Running, nutrition and well-being are some points that can bring great benefits to people. Unfortunately, not all of them are aware of its importance as there is a certain level of misinformation. maca bustamante, Based on her experience, nutritionist, content creator and passionate runner spoke exclusively to La República about the value we should place on these topics.
—What did you start with first, running or diet?
—I got into nutrition because I’m a nutritionist by trade. I have two degrees in nutrition, one in Peru and the other in the United States. Running started when I went to the US to study. When I arrived I wasn’t in a gym. So one way to exercise was to put on my shoes and go for a run. It was always about more than just doing it at my own pace. Experience has shown that I did without a trainer and just went for a run. After a few years I decided to compete in my first race and from then on it got a little more serious.
— What made you decide to start running?
—I’ve always been someone who does sports alone (running, swimming, gymnastics, track and field). So I felt this active therapy while running as a moment of switching off. It felt comfortable to go out and disconnect from himself, or rather reconnect with himself, just you and nobody else but you and the track. I liked how it made me feel, the running situation and what it evokes in you afterwards. When I was in the United States, I decided to make it my goal to run my first half marathon, the one in Miami, which was the longest distance I wanted to run at the time. I prepared myself and I liked the experience. Then I returned to Lima and also ran for the love of art, but after the pandemic, a phase where I trained a lot at home, I needed a goal and started looking for a career. With no races scheduled in Lima due to a bit of uncertainty regarding restrictions, I went looking for a race abroad and found the Paris marathon in 2022. In November 2021 I contacted a coach and he counted my goal. From December 2021 to today I have not stopped training because after Paris last year I ran the Lima half marathon, the Adidas half marathon and the Berlin marathon. This year I ran the Lima marathon. I recently stayed at the Aruba Median. The Lima Half Marathon is in August and I will be running the Chicago Marathon in October. I haven’t stopped exercising and it’s become a part of my lifestyle alongside my diet.
Maca Bustamante is very active on social networks. Photo: Instagram/MacaWellness.
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—Which race do you remember the most?
—Visually, I would say that Paris was the most beautiful because when you walk you go through all the tourist attractions. You will pass the Louvre, the Tuileries Garden and the Bastille. Otherwise, Paris is a beautiful city. But the race that meant the most to me personally was the Lima Marathon (in May) because that’s where I clocked my best marathon time. I started out with a little anxiety because I wasn’t keeping the pace I needed in my training to get the time I wanted. He reached the pass but quickly slowed down. Although I didn’t get the exact time, I kept 22 seconds from what I wanted to do. For me it was a great achievement as it was 10 minutes shy of my last marathon which is quite a lot considering it was less than a year ago. It was a challenge for me and for myself to show that all the training, the sunrises, the discipline and the endurance were reflected.
—What are the keys to proper training for a marathon or half marathon?
I think there are three basic parts. Diet comes first. The fuel you put into your body is a crucial factor. It’s like you’re a car. If you fill in bad gasoline, performance will be affected. If you give it a high-octane gasoline, the engine will not suffer so much and will achieve better performance. Nutrition is extremely important because it is the energy your body needs to be able to carry out the training sessions. Then there is the training plan. Create a plan that suits your physical condition by including running but also complementing it with strength training. A lot of people just think of running, but it actually involves a lot of strength training. It’s also about mobility and flexibility. Make sure you go to the physical therapist so everything is ok and don’t wait until you have an injury. It’s like having your car serviced. And the other is the dream. I think people don’t really care about that, they don’t see rest as part of the workout, and it is. People sacrifice a lot of their sleep because they think it won’t harm them, and in fact sleep has been shown to play a key role in overall health, particularly muscle performance and recovery. There are studies that show that the fewer hours you sleep, the more likely you are to get injured. I would say that those are the three basics and based on that he starts to see where you are weakest as you need to give him more strength. Diet wasn’t my weak point, but you always have to refine certain things because the body needs different requirements as the distance increases.
—Do you think runners give nutrition the right priority in their training schedule?
“I think they already have that in mind, but I think there’s a lot of information missing on this in terms of supplements that can be used as a supplement.” No supplement can replace food. My philosophy is that you must first get your nutrients from food and when something is lacking, either because the need is greater, as in the case of athletes, you look for a dietary supplement to complement it. For a large percentage, diet is an important issue, but I’ve also seen that there is still room for improvement. More on the subject of knowledge and that they understand why nutrition is important in running and in every discipline.
—Which foods should a runner absolutely not be without?
– You need your macronutrients yes or yes. Basic proteins help in the regeneration and building of muscle mass, be it chicken, eggs or dairy. There has to be a good balance. If you don’t consume these, you can get them from menestra, quinoa, and nuts. From there you need carbs as they are the most readily accessible source of energy and your muscles use them up quickly. And of good quality, such as sweet potatoes, potatoes and cassava. There are people who would rather skip pasta and use brown rice instead. Fats too, because they help a lot in regulating hormonal processes and providing energy that is not immediately available but is available in reserves, such as peanut butter, almond butter, seeds, chia, flaxseed, avocado and olive oil. To this you definitely need to add fruits and vegetables because that is where your vitamins, minerals and antioxidants are found. Exercising in larger amounts creates these free radicals, which ultimately damage cells, so the antioxidant’s job is to protect them. They are all important because they all have different functions and therefore a balanced and varied diet is important. You can also talk about dietary supplements such as zinc, magnesium, omega 3, since the need is increasing and sometimes it is difficult to supplement it with food.
