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Hello, I'm Kimberly King, and welcome to the mother's market radio show, a show dedicated to the Truth, Beauty and Goodness of the human condition. On today's show, we have a former professional Triathlete who's been eating a plant-based diet since he was 15 years old, and he's going to share some of his secrets inside a book he's written on the benefits of eating more vegan, plus will tell you what's new at mother's market as we approach the holiday season, and give you a chance to win a 100 gift card.

So listen carefully to the code word this week, but first stuff, we are what we eat, and it's important to give our bodies the right foods to live healthier.

Today, we're pleased to welcome Brent and brace, a professional Iron Man triathlete and vegan since the age of 15. Brendon has conducted over a decade of research on the vast benefits of plant-based whole foods, now a best-selling author and formula TOR of the award-winning line of plant-based nutritional products called Vega.

Brendan was named one of the 25 most fascinating vegetarians Bivens magazine.

Brendan Brazier is here today on his national speaking tour to promote his book, Thrive the vegan nutritional guide to optimal performance sports in life, and to share with us his insight on how to achieve optimal health through stress-busting plant-based whole foods. And it's my pleasure to welcome him to the mother's market radio show. Brendan, how are you?

I'm good, thanks, how are you?

I'm fine. It's so great to have you here.

For those that may not be familiar with your mission and your work, why don't you fill our audience in a little bit before we get to the show's topic.

Sure, yeah, I started off... And it was 1990, and I just, I wanted to be a better athlete, tiering track in high school. And my goal was to try and become a professional, I wanted to be a professional runner at the time, and then I realized I also like swimming and cycling, so I thought, Well, that's a triathlon, swimming, biking, running, so maybe I could be a professional Tralee, and I thought that would really be ideal, that would just be the best kind of career for me, I felt, and I just really enjoy doing those things, so I thought it would be great if I could do that full-time, so I started taking steps towards trying to do that at a high level, and that's what got me interested, nutrition was really just trying to find fuel that would allow me to speed recovery between workouts, which would mean I could do more of them and last time, which would mean I could get more beneficial training into a short amount of time, which of course, I mean, I would improve more quickly, so that was my whole motivation for... It was a career path really.

First of all, noticed that you were 15, you were so young, so for you, for realizing that dream at such a young age... Yeah, thanks. It was just like I say, I just... At the time, honestly, I would have been anything. If I thought of making a better athlete, I didn't really care about what I just wanted, I just wanted that career, so it's always good, obviously to have an end goal, and I think some motivation, especially at that age, I think those types of things are pretty important absolutely. You're a huge inspiration.

Today we're talking about eating right and something that we all take for granted. So what made you decide to go vegan?

Well, that was actually just one of the things I tried along the way when I was trying different nutritional programs, I guess you could say, different types of diets, and I originally tried high car blow protein and then I flipped around a high protein, low carb and just I tried everything in between, so I was about a year and a half, I was trying different ways of eating and nothing worked really well somewhere better than others, but nothing really amazed me in terms of recovery time. And like I say, that's what I was really going for, it was peak recovery time, so that I could do more training, less time, and then I try to plan based, I had to politely beaded. And at first, it didn't work. And it did take me a while to get it right. I was... Originally, I was hungry all the time and tired all the time, and didn't recover well at all, and my high school track coach really didn't have much interest in it, keep in mind, I was 1990, so information didn't really flow the way that it does today, so... Information about plant pay nutrition just wasn't out there, and I figured if this coach, this really good coach too, he coached some of the best athletes in the country, if he didn't appreciate the value of good nutrition than probably a lot of other good coaches on either, so maybe if I investigated that more, maybe I could not only help myself out, but just kind of put out a high performance die for assets really... And I'm, I'm curious, because you say he was a really good coach, and obviously you're a coach believed in you and believed in that, that he really kept up with you, and if you said it didn't really work the first time, what made you continue up with that well, I think one of the reasons I continued on with it, I said, he really just brushed it off, and I had in my head at that point that nutrition would play a big part and good performance, because I really appreciate the value of good recovery, which as I found is around 80% due to nutrition, so I was such a strong believer in that, but like I say, he was very successful, so he had his program that worked and deviating from that really wasn't of interest to him, so I guess his lock appreciation of nutrition just sort of made it even stronger for my appreciation, and that just kind of caused me to do some research and investigate to see if I could turn this into a high performance...

