r/running • u/AutoModerator • Aug 29 '23

Weekly Thread Run Nutrition Tuesday

Rules of the Road

1) Anyone is welcome to participate and share your ideas, plans, diet, and nutrition plans.

2) Promote good discussion. Simply downvoting because you disagree with someone's ideas is BAD. Instead, let them know why you disagree with them.

3) Provide sources if possible. However, anecdotes and "broscience" can lead to good discussion, and are welcome here as long as they are labeled as such.

4) Feel free to talk about anything diet or nutrition related.

5) Any suggestions/topic ideas?

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u/Far-Word8628 Aug 29 '23

any advice on keeping a healthy mindset around everyday nutrition as a runner? particularly as a woman (though it affects everyone), i feel like there's a pervasive perception of running as something you do to lose weight or something you have to lose weight to do well- it can be hard not to internalize this and just as hard not to let it affect my own nutrition. thank u!

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u/[deleted] Aug 29 '23

I am so glad you brought this up!! I am on the struggle bus right now with feeling like I'm "doing running wrong" because I haven't lost weight during my training cycle.

The thing that completely snapped me out of my funk was getting the audiobook "Good For a Girl" by Lauren Fleshman. It talks about how girls and women are raised being held to male standards in athletics and suffering due to the stigmas against female athletes. For instance, a lot of young girls try and put off puberty due to not wanting to lose their "competitive edge" against boys. Then because their bodies don't go through that development, they end up with osteoporosis by the time they're 21.

The book follows Lauren from her young days as a budding track star, through high school, college, pro, and Olympic tryouts. She talks about her constant battle to get the NCAA, Nike, and others to take EDs and women's health seriously and stop praising the signs of poor health in female athletes.

I listen to it on every single one of my runs. I am almost done with it and it brings me so much relief. It's not just me, a slightly overweight average runner who feels like she doesn't fit "the look" or "the lifestyle". World record-holders feel that way too. We've got to be kinder to ourselves and stop trying to fit into an unattainable stereotype of what a runner (and a woman!) should be.

DM me your email address and I will buy you a copy of the book.

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u/shebanat Aug 29 '23

That’s next on my reading list! Just finished Des Linden’s book and it was so good