Week 2
Week 2 done everyone!! I had some great tempo runs this week so I'm really excited about that aspect of my training. I ended off the week with a LSR of 13k. I felt a little tired starting out and I was worried it would be a difficult run, but I got into the swing of it and felt great for the rest of the distance. I purposely slowed myself down to a 7min kilometer during the run, although at times I found myself wanting to go faster. But the whole purpose of a LSR is to go slowly, and for my training, I need to be doing them between a 7 and 8 min kilometer. The last 3-4km I sped things up a little bit - I want to get my legs used to running at a faster speed while fatigued, so that during the marathon I will have an easier time keeping my pace up.
I'm looking forward to the distances bumping up the next couple weeks, I always loved the tranquility of the LSR and I'm excited to find that peace again.
On Thursday, I didn't do my steady 6k run (moved to Friday instead) because I was feeling really tired from my tempo 10k on wednesday, but man the runner's hunger kicked in majorly. I was constantly snacking!
I don't remember the hunger starting this early in the training last time, but I think the heat might have affected my stomach. So it will be interesting in the cold to see how my body reacts to the runs. I can already tell my speed work will be better. My body does not react well to the heat.
As long as the winter weather keeps up like this- I'm going to enjoy winter training. As long as no blizzards come across the forecast on a day I need to run I'll be happy :)
until next week...
Monday, January 30, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Week 1
Hey everyone. So i've decided this round of marathon training, I'm going to post weekly updates and reflections of my training. It will keep me more dedicated to my blog PLUS for purely selfish reasons, this way Nick can read it when he comes home from Ecuador in a month, because normally he would be very involved in my training.
I'm also thinking this will be an interesting way to reflect on my experience, how it differs from last time, when I trained in the summer.
So here it is: Week One
started with a 10k LSD on Sunday (the 15th), I filled up my rest day on Monday with a Power Vinyasa Yoga, which was totally awesome. Kicked my butt. I'm thinking about continuing to go to Yoga classes on mondays to loosen up my body and provide some cross-training, obviously depending on how I'm feeling after the distances start to bump up.
Tuesday and Wednesday were tempo runs (6k and 10k, respectively), and I'm very happy with how they were. I pushed a fast pace, and though they weren't quite at the time markers I was aiming for, I also haven't done quality speed workouts in a year (I couldn't do them during the summer because it was just too damn hot. I felt like I was going to pass out). So I'm confident that my abilities to be speedy will increase as the training occurs.
Tonight was a nice steady 6k with my dad, which went very well considering the snow storm we got today.
We are supposed to do 6k on Saturday, which might be skipped for the next few weeks ( I work 9-5 on Saturdays). But seeing how I'm feeling I might do that on Fridays, or if I have exceptionally high energy levels, on saturday night.
I'm keeping track of the times for my speed work on my training schedule, so I won't bore you with those (unless I get a time I'm really excited about!).
So that probably sums up week one. This week has been great. I'm enjoying have a schedule to follow in order to get me out running more. I have been seriously slacking since the marathon in October, with the recovery time, and lack of energy.
See you next week :)
I'm also thinking this will be an interesting way to reflect on my experience, how it differs from last time, when I trained in the summer.
So here it is: Week One
started with a 10k LSD on Sunday (the 15th), I filled up my rest day on Monday with a Power Vinyasa Yoga, which was totally awesome. Kicked my butt. I'm thinking about continuing to go to Yoga classes on mondays to loosen up my body and provide some cross-training, obviously depending on how I'm feeling after the distances start to bump up.
Tuesday and Wednesday were tempo runs (6k and 10k, respectively), and I'm very happy with how they were. I pushed a fast pace, and though they weren't quite at the time markers I was aiming for, I also haven't done quality speed workouts in a year (I couldn't do them during the summer because it was just too damn hot. I felt like I was going to pass out). So I'm confident that my abilities to be speedy will increase as the training occurs.
Tonight was a nice steady 6k with my dad, which went very well considering the snow storm we got today.
We are supposed to do 6k on Saturday, which might be skipped for the next few weeks ( I work 9-5 on Saturdays). But seeing how I'm feeling I might do that on Fridays, or if I have exceptionally high energy levels, on saturday night.
I'm keeping track of the times for my speed work on my training schedule, so I won't bore you with those (unless I get a time I'm really excited about!).
