It's not uncommon for meatless athletes — amateur and professional alike — to be questioned about the sanity of running, lifting weights, destroying people's faces in octagons, etc., without consuming animal products.
But spend any amount of time talking to these athletes and you'll hear a common refrain: Not only am I healthy, but I'm actually thriving with a meatless diet.
Don't believe me? Consider Exhibit A: Professional Ironman Triathlete Brendan Brazier's new book, "Thrive."
Brazier began his path on a vegan diet, not out of some concern for animals, but as a way standing out from his competition. Not only does Brazier regularly work out 40 hours a week, resulting in two Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon championships, he does so on a mostly raw, vegan diet.
Next up: Me. Expect national championships and fame galore. OK, let's be realistic, I'm already marginally famous, right? No? Alrighty then, moving on.
A copy of "Thrive" was on my desk yesterday when I got into work and I've devoured the first 70 pages. The first two-thirds of the book address Brazier's research, experimentation and other medical studies that show the benefits of eating unprocessed, whole foods (think mostly fruits and vegetables and unrefined grains).
Brazier argues that since studies show about 40 percent of the average North American's stress can be directly attributed to his/her diet, elminating that stress can lead directly to positive athletic accomplishments and general overall wellbeing.
Stressing our body in such ways hinders our ability to recover from exercise, in addition to contributing to ailments like overeating, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and more, he writes.
By eating unprocessed, whole foods, our bodies can more easily digest these foods and their nutrients, vitamins and minerals, and therefore can spend more time recovering and regenerating cells and doing other great bodily things that I don't know much about.
What I'm mostly interested in is getting famous. Well, also, getting back to a sub-2 hour half marathon and any correlation that might have to a meatless lifestyle. So I'll be focusing on the final stretch of the book, which includes a 12-week meal plan and more than 100 recipes.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be blogging about my experiences trying out Brendan's proposed lifestyle and diet, how his plan impacts athletic performance (I'm in the midst of training for my third half marathon, in addition to completing a six-week plan to get me to doing 100 push-ups a day).
So far, two meals into this experiment, I am feeling more refreshed and energetic than I've felt in a while, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow, after my run tonight, for a full account.
I hope you'll consider purchasing Brendan's book and trying it yourself. At the very least, come along on this journey with me, sending me questions, critiquing my diet choices or simply passing on encouragement.
