Marathon Monday and gluten-free athletes
Marathon Monday and gluten-free athletes
New England is still buzzing from Marathon Monday.
For those of us in the northeast, Patriot’s Day also means Boston Marathon Day.
Excitement overflows from from Beantown and is enthusiastically carried north to Maine, including Kennebunkport, home of Gluten Free Therapeutics. Many Mainers head down to Boston volunteer, run or simply take in the experience in Boston. The nightly local news is dominated with feel-good stories about local runners.
With Monday being all about elite athletes and 26.2 miles, our mind naturally turned to the idea of the gluten-free athlete.
As the gluten-free trend continues to grow for those not suffering from celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, gluten-free diets were discussed heavily through all the media outlets as all eyes focused on on the world’s biggest stage for athletes: the recent Winter Olympics in Sochi.
A rule for athletes, especially runners, no matter the distance, the dinner before the race is all about carb-loading. Fueling up on carbohydrates (as much as 70% of the diet) to power through the race the following day, ensuring a long-lasting burst of energy.
Many athletes still carb-load but many have switched the carbs to gluten friendly choices like rice, sweet potatoes or pasta made from quinoa.
At this year’s Boston Marathon, the official pre-race dinner included prominently advertised gluten-free options like chicken sausage and meatballs in red sauce as well as an organic mesclun salad with grape tomatoes.
In Boston Globe’s magazine, an article ran at the end of March titled, “The great running experiment” which explored the idea of different diets, shoes or therapeutic tape can really make a person faster.
The article discussed eating for endurance and how many athletes are choosing to go gluten-free, including Ryan Hall, America’s fastest marathoner. While Hall doesn’t have to adhere to a strict gluten-free diet for medical reasons, he, like many athletes chose to eat mostly gluten-free.
“It’s been explained as wheat is kind of a high-inflammatory food,” Hall said in the article.
The article also references that 20-50% of runners suffer from gastrointestinal issues and choosing to go gluten-free eases stomach and digestive stress.
Stephanie Rothstein Bruce, an elite marathoner from Arizona suffers from celiac disease.
Going gluten-free changed her life and “it took me from a runner that was barely able to train to someone who thought I was capable of doing the things that I do now.”
In a Washington Post article, author and marathon runner Anna Medaris Miller talks about her struggles with gluten. Gluten is described as “useless” by Alessio Fasano, pediatric gastroenterologist and director of the Center for Celiac Research at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children. He explained that human beings were gluten free for 99.9% of our species’ evolution, explaining that eating a lot of gluten is asking your body to digest something that is not digestible, comparing it to a bacteria or dirt. Eliminating gluten allows athletes’ bodies instead to focus on carrying oxygen to the muscles.
Miller has swapped out gluten and in turn is sleeping better, has more energy and her digestion is easier. Feeling better, she has placed in a road race for the first time in her adult life.
Others within the article offer whittling down portion size to ease digestion.
Whether you eliminate gluten for celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, this is all good food for thought – especially the next time you head out for a run.
This original article is made possible by Gluten Free Therapeutics. Our mission is to educate, inform, and provide the most effective nutritional products possible to allow those with celiac disease and serious gluten intolerances to heal their bodies. CeliVites complete line of superior gluten free supplements includes multivitamin/multimineral supplements, iron supplements, and calcium supplements for people living with celiac disease. All CeliVites products are designed to help you heal, restore and rebuild your body, because going gluten free isn’t enough!
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