So that probably sums up week one. This week has been great. I'm enjoying have a schedule to follow in order to get me out running more. I have been seriously slacking since the marathon in October, with the recovery time, and lack of energy.
See you next week :)
Monday, January 16, 2012
Shit Meat Eaters Say...
Haha this isn't much of a post, but i've been skimming through similar videos and some of them are hilarious and a bit outrageous. But this one is incredibly TRUE!
I get this stuff everyday and most people either think they are being incredibly funny, intelligent, witty, or are making genuinely good arguments. News flash: they're not.
So here is the video i found on youtube. enjoy.
also I enjoyed the coincidence that this girl's name is Meghan (spelled the same), she is also a vegan, and we kind of look similar: pale skin, dark hair, blue eyes.
I get this stuff everyday and most people either think they are being incredibly funny, intelligent, witty, or are making genuinely good arguments. News flash: they're not.
So here is the video i found on youtube. enjoy.
also I enjoyed the coincidence that this girl's name is Meghan (spelled the same), she is also a vegan, and we kind of look similar: pale skin, dark hair, blue eyes.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
When We Were Young
For various reasons I've been reflecting on the past lately and some things have come to my attention that kind of make me chuckle, but it also makes me reflect how the paths I've chosen have to led to where I am now.
One thing that occurred to me was that I'm surprised it took me 19 years to become a vegetarian. As a child I loved animals. In my mind I was Pocahontas, and I fancied myself some of sort animal whisperer. I was always playing out in the forests, climbing trees, and I'm pretty sure I was convinced a family of rabbits living under the hedge in our front yards were my personal animal friends. I could never eat ribs, because the bones in them freaked me out. I used to go to the St. Lawrence every weekend with my dad and I have distinct memories of closing my eyes when we passed the butchers because I could not stand to look at the various meats in the displays. And the giant refrigerator with the glass wall, so you could see the carcasses hanging inside? Well that made me nauseous.
I was reminded of all of this when I went to the St. Lawrence market with my dad the weekend before Christmas. This was the first time I had been probably around a year. Once again, when we stopped at the butcher's (my dad needed his steak) I actually gagged looking at the meats in the display. First time that had ever happened.
I also never ate tons of meat. Yes, I loved hamburgers and bacon and the ususal meats that all kids tend to love, but I was never (even during my adolescence) a fan of steak, pot roast, ribs (never ate them in my life) or any of those other decadent meats that adults seem to view as some kind of holy experience.
Bottom line: it just makes me laugh. Given my childhood, I'm not surprised I ended up a vegan. I am surprised it took me that long to transition into vegetarianism.
The second reflection is that I'm also not surprised that I'm an English Major :)
I was a total bookworm (and still am!). I also learned to read very quickly and had a very high reading level at a young age. I think I was reading at a grade 3 level when I was in senior kindergarden, and in grade one I read all of those old Nancy Drew books from the 50s and 60s with ease (although they did scare me so much I had to put them away in a box until I was 8). I asked for books every year for Christmas and I have ever since. My closet has always been overflowing with books, I never seem to have enough room. I have always been able to read fairly quickly, and English has been my favourite subject in school for years.
Its just makes me chuckle that anyone who knew me as a child is probably not surprised that I'm on the path I'm on.
Now, the only surprising thing (at least to me) is the running. I ran a bit in elementary school, but that was like 2km cross country runs, and 200m dashes in track and field. I was never good at running and I never really enjoyed it. I always looked at my mom and thought she was bat shit crazy (no offense mom :) ). Even when I started running 5ks, running anything more than 5k was crazy, and anything over 10k? That was unimaginable! Its just so crazy looking back, as I'm about to start training for my second marathon, that running my first half only a year ago, was this amazing accomplishment for me. I never would have guessed in my wildest dreams, that one day I would finish a marathon, and finish strong. I may have run it slow, but I ran strong. I feel like I can't call myself a Marathon Runner yet, because lots of people do a marathon- the key is for most people, their first marathon is also their last marathon. After this running season though, I think I can officially declare myself a badass runner :)
I may not be fastest, but I'm definitely determined. Speed is something I would like to improve on this year, even if my race times are only slightly faster than the last time I ran the distance, that will be counted as a success. :)
My reflection is over for today. I've got some more vegan things I want to share, so hopefully I'll get to that within the next week. And I'll keep you posted as my training starts for my next marathon.
