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Crystal West Fitness
VEGAN ATHLETE

FEBRUARY 19, 2010:  I get a lot of e-mails from people asking me about my nutrition.  This page will explain what I am doing, why, and how well it is working. 

I am a brand new vegan.  In the 90's I was a vegetarian for eight years but never cut out dairy and eggs.  It was easy for me to cut out meat.  As I left vegetarianism behind in 1999 and became a full fledged meat eater, I often times felt bloated and lethargic after eating large meat filled meals.  For the years 2008 and 2009 I was on a very restrictive body-building type diet.  It consisted of mainly high protein and lots of vegetables, not much fruit and limited carbs.  This diet kept me quite lean which I need for competitions, but I was also tired a lot.  I decided to become a vegan for a variety of reasons and will blog about my reasons and experiences both good and bad as time passes.  Since my training regiman is fairly extreme it may be instructive for other athletes to note my experiences.

I will also give information on books and websites that I have referenced, if I think they may be helpful. 

Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart.

VEGAN ATHLETE CRYSTAL WEST

BIKINIDEC/4b9d620a3893a7ef66dc06cce53004e31.jpg
Bikini Competition June 26, 2010

On February 3, 2010 I cut out all meat and dairy from my diet.  Since that date I have been about 99 percent compliant with my new regimen (no meat but maybe a tiny bit of dairy here and there).  What I have noted is that I have the same strength as pre-vegan diet but MORE ENERGY at this stage of my transition.  I have definitely not noticed any decrease in strength and that is something I was keeping a close eye on.  The transition over to a whole food plant based diet was relatively easy.  There are so many great foods it is hard not to over-eat actually.  The volume of food I am eating has increased dramatically from what it was.  I am still attempting to eat more raw foods and less cooked foods but am moving in that direction slowly.  The one negative thing I can say is that the first few weeks were hard due to the bloating and feelings of extreme fullness I experienced.  I have lost maybe two pounds but I am at a low weight and BF anyway so I didn't expect to drop much weight.  My system seems to be regulated now to this new way of eating and I feel much better over-all. 

I continue to do my hour to three hour long training sessions, including grueling bouts of pull-ups for an hour with minimal rest and have had a ton of energy for everything.  My recovery seems either the same or maybe slightly better. 

I have discovered what I can eat in my favorite restaurants and continue to search in that respect but have not had any adverse social problems.  Seems like if you want to follow this lifestyle it is fairly simple to do.  So far I have read the book The China Study and have cruised the Internet reading all sorts of vegan lifestyle and food blogs.  I plan on getting the Engine Two Diet as soon as I can find it as I have had a few people tell me it has some great recipes. (It is available on Amazon.com)

Since I am a strength athlete, I hold the World Record for added weight pull-ups, I have had a few people question me regarding if I will be able to continue competing without meat.  One gentleman actually said there is no way I would be able to function and that people were made to eat meat.  I indicated that I was training hard for World Records in pull-ups and had seen no adverse effects and while I was still on the fence it appeared that the diet might be benefiting me.  He ignored what I said and repeated his mantra.  I thought it was funny.  All sorts of athletes are successful eating lots of different types of diets, but not to be open to experimentation and to consider actual real results from someone who is training up to three hours a day seems preposterous...just sayin.

I will continue to blog about my experiences both good and bad each month.  Plus, I will start being more specific regarding the foods I am eating as I have started to get questions regarding my protein intake ect.

May 5th.  I continue to feel as if the Vegan diet is really working for me.  I just got a new Women's Open World Record on May 1st eating strictly vegan.  I took the record in most consecutive pull-ups which obviously takes both strength and endurance.  More to come:)

June 9th.  I broke my own World Record on May 26th and completed 36 consecutive pull-ups.  I turned 45 yers old on May 28th.  When I was 40, it was completely outside my frame of reference that I would be a World Record holder and a vegan.  My diet continues to work for me and I am also eating a bit more strictly in terms of more fruit, raw vegetables and beans and less processed foods.