Two days ago, my husband and I were getting ready to turn in for the night when he decided that it would be a good idea to tell me how running is bad for me and will lead to my eventual death. Ok maybe he didn't actually say that it would kill me, but he definitely alluded to the fact that I should let up on the distance type of cardiovascular activity or submit to the fact that I will die of some type of running induced heart malady (hint, hint, more CrossFit?).
How did this start? My husband is big into listening to Paleo specific podcasts while he is in his car and it just so happened that the one that he was listening to was listing out the many reasons why cardio, distance running in particular, is bad for you. I haven't researched the specifics of the podcast or the "studies" that were referred to, but I have since G.oogled "is running bad for you" and "chronic cardio" and I have come up with a plethora of articles preaching gospel on how endurance running is evil and HIIT (high intensity interval training) is where it is at.
Wow. Where have I been? Apparently I had tunnel vision and was only concerned with my reproductive health for several years so I missed the memo on how bad running is for you. So I guess getting back to my pre-baby weight, regulating my blood sugar, and normalizing my thyroid function, and preventing PPD due to running was just a coincidence?
Rather than be angry with my husband for trying to convince me (yet again) why CrossFit is the best of the best in terms of workout regimes, I started to get depressed. Another thing that I have done or liked to do that I need to cross off my list because someone did a study and concluded that it is bad for me. Add it to the list of things I shouldn't do, shouldn't eat, or shouldn't use along with:
- Conventionally grown fruits & veggies
- GMO fruits & veggies, which are unfortunately not marked
- Meat of unknown origin (i.e. grocery store meat)
- Farmed fish
- Drug store cosmetics
- Anything made in China
- Fleece (lovely co-worker...)
- Perfumes
- Nail polish
- Johnson & Johnson products
- Dairy
- Soy
- Corn
- Wheat/Gluten
- Aluminum foil
- Cell phones
- Trans fats
- The elliptical machine
- Non-green furniture (lovely co-worker tells me this)
- Formula
- Canned food
- Phthalates, Sulfates, Parabens
- Tampax, Playtex, or other regular tampons
- Microwave
- High fructose corn syrup
- Tupperware
- Caramel coloring
- Yankee Candles
- Non-organic decaf coffee
- Anything with lavender
- The baby jumper or the Exersaucer (also, from the lovely co-worker)
- Sitting at work
- Purel
- Antibacterial soap
- Toothpaste with triclosan
- I could keep going but I think you catch my drift here...
It is getting really exhausting to live like this. Just when I turn around and that that I have all my bases covered, with regards to keeping my family and me safe from the dangerous world that we live in, a new study comes out that "proves" that something else that you use every day and have used every day for your entire life is going to cause you to get cancer, Alzheimers, or some other type of incurable terminal illness. I think one part that they leave out of all of these findings is what type of damage all of these studies can do to a person's mental health when they go crazy trying to cut all of the bad products out and stick with only what has been determined to be "safe" today.
Am I going to quit running? No. Am I going to give up my dream of running in the NYC Marathon this fall? No. Am I going to continue trying to cut out all of the potentially disease causing products out? Ok, maybe, but within reason. At some point I (along with others) need to realize that it is most certain that something, eventually, but hopefully many many years away will kill us. It may be the accumulation of chemicals in your body causing cancer or it may be that you get hit by a bus. We just don't know. If we spend all of our free time trying to cut everything out then we are not going to be able to spend any time enjoying life, because friends, unless you know something that I don't, we only get one.
Here is my takeaway... I am going to eat healthy when I can, but enjoy a treat once in a while (after this damn Paleo Challenge is over!). I am going to use natural products that cause less stress to the environment, but still use my Givenchy Very Irresistible because I love the way that it smells. I am not going to keep my son in a bubble, because eventually he is going to grow up and need to make his own choices, but I'll offer him healthy suggestions and hope that he takes
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