The Veganism Thread

[Hairy]

Dates? Figs?

 

 

I’m going with dates. I can’t turn a corner here and not see those things....

 

Side note: I’ve grown to love eating them on rides. Pop a few in your jersey pocket, don’t choke on the pip and bam!!! Lekker energy source.

Some pitted Iranian dates from Atlas Trading in town.

 

My 24hr riding fuel = a bag of dates mixed with biltong = good strong rides with no cramping, tummy stays good and energy levels nice and consistent.

 

The above combined with whatever gets made back at base camp.

[Wayne Potgieter]

My vegan brother who is one year older than me rode the 94.7 in 2:39

He didn't even train hard for it due to exams. Just note he doesn't have a coach or an expensive bike. I defenitely think it's his vegan diet

Hey Josh.

 

This can be due to so may factors. 

 

Genetics, diet, general athletic fitness, getting in a good bunch etc.

 

Sure, Diet plays a crucial role, but it is not the only factor. As with most things in life its the sum of all things that generally makes the biggest influence.

 

Even with a vegan diet, if your brother had eaten very low carb and fat meals before hand, he would have suffered. Macros plays a huge role in performance.

 

Has he done other events of similar distance/elevation in the past and if so, what was his performance like?

[Wayne Potgieter]

Some pitted Iranian dates from Atlas Trading in town.

 

My 24hr riding fuel = a bag of dates mixed with biltong = good strong rides with no cramping, tummy stays good and energy levels nice and consistent.

 

The above combined with whatever gets made back at base camp.

 

 

Dates are a great riding fuel (forgive me if I dont share your love of biltong  )

 

I am a huge fan of dates and nuts for long events. Far better than gels and synthetic potions.

[Patchelicious]

Sure.

 

But remember that this coincided with a general movement towards general health being better. So not only attributed to diet, but diet being a contributory factor and some of this is anecdotal.

 

 

• Fat loss, Muscle gain (I go for full body scans regularly. BF dropped 4% and weight stayed similar)
• Improved athletic performance - can run a 21km in under 2 hours (around 1h50) and my recovery is a lot smoother than before (I struggled to run over 15km before making the changes)
• Sleep better
• Psychologically, I feel better about my choices like I am part of a solution and not contributing to a problem
• Have been eating really well. Like seriously, Cooking at home has become WAY better than restaurants, so we save money and are having better meals.
• My daughter has struggled with bad eczema her whole life, since going plant based, her rashes have disappeared
• Both kids used to be really constipated a lot of the time - now they are regular.
• My farts used to be so bad that it was a national health hazard. Now they are only a municipal hazard.
• I used to get really bloated and sore after most meals. Especially after cheese, I used to bloat up with a big boep. That doesnt happen anymore.
• As a family, we feel like we have a lot more energy.

I mean, its a highlights reel and to be fair, we were not in terrible shape to begin with. Some of our friends that have gone plant based were far unhealthier to begin with and their results have been more dramatic. A good mate here in Auckland had incredibly high cholesterol and blood pressure. He was prescribed a whole bunch of meds. He cut out meat and went plant based and all of his stats are nearing the normal range (he is not quite there but getting close) Ironically, he had no idea I was plant based, and I had no idea he was doing this but at a function I noticed what he was eating and he noticed my meal choices and we realized what was going on. See, some Vegans don't feel the need to run around declaring veganism to all who care listen. (cheeky jab)

 

I think what I am trying to say is that I feel I have gained a lot more than I have lost. The equation works for me.

 

I recently had a physical with blood tests and all my markers were great. B12 in the upper normal range, calcium was good. Cholesterol was normal and Iron was spot on.

 

I don't take any supplements as such but I do drink a coffee every morning made with a B12 fortified soy milk.

 

Hope that answers the question.

This is really great to hear.

 

But most importantly, did you also get 300% “improvement”? ????

 

 

 

 

 

Jokes aside, that is great news and again seems like a great way to help convince more people. It certainly is helping me with my journey.

 

Edit: just read this post to my wife and she has agreed to try dropping meat 3 days a week. Your post did more to help convince her than all the previous arguments ????????

Edited November 18, 2019 by Patchelicious

[Wayne Potgieter]

This is really great to hear.

 

But most importantly, did you also get 300% “improvement”?

 

 

 

 

 

Jokes aside, that is great news and again seems like a great way to help convince more people. It certainly is helping me with my journey.

 

Edit: just read this post to my wife and she has agreed to try dropping meat 3 days a week. Your post did more to help convince her than all the previous arguments

Thats good to hear.

 

Our journey was a little similar, we dipped our toes into the pool and got in a little deeper over time. 

[Wayne Potgieter]

Wayne have you read The China Study?

 

 

Yes. Its pretty good (although a slow read because its quite technical)

 

I also enjoyed "how not to die" by Micheal Greiger (sp?) and the accompanying cookbook which is aptly named "how not to die the cookbook" 

 

 

 

Actually, a further reply from my side.

