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behardonyourself · 5 years

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So Let Me Get This Straight...

The greatest thing about social media is the ability to interact with people anytime, no matter where in the world they are. Of course, me being extremely open and candid about everything I’m doing, some of the things I’ve gone through, and my training and nutrition makes anything fair game for discussion, and I’m completely cool with that.

I think a search through my posts here and throughout my social media feeds will bring most people to the conclusion that I’m 100% not the guy screaming about being Vegan and attacking other people who aren’t Vegan. I know that exists and I know there are a lot of people like that on both sides of pretty much any argument. Actually, I don’t even fucking refer to myself as Vegan! I just happen to sustain entirely on a predominantly whole food, plant-based diet with limited processed foods. I do my best to eat foods as close to their natural state as possible.

A little background... I came down this path initially because I have battled digestive issues for most of my adult life. Years as a hardcore, musclehead weightlifter that bought into the bullshit and believed we need absolutely ridiculous amounts of protein to recover didn’t help that. Then when I was away from the bodybuilder and powerlifting lifestyle, my diet of chicken wings, burgers, and bullshit food didn’t make me feel or look any better.

Of course, even a moderate shift to real food and reducing all of the cholesterol and saturated fat would’ve made me feel better, and I had done that numerous times throughout the past two and half decades. But I still felt like I was just plodding along, always hungry, yet always full, with food often feeling like it was still in my esophagus.

When I decided to get radical, I needed something new. I was giving all of my vices up at once: Energy drinks, fried food, booze, etc. I had just read Rich Roll’s “Finding Ultra” and found a lot of parallels in his story and mindset and my own, so I thought “Fuck it, why not give it a shot?”

The results were almost instant. I felt absolutely amazing from the start. I expected for reality to set in and feel like shit after a few days without meat, but that never happened. So I kept learning more and more about how to combine my foods to make sure I was getting the micro and macronutrients I needed for optimum health, performance and recovery.

Yeah, shit definitely happened...

Excess weight fell off, what felt like overnight (over 50lbs in the first 12 weeks).

I was able to train and harder than I had in years.

While expecting to ache after my workouts (I’m 43, shit gets hard when you’re old) my recovery was supersonic.

My high blood pressure? Gone. High cholesterol? See ya. Doc pulled me off all bp and cholesterol meds that I had been on since my heart attack scare.

Those digestion issues? Completely non-existent. Reflux? Completely disappeared.

My rest is now better than it has ever been.

No medication. No supplementation. And I feel like a brand new man.

Leading us to why I have this blog and why I engage on Social Media. I say and do some crazy shit - and almost nothing gets anything but a positive response... Except what I eat...

So you couldn’t run 1/4 mile in October and now you’re training for a 140.6 mile Ironman in November? Bad ass!

You workout 4+ hours per day? Fucking awesome.

You’ve lost over 60lbs and are shredded? Same weight as when you were 18? Smaller pant-size than you wore after boot camp? Amazing.

You live off of plants? HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT IS SO DANGEROUS. WHERE IN THE FUCK DO YOU GET YOUR PROTEIN? YOU CAN’T RECOVER EATING LIKE THAT! YOU’RE GOING TO BECOME BRITTLE AND WITHER AWAY! HUMANS ARE CARNIVORES AND AREN’T DESIGNED TO LIVE OFF OF PLANTS! YOU ARE GOING TO FUCKING DIE MAN! YOU ARE GOING TO BECOME A STINKY HIPPY AND VOTE FOR BERNIE SANDERS!!!

Complete insanity. Not sure how I didn’t expect it, but I didn’t. I underestimated people’s emotional and mental stances on food, but I have to admit that it rivals politics and religion.

My schedule is absolutely packed. I love documenting my journey here and on other platforms. I love my career and it requires a HUGE commitment of my time - which is fine because it finances all of the dreams (and we do business and personal goals every month - I’d suggest incorporating this into your life and be hard on yourself). And not to mention Lisa, Peyton, and Ava whom all require their own attention. So I don’t have time to argue and be all hostile to everyone sending me anti-vegan studies and websites. Most are doing it in fun (and it makes me laugh) but there are a few people (and some that I don’t know whatsoever) that have taken it as their responsibility to educate the fuck out of me about my sins of not eating meat and animal products. Some have convinced themselves that they have doctorates in performance nutrition.

Regardless if I was living off of veggies or whatever, there will always be skeptics and haters. I’ve been fairly blessed with overwhelming support, but remember that it could be someone that you share a home with that may be the one telling you that you’re crazy, it won’t work, you’re wasting your time, unnecessary temptation, etc. (If that’s you that lives with that person, tell the one doing it that I said “Fuck you...”)

And again, I’m okay with it. I’m not going to run around recruiting people to my Plant Church and I’m probably not a great advocate. I’m not protesting anyone’s right to choose whatever they want to eat and where they get what they want to eat. I’m just doing my thing and feeling amazing (I’d be lying if I said I’m not wondering where all of the concern was when I was pounding 1/2 pounders from Whataburgers and Wendy’s multiple times per day walking around looking like a disgusting fat slob).

Of course the argument can be made that I feel this way because I lost all of the unnecessary weight, and there is absolutely some truth to that. But I have zero doubt that my nutrition is taking me to goals that I would’ve otherwise thought impossible.

#plantpowered #plantbased #vegan #vegantriathlete #ironmanvegan #xl #fattofit #ironman #ironmantraining #feltcycles #healthyliving #healthylifestyle #myplantpoweredrecipes

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