Plant-Based Athlete Fitness and Health

Written by Doug Hay To run — as defined by our friends at Google — is to, “move at a speed faster than a walk.” Wouldn’t it be beautiful if training was that simple? The thing is, no matter if you’re training for a 5K or 50K ultramarathon , successful runners do a lot more than just run … something I haven’t always been willing to accept. I’m the kind of guy that loves to run — weekend-long trial runs are a highlight each week, and daily runs fill me with energy and excitement. But as I progressed in distance and worked towards goals , it became clear I’d need to do more than just move at a speed faster than a walk to be successful. If I could take care of my mind, legs, and nutrition , I’d speed recovery, and stay focused and injury-free . The only problem? Nothing got me as excited as the act of running. So I had to make a shift that would change everything. That shift? To consider each run not as just the time on the road or trail, but the entire workout experience....

Written by Matt Frazier Cheese. I can finally make cheese! Cheeses (from nuts, not dairy, of course) that the recipes I really want to cook call for. For example, long before I went vegan, my signature (slash, only) dish was gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce. Well, thanks to Julie Piatt’s recipe on page 99 of her brand new cookbook This Cheese is Nuts , now I can make gorgonzola — and the dish again, in full, plant-based glory. Same goes for authentic margherita pizza (mozzarella) and any number of Mario Batali recipes like fava beans with burrata and mint. (Haha, can you guess what my favorite cuisine to cook is?) Wouldn’t you know it though, Julie put recipes for both these cheeses (and about 30 others) in her book. So that’s my somewhat quirky reason for loving This Cheese is Nuts , but much more importantly, the book is an answer to that most tiresome of “why I could never go vegan” excuses… called “I could never give up cheese.” Not the first bo...

Written by Doug Hay You’re an athlete. You’re a vegan. You’re a runner , bodybuilder , yogi . Should you care what other people think of how you take care of your body? In a world where posting each workout to social media is standard, and sharing what you eat, or how many steps you take each day is celebrated, it’s hard not to care what others think. In part, because the approval (or disapproval) is almost instant. That’s the topic of today’s episode with vegan bodybuilder Robert Cheeke , and whether sharing all that information is actually a good thing for your health and goals. Here’s just some of what we talk about in this episode: Perfection and putting yourself out there How Robert’s new book is more honest Does social media help or hurt our goals? Robert’s history with standup comedy The power of being honest with yourself and others Click the button below to listen now: 31 Action-Focused Days to Take Charge of Your Life  

Written by Doug Hay Want to become a runner, but don’t have a clue where to start? Up until today, NMA Radio wouldn’t have been much help. As Matt and I looked back through the archives, I couldn’t believe we hadn’t covered the topic of running for beginners since episode six, and 5K training … never? There was last summer’s Running Camp (check out parts 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , and 5 ), but that was geared more towards people who were already running. So in today’s episode, we go back to the very basics — how to start running if you’ve never run before. And we build up to training for your first 5K race. It’s our version of a couch-to-5K episode, if you will. Here’s just some of what we talk about in this episode: What not to do on your first run Why walking is a good thing Do you need new shoes? Don’t make Matt’s sock mistake Fueling your first runs Click the button below to listen now: 31 Action-Focused Days to Take Charge of Your Life  

Written by Doug Hay As my wife and I and start to feed our seven-month-old real food for the first time, we’re talking a lot about how to approach raising our daughter on a plant-based diet. Are we super strict or lenient? How do we explain why we don’t eat meat? What do we say when a parent questions our decision? In today’s episode, I sit down with Matt and his wife Erin to discuss their experiences raising two vegan kids of their own. Plus we bring on their two kids for a few questions as well. Vegan kids say the darnedest things, don’t they? Click the button below to listen now: 31 Action-Focused Days to Take Charge of Your Life  

Written by Doug Hay Over the past few years, our Netflix feeds have seen several high-profile documentaries designed to push the vegan movement. They promote the health, environmental, and animal rights benefits in a way books and articles simply can’t. But many of these documentaries have also sparked blow-back both online and off. So it begs the question: Are vegan documentaries good for the movement? The answer is a bit more complicated than we thought… Here’s what we talk about in this episode: The What the Health controversy. Is video the most powerful medium? NFL players going vegan. Vegan documentaries made just for vegans. What Forks Over Knives did right. Click the button below to listen now:   31 Action-Focused Days to Take Charge of Your Life  

Written by Matt Frazier   The more I learn about habits , the more I believe that simplicity is the best policy — especially when it comes to food. I’m not a fan of restrictions or numbers when it’s time to eat. People often email me to ask why I don’t include nutrition facts with the recipes on No Meat Athlete, and I always answer that I simply don’t believe they’re good, except perhaps in cases where extreme weight loss is required. Food, and the time we spend eating it, should be enjoyed — it’s one of the great pleasures of life, and to constrain it with complicated rules and numbers is completely unnatural. Simple is good Simplicity is the reason Michael Pollan’s three-sentence manifesto from In Defense of Food resonated so well (“Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.”). And the stickiness of that phrase is probably what led Pollan to write Food Rules , another goodie full of short, memorable rules-of-thumb like “Eat only what your great-grandmother would ...

Written by Doug Hay   Between the current advances in plant-based meat alternatives and the innovations taking place in the “clean meat” industry, the food landscape as we know it could change dramatically over the next several years. How will these changes impact our understanding of what meat is, and will that affect the vegan movement? We sit down with Jackson Long and Aaron Stuber of Thought For Food Lifestyle and the TFF podcast to discuss. Here’s what we talk about in this episode: What is “clean meat”? Plant-based food technology and how it’s blowing up. The problem with “fake meat.” Why veganism may one day become irrelevant. Science! It’s important.  

