Hello! How’s it going over there?
Yesterday I ran and ate. Oatmeal.
Then, I got some horrible news via email and I was freaking out.
![freaking out[3]](https://runeatrepeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/freaking-out3.gif "freaking out[3]")
See? Like that. But it is serious and affects my day to day life.
A recent study by the Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association found that long distance running over decades is associated with increased coronary plaque!
The study is specifically talking about “excessive endurance exercise” <- and compares the amount of running needed for marathon training to overdosing on a pill that is technically good for you.
The full article will be available here in April.
WTF right?!
![oh crap running is going to kill me[3]](https://runeatrepeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/oh-crap-running-is-going-to-kill-me3.gif "oh crap running is going to kill me[3]")
Then, I realized I don’t listen to anyone anyway. And if that’s how I’m going to die I’ll go happy.
![i dont pay attention[3]](https://runeatrepeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/i-dont-pay-attention3.gif "i dont pay attention[3]")
And I appreciate that running can be compared to a vitamin – you need a certain amount to be healthy, too much and it might hurt ya. Makes sense! Everything in moderation! <- do as I say, not as I do.
I do nothing in moderation and I’m at peace with that. Eat too much, run too much, cuss too much, blog too much, repeat myself too much…
But if you don’t want to run this was your out. You’re welcome.
In other breaking health news….
You will never guess what is the healthiest way to eat unless you have common sense and haven’t been living under a rock. But, a new article from the Atlantic is going to save our lives and tell us…
Scientists Compare All Diets and Tell Us Which is the Healthiest
Dr. David Katz and Stephanie Meller compared: Low carb, low fat, low glycemic, Mediterranean, mixed/balanced (DASH), Paleolithic, vegan, and elements of other diets.
What diet do you think won???!?!
Basically = REAL FOOD WINS!
“A diet of minimally processed foods close to nature, predominantly plants, is decisively associated with health promotion and disease prevention.” Dr. David Katz (source)
Basically – what Michael Pollen said, “Eat food, not too much. Mostly plants.”
I highly recommend Pollan’s book – Food Rules for the basics on this.
So go at it and eat those plants. Just don’t invite this girl to your vegan party.
In conclusion… don’t run so much and eat plants. The end.
One of those is realistic for me. The other, not-so-much. Oh well. 50/50 is good for me!
Reminder: We live in a world where the ‘news’ is constantly telling us what is going to kill or cure us. Take in the information and do your own research and use your common sense before changing anything. Do what’s best for YOU.
Question: What is easier for you – exercise or eating healthy?
Exercise is definitely easier, and more enjoyable! Eating healthy is a daily struggle for me!
How active are the authors of this study?! I’d say they are using their science to make excuses for not running 🙂
Loving the use of gifs ps.
Exercise! I love how I feel after a good workout but let’s be honest… Sometimes you just feel hungry after that salad of greens. Don’t get me wrong, after a week or so of eating perfect, I feel so amazing. But getting there is the hard part.
Exercise has always been easier for me. Give me a elliptical/treadmill/stairmill and I am good to go!
Exercising it definitely easier for me, after working 12 hours the thought of cooking sucks some times and it’s easier to just grab something like tacos haha
Seriously, I’m like you. If running kills me, then so be it.
Eating healthy was easy for me when I lived by myself. *le sigh* I just text Harry to inform him (as he’s walking home from the gym) that we are out of ice cream. And then there’s that. *le smirk*
Exercise is way easier! Food is too delicious – I love it too much! I do (for the most part) eat real food though, if you don’t count candy…
Its definitely easier for me to exercise than to eat healthy. Good thing I work out so much because I love dessert! (and wine!)
It drives me crazy how there’s always some new ground breaking finding or amazing new diet, when what it comes down to is that anything that involves REAL FOOD works!
Right on target. The latest REAL food “diet” I’m following is Dr. Mark Hyman’s 10-day detox. I admire his fight against obesity.