 

I recently had to write a research paper on neurological biology and specifically methods of treatment for Parkinson's disease. I decided to incorporate a lot of nutrition advice and research and used both the above books (and their relevant sources) quite heavily to offer an alternate position on Parkinson's treatments. 

 

It was very well received by my academic community and was suggested as a good research piece for a future doctoral thesis (although I am still some time away from contemplating that level of self punishment)

 

What is interesting is how many illnesses and diseases can be radically affected by diet.

 

Its a fascinating field of research.

[Josh_the. Man]

Has he done other events of similar distance/elevation in the past and if so, what was his performance like?

We don't get to do a lot of races.

His ftp improved significantly from 265 beginning this year to 285 last month. His age can play a big role.

 

The 94.7 was his first and only race this year, so there's nothing to compare it with except his ftp.

[Rocket-Boy]

I had to check my bias on this one - I don't think vaping is a good idea in the first place.

 

The current state of play is 8 suspected deaths and 530 people with suspected vaping illness in the US (suspected by the CDC). Suspected means that there is a very likely connection - like developing a lung disease after starting vaping. They are not yet tied to any specific ingredient, and the vaping products involved do not show an obvious common ingredient between them.

 

The existing industry is looking for volunteers to continue with the vaping experiment until the connection is sufficiently well proven to be able to regulate appropriately.

Yeah look nothing like that is a good idea, but there is also influence coming in from big tobacco who are losing money are a silly rate.

 

The incidents that were referred to as "vape lung" we very specifically tied to Chinese THC oils that were being sold. The natural THC product is too thick to use so it was thinned down with vitamin E oil to lower the viscosity. Unfortunately its a really bad idea to heat and inhale that which lead to the problems.

 

Normal vape juices contain vegetable glycerin(VG) propylene glycol(PG) nicotene(optional) and PG based flavours.

VG is pretty much a base for most sweets like jelly babies etc. PG is used in a lot of medicines eg asthma pumps, cough mixtures etc.

 

So really there is nothing inherently dangerous in the juices, what is a concern however is what effect high heat has on them. The guys you see billowing huge plumes of vapour are using 50W+ which is most likely a bad idea.

 

TL;DR version is that anything which has a large established industry behind it that is losing money will have all manner of bias towards interference.

There would be no difference if this was any other industry wanting to discredit something that is causing it to lose money.

[Rocket-Boy]

No no no, there are NOT to used as pockets! The saddle bag unions will strike if you put things in your back pockets!

Im going to put a saddle bag back on my roadie and send you a pic. 

Viva saddle bags viva!!

['Dale]

Im going to put a saddle bag back on my roadie and send you a pic. 

Viva saddle bags viva!!

 

I reported this post as inflammatory.

[Pieter1]

Im going to put a saddle bag back on my roadie and send you a pic.

Viva saddle bags viva!!

#sies

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Actually, a further reply from my side.

 

I recently had to write a research paper on neurological biology and specifically methods of treatment for Parkinson's disease. I decided to incorporate a lot of nutrition advice and research and used both the above books (and their relevant sources) quite heavily to offer an alternate position on Parkinson's treatments. 

 

It was very well received by my academic community and was suggested as a good research piece for a future doctoral thesis (although I am still some time away from contemplating that level of self punishment)

 

What is interesting is how many illnesses and diseases can be radically affected by diet.

 

Its a fascinating field of research.

It really is...

 

What's also fascinating is that it doesn't seem to be favouring one specific diet, from what I've read, rather the adherence to a diet that's chock full of proper "whole" foods and a steep reduction in refined carbohydrates and sugars. 

 

It's still an incredibly young field, and the lack of proper controlled studies (not those bloody stupid observational epidemiological studies that don't control for other factors) doesn't help. But then, the ethics of a randomized controlled study on nutrition aren't exactly condusive to the research that needs to happen.

[Hairy]

I reported this post as inflammatory.

 

 

#sies

Recently tried a saddle bag to carry spare on the commuter bike ... was so disgusted with myself that the saddle bag came off when I got to work and it now lives inside my commuter bag

[Pieter1]

Recently tried a saddle bag to carry spare on the commuter bike ... was so disgusted with myself that the saddle bag came off when I got to work and it now lives inside my commuter bag

Hahaha! Why do they even exist anymore?

[Rocket-Boy]

Recently tried a saddle bag to carry spare on the commuter bike ... was so disgusted with myself that the saddle bag came off when I got to work and it now lives inside my commuter bag

Pfft they are so practical and awesome, I dont see what the problem is.

Im going to dig out my moonbag from the 80's and wear it while cycling my bike with a saddle bag strapped to a saddle bag. 

The awesome level will be through the roof, the practicality level might just cause a rift in time.

[Hairy]

Pfft they are so practical and awesome, I dont see what the problem is.

Im going to dig out my moonbag from the 80's and wear it while cycling my bike with a saddle bag strapped to a saddle bag. 

The awesome level will be through the roof, the practicality level might just cause a rift in time.

That would actually be on trend and very #EnduroBro