Wish Me Luck!
Monday, January 2, 2012
Born to Run (#2)
"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it ill be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.”
-Christopher McDougall, Born to Run
Okay, NOW the Born to Run title of the posts make sense. And this will tie in with my previous vegan post, which is why they have the same title. They were originally supposed to be in the same entry.
So this book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall is amazing. I just finished reading it. Chris ventures into the heart of the Mexican Copper Canyons and searches out this ancient tribe, the Tarahumara, (the "Running People") who run ultramarathon daily, as a way to travel, compete, have fun etc. They run 30, 50, 100 miles. That's miles not kilometres. That's like 80, 100, 200 km runs. He also interacts with the man they call Caballo Blanco, the White Horse. The only white man ever trusted enough by the Tarahumara to be allowed into their tribe. Long story short, a race is organized by the best ultrarunners in the world against the Tarahumara for the ultimate race. The story is like reading a wild west adventure story. McDougall also includes a lot of research about barefoot running, plant-based diets (nudge nudge..) and running in general.
Bottom line: as humans, we are all born to run.
Remember the Neanderthals and Homo Erectus from my previous post? Okay, so we're going to jump back in time again. Why did we survive while the Neanderthals died out? They were stronger and better hunters than we were, so how did we survive. The answer, running. We were made to run!
In terms of evolution we are closest to chimps (this is all research from the book.. I'm totally going to butcher as I try to explain it here, but I'll do my best. I'm no scientist/anthropologist). Chimps are built to walk. They have no achilles tendon. We do. We are made to run. That elasticity of the achilles tendon is necessary for the springing motion made when we run. There are a bunch of other evolutionary clues that are mentioned in the book, but I'll leave you guys to find them when you read the book!
The coolest evolution thing is what was called persistence hunting.
As this weak skinny early human, how on earth did we catch food? We outran them!! Now every animal pretty much has a beat for speed. But for endurance? We are the rulers of all! Why else do you think we are the only mammal to have marathons and ultra-marathons for fun? See other mammals, even cheetahs, are built for short bursts of speed. They are super fast, but they cool their body down through breathing. Once they've gotten to the point where their bodies have heated up enough that a single breath cannot cool them down? they need to stop. Whereas we cool down by sweating. As long as we keep sweating, we can keep running. In the book, one of the runners accidently takes part in a persistent hunt. They chased an antelope for about two hours, and it dropped dead from heat exhaustion. And then the hunters ran another ten miles to the closest town to get water for the white runner who stopped sweating while on the hunt (this saved his life). Our ancestors (and the Tarahumara) can run any distance (at a pretty fast pace too) at a moment's notice. But as our technology grew, we looked for more and more ways to make everything more efficient and convenient, we lost this aspect of our identity.
We forgot that running used to be fun and enjoyable. Now its become hard, annoying and painful.
These ultrarunners never forgot that. They do it because they enjoy it. There is no glory in ultrarunning, no money, no sponsers. Especially not in the middle of a Mexican desert.
Also, I would like to point out, these Tarahumara runners run barefoot and eat only a plant-based diet!
Now barefoot running isn't my forte, but I definitely respect it. Any runner who has developed into a barefoot runner is virtually injury free. And the research is there to prove it. By putting our feet in fancy running shoes we are distorting the natural way out feet are meant to move, and therefore we "heel strike" and injure our bodies. Common runner's injuries were non-existent until the 70s when Nike invented the first running shoes. Those guys who set those amazing, unbeatable records in the 70s? They wore simple, cheap shoes, and were injury-free for their entire careers. How many modern runners can say that now?
Another thing to point out (then I'm done I swear!!), that not only are the Tarahumara essentially vegan, some of the best athletes in the world are vegan. Ultrarunners, triathletes, body-builders, etc. Vegan diets are not only healthier, so your body performs better, but your recovery time is faster and more efficient, so you can train harder, and you benefit more from your training. Check out Brendan Braizer and his Vega food line. He is a professional triathlete, and his athletic career is amazing.