Lately, my focus is on food. “Exercise” is as informal as possible – I find things to do that work out different body parts (and get something accomplished at the same time). Example – running with the dogs.
exercise has always been easier for me, I’m an addict! but my diet has slowly been getting easier too.
Yah….I get it, running high mileage puts stress on your body, releases cortisol, blah blah. There are a lot worse things you can do to your body….so if running is an activity you find enjoyable…do it anyway. I run not only for my physical health, but my mental health too! I feel great, so I’m not going to change.
exercise is way easier for me…and I think just about everything is going to kill us if I listen to the news!
Love this! I think if we stress that we are being TOO healthy now that is just ridiculous! I read the Runners World article and it said one possible cause was that 59% of the marathon runners were current or former smokers while only 39% of the sedentary people were. Ummm.. I think that is a pretty important factor?! Ha.
Keep running girl 🙂
Well great. I guess I’m not going to live that long because I don’t do anything in moderation either. Thanks for the news friend. 🙂 Just kidding!
Ha!
Exercise is WAY easier for me. I mean I like to think I keep my caloric intake in check most days (I know I do) but let’s just say way too many of those calories come from the chocolate food group (don’t tell me it isn’t one).
I think you know what your running limit is mileage wise by just listening to your body. You never know exactly WHO they use in these studies. It could very well be people who have like never ran before and their just aren’t used to it. I’ve read your blog for a while and I’m sure you can tell when your body’s had enough or not. If you want to increase your mileage, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY lol! Oh, and eat whole foods…amazing common sense.
P.S. love the little images in your blog post today. They made me giggle at work:)
I really love whole foods, so that’s not such a big deal to me. The hardest part about exercise is lack of sleep and lack of time. With two busy kids and a full-time job, it’s just difficult to find that time in the day. I do at least 4x a week, but often at the expense of something. And needing more sleep is a BIG issue. I know that is holding me back in many ways, and is also part of the battle.
But the love of running keeps me going. 😀
And love of hilarious blogging keeps me coming back here…
I love both healthy eating and exercise! But I think sometimes it’s hard to do both and you really have to remind yourself that in the long run, it’s totally worth it!
I hear a lot about cell phone jumbling our brains or something so that will probably take me down before running does.
Exercising for sure…My sweet tooth is out of control a lot of time, but I am learning to tame it.
They are both fairly easy for me to do but I’m not obsessive about either of them. If I don’t want to run/exercise one day, I won’t be myself up about. Hello…I just took a rest day. And if I want a cookie, then I allow myself a cookie. Balance & moderation = a happy Susan.
LMAO!!!! Epic Blog chica!!!! One guess which gif made me spew my grande mocha frap no whip. I won’t forget this one! Thanks for making me lol today! Great way to start my morning.
Ha! Thanks 🙂
This post and your humor just made my day. Well done! Applause!!
Exercise fo’ sure! The cheesy cheesy pizza and beer are ALWAYS calling this girl’s name! Curse them! Eating healthy is so much harder…. As I slowly walk away from the bagel. Xo
Exercise is easier for me!
I’ve heard that before about exercising & running TOO much… It causes the heart to enlarge & then causes all those other problems.
Something is always going to kill you – right?
I see people who run & are in great shape & live to be 90… & then I have a meat eating, smoke a cigarette every 15 minutes, would die before she exercised mother in law & she’s almost 80 & looks awesome & gets around like a 50 yr old!
Lol your sarcasm and humor really came through on this post. I loved it! You know what’s killing us is stress. I truly believe it leads to many diseases and food disorders. Exercise is by far easier for me.
This whole post had me smiling! I really can’t take a lot of the stories that come out of the news because one day they are saying one thing and the next it is the total opposite!
Michael Pollen’s book is fantastic! I love his philosophy and also highly recommend it.
I run for cookies and wine, so exercising is definitely easier. But I do see a difference when I’m putting crap in my body vs healthy food. Although, let’s be real…chocolate and red wine are good for you, right? Everything in moderation!
Exercise is a lot easier. I like healthy food, but I also like baked goods. Moderation is right. Just don’t feel guilty when you do enjoy a treat.