Dyer, you've been asked many times, ready, get your protein?

Yeah, that's definitely a question I get a lot. And yeah, I've had that since day one. Basically, but you know, I found that you really don't need a lot of protein for one, as much as I think RDA recommends, and two, if you get it from line plant-based sources, you can get away with significantly less and actually get better benefits, so... I get most of my protein from obviously plants and that I completely plant-based diet, but specific sources... Hemp has quite a lot. It's around 45% to 50% protein, P protein. rice protein is in Vega and leafy greens, even 45% to 50%. Around 45%, I guess it is in Spanish and Cale, as far as protein and sprinkler Alla, those green algae are around 70%, so it's not that hard to get... Actually, if you eat a whole food diet I... When people get into trouble when they start refining foods and taking parts away, processing it basically, so eating the whole through diet. It's not that difficult.

Okay, what about calcium and iron for that matter?

Yeah, iron. It was actually something I had a bit of a problem with. It was about eight or nine years ago, and a natural path, I went to see suggested I take iron supplements, and I wasn't a post that, but I want to see if I could get away without taking supplements, and I found that pumpkin seeds have a lot of iron, so I just started eating pumpkin sees for a pumpkin sees each day. I just put out a court-ever cuff of my salad each day and I actually had them with a citrus stressing that has some vitamin C, so that helps with absorption, and I found within... It was about six months, but that completely cleared of... In my blood, work's been good ever since, so simple things like that, just pumpkinseed and Spanish to greens in general have some iron, so yes, I've ever been a problem since then in calcium, my does not really high in calcium other than what I get in the greens but what I found is that the most important thing is that you don't take Helm out of your bones. And that's why a lot of North Americans get osteoporosis and arthritis and have issues with bone health in general, because not that we're not getting enough in our diet, but as we take too much out and the standard American diet is asset-forming, which draws calcium out of the bones to keep the blood as a neutral pH, which is 735 and yeah, that's why we're actually getting as the approach to the younger age, never before in North America, it's just that highly processed yet, so everything in the standard American diet is actually a safari, so things like soda, met dairy, white flower, for example, all those highly processing, so getting away from that and more of the whole foods, Leafy greens are highly or Clint forming, so the same place you get protein, the same place he get calcium and also reduced the need for calcium, because you just don't have to pull a line into the bones to buffer that from a very key point right there that you just made, what are the top three benefits of eating plant-based and what can you address these common issues? You just really went over very important points, but what are the top three that you would say?

Yeah, definitely one of the big ones is alkaline, and so I was just talking about the bone health issue is a huge thing there, whether you're an athlete or not, obviously an athlete puts more strain on his or her bones is more likely to get some sort of fracture, but also obviously just the average person is gonna be better off of his or her bones are stronger, but another big thing too, when you get more alkaline, you reduce inflammation, and as an athlete, that's huge, because when your muscles aren't... Is inflamed, they're more functional, so you can move with less effort, which means you can serve energy on every muscle contraction, which means you have more energy 'cause you haven't spent it, your body is more efficient, and you think of all the muscle contractions in a 10K run a marathon, a triathlon. It's a lot.

So it all adds up, and if you can create that really efficient environment without inflammation within your body, that's gonna be a huge advantage, and even just an average person to just walking across the room, obviously uses muscles, and if they're not inflamed and they move more fluently you're gonna have more energy 'cause you don't need to spend as much at the end of the day, you're not as tired because you're efficient, so I think that's another big thing too, that a play-based whole food diet definitely helps with... And digestion as well. For the most part, plant-based whole foods digests more easily than a lot of things like obviously meet and Gary and animal-based products, and when you're not spending as much energy digesting and assimilating food, you have more energy, again, is something I call in the book, energy through conservation as opposed to consumption, you can serve it, 'cause you're not spending in digestion, so it just like anything else with money, if you spend it, you no longer have it, but you can make a good investment, and that's the way I started looking at food as an investment, you spend energy, but you have to get something in return.

