Feb. 3, 2020

“Free” is in quotes as every few years I might have a shot of beer or champagne as part of a glass raised after a funeral, or to celebrate something such as the completion of my 2012 “Do-it-Yourself” full Ironman distance triathlon on my 50th Birthday. Or, I might try a few drops of an interesting flavor of beer or wine to get the aroma and flavor. This is a disclaimer, as people may recall tiny amounts of alcohol passing my lips during the past twenty years.

I did not give up alcohol due to alcoholism. In hindsight, I had issues with binge drinking or abusing alcohol. I’m lucky to have never been arrested for driving under the influence. A 1980 high school grad, I’m not proud that things were different in those days. Somehow most of us survived questionable driving practices. There was no internet then, no Uber! I now live next to the elementary school where the teachers with their anti-drug pamphlets and videos inspired me to be drug free in the early ’70’s. I wouldn’t try marijuana thru high school and college. I feared it to be a gateway to a needle in my arm, dead or suffering in a gutter. Early in life, I seemed to be aware that moderation in all things was not my strength. Many parents were smokers in the early 70’s, mine included, and smoking in the car with the windows up with children squirming around in the back seats without seat belts inspired me to never try tobacco. In fact, I had acquaintances who tried to hold me down and pressure me to try some weed. No go. I was stubborn, perhaps a common trait for ultra runners, barefoot inclined people and those who go contrarian with a strictly plant based in diet. It would not be until after cancer and into my late 40’s that I’d learn that what I should have feared more than weed, was most of the food on my plate during my first 47 years.

I started drinking beer while in high school and kept at it through 1999, when I was 37. Sometime in ’99 I was several years into chronic stomach issues that my doctor couldn’t fix with meds. I was overweight with high cholesterol as well. I found answers outside modern medicine, in books, and this was not the first time. Had I not stumbled upon a book called The Yeast Connection, I likely would not have learned that I needed to eliminate all yeast and most processed sugar from my diet. And I likely would have developed something horrible such as Crohn’s or Chronic IBS. A major diet change, I was told, is about as tough to do as giving up the cancer sticks is for smokers! And it was tough, but years later when I decided to only consume plants, that was easy. I knew how to change.

Reading The Yeast Connection in ’99 led to a quick test of the ideas. As a male, I’d had the symptoms a male could have, although the symptoms changed over the years. By giving up beer and the many foods with yeast I had craved and loved, such as pizza, bread, and pretzels, I felt the best in years within a couple days. A couple weeks into this experiment, I attended a gathering where I drank a bottle of wine slowly over many hours, foolishly not reading the wine label to see yeast was a needed to ferment the wine. Misery hit hard the next day. I’ll spare the details of the symptoms and say that from then on, I would tell people they could offer me $200 cash to drink a free six pack of beer or a bottle of wine and there was no way I’d consider it. You couldn’t pay me to drink!

A couple years ago I searched the internet a bit to find out if yeast intolerance was more or less common than gluten intolerance. About one in a 100-150 people have Celiac Disease, but more are gluten intolerant or gluten sensitive. I couldn’t find much research on this, but the little I found suggested more people are yeast intolerant than gluten intolerant. Gluten has become a focus of many and a money maker. The removal of gluten from processed foods has resulted in big profits. People tend to be willing to pay more for less, rather than prepare their foods. Few people pay attention to yeast intake. “Yeast Free” is not prominently displayed food products. Going gluten free tends to benefit people that may not be gluten intolerant, simply because they are consuming less highly processed foods.

February of 2000, several months after giving up yeast, while on vacation in the Bahamas while my wife was late into her second pregnancy of our three daughters, we met a liquor business executive on the beach. He suggested that clear liquor should have little or no yeast. I tried a modest amount that evening and the next morning, I thought he was right, but a few hours later the symptoms hit and that was the last time I had more than small shot of beer. The symptoms were less-bad, but less-bad still sucked. There’s a life lesson. Less-bad may be better but is not best. Less bad is not optimal. Because we can do things, does not mean we should. Less-bad is often a lame compromise.

What I learned early in the alcohol free experiment was that I could be at gatherings with lots of drinking and I was fine. Some people would say they’d rather die than give up drinking! In more recent years I hear people say they’d rather die than give up their meat, eggs and dairy, and in fact, they are more likely to suffer and die. It’s sad, but I just need to get used to this.

