Think and Grow Vegan
Gradually adopt a plant-based diet with confidence in five stages
Glen John Jones
Contents
First published in the United Kingdom in 2019 by First Never Second, www.firstneversecond.com
Think and Grow Vegan - 2019 Glen John Jones
The right of Glen John Jones to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patent Act 1988.
Written by Glen John Jones
Copyediting by Ameesha Smith-Green
Cover design by Radim Malinic
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-9161188-0-5 (PRINT)
About the Author
Glen John Jones is a Personal Trainer and Deep Tissue Masseur based in South London. Having been involved in the fitness industry since 2008, hes helped many people work towards and reach their goals. His tenure in the industry includes working with the most well-known commercial gyms and sports supplement companies in the UK, plus a cheeky stint down under in Australia!
Glen strives for and works with a wide range of clientseach with different personalities, body types, and goals. His clientele varies from those who are relatively new to training but want to lose weight and tone up ... to the all-round, fit, gym-goer who wants to take things up a notch ... to the competitive Ironman looking to qualify for the World Championships in a few years time. His prerogative for all of his clients is to give them more energy and zing in every part of their day.
A firm believer that there isnt a one size fits all approach to achieving fitness goals, Glen takes a multidimensional approach to training with close attention to detail. This can include many specific protocols benefiting strength, mobility, core, endurance, sports conditioning, corrective exercise, injury rehabilitation, body composition, plant-based nutrition, and overall energy levels.
In 2016, Glen was approached by an old friend from nursery who had gained investment to open a boutique fitness studio in the local area. They became business partners, opening Studio 234. These old school pals were featured in the local Guardian on page 3: #Lifegoals. Glen now does the majority of his personal training and massage therapy at Studio 234.
In 2017, Glen competed in the Reebok Spartan Beast in Edinburgh, Scotland, coming second out of around 800 participants. This subsequently led to him being featured on the BBC Good Food website as The Vegan Personal Trainer, where Glen explains how his diet affects his career and his clients.
Despite this book tip-toeing into certain aspects of nutrition and the value of meal preparation, Glen is admittedly not a big lover of cooking, being neither particularly good at it, nor naturally passionate about it. For this reason, he truly believes that if he can adopt a plant-based diet without too much drama and feel better all over for this, then anyone can! Glens story is relatable to many who lead busy lifestyles and want to feel better.
When not training his clients, Glen enjoys swimming, cycling, running, indoor bouldering, hiking and training at Studio 234 in all things fitness. If he is due to compete in an upcoming event, his training regime becomes more intense and specific to the task at hand and this ultimately shapes his routine, including his nutrition.
His future projects are to include more books, delving into other specific subjects such as fitness, and online training and nutrition programmes for clients worldwide.
You can find Glen at: Instagram: @glenjohnjones Website: glenjohnjones.com
Instagram: @thinkandgrowvegan Website: thinkandgrowvegan.com
Why I wrote this book
I want to become a vegan, but I dont know how to. I truly realised the sense of urgency to write this book based on the sheer amount of times people said this to me, and whats more, so many different types of people. After brief conversations when the vegan topic arose, sometimes people would come back to me and ask how I did it. Sometimes, the outcome was that theyd want to try it themselves or at least eat less meat. Some people even told me that I should write a book ... so here we are!
Come the final stage of my own plant-based journey, receiving criticism and compliments had become the norm, albeit a bit weird that so many people wanted to discuss my diet! I could only take the fact that people were talking to me openly about how they wanted to adopt a plant-based diet for themselves as a compliment. At least I was inspiring them and not putting them off, I thought. Seeing as most people think all vegans are annoying and on the verge of malnutrition, people seemed pleasantly surprised by my mannerisms not changing for the worse following my change in diet.
Naturally, many people have apprehensions and reasons for not transitioning to a plant-based dieteven if they want to. From misconceptions to social stigmas all the way to failed trials of the mainstream vegan diet suggested in society. The combination of social stigmas, misconceptions, and failed vegan diet attempts arguably puts people off going beyond even thinking about becoming vegan. Let alone trying it out.
However, what I found is that when people saw me doing well at the plant-based diet, then they realised that its possible for them too. This is what led to Think and Grow Vegan, the need for a better way to switch to a plant-based diet. From experience, you grow into the vegan thing, so it fits you.
If youre not a fan of the word vegan right now, dont worry! It means the same as plant-based diet, and I use the two interchangeably in this book. The same goes for a normal, mainstream, meat-eater diet, AKA a conventional/traditional/ convenient Western diet.
Although potentially controversial and off-putting, Ive used the word vegan based on the sheer reality that if you adopt a plant- based diet, then you and your food would technically be known by the title of vegan in society. However, the further you go on your personal journey, its likely that youll care less about how you describe your diet.
Although the word vegan has some negative connotations in todays society, I truly believe that the V word will one day be the norm, describing people who eat a plant-based diet. For now, know that vegan is literally just a name. A name that means as much or as little as you want it to mean.
I delayed my own transition to becoming a vegan for months before even mentioning to a friend that I was loosely considering looking into it. Hed been on the vegan vibes for years, so I wanted to pick his brain before going any further. When I initially approached him with Id like to know more about the diet/lifestyle/general vegan stuff, he literally burst out laughing! Vegan?!...You?! he said.
At the time, I couldnt have been any further opposite. I used to eat beef and eggs for breakfast and carry cooked chicken thighs around with me in Tupperware for lunch! Once he could contain himself, he said, Come back to me in a few months and if youre still interested, well have a sit down. It was only after that when I really started to believe that it could be done, when we explored the ins and outs of it. This book is the upshot.