So I started looking for foods that use the least amount of energy, digestive energy to digest, but gave the most micronutrients in return, so small energy out, a lot of micronutrients in, and I found that just to be a really good start and a good base of the diet, that's a really good way to look at it too, and I love that. That makes a lot of sense. Really interesting information, Brennan. And right now, we're gonna take a quick break, but we'll have more on the vegan diet, so I stay with us, we will be right back, but thank you, this is all great, interesting information for us to digest or... Welcome back to the mother's market radio show. And now we wanna take time to remind you that if you missed any portion of today's show, you can download the podcast from our website, mother's market dot com, click the link for radio, podcast and listen to our past shows. Plus, you can always download our Healthy Recipes and money savings coupons, all available at mother's market dot com. And now, back to our interview with traffic and author, Brendan Brazier.

We're talking about the vegan diet.

What inspired you to create Vega?

Well, I started off just making a blender drink for myself back when I was around 15. I, again, going back to trying to speed my recovery so I could increase my odds of having that professional career as an athlete, and that's how it started, I was just blending together things that I found I needed. When I did the research, I found that I was lacking... Well, and this kind of refined vegan diet that I had started lacking complete protein, vitamin B12, iron, calcium, and I make it three fatty acids, and those are pretty major things, but if you don't have them, you're not really gonna feel that well, so I found plant being sources for each of them blends together and had blinded drink everyday after my workout in it, it really did make a big difference. Within about six weeks, I know is my recovery was better, and from that point on, I just... I kept on making it and it continued to evolve too over the years until 2004 and I partnered with someone else and we brought it out as a product, but in the beginning, I know intention of ever having it as a product, it was just something I made for me... To help speed recovery. Well, I have to say, and I appreciate you going through all of that research because not being a professional athlete and being a mom and busy, I appreciate you going to do that research, but for busy people out there, what would you recommend a product for somebody like putting together kids lunches or something like that, for a Vega product being in product... Well, I would start off with, Well, Vega complete whole food health optimizer is... That's the main one, that's the one that I started off making for myself, like I was saying back when I was around 15, and so that was protein, essential fats, fiber, greens, enzymes, probiotics a little bit, and you can plan that into your smoothie, you can make it taste really good. I like the chocolate flavor with coconut water, that's really good, just shaking it up or even putting an almond butter and making it a cream chocolate on and smoothie, put up an out in there, so a lot of kids really like that a lot, and it's great before a school, because there's lots of five or protein and essential fats, so you don't get a sugar spike in a crash, which of course what happens with a lot of kids when they sugary cereal before going to school, and then they get hyper and then they crash and fall asleep, so it's a really good option for that just really stabilizes energy levels as opposed to spiking crashing. So that works well. Also energy bars too, you can make with dates and Buckwheat and hemp and almonds, the recipes are in my book, the book called tribe, so you can make the energy bars or you can buy a bag and the bars, the same thing. So the recipe is available in the book too, if people wanna make their own as opposed to buying them as an option, very funny that you said that about the sugary cereals. I was just talking about that with my kids.

So very timely. Okay, well, that's great to know. And okay, and so we'll be talking about your book and where that's... Where is that? Your book available?

Yeah, Thrive and I have another one as called Thrive fitness, obviously that's more to do with fitness and training, and the previous one, Thrive is just more of a nutrition, but you can get it at mother's market, you can get a baranov borders, amazon dot com, or my website brand and Brazier dot com as well.

Oh, excellent, I know that will be flying off the shelf, and we'll be talking about that a little bit, but let's talk a little bit about why you think plant-based diets are hitting mainstream right now with a lot of celebrities right now and people... Everybody's looking for the crash course diets, but let's talk about why... Right now, it's so important.