Where people gathered to drink and were loose and hyped up, I felt I could catch some of that vibe and enjoy it. Without the harm to my organs from alcohol, the other safety and health risks, potential hangovers, etc, I was much less likely to offend people. Life was better with my foot not in my mouth. This was progress. And I had no risk of getting a DUI as I was drug free as well. Less stress. More progress. Serving as a reliable designated driver for over twenty years has been a way to pay it forward.

Where would this newfound awareness lead? Unfortunately to a cancer diagnosis in the Fall of ’04. Lots of pain and fear ensued. Mostly fear. Pain and fear are great teachers if we tune in and try to learn the lessons. For me, the lessons became more clear as I searched for what I needed to do to minimize risk for cancer recurrence. Ultimately it led to eating less meat and dairy in failed efforts to lower cholesterol and taking up running my first marathon in 2009. Early in 2010 I read Born To Run. Over a few months time I started adopting the healthier habits of the nomadic subsistence farmers from the Copper Canyons of Mexico. Some Raramuri (the running people) AKA, the Tarahumara, were running hundreds of miles, disease free, wearing handmade huarache sandals from old tires. All on brutal canyon trails. I wanted some of that.

And that’s how I ended up running about 60 ultra marathons over the past eight to nine years, injury free, sometimes running pure barefoot or often “bare toes” in huaraches while building up for races up to 100 miles. Minimalist sandals and shoes became my foot protection for cold weather and other activities. Living a more cooperative and less competitive life helped me enjoy running hundred mile foot races with little concern for speed or place in the race. With fifteen hundred milers complete and four DNF’s (did not finish), I’m eager for more. Those DNF’s were extraordinary experiences as well, ranging from about 63 miles up to 99 or so.

Being alcohol free as we raised our daughters, I was able to set a good example for our girls. Better to be lucky than good. Now I consider the yeast intolerance and all that’s happened since as gifts. Fortunately some wisdom resulted and perhaps this will resonate for a few people. Alcohol addiction is a horrible thing, but what I’ve come to understand is that us brilliant-idiot humans with our free will and abundance are susceptible to addictive input. The input doesn’t have to be physical. We suffer greatly from substance addictions and behavioral addictions. People can become self destructively hooked on greed, hate, weed, gambling, legal and illegal drugs, inhalants, nicotine, pornography, shopping, work, food, sex, pain/cutting, internet/computers, spiritual obsession and even exercising. More on exercise later.

Now I understand that the casein in dairy is moderately biochemically addictive not just to calves as nature intended, but for people. People fast become addicted to food that destroys their health over time, sort of a slow motion suicide. It seems there are trap doors galore. As a boy, maybe I was neurotic, but I seemed to sense lurking danger everywhere. Little did I know the things I didn’t fear, I should have feared. Tiny cancer cells in our body, along with compromised body chemistry, general excess of stress and a less than optimal auto immune system, these are things we should be aware of, even fear perhaps.

As the “Raramuri” suburban dad in Ohio, well into a ninth year consuming exclusively plant based foods now, I feel that by sticking to a diet closer to optimal vs being “addicted” to junk foods, allows me to live with greater awareness and lower odds of falling into other addiction traps.

What you will see here, is a recurring theme on creating an upward spiral in wellness. An upward spiral can start anywhere, perhaps with a cancer diagnosis or deciding you won’t take anti-inflammatories for headaches. Or giving up dairy products, taking your shoes off to go hiking, turning off the junk on TV, avoiding tobacco, cutting meat and eggs, meditating, yoga, avoiding drugs and most medicines, or working consciously with your thoughts and emotions positively as opposed to fearfully dwelling on what you do not want … any of these things could spark an upward spiral.

Have you thought about how much information, discipline, time and effort is required to live with ease as an adult? “Dis-ease” is rampant in competitive first world cultures. Disease is both mental and physical at once. One of the many reasons I decided in 2010 to start adopting many habits of the Raramuri was their culture, known for its cooperative nature. The Raramuri needed to stay active to survive as subsistence farmers primarily consuming organic plant based diets of minimally processed organic fruits and vegetables. They were also known for being some of the greatest distance runners on earth. Cancer, heart disease, diabetes and many other diseases common here in America other “developed” societies are very rare amongst those Raramuri who were living the traditional lifestyle. The environment was what supported these habits. What I learned about them in Christopher McDougall’s “Born to Run” and from other sources reminded me of the cultures or pockets of people that John Robbins wrote about in Healthy at 100. Of interest is that as roads and “progress” came to many of the Tarahumara, they lost their Raramuri running skills and fitness. With access to modern jobs, faster transit and junk food, their superhuman “Tarzan” like fitness faded. The modernized Tarahumara were also less likely to wear the handmade huaraches.