Also, they discuss the improvement curve for running is awesome. So basically at 19, your performance level (in terms of speed) starts to increase gradually until you peak at 27. Then it slowly starts to decline until you are back at the level you were before, which... is at the age of 64!! So running, is the ONLY SPORT IN THE WORLD where 64 year olds and 19 year olds can compete as equals on the same turf. How awesome is that? As like 80 year olds, the Tarahumara are still out there kicking ass.
As Caballo Blano believes, "we don't stop running because we get old. We get old because we stop running"
So I guess bottom line is that we are all born to run people. Our laziness as a species has distorted what our bodies were made to do. So maybe people like me (and I'm not even the half of it) aren't as crazy as we seem?
Anyways. The book is amazing, I totally recommend that you read it. Especially if you are a runner. It completely motivating, especially in terms of how you mentally approach running. I wanted to read this before I start training for my next marathon (training starts jan 15) and I'm glad it did. I think it will impact how I approach not only my training, but my final race. I will keep you posted. And I encourage all of you to go out for a run and ENJOY IT!!
I hope you enjoyed my various rants. I'm now going to bed as I've been writing for 2.5 hours :)
Night all!
-Christopher McDougall, Born to Run
Okay, NOW the Born to Run title of the posts make sense. And this will tie in with my previous vegan post, which is why they have the same title. They were originally supposed to be in the same entry.
So this book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall is amazing. I just finished reading it. Chris ventures into the heart of the Mexican Copper Canyons and searches out this ancient tribe, the Tarahumara, (the "Running People") who run ultramarathon daily, as a way to travel, compete, have fun etc. They run 30, 50, 100 miles. That's miles not kilometres. That's like 80, 100, 200 km runs. He also interacts with the man they call Caballo Blanco, the White Horse. The only white man ever trusted enough by the Tarahumara to be allowed into their tribe. Long story short, a race is organized by the best ultrarunners in the world against the Tarahumara for the ultimate race. The story is like reading a wild west adventure story. McDougall also includes a lot of research about barefoot running, plant-based diets (nudge nudge..) and running in general.
Bottom line: as humans, we are all born to run.
Remember the Neanderthals and Homo Erectus from my previous post? Okay, so we're going to jump back in time again. Why did we survive while the Neanderthals died out? They were stronger and better hunters than we were, so how did we survive. The answer, running. We were made to run!
In terms of evolution we are closest to chimps (this is all research from the book.. I'm totally going to butcher as I try to explain it here, but I'll do my best. I'm no scientist/anthropologist). Chimps are built to walk. They have no achilles tendon. We do. We are made to run. That elasticity of the achilles tendon is necessary for the springing motion made when we run. There are a bunch of other evolutionary clues that are mentioned in the book, but I'll leave you guys to find them when you read the book!
The coolest evolution thing is what was called persistence hunting.
As this weak skinny early human, how on earth did we catch food? We outran them!! Now every animal pretty much has a beat for speed. But for endurance? We are the rulers of all! Why else do you think we are the only mammal to have marathons and ultra-marathons for fun? See other mammals, even cheetahs, are built for short bursts of speed. They are super fast, but they cool their body down through breathing. Once they've gotten to the point where their bodies have heated up enough that a single breath cannot cool them down? they need to stop. Whereas we cool down by sweating. As long as we keep sweating, we can keep running. In the book, one of the runners accidently takes part in a persistent hunt. They chased an antelope for about two hours, and it dropped dead from heat exhaustion. And then the hunters ran another ten miles to the closest town to get water for the white runner who stopped sweating while on the hunt (this saved his life). Our ancestors (and the Tarahumara) can run any distance (at a pretty fast pace too) at a moment's notice. But as our technology grew, we looked for more and more ways to make everything more efficient and convenient, we lost this aspect of our identity.
We forgot that running used to be fun and enjoyable. Now its become hard, annoying and painful.
These ultrarunners never forgot that. They do it because they enjoy it. There is no glory in ultrarunning, no money, no sponsers. Especially not in the middle of a Mexican desert.
Also, I would like to point out, these Tarahumara runners run barefoot and eat only a plant-based diet!
Now barefoot running isn't my forte, but I definitely respect it. Any runner who has developed into a barefoot runner is virtually injury free. And the research is there to prove it. By putting our feet in fancy running shoes we are distorting the natural way out feet are meant to move, and therefore we "heel strike" and injure our bodies. Common runner's injuries were non-existent until the 70s when Nike invented the first running shoes. Those guys who set those amazing, unbeatable records in the 70s? They wore simple, cheap shoes, and were injury-free for their entire careers. How many modern runners can say that now?
