched to a paleo diet, and it hasn’t seemed to negatively affect his running, although he does rely mainly on fruit for his carbs.

The problem is that while the paelo diet sounds great in theory, that’s all it is right now, a theory. There is anecdotal evidence from looking at what the few remaining hunter gatherers eat and what the historical record tells us, and the idea makes logical sense, but that doesn’t men it’s true.

What is true is that the paleo diet recommends you eat meat, fruits and vegetables, eliminating processed foods and sugars, which is a healthy diet by pretty much any standard except hardcore vegans or carnivores.