The results are in… finally!

Many of you have written to me, anxious to read these results.  Thanks for your patience.  Let’s get to it…

First off, this post focus on my experiences and the results of the experiment.  If you want to know more about why I decided to eat vegan for a month or how I approached the experiment, read My Vegan Experiment.

How hard was it to eat vegan?

It was actually quite easy.  I did have to educate myself a bit at the beginning and develop some new habits, but before long eating vegan became quite simple and straight forward.

How limited were your food choices?

I have to admit that eating entirely vegan was a scary prospect.  I dreaded the thought of f being so limited with my food choices.  I suppose that’s why I hadn’t tried it earlier.  However, I quickly discovered that eating vegan was not limiting at all.  On the contrary, it was quite liberating.  How many meat options do meat eaters have to choose from?  There is really just beef, poultry, pork and fish/seafood prepared in different ways.  Now consider that there are thousands of vegetables in the world.  Thousands!  Talk about options.  Add to that the wide range of fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, grains and other plant-based foods and you can see just how many options vegans have to choose from.

Why don’t you just eat more veggies with your meat?

You certainly can and should.  Do you?  I didn’t.  My friend and chef extraordinaire, Luisa Rios, owner of Cooking Journeys, had an interesting observation.  We usually think of meat as the focal point of our meals and add vegetables as a second thought.  That often results in uninspired vegetable choices and preparation.  And when those limited meat options and uninspired veggie preparations gets boring, how do we make our meals more palatable?  The answer is usually unhealthy, creamy and fatty sauces or sugary toppings.

Eating vegan awakened me to the incredible variety and flavours that plant foods have to offer.  If you’re still doubtful, check out this article and this article for some pictures of what I was eating throughout the experiment.  I can honestly say that I enjoyed my food more consistently throughout my vegan experiment than I can remember at any other period in recent memory.  I attribute that to two things… mindful eating and the food tasted frickin’ amazing!

Was it difficult to eat out at restaurants?

Okay, this part of the experiment had me worried.  I love going to restaurants.  Luckily I have a few amazing vegan and vegetarian restaurants close to my home that I visited regularly.  And surprisingly, non-vegan restaurants presented less of a challenge than I anticipated.  Many restaurants have vegan options listed on their menu and most vegetarian options can easily be made vegan.

And believe it or not, the best vegan meals I had during the experiment were at non-vegan restaurants.  I would simply explain to my server that I required a vegan meal and asked that the chef surprise me.  And surprise me they did.  I enjoyed some of my most memorable meals ever at these restaurants.

Did a vegan diet actually satisfy you?

Yes.  The food tasted amazing so there was no issue in that respect.  I should note that at the beginning of the experiment I did feel hungry.  Or so I thought.  What I quickly realized was that I wasn’t really hungry.  I just felt lighter.  Prior to the experiment when I ate meat it would sit in my stomach for a long period of time being digested.  It gave me a sense of being heavy and weighed down.  Plant foods were the opposite.  They would fill me up, but still leave me with a sense of lightness.

What happened to your energy levels?

They increased.  I could literally feel the plant-based foods fuelling my body.  Instead of being weighed down by meat I was energized by plants.  However, I did have to eat regularly.  If I skipped a meal I would feel my energy levels drop quickly.  I expect this was because plant foods digested quickly and wouldn’t sit in my gut for extended periods of time like meat would.

I also think my energy increased because I was slept better.  I can’t say for sure that my vegan diet was the cause, but during the experiment I seemed to fall to sleep easily, slept well and woke feeling well rested… even with a 6 month old baby.

How did your sport performance change?

This is the one area I wish I had more quantifiable results to offer.  This experiment took place  at the end of my triathlon season so I was not training nearly as often or intensely.  However, I do have some anecdotal results that I have heard echoed by many vegan athletes such as Scott Jurek, Brendan Braizer and the No Meat Athlete.

