Hello everyone.

[The PhytoAthlete]

Hello to everyone here on VeganFitness.

I changed my way of eating almost 5 years ago and have never been healthier. I also run the website http://www.the-phytoathlete.com/

Please check it out and read about my story.

[loveliberate]

Hello & Welcome!

[xrodolfox]

Welcome!
What sort of fitness/sport/training do you like?

[The PhytoAthlete]

Welcome!
What sort of fitness/sport/training do you like?

Thanks for the welcomes.

For my personal training I do a variety of things. I run 2-3 days a week, but not far, 1 mile each time, running is my least favorite exercise. I swim 2-3 days a week, I started swimming only about 3 yrs ago, I enjoy it a lot. I hit a heavy bag 1 day a week. But my favorite is bicycling which I have been doing the longest for 15 yrs now, but I only get to do it 1 day a week due to the fact that I work out of town all week and can not take my bike with me due to I don't have a safe/secure place to leave it while in the hotel. I also may do some light weight lifting 1-2 times a month.

In the past I have raced mountain bikes, wrestled and competed in power lifting back when I used to lift a lot more.

As far as working with someone on their diet intake. I will work with anyone in any type of training, sports or fitness. As I state on my website I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition but only came to the way I am eating now almost 5 yrs ago now. I will turn 44 this week and feel my cardio is the best it has ever been. I won't rehash my whole life situation here because it is available for anyone who is interested on my website under the "about" section.

As I state on there I will work with someone on their diet on a personal level. And right now I will do it for free since I am just starting in this area of sports type nutrition, even though I work as a Nutritionist in my job I do not work with athletes at it. All I would ask is once my advice gives results is that the person be willing to be a reference for me in the future.

[loveliberate]

Spam taint vegan!

[Catt Queen]

Spam taint vegan!

Yep.

You may wonder does this mean that someone should not eat any non-plant foods such as meat, eggs or dairy? No, I am not saying you must be a strict vegan. I eat all of these foods occasionally myself.

http://www.the-phytoathlete.com/meat-

[The PhytoAthlete]

Yes, it is true. I eat meat in the form of fish/shrimp maybe 4 times a year. I will eat dairy in the form of ice cream as a dessert maybe 5 times a year. I eat eggs maybe 2 times a year if I go to a restaurant for breakfast and don't care for the other unhealthy options available.

But if you read the rest of what I said in the link you provided. I clearly state that these items should be very limited in your diet, by limited I mean no more than what I am eating that I referrenced above.

I didn't realize this was a mortal sin or disqualified me from being a member on this forum?

My only interest is to help people improve their diet and their health.

But if the owner of this forum feels I should not be here, please let me know and I will move alone.

Good luck to everyone.

[The PhytoAthlete]

And just in case you missed what I said in one of my above posts.

Qoute:

"As I state on there I will work with someone on their diet on a personal level. And right now I will do it for free"

[fredrikw]

What are your interests in being part of a vegan forum then? Are you interested in veganism? Or are you only here to create business?

[baldy]

But if the owner of this forum feels I should not be here, please let me know and I will move alone.

The forum is run in the form of a co-op made up of the moderators and administrators, you will not be asked to leave unless you break the forum rules as described here -> viewtopic.php?f=10&t=90

1. Racist, sexist, homophobic and other discriminatory messages will be edited by moderators and the poster may be banned. This also includes anti-vegan posts and posts promoting animal products. The internet is full of forums where such opinions can be aired and it is only fair that veganfitness.net remain a safe haven for active vegan people.

2. Be nice and respectful. Let the issues fight, not people. Many message boards sink to slander, insults and flame wars. Moderators will edit or delete posts which are insulting or made with intent to stir up fights.

3. You are free to promote your own things from related events, vegan companies, professional skills etc. in your signature and in the General discussion section. Please do not promote non-vegan businesses and events on this board.

Yes, it is true. I eat meat in the form of fish/shrimp maybe 4 times a year. I will eat dairy in the form of ice cream as a dessert maybe 5 times a year. I eat eggs maybe 2 times a year if I go to a restaurant for breakfast and don't care for the other unhealthy options available.