Taking pictures of what I eat helps me realize everything I do or don’t eat. You don’t have to share them with everyone. It’s kind of like keeping a food journal. Accountability , not perfection.
It seems every day there is a new article saying this is healthy and now its not! Having multiple degrees in exercise physiology research I have learned to take what the media says, find the original study and make my own conclusions. The media usually picks and chooses certain aspects of the study to talk about that will get reader’s attention. Often when you go the study you can pick out several things that are not great about it such as small sample size and poor methodology. Take it with a grain of salt and learn to critique the research and you can still live a happy, mostly worry-free life 🙂
Exercise. I do the thing they say you’re not supposed to do – reward myself with food. LOL. I “earn” my red wine by running!
I think exercising is easier!
I either eat healthy and don’t exercise, or I exercise and don’t eat healthy. I can never seem to do both at once!
Yeah, they also say that read meat will kill ya. Sorry, what? I can’t hear you over this awesome steak that I’m chewing. Besides, everything will kill you eventually. As long as you feel good and enjoy life, pick your vice.
Eating healthier is definitely easy. That has always come pretty natural to me. Exercise has been more of a journey, but a welcome one!
It’s pretty disheartening to hear a study say that running too much is going to cause more plaque…like seriously bodies WTF! But I also take that with a huge grain of salt (which coincidentally, also causes heart problems). 😉
You know, I kinda feel like both come easy to me? #isthatweird? Haha, I can go on Girl Code lol. No seriously, I find going for a run easy for me to get up and do and eating pretty balanced and healthy most of the time is easy because if I don’t eat well, I can’t run well. And I can’t have that happen.
I am a huge fan of real food! 🙂
Exercise is way easier for me to do! I know my appetite gets to be more raging when I train for a marathon… I always gain about 7 pounds (which comes off about two weeks after the marathon). I used to run for weight loss, but now it’s for challenging myself and getting faster!
You know what’s killing us…..the stress of trying to do what all the so called experts tell us to do. Jeez, I am going on the stress free diet and I betcha I live to be 145 or 146, give or take a month or two due to the stress I’ve already encountered before becoming stress-free. 🙂
You know what’s killing us…..the stress of trying to do what all the so called experts tell us to do. <- Love this!
I totally agree! Stress is killing us! Nobody knows what to do anymore because you can find articles for or against EVERYTHING! Listen to your body, be happy, be kind and enjoy the years you have here doing what makes you happy for how ever long that may be and die with no regrets.
Exercise is easier for me! When I’m training a lot and am constantly hungry, it’s so hard to stick with healthy foods! I just want to eat EVEryTHInG
We read a study in graduate school (Public Health) about running and heart disease, and I found it fascinating! I forgot what # of miles it said, but basically, when a person runs extremely high mileage per week, their heart acts the same way it would if that person was obese. The heart can’t take that much strain. I think the amount of mileage was something ridiculous, though, like 75-100 miles per week, so I don’t think people like you or me have to worry about it, but I still thought it was interesting! You can always have too much of a good thing! Thanks for sharing :).
Do you remember which study that was? I would be interested to read it. I wonder if that holds true for lifetime athletes who are used to that high volume of training?
Good point, I would think that the heart would adapt. But who knows?
It will be here: April 2014 Missouri Medicine. But, I don’t think they have it up yet.
I would think the heart would adapt, too! And maybe some do. But the article we read talked about a lot of super endurance athletes having heart issues earlier in life, so maybe the heart can’t take years of “stress.” My guess is that a lot of other factors play into it as well – if someone is an endurance athlete who races competitively for years, their body is also under a ton of mental stress, which has a strong negative impact on your physical health. I’ll see if I can find the article!
Crap I’m trying to up my weekly mileage! Better research that first 🙂
Easiest question to answer. Exercising is easier. Eating healthy isn’t hard to do for about 50 percent of my week. But I can’t seem to go the distance and eat crap a little more frequently than i would like.