Traditional Raramuri were known for the corn beer they brew and intense “parties”. Of course I skipped this part of their culture. Occasional runner’s highs would have to be good enough. Eric Orton, AKA “The Hawk” from Born to Run is a well known running coach who often mentions in his book, The Cool Impossible, that athleticism is about awareness. So, if we numb our awareness with alcohol, drugs or various obsessive behaviors, how likely is this to help us become better runners? One of the prompts for writing this was an article about whether marathoners should give up alcohol while training? Maybe the better question is whether we are better off rarely if ever consuming alcohol? As an ultra runner, I am always marathon ready.

Living with ease! What’s life really about if not experiencing emotions vs masking them? Everything in this universe is energy. We are a form of energy with the most high “tech” brains on earth, along with powerful emotions and an ability to effectively create heaven or hell on earth. Our emotions and thoughts are what make us human more so than organs and bones.

We choose to a great extent. Ease or disease?

Evidently experts have identified exercise as a potential behavioral addiction. This may be an example of how deeply lost we are as a culture, how disconnected we are from ourselves and the natural world. In Catra Corbett’s book, she does a great job of explaining how and why her running is not replacing one set of addictions for another. For more on her ultra story, see my video link below.

I would debate that people who consume a diet high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory minimally processed foods along with proper hydration and are moving their bodies in natural ways with balanced muscles would find it nearly impossible to be “addicted” to ultra running. In fact, running may be the very best way to avoid behavioral and substance addictions. That’s my hypothesis and I’d love to see some people research this topic. Running is really just an expression of what we are at our primal core. Serious mental health issues require professional medical help. Yet, I would caution against people using psychotropic brain altering and body chemistry changing meds long term and with extreme caution short term.

A whole foods or minimally processed “diet” from only plant based foods is optimal for mental and physical health. Simply removing all meat, eggs, dairy and over processed plant sourced foods from the diet will provide the optimal gut biome and body chemistry for feeling better from top to bottom, from the inside out and cell to cell. Suicidal depression is highly correlated to the heavy consumption of animal sourced foods. Dr. Garth Davis covers this in his best selling book, Proteinaholic. It would be a rare psychiatrist or psychologist who really understands this and will invest the time to educate their patients on the power of proper nutrition and healthy motion in helping heal mental health issues. Of course our thoughts and emotions are a major part of this healing process as well. Experts can help. Most medical professionals are rushed and consuming the same crap most of their patients eat. Why would they recommend something they don’t or won’t do themselves?

Anecdotally, as I look around at suffering people, poor diet has typically set the stage for their addictions. Typically I feel obligated to try and help the suffering. Most are not receptive to these ideas. They may become angry. Yet, as they are “walking towards a cliff”, empathy prompts me to at least try and redirect them to consider a safer path.

I am a student with much to learn. When the student is ready, the teacher will come. Cancer and other health concerns helped get me ready for many teachers. Attempting to share great ideas, perhaps I can be that teacher to others when they are ready? Seek wisdom over wealth, a theme from the book Born To Run, is solid advice. A runner’s high is not just a substitute for an alcohol buzz or any other artificially induced high, but vastly superior and more rewarding. While alcohol may quickly make people feel better. Running tends to be difficult and uncomfortable at first. The difference is that runners feel great after running, while drinkers feel awful after.

Addictions are described as brain disorders. My ultra running, particularly the 100 milers, I often experience as meditative yoga. Meditation is known to actually grow and reshape the physical brain. Think about that!

The healing process can start anywhere. One way is by better sensing and the world via our sensitive feet. Weak feet, means we have a weak foundation. To correct this I recommend I suggest people go barefoot as often as possible. As this is not practical in many situations, I recommend primarily Xero Shoes. I’ve been an ambassador for them since the very early days when the company was called “Invisible Shoes”. I learned much from CEO Steven Sashen in my early transition to “barefoot” running. Feel the World and Live Life Feet First are more than just Xero slogans, they are great words to live by. Perhaps we’re best served by not numbing input from the universe. #Xero Ambassador.