When I did train I felt much more energized and my endurance seemed to improve, but what I was most stuck by was the lightness I mentioned earlier.  When eating meat in the past I would have to take time to digest my meal before even considering a workout, but eating vegan allowed me to train almost immediately after eating.  The food didn’t weigh me down, it energized me and helped fuel my workout.

Did you lose muscle?

Again, I wish I had more quantifiable data.  I’ve usually focused my exercise on endurance sport and not on building muscle.  That said, I do have a good sense of when my body is feeling toned and strong, and during the experiment I did feel toned and strong.  I believe this was due in large part to the plant-based foods providing me with the nutrients I needed to train well and recover quickly.

How did you get enough protein?

Protein is necessary to maintaining your health, however how much protein we need is a hotly debated topic.  I’m not going to open that debate here.  Let me just say this…. regardless of how much you think you need, all of your protein requirements can come from plant sources.  Even bodybuilders can get all the protein they need from plant sources.  Check out VeganBodybuilding.com and VeganBodybuilding.org to see some examples of just how much muscle you can build without animal products.

Did you gain or lose weight?

I had tried eating vegetarian and vegan diets in the past and gained weight because I took an unhealthy approach to the diet.  I ate a lot of “fake” meat, pasta, bread and other high glycemic carbs.  This time around I avoided those foods and focused on unprocessed, natural plant-based foods.

So what was the result?  Despite being in post-Ironman shape and reasonable weight, I still managed to easily lose weight without really trying.  During the experiment I lost 8lbs and almost one inch from my stomach measurement.  I suppose that some could argue I lost muscle weight, but keep in mind that I felt strong and the change in my stomach measurement indicates fat loss.

Oh, and it’s probably worth mentioning that while I was training during the experiment, it was very limited.  This post-Ironman period is usually one in which I pack on fatty post-season weight.

Was there anything that surprised you during the experiment?

Yeah, a few things really stick out.  First, as I’ve mentioned before, it was easier than I thought.  I was also surprised by just how good and light I felt and how easily I seemed to lose fat without really trying.

Was it expensive?

No.  Actually, I saved money eating vegan.  Even buying exotic and organic plant foods is much less expensive than a diet that includes animal products.

So what did the blood tests have to say?

I had blood tests immediately before and after the vegan experiment.  While the tests were not entirely comprehensive, they  measured a number of indicators that gave me a pretty good indication of how the vegan diet affected my health.  Here are the results worth noting:

• B12 - my B12 levels dropped during the experiment, which is not a good thing.  B12 plays a key role in the normal functioning of the brain and nervous system, and in the formation of blood.  If you’re low in B12, it will usually result in low energy levels and will reduce your blood’s ability to carry oxygen.  So how do you get B12?  Animal products are pretty much the only source for B12.  Many vegans will note that our vegan ancestors would have received B12 from the soil when picking vegetables, but these days most people prefer to wash their vegetables before eating them.  I have yet to see any solution for vegans other than to supplement their diet with B12.
• Iron - there was a small drop in my iron levels, but nothing to worry about.  Perhaps longer terms tests would give more cause for concern.
• PH - PH refers to the acidity or alkalinity of your blood.  The higher your PH, the more alkaline and the better.  The lower your PH, the more acidic your blood will be, which results in a state that promotes disease.  My post experiment blood tests showed that my PH went up and became more alkaline, which was a benefit I wasn’t surprised to hear since vegetables are widely considered an excellent way to raise PH levels.
• Thyroid - While I didn’t have thyroid problems prior to the experiment, test results indicated that the vegan diet helped to normalize my thyroid.
• CRP - CRP is an indicator of your inflammatory state.  The more inflamed your body, the greater your chances of disease.  Inflammation can present itself in obvious ways such as puffiness after a big sugar binge,  pasta meal or night of drinking, and  it can mask itself in much more subtle ways that promote disease and later reveal themselves as arthritis, cancer and a whole host of other diseases.  CRP is measured in cancer patients and used to help determine a prognosis for survival.  The higher the CRP and more inflamed, the lesser the chances of survival.  So what happened to my CRP?  Not surprisingly, it dropped to an excellent level during the vegan experiment.
• White Blood Cells - One surprise was an increase in my white blood cell count.  Both my naturopath and family doctor were surprised by this result as it is not typically associated with a vegan diet.  They both suggested that it was probably due to me fighting a cold or the result of a recent hard workout, but as with all of these indicators, it was too difficult to draw sound conclusions with the limited number of tests.

