I picked up one of my husband’s magazines recently (Men’s Journal) after being sucked in by a curious title – “Going Vegan in the NFL”. Huh? Then was further shocked to find that the story was based on Arian Foster, a former Tennessee running back. (Tennessee being my alma mater, and also where my husband played football in the 90’s.) OK, now I’m intrigued. How would a serious athlete, especially a man in the NFL that eats about 6,000 calories per day, go Vegan??
As someone who eats a lot of fruits and vegetables, and also experimented with a strict vegetarian diet for a while, I can truly appreciate the commitment it takes, as well as the social stigma. I mean, can you imagine the stigma fora guy, much less a guy in professional sports? That basically summarizes the article – guy reads book, goes Vegan to improve his athleticism, gets a lot of flack from teammates and media, then proves them all wrong with his best year ever. So naturally, I had to check out the book, The Thrive Diet, by vegan triathlete, Brendan Brazier. Thank goodness for my Kindle – instant book and only $9. I’ve skimmed it so far and it looks interesting. Will continue reading…
I’ve never been a big fan of meat, but only accepted that a couple of years ago after following a friend’s lead, along with the encouragement of several other books (Cinch / Sass Yourself Slim, Skinny Bitch). I still eat vegetarian about 50% of the team, but to be honest, I found it difficult to stick to since our society is so meat-focused. Not to mention burdensome for my family. I felt like every time we had a family gathering we had to focus on what Rebecca isn’t eating these days. An otherwise very enticing menu is instantly limited to a few vegetarian-friendly items, if any at all. Heck, in the country even the veggies are cooked with meat. So I can’t even imagine the added difficulty of vegan – no cheese, butter, yogurt, honey, eggs.
OK, so now I’m feeling a challenge coming on. Could I go vegan? I’m not going to proclaim a long-term diet change, but how would I feel and look if I stuck to a vegan diet for say, 30-days? Perhaps my new diet experiment for 2013? And January has always been the best time for a diet experiment – no holiday gatherings or parties, a renewed sense or focus for the new year, and the whole country seems to be on a diet too. Most of my past diet experiments have left me better off, with new menu options and lots of new food lessons. I still follow the Cinch / Sass Yourself Slim plan of 4-balanced meals every 3-4 hours. Then there was the movie about Juicing, “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead”, which led to a $400 juicer and a whole lot of veggies, plus our (yep, even my husband loves it) new favorite fruit juice, “Purple Power Juice”. And there’s been others, but those 2 were the most impactful.
So I guess I should get back to reading if I’m starting The Vegan Experiment come January 1.
Rocky Top Rebecca 