Plant-based diets?

[Tri Girl]

My favorite snacks on rides are luna bars, lara bars, primal strips, peanut butter sandwiches, and dates.

I agree with this! (except I prefer almond butter)


I have been vegan for six months now. I had 2 motivations:
1. my cholesterol was WAY too high and my doc was about to put me on statins (and I do NOT want to go on statins) so I drastically changed my diet (and my cholesterol has lowered 60 pts). and
2. I was flexitarian (vegetarian mostly, but occasional fish) for 3 years and I've always had ethical reservations about eating animals.

I'm an endurance athlete. I did an Ironman triathlon last September (when I was vegetarian- only eating dairy and cheese), and I did an ultramarathon in November just after becoming vegan.
It CAN be done. I normally think that eliminating any one thing is not the smartest thing to do, but in this case, I think it's actually been beneficial. At first I subbed a LOT of starchy things, but then once the initial shock of the dietary changes settled in, I've actually really begun to open up my eating options. There is plenty of protein in vegetables and things like quinoa.
A book that helped me get started was Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet (an OK read, but helpful hints) and Brendan Brazier's Thrive: The vegan nutrition guide for optimal performance in sports and life (he's a former pro triathlete who was competitive on the Ironman level).

I actually feel much healthier now that I've started eating meat once or twice a week. I have more energy, I recover quicker from long efforts, I get stronger quicker, my nails aren't brittle.

It's funny how different people can be. Now that I'm only eating a plant-based diet, my nails are growing again and are very strong (they used to be so brittle I never got the chance to trim them- and I have to trim every other week now or they get too long). I, too, find that I recover more quickly from exercise and I sleep better (and all the plumbing functions normally). Every person is different. My doc didn't think a plant-based diet was the way to go, but I'm doing well on it. I get full bloodwork done every 3 months to check my protein levels, glucose, cholesterol, lipids, etc just to make sure my body is functioning as it should. So far so good.


If this is the way you want to go, please look into it and be smart about the dietary changes you make. It can be done and done well.
Good luck to you!!! (and keep asking if you have any other questions)


P.S.- Those two movies made an impression on me, too. So did Vegucated and Food Inc.