—What nutritional myths are there?
—One of the myths is that you can eat all the carbs you want the day before the race, the famous “carb loading” that makes people think they have a free meal, and that’s not the point. Yes, increase your carbs the night before or two days before, but you also can’t go to extremes because you’ll create gastrointestinal stress. Another myth is that if you want to run a marathon, you have to run every day, and you don’t. It’s not necessary to run every day, you have to balance it. Another myth is that salt is bad and that you should reduce your salt intake. But for a runner, it’s like pointing guns at each other because when you sweat you lose sodium, which is the most lost electrolyte, and then you have to get that sodium back. When you eat a low-sodium diet, you’re missing out on this nutrient, which is essential and key to muscle contraction and relaxation. What happens, people get cramps on the go because they’re dehydrated from, for example, just drinking water and not worrying about their salts. This is another myth that you only need to hydrate with water. This is not the case with a runner. The water keeps you hydrated, but you also need to consume mineral salts as you lose them with running. We need to break with the notion that you can only drink water. We can include magnesium, potassium and sodium in our rehydration drinks.
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—How did you make the decision to start on social networks?
—It started in 2016, mostly because I wanted to debunk so many myths and educate people. Social networks weren’t that big back then, but content generators existed and I saw things on the web, on YouTube, and in ads about solutions they were selling, the magic pill, weight loss, the no-you-none fajita Carbohydrates can eat night, this fruit is bad and fattening that you can only eat a quarter of an avocado. All of this misinformation that I saw made me want to tell the truth. At that time I was studying and had a lot of information in my head. Just when people were sharing their diets, I started talking and reporting about nutrition to help, but also to summarize and organize all the information I had in my head. It started as a hobby, a passion of mine, wanting to teach. At that time he also taught at the university. During my master’s degree, I taught high school students and discovered that educating people is something I really enjoy. In the end, my Instagram gradually became a kind of educational information platform where, although I share part of my life, my life is closely linked to nutrition, health, well-being and sport. That’s how it started and little by little it grew and is now Maca Wellness.
—What topics are your audience most interested in?
– There is always an interest in everything that can be denied. These are all myths and everyday doubts that people have. That’s good? Does that make you fat? Such information is very interesting to people. Sleep is a topic that I started three years ago and it’s something that has given me a lot of attention, the importance of sleep to our health, especially our metabolic health, anything to do with hormones, hunger and satiety has. The recipes are a classic. I don’t get overly complicated when I cook, and that’s something people look for a lot: practicality and at the same time something that nourishes you. Lately, more and more people who run follow me when I run. Running has become an area of interest that isn’t very big because not everyone runs, but it does have a small niche that’s constant. What should you eat before running? How should I prepare my breakfast? I would tell you that it is a hard and pure diet.
—Do you think the running community has grown over the years?
– Anyway. You can see that in the numbers. It seems to me that in 2019 there were around 14,000 participants registered for the Lima Marathon, but from last year to this year, which is not even 12 months ago, there has been an increase in registrations. Then you realize that there are more interested parties. You can also see it on the street when you go jogging, more and more people are running. It has definitely increased.
—Are you about to publish your first book?
-Yes. It’s on the oven door. It’s a book that I’m very excited about because I’ve always wanted to write one. It summarizes and discusses nutrition and a healthy lifestyle, a lifestyle that gives you well-being. I didn’t want to do anything very complex, but something that would reach everyone, be easy to understand, that’s the hook that sparks interest and makes people want to research more about it and change their habits. While the book covers a good chunk of basic nutrition so people can understand it, it also has another side that talks about sleep, physical activity, and the importance of staying hydrated. It’s a bit about the food culture we grew up in that has such a negative impact on our relationship with food.
—What message would you give to people who want to run and eat right?
“That they seek advice because we often feel like it and I’ve seen that in a lot of people but we get the wrong information.” We want to improve our eating habits but we google and the amount of information ends up being so overwhelming that we do nothing. If you can get advice from someone who knows, that would be a very important step in nutrition. When running, I would tell them to try, go out, step by step. It is a discipline that requires time, patience and perseverance. Many people want to start running without going for a walk. We want everything for yesterday and fast, but habits develop and eventually running becomes a habit. Have a good pair of sneakers and socks. If you start thinking of it as something you want to do over time, find a trainer who can help you because often people try to run every day and end up injuring themselves by overtaxing their bodies . A guide is a good starting point. Nothing is built overnight, it’s something that takes time. There are girls who tell me that I run a lot, but I didn’t start out running a marathon, I started out running three kilometers, and little by little you build that up. The beauty is in the process.