G Living’s Brendan Brazier is one the world’s few professional athletes whose diet is 100 percent plant based. He’s a professional Ironman triathlete, bestselling author on performance nutrition, and the creator of an award-winning line of whole food nutritional products called Vega.

The following is our second excerpt from Brendan’s new book “The Thrive Diet”, on sale now in Canada and and in the U.S. in January.

Whole Foods For Complete Nourishment The healthiest way to meet nutritional needs is to simply eat a diet rich in whole foods. Food-sourced vitamins and minerals are superior to their laboratory-created counterparts. As I noted earlier, many calcium supplements are derived from nonfood sources — oyster shells, bovine bone meal, or dolomite — none of which the body is able to use efficiently. Again, the more work the body must do to assimilate nutrients, the less usable energy it will be left with. Salt is another illustration of this. Salt derived from the earth or the sea is often added to food during processing; salt is rarely consumed in its alternative form — plants. Yet, that is a much better way to get sodium in your diet: Let the plant draw and assimilate it and other minerals from the soil or sea, doing most of the work for you. My favorite source of sodium is raw dulse. A sea vegetable, dulse is exceptionally healthy, offering a plethora of minerals that help prolong hydration and therefore endurance.

“I just want to make completely sure that I’m getting all the vitamins I need, so I take every supplement available, the more the better. My body will just excrete what it doesn’t use.”

I hear this often. And while this is true of water-soluble vitamins (vitamins B and C) and minerals such as potassium, chloride, and sodium, fat-soluble vitamins and certain minerals, such as iron, are not so readily excreted. Nevertheless, it is a common practice, especially for athletes. But at what cost?

While it’s not a high-energy cost for a healthy body to flush out unneeded vitamins and minerals, it is still a cost. The body is under great stress to recover from workouts, rebuild cells, and keep the immune system strong, and the last thing it needs is another job. Most people take too many supplements in an effort to speed regeneration. Often they just interfere with that process, prolonging the time needed for complete recovery.

An excess of synthetic fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) in the system can have a considerably more negative effect than those that are water-soluble. Unlike water-soluble vitamins, fat-soluble vitamins remain in the system for a long period—any surplus being stored in the body’s fat cells, and possibly resulting in toxicity. General fatigue and a weakened immune system are the milder effects of such toxicity. Effects of more serious toxicity range from hemorrhaging to severe reduction in intestinal flora.

Toxicity resulting from an overconsumption of fat-soluble vitamins is next to impossible when whole foods are the source. Fiber prevents overeating: It’s hard to eat a large amount of fiber-rich food since it swells in the stomach, filling it up.

Look through any sport or fitness magazine and you will undoubtedly notice advertisements making claims such as “improves performance by 20 percent.” Even articles that may carry more credibility than advertisements make such claims. Do these vitamin and mineral supplements improve athletic performance? If a healthy diet is already being eaten, the answer is no.

Usually funded by manufacturers, many of the studies cited in these advertisements and articles were performed on people who had a deficiency in the particular vitamin or mineral being tested, making the test results somewhat misleading. And a person who has extremely low levels of any kind of essential nutrient will not perform to his or her full potential, whether in athletic competition or simply day-to-day living. Once the person gets the nutrient he is lacking, his symptoms will alleviate and he will experience better performance.

These claims—the gains made when the particular product is taken—are not false or even a bending of the truth. But they are results that are not typical for a healthy person who eats a sensible diet. By following the Thrive Diet, you won’t need to take any supplements to enhance performance—the Thrive Diet supplies all the nutrients your body needs.

Visit Brendan’s personal site

Photographer: G Monkie (CC)

As you are probably aware, commercial versions of many sport nutrition products are not always the healthiest option. Commonly packed with artificial flavours, refined carbohydrates, denatured proteins and sometimes even harmful fats, I certainly don’t want to consume anything that doesn’t put overall health first.While some commercial options are not as bad as they once were, I like to know exactly what goes into mine and keep them completely natural.

I make my own.

Whole food energy bars, sport drinks, energy gels, energy pudding, post-workout recovery drink, whole food meal replacement smoothies and even performance pancakes are all part of my specific sport nutrition program.

Immediately before exercise

The body’s first choice for fuel during intense exercise is simple carbohydrates. However, once the body has burned all the simple carbohydrates available, it will then opt for available complex carbohydrates. It’s in the athlete’s best interest to ensure that the body is provided with enough simple carbohydrates to fuel activity so that complex carbohydrates are not relied upon. If the body has to resort to burning complex carbohydrates while exercising at a high intensity, it will have to use extra energy in order to convert the complex carbs into simple carbs. Additionally, if too much protein is eaten before intense exercise, it will likely cause muscle cramping due to the fact that it requires more fluid to be metabolized than carbohydrate or fat does.

Also, protein is not what you want your body burning for fuel. Protein is for rebuilding muscle post-activity, not fuelling it. When too much protein is consumed in place of carbohydrates immediately before exercise — and therefore burned as fuel — it burns “dirty,” meaning that toxins are created as a result of its combustion. The production and elimination of toxins is of course a stress on the body, and as such causes a stress response. Ultimately endurance will decline.

