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LIGHTNING ROUND: DOGS OR CATS? VAN, SUV, OR TRUCK? DOWN OR FLEECE?

Golden retrievers, station wagons, down.

Brendan Leonard is an ultrarunner, best-selling author of Sixty Meters to Anywhere and Bears Don’t Care About Your Problems, and creator of Semi-Rad.com.

Sympathetic (fight-or-flight) and parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) nervous system activity has effects on the immune response, smooth muscle activity, microorganism activity, and hormonal responses directly in the gut. Experiencing high levels of stress (which means that your sympathetic nervous system is turned up) affects digestion and the rate at which food travels through the gut. In turn, this affects macro- and micronutrient absorption, and for sport performance you need all those nutrients to excel (see ssss1, Recover Like a Champ, for more on the importance of recovery for athletes). Even facial expressions and body posture have a direct link to GI tract function, so keep on smiling when things get tough. Prolonged, chronic signaling from the brain to the gut can actually change and remodel regions of the brain, which may lead to associated anxiety disorders or depression. If you have symptoms of anxiety or depression, examine your eating habits. Keeping a food journal can help in determining if you are lacking in any macronutrient. Before reaching for psychological drugs, get a blood test (see the ssss1). You may be vitamin B12 deficient or have some other micronutrient deficiencies that can be corrected by embracing peak nutrition and strategic supplementing.