In the meantime, I have an interesting link you should check out…

Throughout the experiment I have tried to learn as much as possible about vegan and vegetarian diets and those who follow them.  I’ve read a lot of articles, books and blogs, and have watched some informative documentaries.  One news piece that caught my attention was The Last Heart Attack, a one hour documentary produced by Dr Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN.  It has aired several times and CNN has now made it available to watch online.

In this hour-long CNN documentary, Sanjay Gupta investigates whether diet and the latest diagnostic tests are enough to prevent every heart attack. During the medical journey of discovery, Dr. Gupta talks to former President Clinton, leading doctors and puts his own heart under the microscope as he offers practical advice and hard science to shows how we could have…The Last Heart Attack.

Before I sign off, I thought I’d share some pics of vegan meals and snacks I’ve enjoyed this past month.  There is certainly no shortage of yummy plant-based foods out there.  Enjoy.

Stay tuned for the results of the experiment.

By the way, if you’d like to learn more about establishing good habits, read what the habit master, Leo Babauta, has to say at Zen Habits.

So, what did I learn from my 30 day meditation challenge?

You can do it anywhere.
When I first began the challenge I was worried about finding time in my schedule to meditate.  With a four-month old son, free time is limited these days.  Of course there are wonderful benefits that can come from sitting in meditation for longer periods of time, but sometimes our schedules simply won’t allow for it.  I began meditating for very short periods.  Sometimes I’d just stop and breathe, other times I’d sit for a minute or two.  The benefits of these short meditations surprised me.  And because they were so short, I was able to do them a number of times throughout the day.

You can do it everywhere.
I also worried about finding appropriate places to meditate, but soon discovered that everywhere is appropriate.  I began to practice mindfulness and living in the moment when I was cooking, swimming and doing other random tasks.  When I sat on the bus, I’d meditate.  When I was stuck in my car in traffic, I’d stop and breathe.  I found ways to meditate in all kinds of places and situations throughout the day.  Yes, I even took time to meditate on the toilet one day when I was particularly stressed.

One of my favorite forms of meditation became walking meditation.  I walk everywhere, so walking meditation became a regular practice for me.  If you’d like to learn more about walking meditation, check out this guest post I wrote for Balance In Me.

You can do it with others.
Most of my experience with meditation has been sitting alone in silence, yet throughout this challenge I discovered just how powerful meditating with others can be.  A few weeks ago I wrote about the benefits of group meditation, but the most profound meditation I practiced during my challenge was with my son, Caelan.  Whether I practiced walking meditation with him as I rolled his stroller down the street, or while we sat on a blanket in a park, meditating with Calean was an incredibly bonding experience for us.

It helps.
I’ve written about the benefits of meditation before so this wasn’t a surprise, but on many occasions throughout the challenge I was reminded of how helpful meditation is.  It helped me to focus, it helped me to relax, it helped me to sleep, it helped me to connect, and it helped me to be more creative.  Meditation seems to help pretty much every aspect of my life.

It connects you.
During the challenge I had the opportunity to meditate in some beautiful outdoor settings, including lakesides, parks, woodland trails and in the mountains.  It was a beautiful way to enjoy the great outdoors and the beauty of nature.  But the most profound experience of meditating outdoors was the feeling of connection.  A realization that we’re all connected, not only to one another, but to everything in the world around us.

I have no intention of stopping.  I’ll continue to meditate daily and I hope you’ll give it a try too.  If you’re new to meditation, you may want to check out Meditation 101: A 10 Step Beginner’s Guide.