Pre-workout snack

For a pre exercise snack, the most important factor is digestibility. If the food eaten shortly before a training session or race requires a large amount of energy to digest, it will leave the body with less, the last thing needed before exercise. Additionally, hard-to-breakdown food will require more blood be sent to the stomach to aid in the digestion process. Of course when blood is in the stomach, it can’t be in the extremities delivering oxygen and removing waste products, which is a requirement for optimal physical performance. It is also not uncommon for a “stitch” to occur in the diaphragm area if food has not been digested completely before a workout or race — especially an intense one — begins.

For high-intensity shorter training and racing, it is beneficial to fuel up on simple carbohydrates. The healthiest source of this is fruit. Dates are a good choice since they are rich in a simple carbohydrate called glucose. Glucose goes straight to the liver for immediate energy. The body does not have to convert it to a different form in order to utilize it, making glucose-rich-foods the ideal primary fuel before or during a high-intensity workout. However, it burns quickly, meaning that if glucose is the only carbohydrate source, it will have to be replenished about every 20 minutes after 1 hour of intense activity to keep the body adequately fuelled.

If I’m going to perform a mid-range to longer workout that lasts up to three hours but is still intense or compete in a race such as a marathon, I will have a nutritionally balanced raw bar. In addition to the dates, I include a small amount of alkaline protein, usually raw hemp, and an EFA source such as ground flax seeds or soaked almonds for prolonged, high net gain energy. In my new book, The Thrive Diet, I also include recipes for sport drinks, energy gels and recovery smoothies.

Try this recipe before your next run.

Apple Cinnamon Energy Bars

In a food processor, process all ingredients until desired texture is reached. If you prefer a uniformly smooth bar, process longer. If you would rather a bar with more crunch and texture, blend for less time. Generally, if I’m making them specifically to be eaten during physical activity, such as long training rides, I’ll blend the mixture until it is smooth, as this will reduce the amount of chewing required.

Remove mixture from processor and put on a clean surface. From there you can roll it into several balls or shape it into a bar.

These bars have a more traditional flavor than the others, yet the same health benefits as a nutrient-dense raw bar.

Makes approximately 12 x 50-gram bars.

Variation: To make even more nutrient-dense, the ground flaxseeds and he hemp protein can be substituted on a 1:1 ratio with Vega Whole Food Smoothie Infusion.

Unexpectedly hearing a loud noise when the room is quiet, you might feel a sudden rush of energy. This is the most basic form of stimulation, left over from your primal survival mechanism. Your body assumes the loud noise is a threat and prepares you for action by engaging the adrenal glands to draw more energy.

In reaction to the first onset of stimulation — a form of stress — we gain energy. We become more alert, our strength can increase and we have the ability to process information more quickly and react faster. Summoning its hormonal resources to momentarily improve strength and reaction time, the body would have likely improved its odds of getting out of a prehistoric bind. Early man would certainly have benefited from greater strength and quicker reaction time if confronted by a predatory animal.

Of course, we aren’t confronted with those types of threats today. But we face a host of modern-day ones that evoke the same hormonal response. Stress of any kind — be it too much work, family-related concerns, poor diet, breathing impure air, constantly having to be “on”, and not enough down time — put strain on the adrenal glands.

What is actually happening when the body is confronted with stress? To varying degrees, based on the body’s perceived severity of the stress, it releases cortisol, which is designed to stimulate us. The downside is what follows regular stimulation: fatigue. Since our adrenal glands were not designed to be used as often as they are today, it’s common for them to become overworked, resulting in exhaustion. Adrenal burn out, as it is commonly referred to as, has become a widespread modern-day problem. If stress (and therefore cortisol) remain elevated, several problems arise. One being, the body shifts fuel sources. Switching from burning fat as fuel, a stressed person’s system will have replaced its use with carbohydrate in the form of sugar. Now burning more sugar and less fat, the body will begin to store body fat instead of use it for energy.

Stress-free people are fat burning machines. Not the case for stressed ones; they burn and therefore crave carbohydrates. This leads to overworked adrenal glands, adrenal fatigue and then eventually to a host of stress-related impairments. A reduction in sleep quality is also a common trait of elevated cortisol levels.

Biological Debt

I use the term biological debt to refer to a state that the body goes into after energy from stimulation has dissipated. In the modern world, often brought on by eating refined sugar or drinking coffee to gain energy in the short-term, biological debt is a state of fatigue. Unfortunately, it is a state that many average-diet-eating Westerners are accustomed to living in. But now biological debt has found its way into the health food and even the raw food arena. And in fact, is becoming a health risk — and in many cases is evoking a desire for raw foodists to eat cooked food.

For long-term health and vitality, we need to understand the difference between two types of energy: one is obtained from stimulation, the other from nourishment. As a general rule, the more processed the food is, the more stimulating its effect will be on the nervous system, and the less nourishing. In contrast, the more natural and whole a food is — raw and sprouted being the best — the less stimulating and the more nourishing it will be.

As a society, because of our insatiable desire for quick, convenient energy “on the go”, our streets are crammed with coffee, donut and fast food establishments. This solves the convenience problem and offers a short-term energy solution through stimulation. However, it does nothing to help with the payment inevitably required by the body if this route is taken regularly. The body can subsist on stimulating, nutrient-absent food only for so long before becoming either exhausted or sick.

