I am a fellow vegan, and I am an applied physiology major and SMU. I am doing a research project about vegetarian nutrition and performance. Could you please help me in my data collection by taking the following survey? Your input is greatly appreciated!
You wanted to survey a monkey? Sorry I’m not a monkey (they’re generally stronger for eating leaves though).
How to survive as a vegan athlete? I gave up and went running in the middle of a 48 hour fast. I’ve decided that such short term fasting is a state of mind (and I don’t get hungry), although physically it gave me a second wind that I didn’t have when eating more regularly (so my body seems to agree with it). Think of how it feels to run around the block after a big Thanksgiving dinner (of tofurkey), you’d be half dead! Okay, maybe that’s just me, and I didn’t really give up on veganism, yet I don’t think that going through 24/7 digestion, or having constant intestinal transit going on, helps athleticism, or is a panacea to health (you know, they don’t call it roughage for nothing). So I try to give the—yes it’s a word—pumpkinification a rest half the time (which in my experience is 24 hours after I finish carrying around the last meal, or 48 hours past eating it). Wild animals can skip meals too, and outrun me and you.
It’s quite an open question… I have been a vegetarian for 33 years and vegan for 1. I have been weight training for hypertrophy for 4 years now and since going vegan, I can’t say I have noticed any difference in my body. I have generally always felt very good in terms of conditioning, vascular, strength and size. I continue to make great progress every week with weight on the bar increasing however I do supplement with vegan protein powder.
The aim is to look like Chris Hemsworth from Thor within a few more years