Can you outrun a bad diet?
One of the highlights of my weekend is the morning stroll to a nearby coffee shop with my six-year-old son. We bring a deck of Uno cards and I get a coffee while he slurps his hot chocolate with a spoon. Because it’s Miami, we’ve started sitting outside again instead of getting blasted inside by the air conditioner still set for summer.
Today a group of cyclists grabbed the table next to us. I was surprised when the waitress brought one biker a chocolate croissant. A croissant, or any item from the muffin family, is the unhealthiest food you can choose: it’s all grains, sugar, and seed oils. Still, the biker’s snug cycling jersey accentuated his muscular arms and lean midsection.
This athlete has clearly outrun his bad diet, but how?
True nutrition science is so new and complex that we don’t know the answer to basic questions. For instance — is fiber necessary; does a calorie-free artificially sweetened drink generate an insulin response; what is the healthy LDL range for a person in ketosis? No one knows. And then you get to the hard stuff.
In recent years, the kynurenine pathway has received increasing attention. It has connections to inflammation, the immune system, and neurological conditions. For health, you want to decrease circulating kynurenine levels. Exercise has a positive effect on the kynurenine pathway because, one theory goes, high energy demand from your cells causes your body to shift energy production towards the most efficient channel (and away from the kynurenine pathway).
The next question is, beyond just food, would it be possible to outrun an entire unhealthy lifestyle?
The more we learn about the impact of chronic stress — and cortisol — the worse it gets. Dr. Eric Berg recently posted a video where he reviewed just some of the harms:
- Weight gain
- Elevated blood pressure
- Systemic inflammation
- Lowered immune response
- Altered gut biome
- Increase in gluconeogenesis (sugar made from muscle proteins)
- Insulin resistance
- Deteriorating cholesterol profile
- Impaired digestion/absorption of minerals/vitamins
- Diminished cognition
So, what does research say about the impact of exercise on cortisol? Nothing actually. According to a September 2022 study trying to measure the effects of physical activity on cortisol and sleep, “remarkably few studies have been designed to examine the effects of physical activity on cortisol.”
Whenever you come across an understudied area of health, it means that the intervention is almost certainly cheap and highly effective.
Can you outrun not only a bad diet, but also a bad lifestyle? The answer might in fact be yes. Still, it’s probably easier to order some eggs instead of a croissant, and don’t forget to take some deep, calming breaths.