This problem was once only true for those who ate an unhealthy diet comprised largely of stimulating foods like refined flour, refined sugar, coffee and caffeinated soda. But other forms of stimulating foods have become prevalent in the “heath food” world. Cacao being the most notable.

As with any food that contains caffeine, cacao is stimulating, which will result in an energy surge and a sense of well-being in the short term, but in greater fatigue days later. Therefore, the desire to eat more of it to ward off the fatigue that was created by it becomes stronger and are, what some would suggest, the beginnings of a dependency. Of course this can lead to the need for regular consumption of cacao to maintain energy and a sense of well-being, which isn’t healthy. Dependence on anything never is. Additionally, caffeine containing-foods raise cortisol levels, which lowers the immune system, making the body more vulnerable to infection and eventually leading to the storage of body fat and the creation of inflammation.

Stress – Stimulation – Sickness

Many of us are in a constant state of biological debt. It is a huge contributing factor to overall stress and therefore has become a major precipitator of fatigue, weight gain, and compromised health in general. If untreated, it can lead to serious diseases.

One measure of health is having cost-free energy — energy that lasts and does not have to be “stoked” continually with stimulating foods. The stoking of energy can end in one result only: less energy. These foods are certainly not part of a sustainable, high-energy diet.

As you can see from the illustration directly below, stress triggers the spiral.

For the average North American, 40 percent of that stress can be directly linked to diet. With the first onset of stress comes natural adrenal stimulation, which is not unhealthy in small doses. The rise in cortisol level, however, always results in fatigue. Any kind of stimulation, regardless of how dramatic or mild, produces short-term energy, but it is always followed by fatigue. The degree of fatigue depends on the degree of stimulation: the greater the stimulation, the greater the fatigue. The healthiest things a person can do at this point is rest and remove the elements causing the stress, such as poor diet. Yet, this is when most people turn to self-imposed adrenal stimulation to regain energy, foods like coffee and refined foods in the regular world and cacao in the healthy and/or raw world. This results in a short burst of energy, then greater fatigue and then more stimulation to try and reenergize. The circle is complete.

Each time the circle completes itself, the severity of the condition rises, creating an incremental decline in health and an increased risk factor for serious disease. The first completion of the circle will likely result only in a slightly increased appetite. The next time around will result in cravings, likely for starchy, refined foods (often making raw foodists more tempted by cooked food). Sequential passes involve difficulty sleeping, irritability, mental fog, lack of motivation, body fat gain, lean muscle loss, visible signs of premature aging, and sickness. Each round produces a more severe symptom, on top of the previous ones, compounding the effect. If this cycle of chronically elevated cortisol levels is allowed to continue, tissue degeneration, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and even diseases can develop.

A healthy, sustainable whole food diet and lifestyle will be one that does not require additional stimulation through food. As a result your body will re-establish its sensory system, functioning at a healthier, more energetic level—without the cellular-damaging need for stimulation. Recalibration can be achieved by removing as much stimuli as possible for a set period.
The less stimulation a person has in everyday life, the greater impact stimuli will have on the body. This is good. It means the person is living a low-stress life, and we know the benefits of that. But there’s more to it. It also means that considerably less stimulation is needed to evoke a stress response from the adrenal glands. One of the body’s most resourceful traits is its ability to adapt. Acclimatizing to stimulation is no exception.

Recalibrating To Benefit From Small Amounts of Stimulation

Here’s an example. When you turn on a light in a dark room, it seems very bright, even though in reality it’s no brighter than usual. Similarly, when ambient sound levels are low, the body’s sense of hearing is heightened. Have you ever noticed that sometimes the phone’s ring sounds very loud, and at other times it sounds relatively quiet? The key word is relatively. Our body has the ability to adjust to much of what goes on around it.

To calibrate its sensory system, the body must decide at what level it will sense stimuli. The only gauge the body has is through the information we feed it: sound, sight, touch, smell, and taste. Its decision is based on the level at which we supply that information. If we eat a daily serving of cacao to increase our energy, it won’t take long before its effect is diminished — before one serving will no longer provide the boost it once did. It might seem logical, then, to eat more in order to get the “energy” that a single serving used to deliver. But where does this cycle end?

Our bodies are chronically over-stimulated, yet most of us don’t realize it — our bodies have adapted, but at a cost. Constantly having to climb to a new level to remain in the same place is a tough way to live, yet all too common. The way to fix this problem, to remove considerable stress from the body and in doing so increase energy, is to recalibrate the body. A healthy plant-based diet free of stimulants will serve as a solid platform.

When and How Stimulation Can Benefit You

Not all stimulation is bad or always has a negative effect. It will always result in greater fatigue as mentioned above, but depending on what it is summoned for will determine its value. When the adrenal glands are stimulated in order to achieve something that could not be done (or done as well) without this stimulation, the stress that results can be viewed as positive. Or classified as “production stress”, as I term it in my book, The Thrive Diet.

Here’s a way in which stimulation can be used to ones advantage: An athlete who has recalibrated by eating a clean diet and has abstained from all stimulating foods — including cacao — can benefit from a small amount of adrenal stimulation before a race. Drinking a cup of yerba maté (a South American herb) or eating a small amount of cacao before a race will boost performance. The caffeine in the yerba maté or cacao will stimulate the adrenal glands, thereby improving endurance and facilitating a better performance than would have otherwise been possible. This will also bring about greater fatigue within a day or two, and that’s fine. At the time of the race, the athlete simply borrowed energy from the future to fuel performance. Extra fatigue a day or two later will be a small price to pay for his elevated performance. The same holds true for those trying to get more done at work. Stimulation can enable them to achieve more in the short term.

