To kale, with . . . respect

I like to think I’m at about the one-third mark in my life, and if I live to be 150, well then, I’m right.  But the truth of the matter is that unless some magic anti-aging pill gets invented, like, yesterday, I’m more than halfway to kicking it. 

I’m not trying to be a downer, I’m just being realistic.  In the great marathon of life, I’m at mile 14ish. I’m cool with that because during long runs, it’s around the half marathon point, mile 13.1, that I catch a second wind. I think in exclamation points: “Wooh! I made it! I can do this! It’s all downhill from here!”  

Yup. Downhill. In some ways, it is. I’m older today than I’ve ever been. That's true. But tomorrow, God willing, I’ll be even older. Yay for still being here. 

My challenge is to stay in good shape. I have family members that need me. I have cats that demand constant patting. I have two marathons this fall. 

So far, so good, sort of. My resting heart rate is endurance athlete low. My blood pressure is fine. But in the last year or so I’ve developed some little arthritic aches and pains. Last summer I started noticing I wasn’t recovering from my runs as easily as I used to. 

So I’ve been researching ways to help myself. I’ve gotten better at stretching and pre-emptive and post-run foam rolling. I ice my knees and hips and whatever else I need to after my long runs. I’ve mixed up my diet a bit. I’m avoiding processed foods. I’ve cut back on red meat in favor of other protein sources, like Greek yogurt, whey protein powders, beans.  

These changes have helped quite a bit, but I’ve been seeing the biggest improvements the last few weeks and I figure, why not share? 

I think the reason for the big improvement is because I’ve upped my antioxidant intake. I’m as big a cynic as anyone, and I don’t buy into trends easily, but time and again in my research, I kept coming back to antioxidants and the role they play in keeping us healthy, and how they help us maintain muscle mass and nurture muscle growth.  

Here’s a quick summary on some of what I found: 

Antioxidants destroy free radicals, potent bad boys. According to the National Institute of Health, free radicals are produced when we break down food. They’re also produced during exposure to dangerous things like tobacco smoke and radiation. Free radicals can damage cells. They might be related to heart disease, cancer and other diseases.  

Runner’s World Magazine (12/3/07) says as a normal part of our metabolism, during exercise our bodies increase production of a certain type of free radical, ROS.  Increased ROS production, from heavy duty workouts for example, might overwhelm the body’s ability to put forth solid antioxidant defenses. According to RW, this can lead to muscle damage, fatigue, and a reduction in immune function. 

One easy way to zap these free radicals is to up your antioxidant consumption. This chart from WebMD gives you an idea of the variety of foods that are high in antioxidants. 

Rank	Food item	Serving size	Total antioxidant capacity per serving size
1	Small Red Bean (dried)	Half cup	13,727
2	Wild blueberry	1 cup	13,427
3	Red kidney bean (dried)	Half cup	13,259
4	Pinto bean	Half cup	11,864
5	Blueberry (cultivated)	1 cup	9,019
6	Cranberry	1 cup (whole)	8,983
7	Artichoke (cooked)	1 cup (hearts)	7,904
8	Blackberry	1 cup	7,701
9	Prune	Half cup	7,291
10	Raspberry	1 cup	6,058
11	Strawberry	1 cup	5,938
12	Red Delicious apple	1 whole	5,900
13	Granny Smith apple	1 whole	5,381
14	Pecan	1 ounce	5,095
15	Sweet cherry	1 cup	4,873
16	Black plum	1 whole	4,844
17	Russet potato (cooked)	1 whole	4,649
18	Black bean (dried)	Half cup	4,181
19	Plum	1 whole	4,118
20	Gala apple	1 whole	3,903

There are plenty of articles on the web that say this antioxidant thing is just a thing, that this craze too shall pass. Most of the foods in this chart (there are plenty of other charts and lists out there too) are foods I eat anyhow. I simply tweaked my diet so that now the majority of what I consume is high antioxidant. I'm not doing any damage to my wallet or my body. In fact, my own anecdotal evidence shows I'm doing quite well.  

I’ve also added one food to my diet that I’ve long thought was pretty vile and disgusting. It’s not on the above WebMD chart, but if you google it, you’ll see everyone raving about it. I’m talking kale.

  

Kale creeps me out. I abhore the taste, plus I have a bad memory attached to it. Years ago, I waitressed at an Italian place, red-checked tablecloths, Chianti bottle wall décor. They used kale leaves and lemon to make the dinners look pretty.  I was delivering a couple of shrimp scampi plates to a six-top under the lighted tree near the restaurant’s balcony, when I heard the first shriek, followed immediately by many more. Turns out, in addition to shrimp, there was another protein source on one of the plates, a couple of fat white worms, napping in the kale garnish.  Seems the chuckleheads in the kitchen hadn’t bothered to wash that particular batch of greenery.  

It was disgusting. I got a crappy tip and developed a strong aversion to kale and anything that looks like it. 

I hate wasting my money, and if kale was expensive, I probably wouldn’t be trying it, given the gross out factor and all. But kale is wicked cheap. You can get a huge pre-washed – triple-washed in fact, pre-chopped bag at Trader Joe’s for less than two bucks. In the end, what convinced me to try the kale wasn’t so much its superfood status. It was the triple-washing.  I’m glad I bit the bullet and gave it a try.

A year ago, my weekly food thrill was cooking up and devouring a batch of Ghiradelli triple chocolate brownies. Now I’m into daily kale and berry smoothies. It’s all good.

Yesterday I ran 15.7 miles in high humidity and ninety degree temps. When I got back to the house, I iced my knees and downed a smoothie, just like I’ve done after every long run the last few weeks.

Today, though I should be hobbling around and holding onto the railing when I walk down stairs, I have no aches and no pains.  No worms either. Phew.

Here’s my basic antioxidant recovery smoothie recipe. You really truly can’t taste the kale. Honest. 

4-8 oz fluid (I like green tea or tart cherry juice, both huge antioxidant superheroes)

1 cup torn kale leaves

Lots of berries, to taste

Protein source (whey protein powder, Greek yogurt)

Ice