Another thing to point out (then I'm done I swear!!), that not only are the Tarahumara essentially vegan, some of the best athletes in the world are vegan. Ultrarunners, triathletes, body-builders, etc. Vegan diets are not only healthier, so your body performs better, but your recovery time is faster and more efficient, so you can train harder, and you benefit more from your training. Check out Brendan Braizer and his Vega food line. He is a professional triathlete, and his athletic career is amazing.
Also, they discuss the improvement curve for running is awesome. So basically at 19, your performance level (in terms of speed) starts to increase gradually until you peak at 27. Then it slowly starts to decline until you are back at the level you were before, which... is at the age of 64!! So running, is the ONLY SPORT IN THE WORLD where 64 year olds and 19 year olds can compete as equals on the same turf. How awesome is that? As like 80 year olds, the Tarahumara are still out there kicking ass.
As Caballo Blano believes, "we don't stop running because we get old. We get old because we stop running"
So I guess bottom line is that we are all born to run people. Our laziness as a species has distorted what our bodies were made to do. So maybe people like me (and I'm not even the half of it) aren't as crazy as we seem?
Anyways. The book is amazing, I totally recommend that you read it. Especially if you are a runner. It completely motivating, especially in terms of how you mentally approach running. I wanted to read this before I start training for my next marathon (training starts jan 15) and I'm glad it did. I think it will impact how I approach not only my training, but my final race. I will keep you posted. And I encourage all of you to go out for a run and ENJOY IT!!
I hope you enjoyed my various rants. I'm now going to bed as I've been writing for 2.5 hours :)
Night all!
Born to Run
Okay folks, I'm going to lay some serious knowledge on you. Prepare to have your mind blown. Since becoming vegan about 3 months ago, I've been doing some serious reading/documentary-watching about veganism/plant-based diets. Now I am definitely no expert, but I've got some definite wisdom floating around in my brain and I'm dying to share it. When it comes to being vegan I definitely have decent support, and it helps that Nick is completely vegan also. But I feel like people still think I am little nuts, and people either act interested (rarely) or look at me with this skeptical expression that drives me crazy. No, I am not lying to you when I say I love being vegan. And NO, my vegan boyfriend DID NOT "brainwash" me into becoming vegan. I'm also annoyed with questions like "where do you get your calcium?" "how do you get protein?". And statements like "my cousin went vegan/vegetarian and wasted away" or "well we were made to eat meat".
Now the purpose of this post is not to harass or berate you guys. I'm just not down for confronting and arguing with people (unless they say something really really stupid). So this is my harmless way of stating my case. Honestly, the vegan stuff can be hard to grasp, it goes against everything (nutrition-wise) that we've been taught our entire lives. If you're not ready for that, then skip this post. Or just skip down to the running section.
Vegan
So, let's go back. The two early species of humans were Neanderthals and Homo Erectus. Neanderthals were stout, muscular and strong, and they ate a shit-load of meat. Everything they could lay their hands on. Now Homo Erectus (our ancestors) yes, they did eat some meat, but they ate a mostly plant-based diet!!! Those canine, pointy teeth in our mouths? Those are there so we can eat hard fruits and vegetables like carrots, apples, potatoes, etc. There is an activist named Gary Yourofsky and he travels around the US giving lectures about the benefits of vegan diets. He poses some interesting scenarios (his lecture on youtube is actually why I became vegan. I totally recommend it, he's a great speaker). He has bet every class he has spoken to, that if anyone can make these scenarios come true, he will eat a bacon cheesburger. So far, no one has been able to. These tests "prove" we are not meant to eat meat. Number One: all carnivorous mammals can hunt, kill, and eat their prey with their own "two hands"(and eat it RAW, I might add). So, therefore, as mammals, if we were meant to eat meat, we should be able to do the same. Okay, so go out, chase down a squirrel, kill it, and eat it raw. First, can you even catch it? Second, how does your body react to that raw meat? Scenario Number Two: put an apple and a pet rabbit in a crib with a baby. Guaranteed everytime, the baby with play with the rabbit and eat the apple. Hunting instincts are primal, not taught. If we were true carnivores, that baby would instinctively play with the apple and eat the rabbit.