Photo credit: wonderlane

Check out this video of me explaining the reasons for the experiment.  You’ll also get to meet my son, Caelan.  (If you’re reading this via an email or RSS subscription feed, you may need to visit Stop & Breathe to view the video.)

I should note that I have been a pretty big meat eater for most of my life and have followed what I believed to be a healthy paleo approach to eating at times.  However, in the past six months I have gradually been loosing my taste for meat.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to barrage you carnivores out there with a feel good rant about why I don’t think we should be eating animals.  I actually think there is an argument for eating responsible meat sources.  The primary reason I’ve lost my taste for meat is because I’ve been listening to my body and practicing mindful eating.  I’m simply not enjoying meat as much and I have found that I feel healthier and more energetic after a good plant based meal vs. a steak or chicken.

1. 2. 3.

My naturopathic doctor, Kandis Lock, has arranged my first round of blood tests and I am waiting for the results.  I have also taken note of other factors such as sleep, energy levels, strength, endurance, etc.  I’ll eat vegan for a minimum of 30 days (perhaps longer) and at the end of that period will have tests done again so I can compare the results.

4. 5. 6.

The diet itself is pretty straight forward.  I’m eating all plant based foods, which consists mostly of fruits and veggies.  I’ll also eat some grains, but I’ll try to avoid gluten all together and will limit the amount of processed grains I consume.  I have a big sweet tooth so I know I’ll still be consuming sugar, but I’m going to have much less and I’ll try to get sweeteners from less processed sources such as maple syrup.  In the past I have taken one-a-day vitamins, fish oil and other supplements, however I won’t use those supplements throughout the experiment.

7. 8. 9.

The only supplement I will take is a vegan protein from Genuine Health.  That said, I won’t take it in large quantities.  I’ll simply use it in fruit smoothies from time to time.  My goal is to get protein from whole vegan sources as much as possible, such as beans, lentils, nuts and seeds.  I won’t eat “fake meat” such as soy burgers or soy ground beef.  I want to experiment with how easily a vegan diet can be followed using sources as close to the way nature intended them, not simply find alternatives that trick me into thinking I’m eating meat.

10. 11. 12.

I’m already six days into the experiment and have noticed some interesting results, but I’ll wait to share them with you at the end of the experiment.  In the meantime, I thought I’d include some pictures throughout this post of the meals and snacks I’ve been eating so far.  There’s a list at the bottom of this post describing each photo.  I have to say that preparing healthy vegan meals really isn’t difficult or time consuming (quite the opposite) and with the mix of spices and herbs I’m using, the food is amazingly tasty.

If you have any questions about the experiment or would like recipes for the meals I’m posting, ask in the comments.  I’ll also be posting updates in the comments throughout the experiment, so be sure to subscribe for updates or check back if you’re interested.

Picture descriptions:

Header photo – almond, dried cranberry and toasted coconut trail mix.

1.  Veggie sandwich on toasted gluten free bread.  Made with humus, onion, tomato, cucumber, sundried tomato, spinach, pickle

2. Fresh veggie/fruit juice – beet, carrot, apple, ginger

3. Baked sweet potato wedges tossed in olive oil, rosemary and sea salt.

4.  Vegan mint chocolate cupcake from Auntie Loo’s Treats

5.  Salad with spinach, tomato, red pepper, onion, toasted almonds, broccoli and carrot slaw, avocado, cilantro and Thai peanut dressing.

6.  Slow cook oats with almonds, raisins, toasted coconut and maple syrup.

7.  Vegan and gluten free chocolate peanut square.

8.  Refried black beans, lime and cilantro sautéed veggies and avocado/tomato/cilantro/onion/lime salad.

9.  Home made guacamole and salsa with organic blue corn chips.

10.  Curried veggies with lentils and steamed rice.

11. Apple wedges with almond butter.

12.  Tomato slices with raw zucchini and home made garlic/basil/pine nut pesto.  Cucumber slices with humus.