The Vegetarian Experiment-Part 1

This past June a good friend of mine came to me for nutrition advice. He is also a fellow triathlete and we train together often, I was more than happy to help. His request was to put him on a diet to improve his athletic performance and to help him get through an Ironman distance triathlon 20 weeks away. This task was large and there was a lot on the line. If you read the title above you probably guessed it but I decided an all vegetarian diet was the way to go. Wait.. what??  There were lots of questions however the main concern of my friend was that “Athletes need protein” you read it every day, in every health magazine, in every grocery store. This is very true in fact endurance athletes need more protein than almost all other types of athletes but there are plenty of alternative sources of protein out there. I told my friend that I can promise that not only will your protein requirements be met but all other nutrient requirements will be met as well. There were lots of protest and many meat cravings along the way but after a few weeks we were in the zone and well on our way.

Test 1

My buddies previous PR in a half ironman distance was 5hr35min not too shabby however I was sure that with a little dietary help I could get his time down.  6 weeks of vegetarian diet later and race day was upon us, 70.3 in Boulder CO. My buddy raced hard and he crossed the line with a 5hr12min PR. So basically 6 weeks of veggies resulted in a 23min PR. Coincidence maybe. I congratulated my friend and told him works not done yet.

Test 2

SOMA Triathlon Half Ironman was the next mile stone in the vegetarian experiment. At this point in the project my friend has been vegetarian for 4 months. 4 months of fighting the craving for Bacon Cheese Burgers and brats (it was football season).  My friend raced hard, holding himself honest on the bike and testing himself on the run. When he crossed the line the clock read 4hr55min. This is respectable taking another 18min off his former new PR just a few months back.  Coincidence ok maybe. But is this thing working?

Test 3

Ironman Arizona was the next little test in the vegetarian experiment. I don’t care who you are but Ironman distance races are as hard as they get let alone doing it purely on a vegetarian diet. It was a long day for my friend but he managed to cross the line in 11hr31min. Not too bad. Surely this is no coincidence something must be working.

Off season came around but I requested that my buddy stay on the vegetarian diet for just a little longer, expecting much protest I was surprised by his response “Gladly”. Fast forward a few weeks of cross training and relaxing watching football hanging with friends.  I asked my friend if he wanted to run a 10k with me on a whim. 

Test 4

The Pima Sun Run 10k is exactly 7 months since the last piece of meat my friend has eaten. It was a great day for a 10k and the results were equally as great 39min46sec for my friend. This was another 1min15sec PR for my Vegetarian Experiment friend. This may not sound that impressive but the average mile time went from a 6min36sec/mile to 6min24sec/mile 12 seconds per mile average. Over the course of a marathon that is 5min12sec. Impressive.

7 Month Conclusion

You have probably already guessed it but the friend I have been referring to was me. I am the Vegetarian Experiment Human guinea pig. Granted these results didn’t come without some sweat under the Arizona Sun and support from my awesome friends and family but I am convinced without a doubt that a vegetarian diet played a major role in helping me make progress towards my goals. After hard workouts I recovered quick. 2 workouts a day, no problem. Time Trial lost through the desert, shitty but i survived.  Not only have I made performance gains over the last 7 months but my physical build has changed considerably. No more gut. People ask me stupid questions; No, being a vegetarian I am not starving all the time, I don’t just eat salads all the time, food is not plain and bland, I’m not frail and weak.  If you thing being vegetarian is something that is just a trend or something that only extremists and weirdo’s do or maybe you think its gay and not American, I challenge you to give it a try you may just be surprised what you get.   

  

The experiment continues....

Not So “Sweet” Sweeteners

Walk down the drink aisle at any grocery store and you will notice basically two types of items, Drinks and Diet Drinks. Let’s face it in todays society there is a growing concern of becoming over weight and trying to watch your weight. Every corner you turn there is an advertisement for some sort of new diet pill, drug, book or drink. With the thousands of new diet products hitting the market I have little confidence that it is doing anything. It’s easy to see this proof year after year as more diet products come out and the amount of overweight people keeps going up; there is no end in sight. This brings me to my initial point I want to discuss on artificial sweeteners. Diet coke is the second highest selling drink in America, and its sweetener is aspartame. The two biggest artificial sweeteners used in manufacturing today are Aspartame (200 times sweeter than table sugar) and Sucralose (600 times sweeter than table sugar) both products can not be broken down by our bodies so they do not yield any calories.

You are what you eat!

If you eat protein rich foods it will allow your body to grow, heal and repair. If you eat Carbohydrate rich foods it will give you energy for just about any activity you encounter. Eating Fats provide energy for low intensity activities and basal metabolic systems as well as many vital bodily systems such as blood pressure regulation. Eating or drinking foods with artificial sweeteners will give no benefit. So why eat or drink foods with artificial sweeteners? We do this in hope to curve that craving for foods that we have. So we can consume as much as we want and not gain a pound. (I made that last statement laughing). In fact consuming diet drinks that contain artificial sweeteners trick our bodies into eating more food.  There are a number of reasons why; one of them is that by consuming an artificial sweetener you trick your body into thinking you have had something with sugar. When you have eaten or drink something with real sugar (that your body thought you had) you body is expecting that sweetness to pass into your blood and give a calorie and insulin boost. However because you have consumed a non nutritive sweetener your blood stream does not receive that boost of calories and your body desires more calories throughout the day. This is a negative feedback loop. There are several more reasons why artificial sweeteners do not prevent weight gain and instead promote weight gain but in the interest of time I cannot go into it.

What can I do?

Read food labels; this past weekend I picked up a can of sparkling water or fizzy water I like to call it. I took a drink and I noticed that this was the sweetest water I have ever tasted. I did not read the label and the drink contained Sucralose along with 25 other chemicals that were not H₂O. I didn’t die but I also did not finish that drink. Be careful when you pick up products; read the label and pay attention to the ingredients. Don’t drink or eat foods that do not give any nutritional value. I stand by my word that “There is no need to consume foods or drinks that don’t provide any benefit” Do this and you body will thank you.  If you desire something sweet, eat something sweet but don’t over consume.