Thriving on a vegan diet

May 22, 2007

Athlete says it doesn't have to be all or nothing Michelle Magnan, CanWest News ServicePublished: Sunday, May 20, 2007 Put down the doughnut. Step away from the hamburger. Sure, they're bad for you, but they're also making you tense. It may sound strange, but it's true: Your food is stressing you out. Brendan Brazier, a Vancouver-based professional Ironman triathlete and author of The Thrive Diet (Penguin Canada, $24), explains in his new book that "stress is anything that causes strain." He says nutritional stress, which is "created by food because of its unhealthy properties," accounts for 40 per cent of the average North American's total stress load. Email to a friendPrinter friendly Font: * * * * "That's significant because it has the same effect on the body as any other stress," says Brazier, a long and lean 32-year-old. "The body doesn't know the difference. When you eat foods that are refined, processed and really hard to digest, that's ultimately more stress and work for your body." Brazier believes that eating whole, natural and high-alkaline foods such as vegetables, fruits and grains reduces nutritional stress. He outlines his vegan

way of eating in The Thrive Diet. "The main premise of the book has to do with reducing stress through better nutrition because stress is a root cause of so many problems, whether they be mild ones like sleep irritation and gaining weight easily, or bigger ones (like depression and digestive problems)." With loads of tasty-looking recipes and a 12-week meal plan, Brazier's book is a veggie lover's dream. But what about us meat-lovers? "It's not all or nothing," he says. "Even if you have just one (vegan) meal or one snack a day, the benefits will be felt . . . It's certainly not about cutting everything out that you like or want to eat." The promises of adhering to the Thrive Diet sound fantastic -- better sleep quality, less joint inflammation, improved mental clarity and stronger bones, to name a few. While reduced body fat is another result, weight loss is not the diet's focus. "(The book is) for optimizing

health, and when your health is optimal, then you'll be closer to your ideal body weight," says Brazier. Optimizing performance was Brazier's ultimate goal when he started experimenting with different diets as an aspiring 15-year-old athlete. In search of the best plan, he experimented with high-carb, low-carb, high-protein and low-protein diets. Then he tried a plant-based diet. The results were not good. "I felt tired, I was hungry and I wasn't recovering well at all," he says. Eventually, Brazier realized he wasn't getting enough essential nutrients like iron, calcium and omega-3 fatty acids. He started to blend his own nutrient-rich smoothies, and saw an improvement in how his body recovered from intense physical training. Through years of experimentation and concocting his own foods, he formed what has become The Thrive Diet. This time, the results have been good. Brazier competed as a professional Ironman for six years,

from 1998 to 2004. He perfected his smoothies and homemade energy bars, turning them into an award-nominated product line called Vega that is sold in most health stores across Canada. Last year, he won his second Canadian 50-kilometre Ultra Marathon championship. While Brazier is an athlete, and even provides sports-specific recipes, he says the diet is for anyone looking to get healthy. "If you reduce stress through better nutrition, you can think more clearly and you can get more done," he says. "A lot of white-collar workers are really interested in that aspect of it.Some people may never go 100 per cent vegan and that's fine. It's all about progression, not perfection." © The Vancouver Province 2007Peter H

To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Security Centre.