For those who aren’t familiar, Brendan is a professional triathlete – and a vegan.  I am a strict vegetarian (I’ve dabbled in veganism but have to give it up every time I leave the country, so it never lasts more than about 8 months), so I’m interested in learning more about serious vegetarian sport nutrition that isn’t all about protein shakes and bagels.

Added bonus: he’s really cute!  (That came as a surprise, because action shots of athletes usually involve lots of open mouth, mid stride, sunglass-sporting shots.)

The Program

Thrive in Thirty is a free, online nutrition and lifestyle enhancement/makeover program.  It promises to offer the following (not a complete list):

• How to combat stress using whole, plant-based foods and high net-gain nutrition
• How you can alkalize your body’s pH to combat disease, improve sleep and lose weight
• What superfoods to use to balance hormones, detoxify body or lower cholesterol
• How to use nutrition to strategically fuel your body so you’ll have greater endurance, maximize the return from your workouts and recover faster
• Long-term strategies that will help you transform your health for life

(Source and more information)

What I’m hoping to gain

Inspiration is always good, and I love learning about new eating and training strategies, especially when they’re geared toward people who eat like I do!  I get frustrated with most online nutrition advice because it’s never backed up by “real science” (as in real, vetted, peer-reviewed, accepted results), so I’m hoping that this won’t head down that road.  Wishful thinking: maybe I’ll become a faster runner, or at least a better sleeper!

Thoughts so far

The program is really well-organized.  Each lesson features a short video about a specific nutrition or lifestyle topic, along with a text summary, action items and key takeaways.  The information isn’t too dense or long to slog through – it’s all very manageable and sensible.  I’m pretty well-versed in this kind of information so I might be a poor judge, but it seems like they’ve really made things interesting and solid without relying on either new agey crap or too much technical language.

I’m not a fan of a lot of video content, but his segments are really well-produced and inspiring.  Maybe I’m developing a running crush, but I find him really inspiring to listen to!

Lessons arrive via email about every other day. So far I’ve only gone through the introduction and the first lesson, which has caused me to re-examine my healthy eating (it mostly passes…days like yesterday happen only a few times a year) and think about what I can do about the big sources of stress in my life (I might be a bit Type A, but I’m usually very laid back since I tend to look at the biggest possible picture…nonetheless, my blood pressure has gone up 6 points over the past year).

The only hokey thing so far has been a lightweight discussion about cortisol and overtraining/weight gain.  I wish I knew more about the medical perspective on cortisol and adrenal burnout – anecdotal evidence seems to prove that this happens, but I’m tempted to ask the endocrine specialists to whom I have access if they really believe in adrenal overload/burnout.  There are also lots of mentions of eating energy bars, which might have something to do with the fact that the program is sponsored by Vega.  (That’s the “whole food optimizer” company, not the dude from Street Fighter with the long claws.)

More info

I’m not in any way affiliated with Vega or this program – just taking it for a spin to see what I can learn.  I’ll do another post midway and one at the end, and maybe a few more along the way if something really jumps out at me.

Check these out, if you’re interested in learning more about Brendan or the program:

• http://www.brendanbrazier.com/
• Brendan on Facebook
• Thrive in Thirty

He doesn’t have a Wikipedia entry – that blows my mind.  Perhaps I have a new project for the summer….