However, if this borrowing strategy is used too often, it will lose its effectiveness and simply become another form of stress that perpetuates the cycle. To be effective, the strategy can be used only a few times a month, once a week at most, for those times when a boost would really be beneficial. Ideally, you would rarely, if ever, need it; a healthy diet that is stimulant-free will provide you energy by nourishment.

If stimulation is used when it will not help you achieve something of value, it is of no value, and as explained above, a detriment. I term it uncomplementary stress in The Thrive Diet. I consider the regular consumption of cacao a form of an uncomplementary stress. I view it as a form of credit, similar to shopping with a credit card. You get energy now that you don’t actually have, but you pay for it later — when the “bill,” or fatigue, hits. (Simply eating more cacao to put off the inevitable is like paying off one credit card with another: It will catch up with you sooner or later.) You’ll most likely pay a high interest rate as well, needing more time to recover than if that energy had not been borrowed in the first place. This is the beginning of a vicious circle.

One of the main attributes of a healthy diet should be adequate energy provided by nourishment, without the need to artificially stimulate the adrenals to gain it. This, along with simply being properly rested by getting efficient sleep (because of a reduction in stress, obtainable though better diet), will prevent a spiral such as this from developing.

If fatigue is consistently a problem for you and you crave stimulating foods such as cacao as well as cooked foods, chances are your adrenals need nourishing back to health. The best way in which to do this is by recalibrating with basic whole, plant-based foods. A beneficial food for nourishing the adrenal glands as opposed to stimulating them is a root vegetable called maca. I include 2.5 grams of it in my blender drink each day to maintain strong adrenal function. 2.5 grams is all that’s needed and the amount that is in each serving of Vega Whole Food Meal Replacement, the formula that I developed for peak health and to recover from adrenal fatigue.

For more information, check out The Thrive Diet.

G Living’s Brendan Brazier is one the world’s few professional athletes whose diet is 100 percent plant based. He’s a professional Ironman triathlete, bestselling author on performance nutrition, and the creator of an award-winning line of whole food nutritional products called Vega.

Photographer: G Monkie (CC)

G Living’s Brendan Brazier is one the world’s few professional athletes whose diet is 100 percent plant based. He’s a professional Ironman triathlete, bestselling author on performance nutrition, and the creator of an award-winning line of whole food nutritional products called Vega.

The following is our third excerpt from Brendan’s new book “The Thrive Diet”, on sale on Amazon.com. Or take a look at a Digital version of The Thrive Diet on Google Books.

One-step nutrition is the term I use to describe food containing nutrients already in a form usable by the body, with no breaking down required. The nutrients get into the body and go straight to work. Nutrients in foods in a typical North American diet are in a form that the body must first break down and convert before it can utilize them.

By consuming one-step foods, the body is fueled and able to rebuild efficiently. Requiring minimal energy to become usable and assimilated, foods containing one-step nutrients in effect provide the body with more energy by helping conserve energy. Gaining the greatest amount of energy from the least amount of food is the goal of the Thrive Diet.

Food has three main components: carbohydrate, protein, and fat.

Carbohydrate, accounting for most of the food we eat, consists of sugar, starch, and fiber. The ratio of each in any given food varies. Generally, fruits have high sugar levels; bread, pasta, and rice have large amounts of starch, also known as complex carbohydrate; and vegetables are fiber-rich.>

Foods Rich in Simple Carbohydrate

Bananas
Berries
Dates
Figs
Mangos
Papayas
Pineapples

Protein, which reconstructs body tissue, is the body’s building nutrient. Regeneration is an ongoing process: In the course of the day, through normal wear and tear, body tissue is constantly being broken down and rebuilt. From the food we eat, the body converts protein into amino acids for use; it cannot utilize protein directly.We can help our body speed the regeneration process and be more efficient in the fabrication of new cells by eating foods rich in amino acid — one-step foods. This way, the body does not have to expend energy to convert protein into amino acids. Greens have the highest percentage of amino acids per ounce of any food. However, since greens do not weigh much, they need to be eaten daily to reap the full benefits that their amino acid profile offer. Eating a large green salad each day is part of the Thrive Diet.

Foods Rich in Amino Acids

Hemp
Leafy greens
Sprouts: legumes, pseudograins,
seeds

Dietary fat is necessary for the lubrication of joints and for the activation of fat-soluble vitamins. It is also drawn on as an energy source when the body’s carbohydrate supply is low.As with carbohydrate and protein, dietary fat must be broken down into a form the body can utilize. The body breaks fat into fatty acids—nutrients it can assimilate and put to work. Consuming fat sources that are directly made up of fatty acids is advantageous since the body will be able to make instant use of them.