Okay, here comes the ethical part. All vegans become vegans for their own reasons, but ethics and health were my main two. The amount of cruelty all animals involved in factory farming/slaughter houses is unimaginable. This next section might get a little graphic, so I'm giving you a head's up. And I won't go into too much detail, just gloss over some facts, and I'll hit up slaughter houses last. These are descriptions of what happens to animals in "non-lethal" food production: dairy and eggs. First of all, cows. Just like humans, cows only produce milk after giving birth because it is intended for their calves only. Just like our human breast milk is only intended for human babies. We are screwing around in a major way by drinking milk from another mammal. So in order for a cow to constantly be producing milk, it must constantly be pregnant. Cows are RAPED and injected with bull semen so that they will always be pregnant. Male calves are taken from their mothers and killed for veal. Female calves are taken and immediately pumped with antibiotics and hormones in preparation for the time when they will be raped and forced to give milk. None of the milk actually goes to the calves. Cows are intelligent animals, they feel pain, fear, and grief. They are aware that their babies have just been ripped away from them. Not to mention that they are constantly beaten and prodded into submission, and their udders are extremely sore and infected from constantly being attached to mechanical pumps (ladies: think about that happening to your breasts, and having your baby stolen from you right after childbirth). Chickens are kept in cages so small they can't spread their wings. And since they constantly peck at each other and their captors, their beaks are seared off so that they do not try and fight for freedom. Plus an egg, is essentially a hen's period. Its an unfertilized egg. Think about it. Slaughterhouses are even worse. The animals know what is happening. They are beaten and pulled with hooks when they try to resist. Baby pigs are beaten and thrown against cement walls when they won't stop crying for their mothers. Babies are treated like this. The animals are hung upside down and sliced open. They are dropped in burning water, their insides pulled out and their limbs chopped off while they are still alive.
Would you want your dog, your cat, your horse, to go through this? No? So why is it okay for cows and pigs to be tortured, raped, and killed?
And now for the health portion. Eating fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains provides you with EVERY NUTRIENT AND MINERAL YOUR BODY NEEDS! All these foods have an abundance of calcium and protein. The people who "waste away" on plant-based diets do so because they are still not eating properly. They eat white breads and processed foods. Same with iron. I have textbook perfect iron levels and while I've only been vegan for 3 months, I've been vegetarian for over 2 years. Actually, animal protein/by-products is harmful to us because it's so acidic. So to compensate, our body leeches phosphate from our bones, therefore over time making our bones increasingly weak. All that crap about drinking x number of glasses of milk a day to prevent osteoporosis? Actually making the problem worse!! Actually tons of research worldwide has demonstrated that the rural areas in countries like China, parts of Africa, etc. that consume little to none animal by-products are virtually disease free! And not only osteoporosis, but cancer, heart disease, obesity, hyptertension and diabetes (amoung others). Read The China Study, or watch the documentaries Food Matters or Forks Over Knives if you don't believe me. One doctor, actually took patients who were diagnosed with fatal heart disease and multiple bypass surgeries, and gave them all a plant based diet and after 5 years, their diseases not only stopped progressing, but regressed as well! This began in the 1980s, and today 8 out of the original 24 participants are still alive and healthy today. Including one woman, who was given less than a year to live because of her heart disease (this prognosis was given in 1985)... AND SHE IS STILL ALIVE WITH NO HEALTH PROBLEMS. This method has also been proven successful in curing cancer patients. One woman, a marathoner, was 47 when diagnosed with breast cancer. Instead of poisoning herself with radiation and chemo, she (on the advice of a different doctor) adopted a completely vegan lifestyle, and simultaneously began training for her first Ironman triathlon where she won a gold medal in her age category. She is also still alive today and is running marathons and triathlons IN HER SEVENTIES! (All this athletic stuff will tie back in for part 2: running :) ) Its incredible. Did you know that its impossible to have high cholesterol on a vegan diet? ALL BAD CHOLESTEROL COMES FROM ANIMAL BY-PRODUCTS!
Besides these physical health benefits, your hormones are balanced. Cows and pigs are pumped full of antibiotics and hormones so keep them "healthy" and to make them grow faster and larger. So all of those are then transferred to our bodies when we consume those products. Not only that, but just like us, these animals have a rush of hormones when they are scared and in pain, so we also receive doses of those hormones when we eat.
