Is anybody who reads my shit vegan?

About 6 months ago, I read Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals and immediately started eating vegetarian. Three months into that, I started reading Victoria Moran’s Main Street Vegan, and decided to take my diet one step further.



Almost instantly, I fell in love with the stimulation of vegan cooking and finding unique ingredients. However, once I found myself abroad on a trip to Costa Rica, I realized that I wasn’t up for the challenge of sticking to a vegan diet (let alone a vegetarian one). Since I’ve been home, I’ve been struggling to find where I stand when it comes to what I won’t eat and why, and of course, what I will eat and why as well.

A few days ago, an idea that has been in the very back of my mind was called forth after seeing photos of an old acquaintance who had begun training for bodybuilding competitions. A few posts ago, I uploaded two photos of myself in a moment of motivation to start “working out”. I’m not interested in bodybuilding to a competitive extent, but I have always been fascinated by an individuals ability to train their muscles, sculpt their physique, and cultivate serious body strength – especially women! How complimentary, I thought, would strength training be to my yoga practice? All those times I wished I could push up from low plank to high plank, but had to blame my stupid spaghetti arms!

I started doing research on websites like BodyBuilding.com and Muscle and Strength. I read about creatine, and the necessity for “loading” creatine; I perused articles on protein, whey protein, casein protein, animal protein, bodybuilding diets, amino acids, omega-3′s, omega-6′s… good Lord, the list goes on and on. It was seriously overwhelming. At this point, I branched off from bodybuilding research and began poking into reading about the premise of the Paleo Diet. I was interested in the possibility of high-intensity training, and figured that considering a high-protein...

Is anybody who reads my shit vegan?

About 6 months ago, I read Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals and immediately started eating vegetarian. Three months into that, I started reading Victoria Moran’s Main Street Vegan, and decided to take my diet one step further.



Almost instantly, I fell in love with the stimulation of vegan cooking and finding unique ingredients. However, once I found myself abroad on a trip to Costa Rica, I realized that I wasn’t up for the challenge of sticking to a vegan diet (let alone a vegetarian one). Since I’ve been home, I’ve been struggling to find where I stand when it comes to what I won’t eat and why, and of course, what I will eat and why as well.

A few days ago, an idea that has been in the very back of my mind was called forth after seeing photos of an old acquaintance who had begun training for bodybuilding competitions. A few posts ago, I uploaded two photos of myself in a moment of motivation to start “working out”. I’m not interested in bodybuilding to a competitive extent, but I have always been fascinated by an individuals ability to train their muscles, sculpt their physique, and cultivate serious body strength – especially women! How complimentary, I thought, would strength training be to my yoga practice? All those times I wished I could push up from low plank to high plank, but had to blame my stupid spaghetti arms!

I started doing research on websites like BodyBuilding.com and Muscle and Strength. I read about creatine, and the necessity for “loading” creatine; I perused articles on protein, whey protein, casein protein, animal protein, bodybuilding diets, amino acids, omega-3′s, omega-6′s… good Lord, the list goes on and on. It was seriously overwhelming. At this point, I branched off from bodybuilding research and began poking into reading about the premise of the Paleo Diet. I was interested in the possibility of high-intensity training, and figured that considering a high-protein diet would be an appropriate match for my goals. If I was going to eat meat, I could simultaneously advocate for grass-fed, free-range, locally-farmed, humanely-slaughtered, Alberta-raised food animals. My morals for eating vegan had always primarily revolved around nutrition, health, and vitality rather than animal rights and freedoms (although, of course, I didn’t completely ignore that, either).

About ten minutes into researching the Paleo diet’s food principles, I began to get frustrated. FUCK these stupid fad diets! If it’s not one thing, it’s another. This information contradicts that information. In a more holistic sense, the paticular information provided by the Paleo diet’s philosophy did not sit sink into my core as snugly or as completely as the idea of a whole-foods, plant-based diet did. That afternoon, I was completely fueled up over food politics and marched straight to the bookstore – as I usually do – to search for something to settle me down. What I found was a book that I have been interested in for a while: The China Study.



I’ve only started reading it, but I’m already convinced that it is exactly what I needed to fall back into a confidently vegan lifestyle. I’m still interested in body sculpting and strength training, but I’m absolutely positive that there is a way to go about finding vegan nutrition to fuel that level of physical activity. Two additional books that give me the confidence to go forward with this are Brendan’s Brazier’s The Thrive Diet & Whole Foods to Thrive.



Tristan and I have been having lengthy and detailed conversations lately about my obsession with books and their profound impact on my life. I’m coming to understand, if it’s not already completely obvious, that I am a textbook-learner. I read about the things that I’m interested in, and when I find something that I jive with, I jive with my WHOLE entire being – inside and out.

Anyway, there are a dozen more books and references on my reading list that are intended to supplement my knowledge and encourage my quest for a vegan-friendly, fitness-centered lifestyle. I want to share what I’m learning, what I’m experimenting with, what I’m experiencing, the challenges I am faced with, and the results that I’m getting. I know there are a million blogs out there based on the same ideas, but I’m jumping in.

This is the battle that I've picked.

Godspeed!