Foods Rich in Fatty Acids

Seeds and oil:
Flaxseed
Hemp
Pumpkin seed
Sesame seed

The most complete, balanced form of one-step nutrition is sprouted foods. Raw, enzyme-rich sprouts are plentiful in all three food components: simple carbohydrate, amino acids, and fatty acids. They are predigested (as some describe it) so the body does not have to produce its own enzymes, plus the nutrients are in a usable form—a considerable net gain in total energy supplied by the food. (Contrast this to processed, cooked proteins that the body must break down before they can be utilized, creating a significant loss in energy efficacy.) Sprouted legumes such as garbanzo beans, lentils, and mung beans are excellent. The sprouting process converts the complex carbohydrate in legumes into simple carbohydrate, the protein into usable amino acids, and the fat into fatty acids, requiring no extra work on the body’s part and therefore raising the net gain. Foods rich in essential fatty acids, such as flaxseed, can be sprouted as well for a premium, usable fuel source. Indeed, essential fatty acids are a superior source of healthy energy.

Visit Brendan’s personal site

Our friend Brendan Brazier, the vegan tri-athlete, author and formulator of the Vega food products, stopped by to show Sarah and Boise how to make a raw energy bar. This is one of the first products Brendan created during his early days of training.

G Living’s Brendan Brazier is one the world’s few professional athletes whose diet is 100 percent plant based. He’s a professional Ironman triathlete, bestselling author on performance nutrition, and the creator of an award-winning line of whole food nutritional products called Vega.

The following is our fifth excerpt from Brendan’s book “The Thrive Diet”, on sale now.

The balance of acid and alkaline within the body is referred to as pH (meaning “potential of hydrogen”), and measured on a scale ranging from pH 1 (the most acidic) to pH 14 (the most alkaline). A neutral or good pH balance is 7.35; maintaining this balance is vital. If the body’s pH drops, meaning our body has become too acidic, the likelihood of ailments rises sharply. An acidic environment within the body negatively affects health at the cellular level. It is not possible to be truly healthy when the body is in a constant state of acidosis (characterized by excessively high acid levels).

People with an acidic environment within their body are also prone to fatigue: Since acidity is a stressor, cortisol levels rise, impairing sleep. The consumption of acid forming foods is the number one cause of an overly acidic system, and the overconsumption of acid-forming foods plays a significant role in one of North America’s largest health problems –excessive weight. Since our body is equipped with buffering capabilities, our blood pH will vary to only a small degree, regardless of diet. The body’s ability to cope is a testament to how resourceful it is. Yet, the systems that are recruited to facilitate this buffering use of energy can become strained, and if prolonged, will result in significant stress to the system, causing immune function to falter and effectively opening the door to a host of diseases.

Low-grade metabolic acidosis — when cells remain in an overly acidic state because of too many acid-forming foods being eaten or a high-stress lifestyle in general — is believed to be a leading cause of several health concerns, including the development of kidney stones, loss of bone mass, and the reduction of growth hormone levels, resulting in loss of lean muscle mass and increase of body fat. Lowgrade metabolic acidosis affects the body at a cellular level and is responsible for an increase of free radicals and a decrease in the production of cellular energy. In addition to these serious concerns, viruses and bacteria are able to thrive in an acidic body, again possibly leading to numerous diseases. Interestingly, it is impossible for cancer to develop in an alkaline environment; this shows the importance of alkalinity in disease prevention.

So, what can we do to prevent all this? The answer is to consume more alkaline-forming foods and fewer acid-forming ones. One factor that significantly raises the pH of food, and in turn the body, is chlorophyll content. Responsible for giving plants their green pigment, chlorophyll is often referred to as the blood of plants. The botanical equivalent to hemoglobin in human blood, chlorophyll synthesizes energy.

Chlorophyll converts the sun’s energy that has been absorbed by the plant into carbohydrate. Known as photosynthesis, this process is responsible for life on earth. Since animals and humans eat plants, we too get our energy from the sun, plants being the conduit. Chlorophyll is prized for its ability to cleanse our blood by helping remove toxins deposited from dietary and environmental sources. Chlorophyll is also linked to the body’s production of red blood cells, making daily consumption of chlorophyll-rich foods important for ensuring the body’s constant cell regeneration and improving oxygen transport in the body and therefore energy levels. Optimizing the body’s regeneration of blood cells will also contribute to peak athletic performance.

Although some foods test as acidic, they produce an alkalizing effect once digested. Citrus fruit and balsamic and apple cider vinegar are all acidic, but when consumed, they become highly alkaline-forming.

While I realize that most people who eat a typical North American diet do eat some alkalizing foods, such as fruit and vegetables, the amounts are rarely large enough to offset the acidity formed by the base of the diet. Even many so-called healthy diets, particularly those based heavily on cooked grains, keep the body in an overly acidic state, resulting is slowed cellular regeneration. Not all foods you eat need to be highly alkaline-forming; however, for optimal health, it is important that most of them are alkalizing.

Balanced pH plays a major role in bone health. Studies indicate that it is not a lack of dietary calcium, as is commonly thought, but stress and overconsumption of acid-forming foods and supplements that lead to most cases of poor bone health and osteoporosis. The blood will always remain neutral — this is imperative for survival — so if the body is consistently fed acid-forming, denatured foods and supplements, or encounters stress from other sources, it must take measures to ensure a neutral blood pH is maintained. In doing so, the body pulls calcium, the mineral is our body that is most alkaline, from the bones.

