Running on bananas, not literally running bananas :) My friend sent me an awesome link to Dean Karnazes blog on Runner's World. (If you are wondering who Dean is, he is the guy who ran 50 marathons in 50 days in all 50 states. You can read more about Dean on his website. He is the topic of another blog post in itself!) Anyways, Dean was talking about his friend, Mike Arnstein, who recently won the Napa Valley International Marathon. While Dean was talking to him, he found out that he was a “Fruitarian.” The article states:
he sometimes eats 40-50 bananas a day (no, that’s not a typo). In fact, other than oranges and the periodic tomato and stalk of celery, that’s pretty much all he eats.
Mike Arnstein is a “Fruitarian.” That is to say, he only eats fruit and the occasional raw vegetable. He doesn’t even eat nuts. Okay, that’s because, you’re thinking, he is one.
Wait, don’t be so quick to write the man off. Listen to these stats. Mike’s been a fruitarian for the past two and a half years. In that time: he’s watched his percent body fat naturally fall to around 3%, he’s bumped up his training mileage to 20-30 miles a day (often logging 160-mile training weeks), he’s watched his half-marathon PR drop from 1:17 to 1:10, and he runs a successful software company with 20 employees. All on bananas.
Crazy! It really makes you think about your pre-race or long run routine. I swear that I need a LOT of protein and little to no carbs. Can you imagine only running on bananas? I dont know how you could do it!
What are your thoughts? Is this possible? Do you think you would become deficient on other nutrients or would it be unsustainable for the planet? I would love to hear your thoughts (and the comments on the article were interesting as well!)
Happy running! I'm off to go run 8 (but on protein, not bananas!)
Banana image found here.
Mike image found here.
Wow. I'm kind of in shock. 40-50 bananas a day? That is so odd. Very strange, but cool at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI get tired of bananas when I eat one every day ... I can't even imagine!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is crazy!! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteWTF? That's nuts! Uh, I mean... bananas!
ReplyDeletedean karnazes is my hero! :)
ReplyDeletei dont see how it is possible to keep any sort of muscle, which is made of protein. Right? This is beyond me. I would die. Seriously die. But it seems to work for him. But, for arguments sake if I was a Cookie-a-tarian and ran 20-30 miles a DAY I would probably have 3% body fat too? I think so! =)
ReplyDeleteWOW, amazing story, but I can not believe how he can fuel just with fruit. I like fruit, but after a tough run I always have special cravings, especially sausages and meat. How can he not miss that type of fruit!? Amazing that he can :)
ReplyDeletethis sh*t is bananas... lol.
ReplyDeleteyeah i get tired eating 1 a day. i sure can't imagine 50+! plus they give me heartburn sometimes :(