Well, I think a few reasons. I think one is people are not feeling as good as they would like to and generally think they're tired, they're not sleeping as well as they like to, that a lot of people are depending on coffee and sugar, obviously they get up in the mornings, they're tired and they crave those things to get in through the days, and I think they're just looking for a better nutrition in general, and like I said, that's what got me into it was performance, I wanted to feel better or not performing better, just sports, but in anything... So I think a lot of people are getting into it for that reason, selfish reasons, but also I think these environmental tie into with a lot of people obviously being more environmentally conscious these days and inconvenient truth that came out, I guess there's about five years ago about people wanting to be more environmentally aware and do their part, and now I think a lot of people are starting to realize the impact food has on the environment as well, and what choices they make, and have a kind of a wide reaching effect.

So eating plant-based foods uses fewer natural resources, less water, not as much land, not as much possible, feeling these people are not as many... Missions need to be created.

So a lot of things there, I think... And treat people as well. And can I get them interested if they're coming from an environmental perspective, so I think there's those personal everyday issues, and I think there's broader issues too, such as environmental ones. So I think there's kind of a combination of things.

I think that's actually a really good point about the environmental, because I think, yeah, you're making choices all around... I think everybody is trying to do that.

What about recommendations for people looking to transition to a plant-based diet or looking for ways to add more plant-based foods to their daily routine, so what recommendations would you give to all of us, and again, not everybody's a professional athlete, it... Yeah, for sure. But you know that's... As I found too, with my High Performance died, I find in smaller quantities, it's really good for a person who's just very busy, and most people who drink far not vegetarian, they're not vegan, they're just health-conscious, busy people, and I think starting slow. If people are wanting to go more towards a plant-based diet, and some people may never be completely vegan, I'm sure that's the case for most people, they won't, and that's fine, but I think eating more plant-based foods can make a significant difference. You don't have to be completely that way, it's not an all-or-nothing type of thing at all, so I think starting slow, starting off with one meal or one stack a day from the meal plan, it's in the book or just healthy plant-based hall though in general, a smoothie is a good way to go, obviously, 'cause it's convenient, you can make it taste however you want by choosing a different fruit to blind at West, so that's a good option, and then making that transition, allowing your palette to change and it will change once you start eating more this way, you'll wanna start even more that way, and I don't think you should force yourself to not eat certain things, I think if you want, you should eat them, but including a few of these foods in the diet over time, like I say, will make you wanna eat a little bit differently, and most people start to feel about her too, so then they wanna do more of that, and they just kind of naturally transition... It may take a few months and even a year for some people I know people who have no standard American diet for four decades, and it takes me here to transition away, but that's to be expected. So I think being patient with it and just starting slow is a good way to do it.

Well, that's good too. At least you see that they've been on these for all these years, and then just patients... Do you ever foresee that the days of In and Out burgers are gone, and instead of a drive-through, maybe run-through or something, but then having the name Vega out there, maybe one day. If someone else does it, I'd like it to happen, but I don't think... There's enough hours in the day for me to do that right now, but maybe in my future. foreseeable future. Yeah.

Well, you have been... Anything else you wanna put out there about your books, and I know you've mentioned that it's available at mother's market and now on your website... Yeah, yeah, definitely. People can check it there, and also there is a web series that... Or maybe just televote for a sec. And it's basically an online series, it's free, people put in their email address, they get three emails a week for four weeks, and each one has a concise video segment based on my books or things that I've just filled myself really basic zero budget, but it kind of... Was just my attempt to get the information to a broader group of people, because I realized that ironically, the people I need the information the most from my book are probably the least likely to actually... Take the initiative to sit down and read it.

So this is just a way to get it, the concise message out there to as many people as possible, so the website is thrive in 30 dot com, so thrive in the number 30 dot com. And like I say, it's a free thing that it is a great companion to the book, or even if people don't wanna read a book, they can check that out to you.

Excellent, wonderful, excellent source of information, and we appreciate you stopping by friend and thank you, we appreciate all of the information, and you can get more info on Brendon and his website, my Vega dot com, and perhaps pick up a copy of his book, Thrive the vegan nutrition guide... Actually, what's the full title? The vega nutrition, it's called Thrive to vegan nutrition Guide to optimal performance in sports and life.

Thank you, I did not wanna cut you short there, thanks again for staff, we buy... You're welcome. Thanks for Armco King for the holidays. You may wanna try this mother's market classic recipe.

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