“Barry Sears, Hippocrates, and My First Marathon” by Dr. Donaldson

It was one day in April in 1995, I decided I wanted to run a marathon. I didn’t want to run the marathon because of the challenge or the glory. I wanted to run it because I had gotten heavy into the Zone diet by Barry Sears. I was so into Barry Sears I arranged to meet him while he was on a lecture tour in Pittsburgh. Nothing would keep me away from Barry Sears.

Little did I know this was my introduction to Alternative/Complementary Medicine. I was passionate about the Zone diet. I would read to my husband in the car about the Zone diet. I would speak to strangers about the Zone diet. I told my cousin I hadn’t seen for years about it. The Zone diet and how it affected your body was all I talked about. I told my Dad about it, he asked me very seriously how much protein he had to eat to counter the cookies he was eating. I laughed and thought this is one who will never succumb. I was obnoxious about it. I wanted everyone to do it. I talked Barry Sears to give grand rounds in the ER at the university hospital

At first he was welcomed and then I was told no. It had nothing to do with the ER. I was appalled. Diet has to do with everyone. So Barry met with a group of interested residents in an isolated patient room in the ER to talk about his diet. From then on, I secretly told diabetics in the ER about the Zone diet because Barry Sears had done a great study and found diabetics benefited more from the Zone diet than the ADA diet.

I was so happy I had found something that could help these people that wasn’t a pill that would cause side effects and more problems for them. I eventually got in trouble with administration because I wasn’t talking to the patients about the ADA diet. I was disheartened. How could I not tell diabetics about it? Again, retrospectively, I could see my thoughts and perceptions of medicine starting to change.

Barry Sears said if you followed the Zone diet, when you run a marathon, you won’t hit the wall or go through the crash a lot of people go through at mile 20. He explained the reason they hit the wall is because their glycogen (glucose or fuel) stores are all used up by then and they start breaking down their muscles for fuel. People who run marathons are told to load up with carbohydrates before a long run so they eat pasta like crazy. Following the zone diet you eat 40-30-30, 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 30% fat.

I found what he said fascinating and also wanted to know personally if it was true. So the 20 mile marker was my sign post, just as my brother taught me long ago. That was my goal. Eat as per the Zone diet and run 20 miles and see if I hit the wall or not. I would carry to work all my foods especially prepared in a 40-30-30 ratio. I felt great and had a ton of energy.

One day I came into work a bit groggy and one of the nurses gave me grief by saying, “What happened? Did you go off your Zone diet?” It was then I realized I had stuffed a cookie into my mouth the night before without thinking about it. What a shock it was to me that one cookie took my energy away that much. I answered her, “Come to think of it, I did go off it”. This is where I learned sugar is the enemy and Hippocrates was so right on when he said, “Food is our Medicine, and Medicine is our Food.” Another step in the direction of Alternative Medicine for me.

The only problem I had left was, how do you train for a marathon? Continue to follow our blog for Part 3 on Running with Dr. Donaldson.