Over time, the bones weaken as a result of this survival mechanism. The conventional way of treating low calcium levels and osteoporosis is to “take” more calcium, usually in the form of supplements. The calcium in tablets is usually derived from oyster shells, bovine bone meal, coral, or dolomite (a type of rock), all of which are extremely hard and unnatural for the body to assimilate — they are not food. The large size of these supplements and, with some types, the number recommended for daily intake is a testament to their poor bioavailability. The body must work very hard to get calcium from these sources.

pH Levels and Enjoyment of Life

Diet has the greatest impact on the body’s pH level; however, there are other contributing factors. Maintaining a positive attitude and setting time aside to do an activity you enjoy on a regular basis will promote pH balance within the body. Taking time out of a busy schedule to do something pleasurable yet seemingly unproductive is actually a key element in improved health and longevity — and therefore greater productivity. Of course, if you enjoy your busy schedule, it will be less stress-producing than if you perceive it as daunting — what might seem a foreboding schedule to someone else may be a source of pleasure for you. If you enjoy working through the night, then there is no need to rest. This further underscores the value of enjoying what you do for the long-term sake of your health.

Read more on the body’s pH level in The Thrive Diet. For more on Brendan Brazier, click here.

It amazes me how little attention the value of balanced pH has garnered from the mainstream medical world. Positive acid/alkaline balance is one of the most important factors in athletic performance. In my opinion, by disregarding this fact, sport supplement manufactures have significantly reduced the effectiveness of their products. In fact some of the energy bars currently on the market are the worst offenders. Processed for the sake of shelf life and convenience, and consequently denatured and acid forming, many energy bars are not much more than disguised junk food.

When acidic forming food is consumed, starting with digestion and continuing until elimination, it produces toxins that the body must deal with. Denatured foods are toxin producers and as a result have the greatest negative impact on pH balance within the body. Highly refined and processed, denatured foods are void of any usable nutrients, yet retain their caloric value the worst combination. Toxins in the body lead to premature aging through cell degeneration. Aside from food, most prescription drugs, artificial sweeteners and synthetic vitamin and mineral supplements are extremely acid forming.

Athletes in peak training are the most affected by acidosis. Vigorous exercise creates stress in terms of muscle trauma cased by the workout. Physiologically speaking, hard exercise is the stressor but equally important is rest and recovery. The correct balance of theses two opposing elements is the recipe for growth. Already physically stressed, many athletes also must deal with various types of performance anxiety. An increased metabolism is yet another factor athletes are met with, further lowering pH. Furthermore, athletes require more food in general with an emphasis on protein to aid muscle recovery.

For recovery to be expedited, alkalizing foods, such as those rich in chlorophyll, need to be consumed soon after exercise. Protein must also be consumed to help repair broken down muscle tissue. As with processed energy bars, numerous sport supplements touted as post-work-out recovery agents contain highly processed, manufactured proteins usually in the form of denatured isolates, which are acid forming. Suggesting they be consumed soon after a workout will fulfil the body’s need for protein, but completely neglect its need for pH balancing.

The paradox is this; most protein sources are highly acid forming, yet the highly alkaline forming foods are generally low in protein. This can be overcome if the protein sources are chosen carefully. Raw, unprocessed, natural, hemp protein, for example, measures at about 50% protein, yet is greatly less acid forming than common denatured ones such as soy and whey. Hemp’s higher pH level can be attributed in part to chlorophyll content, responsible for its green colour. Chlorella is another great protein-rich pH booster, containing almost 70% protein, yet it is highly alkalizing. As a general rule, the most alkalizing foods are raw, unprocessed, whole and rich in chlorophyll. Raw, sprouted legumes such as lentils, beans and seeds are also a superior source of alkalizing protein. Also, a diet high in leafy green vegetables, which are excellent sources of chlorophyll, will help insure the system remains alkaline even when stress levels are elevated.

In addition to curtailing recovery, pH imbalance is a trigger for many ailments. Those who maintain an acidic environment within their body are also prone to fatigue. Since acidity is a stressor, cortisol levels rise resulting in impaired sleep quality, thus further exacerbating the problem.

Contrary to popular belief, it is stress and the over consumption of acid forming foods, not a lack of dietary calcium, that lead to most cases of poor bone health and eventually osteoporosis. The blood itself will always remain neutral as this is imperative for survival. However, iIf the body is consistently fed acid forming denatured foods and supplements, or encounters stress from other sources, it must take measures to ensure a neutral blood pH is maintained. To do so, the body pulls alkaline calcium from the bones. Over time, the bones become weaker as a result of this survival mechanism.

The conventional way of treating low calcium levels and osteoporosis is to simply suggest the person take more calcium, usually in the form of tablets. The calcium source in tablets is generally derived from materials such as oyster shells, bovine bone meal, coral and dolomite (rock), all of which are extremely hard and unnatural for the body to assimilate. The large size and recommended daily number to be consumed is a testament to their poor bioavailability. The body must work very hard to get calcium from these sources, another reason why this method of boosting calcium levels in our body is inferior.