Personal Experience: All my life I have been plagued by headaches and consistent (though not terrible) acne, and some mood swings. Since being vegan my moods have stablilized, my headaches have subsided in their intensity, and slowly but surely, my skin is clearing up. I have not had completely clear skin since I was 12 years old. I have also lost weight and now feel constantly happy and healthy. My body feels clean. I know we all think we feel healthy, but how many of us feel cleansed and clean? We've all had that feeling where your like ugghhh shouldn't have eaten that. On a vegan diet? Doesn't happen. Because there is nothing that we shouldn't have eaten. And trust me (or ask my friends and family) vegan food is amazing. You cannot taste a difference, and because of the amount of substitutes for milk, cheese, and meat that are out there, you can recreate any of your favourite meals/foods.
There you go. Are your minds blown?
Message me if you want places to look for more info. I just want a chance to educate anyone who is curious. I also plan on writing a section on Running, which will require a separate post, as this one turned out to be much longer than I anticipated. :)
Also to any of you who are still reading at this point, thank you for sticking it through. I'm not asking you guys to change your lifestyle, but maybe just be a little more open-minded. And if you run into me, I would love to talk more about it.
Now the purpose of this post is not to harass or berate you guys. I'm just not down for confronting and arguing with people (unless they say something really really stupid). So this is my harmless way of stating my case. Honestly, the vegan stuff can be hard to grasp, it goes against everything (nutrition-wise) that we've been taught our entire lives. If you're not ready for that, then skip this post. Or just skip down to the running section.
Vegan
So, let's go back. The two early species of humans were Neanderthals and Homo Erectus. Neanderthals were stout, muscular and strong, and they ate a shit-load of meat. Everything they could lay their hands on. Now Homo Erectus (our ancestors) yes, they did eat some meat, but they ate a mostly plant-based diet!!! Those canine, pointy teeth in our mouths? Those are there so we can eat hard fruits and vegetables like carrots, apples, potatoes, etc. There is an activist named Gary Yourofsky and he travels around the US giving lectures about the benefits of vegan diets. He poses some interesting scenarios (his lecture on youtube is actually why I became vegan. I totally recommend it, he's a great speaker). He has bet every class he has spoken to, that if anyone can make these scenarios come true, he will eat a bacon cheesburger. So far, no one has been able to. These tests "prove" we are not meant to eat meat. Number One: all carnivorous mammals can hunt, kill, and eat their prey with their own "two hands"(and eat it RAW, I might add). So, therefore, as mammals, if we were meant to eat meat, we should be able to do the same. Okay, so go out, chase down a squirrel, kill it, and eat it raw. First, can you even catch it? Second, how does your body react to that raw meat? Scenario Number Two: put an apple and a pet rabbit in a crib with a baby. Guaranteed everytime, the baby with play with the rabbit and eat the apple. Hunting instincts are primal, not taught. If we were true carnivores, that baby would instinctively play with the apple and eat the rabbit.
Okay, here comes the ethical part. All vegans become vegans for their own reasons, but ethics and health were my main two. The amount of cruelty all animals involved in factory farming/slaughter houses is unimaginable. This next section might get a little graphic, so I'm giving you a head's up. And I won't go into too much detail, just gloss over some facts, and I'll hit up slaughter houses last. These are descriptions of what happens to animals in "non-lethal" food production: dairy and eggs. First of all, cows. Just like humans, cows only produce milk after giving birth because it is intended for their calves only. Just like our human breast milk is only intended for human babies. We are screwing around in a major way by drinking milk from another mammal. So in order for a cow to constantly be producing milk, it must constantly be pregnant. Cows are RAPED and injected with bull semen so that they will always be pregnant. Male calves are taken from their mothers and killed for veal. Female calves are taken and immediately pumped with antibiotics and hormones in preparation for the time when they will be raped and forced to give milk. None of the milk actually goes to the calves. Cows are intelligent animals, they feel pain, fear, and grief. They are aware that their babies have just been ripped away from them. Not to mention that they are constantly beaten and prodded into submission, and their udders are extremely sore and infected from constantly being attached to mechanical pumps (ladies: think about that happening to your breasts, and having your baby stolen from you right after childbirth). Chickens are kept in cages so small they can't spread their wings. And since they constantly peck at each other and their captors, their beaks are seared off so that they do not try and fight for freedom. Plus an egg, is essentially a hen's period. Its an unfertilized egg. Think about it. Slaughterhouses are even worse. The animals know what is happening. They are beaten and pulled with hooks when they try to resist. Baby pigs are beaten and thrown against cement walls when they won't stop crying for their mothers. Babies are treated like this. The animals are hung upside down and sliced open. They are dropped in burning water, their insides pulled out and their limbs chopped off while they are still alive.
