Vegan Nutrition and Running
I’m no nutritionist. But I run and I eat. And I listen to my body. Today I ran the Austin Marathon. A lot of factors prepared me for a good race: the support of my heroic running friends, good training, and excellent weather. What I’m especially appreciative of now, though, having run the fastest marathon I’ve done in 20 years and qualified for 2014 Boston Marathon, is vegan nutrition. I owe a lot of today’s performance to veganism.
Over the past several months I’ve worked to fine tune my vegan diet to reduce, sometimes dramatically, refined flour and heavily processed foods. Simultaneously, I’ve worked to increase my consumption of nutrient dense fruits, vegetables, legumes, and seeds, I’ve upped the dosage of nutritional yeast, chia seeds, and flax. I’ve eaten a lot of avocados and kale. I’ve lowered the dose of bread. I haven’t messed one bit with my steady but modest beer consumption.
I’ll elaborate more later, but I think there’s a great deal to be explored between vegan diet and performance, and I think vegan advocates can and should promote that connection as yet another reason to become powered by plants.
“I haven’t messed one bit with my steady but modest beer consumption.” – I love you, dude!
Congrats, James. You continue to inspire us!
Today I am proud to be a Texan. Congratulations!
Congratulations on a PB and a Boston qualifier, James! I don’t know how old you are, but all the age-group qualifying times are fast marathons, I am extremely impressed.
I’ve been running, and vegan, for a couple of years – but only since January have I shifted my diet towards nutrient dense foods – avoiding almost all processed foods – and am eager to learn how this will impact my race times.
I haven’t abandoned bread entirely yet – the humble peanut butter sandwich still holds me in its thrall.
Looking forward to your further elaboration!
Congratulations on qualifying for the Boston Marathon, James.
In an interview with Joshua Katcher for The Discerning Brute’s ‘Evolution of Man’ series, martial artist James ‘Lightning’ Wilks touches on athleticism and plant power.
http://www.thediscerningbrute.com/tag/james-wilks/
James Wilks’ Plant Athlete site:
http://www.plantathlete.com/
Congratulations and keep up the great plant-powered example!
Oh wow, congratulations on the BQ!
Congrats to you!!!
I am really interested in hearing more in-depth comments about this. I’ve spent more than a decade as a vegan and, honestly, I really haven’t noticed any changes in my health — good or bad. Maybe the most positive thing is that I have maintained my high school weight into my late 30′s, for which I am grateful, but I don’t have any super powers; and I certainly would drop dead if I attempted a marathon. Maybe this has to do with my laziness rather than veganism. Alas.
Dustin,
I’m not saying it’s veganism alone. But rather an emphasis on nutrient dense foods that has sparked a transformation in my performance. I plan to elaborate in future posts but, because the audience for such a topic is kind of small, not too often.
jm
Congratulations !!! and see you in Boston.
My husband agrees with you on the connection: vegan and nutrient-dense for 18 months now (though I have to sneak the yeast and chia in), he yesterday set the new world record for his age class at the World Indoor Rowing Championships (“CRASH-Bs”)
For the record, his lunch every day without fail is a peanut-butter sandwich on whole-wheat bread, and he has a beer almost every night.
He proudly wore his “Go Vegan and No Body Gets Hurt” shirt on the medals stand.
Say what one will about highlighting personal health and performance as activism, it’s this kind of thing that’s getting attention in a mainstream crowd.
awesome. if your husband ever wants write about the connection for EP he’s more than welcome to . .
j
I am no performance athlete, but I am a healthy Vegan who has cut down/back/eliminated certain supplements (but added nutritional yeast, chia seeds, kelp/dulce, maca powder) in the last cpl years and I just wanted to say that, although I stay away from flour, I too eat a P&J sandwich for lunch everyday. The bread is from a local bakery: sprouted mulit-grains, unprocessed, unbleached, tons of seeds. After years of no bread this stuff keeps me “regular”.
So, will you run the Boston? Have you read the books by Scott Jurek (sp), Rich Roll, and Brandon Brazier? I definitely believe there is a vegan/performance connection. The vegan dude who says he’d drop dead trying to run a marathon is probably right – gotta train to get 26 miles without dying.
Peace!
What? You can’t just eat yer spinach and do it!? Shocking.
Congratulations. Sounds like your diet is headed in the right direction.