Can we predict that running will play a new and important role in the future of health?
When it comes to running and diet, most people might think of weight loss. We have indeed moved beyond the era of "developing sports to improve the people's physique." The shift from malnutrition to overnutrition hasn’t taken long at all — it’s truly been "fat comes like a landslide, fat goes like pulling silk." The mantra of "eat less, exercise more" has been thoroughly promoted by the media, yet we still often see the public’s increasingly plump figures and continuously rising health check-up indicators.
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As a certified skinny person, I don’t face situations where I’m afraid to try on clothes or feel anxious upon receiving my health report. My lifelong running stems from a value system I call "the more you strive, the more you enjoy." Running is about being able to eat more delicious things, using the furnace of exercise to burn off the side effects brought by indulging my taste buds, and enjoying more food than others on the foundation of health — loving life without excess, thriving vibrantly.
A Singaporean friend of mine is passionate about running and formed a team calledRun 2 eat—Running for Food. He gave me a team jersey with the bold words "Team run 2 eat" emblazoned across the chest, and on the back was the team’s motto — "Got Food, Chiong!" (For food, charge!) — a theme that really resonated with me.
InBorn to Run(the Chinese translation in Taiwan is titled "Born to Run"), the author argues that humans evolved to have the perfect physique for long-distance endurance running in order to chase wild animals for extended periods, exhausting their prey and thus securing food. This theory provides the most primitive meaning forRun 2 eat. Today, humans no longer need to rely on running to hunt for food, so "running for food" has lost its original meaning. At the same time, because we eat too much, it has gained a new interpretation.
I once interviewed fitness expert Mr. Yang Hongjian about health issues. Mr. Yang said that health is about balance — when intake and expenditure are equal, health can be maintained. He gave an example: you can convert your diet into carbohydrates, fats, proteins, etc., and look at how much energy and material you consume and replenish each day. As long as you reach a relatively balanced state, you can be healthy. You can eat less and not exercise, or you can eat more and exercise more. The only difference is that the latter involves more energy spent on eating and exercising — perhaps your Engel index is a bit higher.
I really appreciate a quote from Feng Lun, the head of Vantone Real Estate — "pursue ideals, and make money along the way." It’s a question of "why." Some people pursue health for the sake of health, watching their diet and not daring to eat anything. I always find that a bit unexciting.Run 2 eat’s purpose is to choose the tough sport of running for a vibrant life, and health comes along with it. You’ll find that a body actively engaged in intense aerobic exercise is like a blazing furnace — no matter what you put in to keep the flames going, it will burn it all completely. In contrast, the previously sedentary, exercise-free body, even if it consumes the most scientifically beneficial food, is like stagnant water. The longer you run, the sharper your senses become. You start listening to your body’s opinions. You eat what you want because your body will tell you what it needs. We’re not professional athletes — what we need is health, vitality, and a good physique, not nitpicking over dietary details. When running truly becomes part of life, you can comfortably continue to enjoy good food, because you know that in the process of running, it will all be burned off, transformed into a vibrant life.
If this article ended here,Run 2 eat ’s value would still be limited to a small aesthetic of enduring a bit of hardship for the sake of enjoyment, with no broad social significance. In reality, high-intensity running in modern society has another reason or benefit that needs further explanation — a kind of "have to."
Dr. Ernst, a renowned figure in German sports medicine, found that among all athletes, only marathon runners had no recorded cases of cancer. Because the main cause of cancer is the accumulation of heavy metals, and the human body can only expel a small portion of heavy metals through sweating. Marathon runners, due to continuous running and profuse sweating, expel heavy metals from deep within the body, completely removing the root cause of cancer. Sweating also helps eliminate harmful substances from the body, strengthens the autonomic nervous system, boosts metabolism, and removes old waste and toxins, all of which benefit beauty and health.
Another study is about the issue of heavy metal pollution. I watched a documentary on mercury pollution where fish near a chemical plant were found to have excessive mercury levels, but fish caught hundreds of kilometers away in pristine mountainous areas also had mercury levels that were just as high, or even higher than those near the plant. This phenomenon shows that no fish, regardless of location, can escape the impact of mercury pollution. But why did the fish from the pristine environment have higher mercury levels than those near the chemical plant? This puzzled scientists. Eventually, it was discovered that the fish from hundreds of kilometers away, due to the poor environment and slow growth, were older — in other words, these were fish that had been suffering from toxicity for many years. The final conclusion of the study was that mercury pollution from the chemical plant was absorbed by microorganisms in the water. These microorganisms couldn’t metabolize the heavy metals, which were then consumed by shrimp, accumulating in them. Small fish ate the shrimp, and at every step of the food chain, the heavy metals were rarely metabolized, accumulating layer by layer, traveling across the world and even reaching the polar regions. As a result, humans, as the top of the food chain, are constantly absorbing heavy metals deposited at every stage, which is also a major reason for the increased cancer rate in modern society.
Does reading this make you a bit shocked? Now connect it with sweating out heavy metals, and you’ll understand thatRun 2 eat(Running for Food) not only contains the simple idea of using high-intensity exercise to offset the side effects of indulgent eating, but also offers a solution to combat the heavy metal-polluted food chain.
Food safety is also an oft-discussed topic. Organisms from industrialized farming and breeding are injected and medicated at every stage, leaving the familiar plants and animals we once knew completely ruined. Initiatives like returning farmland to forests and grasslands have gradually matured under the advocacy of environmentalists, because we increasingly understand that the health of the Earth is inseparable from our own. We also know that grass-eating cattle and sheep are now rare, so what are these naturally grass-eating animals actually eating? Why are every industrially produced chicken, duck, fish, pig, cow, and sheep born as little fatties? And why are they slaughtered at such a young age? These are things we can’t delve into too deeply. Modern people need to metabolize far too many industrial waste products after eating and drinking.
Are you feeling inspired yet? Even if not for indulgent eating, exercising more and sweating is an important way to detox and beautify. Aside from running and sweating, some people opt for saunas. Both have detoxifying effects, but the difference is that the post-exercise full-body ease includes strengthening muscles, blood circulation, and the oxygen supply system, while saunas mainly train your sweat glands. If you’re a bit on the heavier side, you might still be a bit on the heavier side after a sauna session.
Can we predict that running will play a new and important role in the future of health? Perhaps. But for now, many people are already running, even if they’re just doing it "for the food" rather than for detox or beauty.
To take it a step further back, I recall a saying from the fashion world: "No effort in April, regret in June." Young men and women who want to show off their bodies in the scorching summer — it’s time to get moving.
[Reprinted from Commercial Value]