Low-grade metabolic acidosis as it is termed, is another symptom of an over acidic body. It has been cited as a leading cause of several health concerns such as the development of kidney stones, loss of bone mass, and the reduction of growth hormone, therefore resulting in a decline in lean muscle mass and an increase of body fat. Since low-grade metabolic acidosis affects the body at a cellular level it is also responsible for an increase in the fabrication of free radicals, and a loss in cellular energy production. In addition to these serious concerns, viral and bacterial growth is able to thrive in an acidic body, possibly leading to a wide variety of diseases. On the other hand disease is rare in an alkaline body; cancer, for example, cannot develop in an alkaline environment.

Though diet has the single greatest impact on the body’s pH balance, there are other things that can also help. For example, taking time out of a busy schedule to do something pleasurable yet seemingly unproductive can actually be a key ingredient to improved pH balance, improved health and longevity.

G Living’s Brendan Brazier is one the world’s few professional athletes whose diet is 100 percent plant based. He’s a professional Ironman triathlete, bestselling author on performance nutrition, and the creator of an award-winning line of whole food nutritional products called Vega.

The following is an excerpt from Brendan’s new book “The Thrive Diet”, on sale now in Canada and and in the U.S. in January.

Raw and low-temperature cooked foods | Enzyme Enhancement
High-temperature cooking and processing of food destroys the enzymes and nutrients that allow the food to be efficiently digested. Therefore, before the body can make use of cooked food, it must produce enzymes to aid in the digestion process. That takes work.

One of the least appreciated yet most important components of our diet, enzymes are vital to achieving optimal health. An absence of enzymes in your diet can result in the same sickness and disease associated with malnutrition, even if your diet is otherwise healthy. Without enzymes, food cannot be turned into usable fuel for the body. As with hormones, enzyme production in the body diminishes with age, leaving us reliant on diet to provide them. In the distant past, that was of little concern, as enzymes were plentiful in food. But today enzymes are not so abundant in our foods. As our fresh whole-food choices dwindle, making way for highly refined, processed options, enzymes in our foods diminish.

Meanwhile, our ailments are on the rise. Coincidence? Probably not.

Plant foods have several advantages, including easy digestibility and bioavailability (the rate at which the food is absorbed by the body and exerts an effect). The quicker nutrients are extracted from the food, the sooner the food can be eliminated — a key factor in optimal health.

There is some evidence to suggest that consuming too many processed, cooked foods for several years exhausts the body’s enzyme-producing glands, resulting in poor digestion and assimilation of food later in life. This is one possible reason for the rapidity of signs of aging and disease—food is no longer nourishing the body the way it once did, simply because it’s not being digested the way it once was.

For enzyme health, it would ideal for all of us to eat only raw, organic food the day it’s harvested, not be exposed to any environmental pollutants, and to live a stress-free life. Obviously, this is not realistic. But we can enhance our enzyme intake and production. Since raw foods have enzymes still intact, they are a vital component of a healthy diet. The Thrive Diet is built on a platform of enzyme-rich foods. Those who follow the diet will simply build and maintain healthy levels of enzymes with no additional effort.

Visit Brendan’s personal site

Omega-3 has moved to the upper level of awareness, even for the average consumer. In fact, it’s become “mainstream”. Recently I saw a generic brand of knock-off Oreos. Not surprisingly, their first ingredient was refined sugar and the second was bleached white flour. However, across the front of the box in a font larger than the name of the cookies it said “Omega-3!” If there were any doubt that Omega-3 was hot, this should lay it to rest. And while Omega-3 is vastly important — essential even — its usage and the way in which it’s being promoted has become somewhat misguided. As with many healthy foods or nutrients — once grabbed by the mainstream, they tend to be slightly misunderstood.

An upswing in awareness of Omega-3 consumption began to develop soon after a World Health Organization (WHO) report was released that suggested the average North American eats a vastly out-of-balance ration of Omega-6 to Omega-3. And that this was linked to serious health problems. Consumers of the Standard American Diet (SAD) commonly ingest a ratio that is in the realm of 20:1, the report states. That means that 20 times more Omega-6 is being consumed than Omega-3.

This was of great concern since the WHO determined in their extensive study that the ideal ratio for optimal health is 4:1. This was assuming, of course, that both Omega-6 and Omega-3 sources were of high quality and in their natural, unrefined form. But, of course this finding suggested that those who subsisted on a SAD were consuming 5 times more Omega-6 than what was ideal. A significantly out-of-balance ratio such as this was being blamed for a broad spectrum of ailments. Inflammation, contributing to joint pain, was one of the chief concerns, but the list was long and varied. Difficulty sleeping, general mental and physical fatigue, sugar cravings, the inability to effectively burn body fat, dry skin and even poor memory were all suspected of being a result of this off-kilter ratio. Serious implications indeed.

However, since the ratio and quality is what’s most important here (not the total amount), could these results also be interpreted to suggest that the average North American consumes 5 times too little Omega-3? Yes, and they were. As a consumer-minded society, we immediately concluded that these findings meant we needed more Omega-3 in our diet to compensate for the lopsided ratio. While not a bad approach, this certainly wasn’t the most logical solution. However, seemingly overnight, Omega-3 became a buzzword and people were eager to “up their Omega-3 intake”. And the natural next question was “can I buy Omega-3 supplements?” The answer is yes — even though this is far from optimal.