But if you read the rest of what I said in the link you provided. I clearly state that these items should be very limited in your diet, by limited I mean no more than what I am eating that I referrenced above.

The issue with pushing the flexitarian approach to veganism, that you describe, is that is implies that it is impossible or unrealistic to be a full Vegan. It wouldn't really be that hard to avoid these things 4-5 times a year, even if it meant skipping a meal. Then by being able to state you are 100% vegan if gives a stronger argument that it is a sustainable diet/lifestyle. Depends what your motivation is for being vegan I suppose.

I am not having a dig in anyway, having been down that path myself. Hopefully you will be able to offer meaningful contributions to the forum and learn something from the posts.

[The PhytoAthlete]

Thanks Fredrikw and Baldy for the replies and information.

My interest here, as I previously stated, is to help people to improve their diets and long term health. Considering I am offering this for free I don't see how that is much of a business to develop. It would be great if I could one day work with athletes and get paid a little(never expect to get rich in this) for my services. But I don't expect or foresee that ever being a big part of my income, or ANY income for that matter, since I currently have a full time job.

By me stating that some people can eat small amounts of non-vegan items I didn't mean to imply that people are unable or incapable of being a true vegan. Obviously many are and more power to them, I give them my congrats!

The thing is, just because someone is a vegan doesn't mean they are necessarly eating healthy, either for their cardiovascular system, their longevity, disease prevention and overall health.

I have seen practises/advice offered on here that although vegan are worse for your health than eating a few non-vegan items throughout the year in my opinion. But my intentions were not to come in here and start slamming the way others are eating. Because overall in general, vegans are still eating much much better than the general public and I support their way of eating over what 99% of the other ways people eat in the world.

Yes, baldy, I would like to become an useful member of this forum and maybe learn something myself but maybe offer some helpful information to others at the same time. But like I stated I am hestiate to start critiqueing others on this forum at this time.

[loveliberate]

To be clear, my "spam" comment was primarily directed at vivi's somewhat odd seeming posts and Ambercrombie signature link - which seems to have been removed anyway. I actually hadn't looked at phyto's shamelessly self-promoted website and didnt realize that they weren't even fully veg...

[The PhytoAthlete]

Yes, I shamelessly promoted a website/service that I get no income from. Heck I don't even have any google ads on my website so it actually cost me money to have that website. It is not like I am trying to sell an item, say like t-shirts, for money like I have seen someone else doing who joined after me.

I honestly didn't realize that eating less than a dozen non-vegan items a year would be that big of a deal here. Since most people I know in real life consider me a vegetarian I had come to kinda accept in my mind that I was, even though technically I am not, as of course it has been pointed out to me here in quick fashion that I am not.

I also thought with the title of this forum including the word "FITNESS" that fitness and health was a main concern. Just because someone is a vegan, doesn't mean they are healthy or eating in the most optimal way possible for their fitness and health. And some may actually be eating very unhealthy. For example, someone eating tons of high starch, high sugar, high sodium, low nutrient foods on a daily basis is worse for your health than someone like myself eating a few non-vegan items less than once a month. Even someone who ate a non-vegan item daily may not be hurting their health any worse than how some vegans eat on a daily basis.

I assumed that vegans in general were more concerned with their health and what I had to offer in nutrition would be welcome here, maybe I was wrong.

[fredrikw]

May I suggest you read About Vegan Fitness, there you'll find information about the basis of the community, what it's for and the rules we have here.

And yes, eating animals is a big deal for vegans, that's why most of us are vegans in the first place. It's a bit naive to come to a vegan community and seek support for eating animals. You don't need to vegan or even vegetarian to be a member of VF, but please respect that VF is a vegan forum first and foremost.

Also, please take some time to read more on the forum, perhaps that'll give you a better view of what the members are interested and concerned with.

[rattus]

tons of high starch, high sugar, high sodium, low nutrient foods on a daily basis

Have I died and gone to heaven?