Written by Doug Hay Read 100 books on nutrition and healthy eating and you’ll read 100 different ways to eat. Each with their own set of intricate guidelines to follow. But how many of those guidelines really make a difference? In today’s episode, we share our basic rules for how to eat in a sustainable, healthy way… without all the complicated, stressful guidelines. These are the rules you can actually maintain for the long haul. SPOILER: Counting calories or nutrients isn’t one of them. Here’s what we talk about in this episode: Whole foods. What does that even mean? Why we don’t just eat “mostly” plants What to eat for breakfast The value of raw Is variety that important? Click Here to listen:   http://www.nomeatathlete.com/radio-199/    

Written by Doug Hay   Five months ago, my wife Katie gave birth to a beautiful baby girl . Let’s call her Eliza (that is her name, after all). For months leading up to Eliza’s birth, Katie and I attended birthing classes, read books on having a healthy pregnancy, and wrote birthing plans, all with the focus on getting that baby out of Katie as easily and naturally as possible. And it went great. Two days later, we pull into our driveway from the hospital with a tiny, wrinkly, healthy, baby Eliza. Exhausted, Katie immediately gets in bed for a nap while I grab Eliza and snuggle up on the couch. That’s when it hits me. “Holy shit. Now what?!” We had spent so much energy trying to successfully get through the pregnancy and birth that we didn’t focus on how to actually raise this child — an actual human, I might add — for which we are responsible. Over and over, I see runners doing the same thing during their first ultramarathons . They pour an enormous amo...

Written by Doug Hay Runners, new and experienced, have all heard certain “rules.” Rules like: Don’t increase your mileage by more than 10% each week, and Take days off from running to stay healthy. It’s hard and fast advice on how to train, recover, and experience the sport. But can you trust them? In today’s episode we call out some of the running advice we’ve all heard (maybe even shared), and flip it on it’s head. Here’s what we talk about in this episode: Running with headphones How to increase your mileage Trail running gear Recovery period after a race Doug’s 442 run streak Minimalism vs. zero drop Click the play button to listen:  

The training means more healthy whole food meals will be available nationwide   Training is part of plans to make plant-based food more widely available Chartwells Higher Education, Morrison Healthcare and The Humane Society of the United States [HSUS] have teamed up as part of a plan to make plant-based food more widely available. The organizations have launched a training course - Forward Food Culinary Experience - a full-day class that aims to inspire chefs to create delicious meals without meat, eggs or dairy, while teaching the benefits of plant-based eating. These in-the-kitchen classes and train-the-trainers program will influence approximately 3,200 chefs and registered dieticians across the country in 2018. Participants will learn to create plant-based breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks like carrot osso bucco, mushroom street tacos, cauliflower fried rice, biscuits and gravy, and tofu scramble. Exciting Vice President of Wellness an...

The lifestyle is being seen as less niche as it becomes more popular     Lewis Hamilton has joined a long list of people who have turned to a plant-based diet after watching What the Health   An opinion piece published by online giant Metro UK suggests that veganism is no longer a minority interest. According to the article's writer,  Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton's transition to the lifestyle - a story broken by PBN - is indicative of how mainstream the movement is becoming. Hippies Journalist Miranda Larbi writes: "This, surely, is proof that veganism has gone from being the fringe interest of hippies, to being a mainstream concern. "Once we get sportspeople – multimillionaires who spend half their time being papped at glamorous parties and beach clubs – talking about the environmental and health impact of a completely plant-based lifestyle, that’s when we know we’re making tracks. "Lewis Hamilton has a huge influence on his fans. He’...

Written by Stepfanie Romine Note from Matt: This post was written by Stepfanie Romine, co-author of the new No Meat Athlete Cookbook . Unlike other recipes we’ve posted, this one isn’t from the book — but it nicely captures the practical, real-food spirit of the Fuel & Recovery chapter (my favorite part of the book). Experiment and enjoy this one, and when you have a minute, check out  Sports Illustrated’s recent article about The No Meat Athlete Cookbook , in which they condensed the first few chapters into a nice piece that I think is perfect for helping this movement reach mainstream awareness, plus shared a substantial and delicious lentil-mushroom pasta dish from the book. You know those runners who can eat or drink whatever they want during a workout or race? The ones that scarf down anything and everything, and never seem to have any trouble? Yeah, I’m not one of those runners. Chances are you aren’t either. Whatever the reason — a finicky ...

It all started with a Facebook comment, where a non-vegan proudly proclaimed, “It’s impossible to be 100% vegan.” My first thought was, “whatever, I’m 100% vegan!” But then it got me thinking. Am I? Is Matt? Are you? I subscribe to this label, but what does it even mean? In today’s episode Matt and I break down that question. We start with the definition of veganism, then explore how realistic it is to follow a 100% vegan lifestyle. And finally, is that even important? Here’s just some of what we talk about in this episode: What does “vegan” even mean? Ordering at non-vegan restaurants My leather wallet (and other non-vegan clothing) Representing the movement 31 Action-Focused Days to Take Charge of Your Life  

Written by Pamela Fergusson, RD, PhD Intermittent fasting is all the rage—but is right for you? Fasting has long been a common practice in many cultures, used to promote mental health and longevity. More recently, it’s gained popularity as a weight loss tool. But significantly restricting your calories for a long period of time can be dangerous. Not to mention incredibly difficult, scary, and simply not fun. That’s where intermittent fasting comes in. Intermittent fasting refers to dietary patterns that cycle between fasting and and non-fasting, to help you experience the health benefits of fasting without many of the downsides. And studies have shown that it can help you lose weight, boost your metabolism , reduce the risk of certain diseases, and even improve your mood. The best part?  Intermittent fasting is completely natural. According to a 2014 article in the journal Cell Metabolism authored in part by Valter Longo, the director ...