The Thrive experiment, Day 1

I've never been an eater who's worried much about how much he eats.

For most of my life, I was, fortunately, blessed with a high metabolism. As a young child, I often looked malnourished, however, so take that blessing with a grain of sea salt.

Of course, some of that was due to my genetic makeup, but a lot of it was also due to my active lifestyle, whether through playing soccer, running, hiking, pick-up basketball and football games with friends, etc.

Then my casual descent (ascent?) to my 30s began and no matter how much I exercised, I couldn't seem to lose those pesky 15 pounds that ballooned around my midsection like a puffer fish.

SO. I started watching my calories and how much I snacked and drank and whether my meals occurred after a particular hour and blah, blah, I'm getting migraines again just thinking about the inhumane deprivation of it all.

One day into this "Thrive" experiment (wherein I try to eat as many natural, whole, plant-based foods as possible, as prescribed by vegan professional triathlete Brendan Brazier) and I feel like an eating king again. An eating king with some mild nausea, I might add.

I say this because I ate all day yesterday, never once feeling deprived. I did, however, deal with some mild nausea, which Brazier says is common when switching to such a diet. Something about cleansing your system of junk.

All I know is I like to eat and I liked yesterday because I got to eat a lot, so yesterday was a good day.

For breakfast yesterday, I ate a variation of Brazier's Kale Calcium Boost Smoothie. This consists of three leaves of kale, a cored apple, a date, two cups of water, a tablespoon of ground flaxseed, a tablespoon of protein powder (Brendan prefers hemp protein, but all I had was rice protein) and a tablespoon of tahini. This makes two servings, but I easily downed all of it over about an hour or so at work.

As a child, I was often turned off by foods from their smell, and upon first whiff of this smoothie, my nostrils were overwhelmed with that unique kale fragrance. Thankfully, the smoothie tastes much less leafy than I anticipated. After the first few sips, I even began to term it tasty.

For lunch, I had a giant salad made up of most of the foods Brazier touts as being the best for athletes: spinach, onions, grated carrots, diced avocado, walnuts, diced banana peppers, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper, with a tablespoon of so of Annie's Goddess salad dressing.

Very filling and the nooch (nutritional yeast) and avocado gave it a very creamy texture, which allowed me to skimp on the dressing a little. I'd say this was probably my favorite meal of the day. Never thought I'd say that about a salad, but this was really, really good.

I did get a little hungry mid-afternoon, so I snacked on some sunflower seeds an hour or so before my trail run.

Aside from the slight nausea, I ran fast and strong and light, plummeting up hills (yes, it felt like I was plummeting I was moving so swiftly) and around trees and over roots.

After my run, I made Brazier's Recovery Pudding. This was made with two frozen bananas, some pineapple (I didn't have the blueberries the recipe called for), 1/2 cup of almonds (he calls for soaking them, but I didn't get around to that, which probably accounts for my slightly upset stomach after eating it), 1/4 cup of ground flaxseed, 1/4 cup of rice protein powder, some dark chocolate (Brazier's recipe calls for carob), one teaspoon lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt.

Blended together, this pudding tasted much like the banana ice cream I've written about before. It definitely had a nuttier flavor, which was a nice variation.

I was so full from all this, I didn't get around to eating my dinner, which was a bummer.

I did get around to making Brazier's Ginger Ale drink, which was simply grated ginger, lemon juice, salt, water and agave nectar (I used honey). Aside from the lack of fizz, this easily rivaled some of the best ginger ale I've ever had. So tasty.

So to recap, I ate a lot, had some mild nausea and a slightly upset stomach, but ran hard and felt strong and light.

I'd say it was worth it, especially considering the stomach ailment was mostly my fault, while the nausea should subside once my body adjusts to eating so much raw, fibrous vegetable matter.

I was concerned heading into this little experiment with whether I'd feel full enough. After all, each meal consists of a small rain forest worth of veggies and fruit. But the protein powders, nuts and avocados are filling, while leaving behind that feeling like the Titanic somehow made its way into my gut.

And that, cher lecteurs, is always a good thing.

The only thing I'll probably change moving forward is the smoothie. The kale one was good, but the others in Brazier's book sound a little more up my alley (read: sweeter). Of course, I'm also looking forward to the sun-dried tomato pate, the raw zucchini pasta, the baked zucchini chips, the homemade energy bars and much, much more.

Stay tuned.