Would you want your dog, your cat, your horse, to go through this? No? So why is it okay for cows and pigs to be tortured, raped, and killed?
And now for the health portion. Eating fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains provides you with EVERY NUTRIENT AND MINERAL YOUR BODY NEEDS! All these foods have an abundance of calcium and protein. The people who "waste away" on plant-based diets do so because they are still not eating properly. They eat white breads and processed foods. Same with iron. I have textbook perfect iron levels and while I've only been vegan for 3 months, I've been vegetarian for over 2 years. Actually, animal protein/by-products is harmful to us because it's so acidic. So to compensate, our body leeches phosphate from our bones, therefore over time making our bones increasingly weak. All that crap about drinking x number of glasses of milk a day to prevent osteoporosis? Actually making the problem worse!! Actually tons of research worldwide has demonstrated that the rural areas in countries like China, parts of Africa, etc. that consume little to none animal by-products are virtually disease free! And not only osteoporosis, but cancer, heart disease, obesity, hyptertension and diabetes (amoung others). Read The China Study, or watch the documentaries Food Matters or Forks Over Knives if you don't believe me. One doctor, actually took patients who were diagnosed with fatal heart disease and multiple bypass surgeries, and gave them all a plant based diet and after 5 years, their diseases not only stopped progressing, but regressed as well! This began in the 1980s, and today 8 out of the original 24 participants are still alive and healthy today. Including one woman, who was given less than a year to live because of her heart disease (this prognosis was given in 1985)... AND SHE IS STILL ALIVE WITH NO HEALTH PROBLEMS. This method has also been proven successful in curing cancer patients. One woman, a marathoner, was 47 when diagnosed with breast cancer. Instead of poisoning herself with radiation and chemo, she (on the advice of a different doctor) adopted a completely vegan lifestyle, and simultaneously began training for her first Ironman triathlon where she won a gold medal in her age category. She is also still alive today and is running marathons and triathlons IN HER SEVENTIES! (All this athletic stuff will tie back in for part 2: running :) ) Its incredible. Did you know that its impossible to have high cholesterol on a vegan diet? ALL BAD CHOLESTEROL COMES FROM ANIMAL BY-PRODUCTS!
Besides these physical health benefits, your hormones are balanced. Cows and pigs are pumped full of antibiotics and hormones so keep them "healthy" and to make them grow faster and larger. So all of those are then transferred to our bodies when we consume those products. Not only that, but just like us, these animals have a rush of hormones when they are scared and in pain, so we also receive doses of those hormones when we eat.
Personal Experience: All my life I have been plagued by headaches and consistent (though not terrible) acne, and some mood swings. Since being vegan my moods have stablilized, my headaches have subsided in their intensity, and slowly but surely, my skin is clearing up. I have not had completely clear skin since I was 12 years old. I have also lost weight and now feel constantly happy and healthy. My body feels clean. I know we all think we feel healthy, but how many of us feel cleansed and clean? We've all had that feeling where your like ugghhh shouldn't have eaten that. On a vegan diet? Doesn't happen. Because there is nothing that we shouldn't have eaten. And trust me (or ask my friends and family) vegan food is amazing. You cannot taste a difference, and because of the amount of substitutes for milk, cheese, and meat that are out there, you can recreate any of your favourite meals/foods.
There you go. Are your minds blown?
Message me if you want places to look for more info. I just want a chance to educate anyone who is curious. I also plan on writing a section on Running, which will require a separate post, as this one turned out to be much longer than I anticipated. :)
Also to any of you who are still reading at this point, thank you for sticking it through. I'm not asking you guys to change your lifestyle, but maybe just be a little more open-minded. And if you run into me, I would love to talk more about it.
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