A Slightly Better Blog

 

            Due to unfortunate circumstances, I will not be going vegetarian for another two weeks. From the bottom of my heart, I am truly sad that I get to indulge in the glory that is meat for a little while longer. Instead, this week’s post will be about another blog that is similar to mine. No Meat Athlete is a blog containing colorful recipes, stories, and tips written by vegetarian athletes. Shocker right? I chose to write about this blog because it will give me insight into how to forgo animal protein and still be an athlete. One caveat to this blog is that these athletes are long-distance runners, not basketball players. Full-contact sport athletes such as basketball players need to be larger and stronger to sustain physical play, and so a diet consisting meat makes sense, as they contain protein as well as necessary fats to get bigger. Long distance runners are smaller, generally, as they do not need to add unnecessary stress on their joints.

            Regardless, it is still an informative blog about improving athletic performance while on a vegetarian, plant-based diet. As I surfed through the articles, I grew more and more confident that I could continue my lifestyle and be vegetarian. I would recommend this blog to any of you who think about going vegetarian, grow less reliant on meat, or who just want to be healthier. This blog is especially good if you want to read something that is informative like a textbook but reads like a casual conversation. That said, I know you might get sick of all the corny jokes over here and would want to move on to a more mature website, anyways.

The founder of No Meat Athlete is Matt Frazier, a long-distance athlete who competes in marathons and is currently training for an ultra-marathon (100 miles). This is absolutely incredible, in my opinion. He is an adamant believer in animal rights, and so wanted to go vegetarian. Initially, he was afraid to because he thought a diet without high amounts of protein would be detrimental to his athletic goals. His interview with Chic Vegetarian shows that after he did substantial research, he realized it was certainly possible to be a competitive athlete eating vegetarian foods. Initially, he gave up all meats and dairy except fish for ten days. According to Matt, “[he] loved how [he] felt, and [he] immediately came to realize that this could actually improve [his] health and running, rather than detract from it.” (Chicvegan.com) After about a month, he dropped fish to go full vegan. Subsequently, he started blogging about his experiences. This was all during his training for qualifying for the Boston Marathon in 2009, by the way.

According to another interview with Fettle Vegan, He initially wanted ­No Meat Athlete to be a forum where vegetarian athletes can interact by posting recipes, ideas, and stories to support eachother, (fettlevegan.com) but “it sort of took off, ” and “the content has shifted more towards helping people than journaling about [his] own experiences.”(ChicVegan.com) The “about me” section in No Meat Athlete confirms Matt’s credibility, as it mentions he is routinely cited in several books about vegetarianism and is mentioned as a resource in magazines and websites such as Web MD, The New York Times, Competitor, Zenhabits, and Trail Runner (Nomeatathlete.com)  

As far as education goes, Frazier is no slouch. According to his LinkedIn page (master stalker over here) he graduated magna cum laude from James Madison with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration in 2003. Later on, in 2006, at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, he started work on his masters in applied math. Right now, he is pursuing a Ph.D in applied math. What does math have to do with nutrition? Thank you for asking. Well, nothing really, but it proves how educated this man is. This high level of knowledge gives credibility to his postings on his blog, making his findings believable enough so I can actually trust them. In other words, I can follow his advice and have the confidence that I can succeed being vegetarian. And yes, I did ask to connect with him.

There are a couple reasons why I like this blog other than the fact that it was founded by someone who is both a miracle worker and a saint (if you don’t get this, refer back to my first blog post; if you do get this, you’ll probably see that it is yet another weak attempt at humor). The first of which is that he does not want to convert meat-eaters to vegetarians. In his “About” section, he writes: “You’re not here to be preached to. And I’m not here to preach. In fact, I’ll come right out and say that a plant-based diet might not be for you.” (Nomeatathlete.com) This gives the blog an aura of acceptance, and doesn’t put any pressure on the readers. Throughout the blog, he doesn’t once mention being an omnivore is wrong; he simply focuses on how positive vegetarianism is.

Another reason why this blog appeals to me is the research put into his posts. As I said before, protein is hard to come by while on a vegetarian diet. In one post, “Vegetarian Protein Foods,” he defines what proteins are scientifically, he talks about vegan protein supplements, and he gives his two cents on soy protien. More importantly, he provides a chart entitled “Daily requirements and good non-meat sources of specific amino acids,” and made a list of the best vegetarian protein sources of different food groups. Now that right there is the meat and potatoes of his blog to me. Well, actually, it is the nuts and beans of his blog because those are the most abundant foods listed in this section. They contain most protein by caloric percentage. I have a feeling that I will be loading up on those from May 8^th to May 22^nd, when I will be going vegetarian.