Another finding immerged from the same WHO study — only this one was not as celebrated. The report suggested that the problem was not merely created by too much Omega-6, but rather that its sources were chiefly to blame. In addition to a skewed ratio, the problem was determined to be the denatured, refined and highly-processed forms of fat containing Omega-6. Blame was placed on eating too many high-temperature fried foods, denatured oils and manufactured fats commonly used to increase the shelf life of cheaper baked goods.

The fact that we should be eating less “bad” fat is hardly newsworthy at this point. However, the notion that more Omega-3 will solve all your health problems had the makings of a story with mainstream appeal. It’s “saleable”, as they say in the biz. And it sold.

Taking into account the WHO’s ideal ratio findings, those of us who eat a diet that does not regularly contain high amounts of high-temperature fried foods, hydrogenated fats such as those found in some margarines or trans fats have no reason to “take” oils or capsules that have a greater ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6. It’s just not necessary.

If, however, a large part of your diet consists of denatured fats, fried foods, and manufactured oils…stop eating them! Don’t just add Omega-3 and think you’ve solved the problem by balancing your ratio. It’s false hope, and it’s nothing more than patch work, which will offer a mild reprieve of symptoms at best. The cause will, however, remain intact and worsen until it is addressed.

The WHO report and several that have be conducted since conclude that the best way to bring the ratio back to a healthy balance is to simply cut back — with a goal of compete elimination — on all processed, denatured and manufactured fats. Healthy cold pressed forms of Omega-6 are perfectly healthy and, in fact, essential to optimal health. As long as their quantity does not surpass four parts for every one part of Omega-3, top health will be obtainable.

While there are many highly corrective oil formulas on the market that offer a 1:2 ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3, I believe the best approach is to eat a healthy, balanced, whole food diet as opposed to an oil or a pill. After all, a healthy diet is the goal. And a healthy diet includes balanced cold-pressed oils that yield between a 4:1 ratio and a 2:1 ratio.

Here’s a suggestion: try making a salad dressing that combines cold-pressed, organic, hemp seed oil (70%), flax seed oil (20%) and pumpkin seed oil (10%).

Brendan Brazier is a professional Ironman triathlete, two-time Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon Champion and bestselling author on performance nutrition. He is also the creator of the award-winning VEGA line of whole food products.

Brendan’s latest book, The Thrive Diet (Penguin, 2007), includes 100 balanced, plant-based, whole food recipes.

G Living’s Brendan Brazier is one the world’s few professional athletes whose diet is 100 percent plant based. He’s a professional Ironman triathlete, bestselling author on performance nutrition, and the creator of an award-winning line of whole food nutritional products called Vega.

The following is our fourth excerpt from Brendan’s book “The Thrive Diet”, on sale now.

I use the term biological debt to refer to a state that the body goes into after energy from stimulation has dissipated. Often brought about by eating refined sugar or drinking coffee to gain energy in the short term, biological debt is a state of fatigue.

For long-term health and vitality, we need to understand the difference between two types of energy: one obtained from stimulation, the other from nourishment. As a general rule, the more processed the food is, the more stimulating its effect will be on the nervous system, and the less nourishing. In contrast, the more natural and whole a food is — raw and sprouted being the best — the less stimulating and the more nourishing it will be. Because of our insatiable desire for quick, convenient energy “on the go,” our streets are crammed with coffee, donut, and fast food establishments. This solves the convenience problem and offers a short-term energy solution through stimulation. However, it does nothing to help with the payment inevitably required by the body if this route is taken regularly. The body can subsist on stimulating, nutrient-absent food only so long before becoming either exhausted or sick –and where the body goes, the mind is sure to follow.

In the afternoon, lunch has started to wear off, and hunger and fatigue is creeping in. Reaching for either a cup of coffee, a snack high in refined carbohydrates, or both is common. Coffee and refined carbohydrates give a short energy boost but stress the body. Coffee also raises cortisol levels, which lowers the immune system, making the body more vulnerable to infection and eventually leading to the storage of body fat. Refined carbohydrates cause an insulin spike that will elevate cortisol levels. Excessive consumption of coffee and refined carbohydrates will also result in inflammation, a key cause of premature aging.

Many of us are in a constant state of biological debt. Simply put, it is a huge contributing factor to overall stress and therefore has become a major precipitator of fatigue, weight gain, and compromised health in general. If untreated, it can lead to serious diseases. One measure of health is having cost-free energy — energy that lasts and does not have to be “stoked” continually with processed carbohydrates, manufactured sugar, or caffeine. The stoking of energy can end in one result only: less energy. Ironically, many so-called energy foods are the biggest energy-suckers. The high level of processing they undergo ensures that their shelf life is dramatically extended, but this is accompanied by a marked decline in nutritional quality. These foods are certainly not part of a sustainable, high-energy diet.

While convenient, many energy bars offer nothing more nutritional than what candy bars offer. High in calories supplied from adrenal fatiguing refined sources, most energy bars provide energy for the short term (anything with calories will) but, after a person consumes them for several months, will bring about fatigue. The processing they go through in manufacturing, which lowers their pH and destroys their enzymes, make them a strain on both the immune and digestive systems, rendering them a low-net gain, stressful food.

Superior energy-maximizing foods are those that offer sustainable energy, not quick bouts of stimulation. High net-gain whole foods provide a platform on which to build long-term sustainable vitality.

Read more on Eliminating Biological Debt in The Thrive Diet. For more on Brendan Brazier, click here.