Paul Rogers - Running On A Plant Based Diet: How Eating Unprocessed Organic Food Can Improve Athletic Performance

Running on a Plant Based Diet

How Eating Unprocessed Organic Food Can Improve Athletic Performance

Paul Rogers

Copyright 2015 All rights reserved.

This document is geared towards providing exact and reliable information in regard to the topic and issue covered. The publication is sold with the idea that the publisher is not required to render accounting, officially permitted, or otherwise, qualified services. If advice is necessary, legal or professional, a practiced individual in the profession should be ordered.

In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

The information herein is offered for informational purposes solely, and is universal as so. The presentation of the information is without contract or any type of guarantee assurance. Before beginning any new exercise or new diet program it is recommended that you seek medical advice from your personal physician.

I f you are already a runner, congratulations! You are a participant in one of the best exercises available for clearing your mind and bringing your body to a tremendous level of fitness. If you are considering becoming a runner, please join the club of members who revel in self-accomplishment and elevated health. Regardless of which category you fall into, if you take the journey and transition to enjoying a plant based diet, prepare to see your level of fitness grow exponentially.

In 1977 Jim Fixx published his book entitled The Complete Book of Running, which sold over a million copies and was instrumental in the launch of the American running boom of the late 1970s. Fixx himself became a fitness icon, and his name became synonymous with the ideal picture of health. It is for this reason that his death at the age of 52 shocked the running world. On July 20th, 1984, Jim Fixx was found on the side of the road dead after suffering a massive heart attack during his morning run on a rural road in Vermont.

Fixx had a family predisposition to heart disease his father died at the age of 43 from a heart attack. During his autopsy it was determined that Fixx had major blockages in three of his arteries, the worst of which was 95% clogged. Despite knowing that he had a hereditary risk, Fixx felt that his compulsive running regime would keep him immune to health issues. Fixx never addressed the issue of diet, and despite having high cholesterol and a bad family history was a devoted meat eater until his premature death.

Perhaps if Jim Fixx transitioned to a plant based diet he would still be with us today. We are just starting to understand the causal link between eating a meat based diet and illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. Exercise alone is not a wellness guarantee, but running and eating a plant based diet will arguably get you to the highest point of personal health you might ever hope to achieve.

This book is divided into two sections. The first section will outline the argument for why a plant based diet is preferable to a meat based diet in general. The second section will explore areas of interest for the plant based runner, including the different type of foods to eat and their nutritional composition.

It is not a complicated formula. Eating fruits and vegetables can provide us all of the protein, carbohydrates and fats that our bodies need. Runners demand a higher level of nutrition in order to compensate for their training and recovery, and the plant diet has got us covered there too. I hope that if you are reading this book trying to decide whether to transition your diet, you do start on your journey to eating correctly, and hopefully improve your running times as well.

Run long!

- Paul Rogers

I ts hard to address the topics of plant based eating and exercise without at first laying out the groundwork that humans were originally a primarily plant eating species. The fact that our diet has evolved to contain ingredients other than plant sources does not mean that this is a healthy end. Quite to the contrary, from the standpoint of diet, we are evolving ourselves into a state of sickness of epidemic proportions.

Many anthropologists and historians argue that man is historically omnivorous. However, the anatomical features of man show that the human body favors a fleshless diet. Mans love affair with meat started less than a century ago with the introduction of the refrigerator car and 20th century consumer society. But even with these changes, the human body has not yet adapted to eating meat. According to Karl von Linne, a renowned scientist form Sweden, when the external and internal structure of human beings is compared to other animals, it shows that his natural food comprises vegetables and fruits.

There are several reasons why humans were originally a plant eating species. One, humans were never meant to eat meat because all carnivorous and omnivorous animals consume their meat raw. When a leopard kills an antelope for food, it tears its flesh and eats it while filled with blood. The animal gets nutrients from eating raw intestines, the stomach and the liver, among other organs. Even omnivorous animals like bears eat raw salmons. However, raw meat disgusts human beings and thus they have to cook and season it to disguise the awful taste.

When an antelope is burnt in a forest fire, a carnivorous animal will not consume the burnt flesh. In a circus, lions are also fed on raw meat. If man was meant to consume meat, he would eat it raw and bloody since true omnivores and carnivores eat bloody and raw meat. However, the thought of eating raw meat will make most peoples stomachs turn. Human beings cook meat and season it with mustard, salt, mayo or ketchup because they cannot withstand its taste, even when cooked. Real carnivores eat raw bloody flesh.

The anatomy of humans also shows that they were originally plant-eating species. The bodies of human beings are not designed to eat meat. If you compare the physiological characteristics of herbivores and carnivores, you will realize that human beings are more close to herbivores than carnivores. According to Dr. William Roberts, the editor of The American Journal of Cardiology, a carnivore has a short intestinal tract, about 3 times its body length. On the other hand, the intestinal tract of a herbivore is about 12 times its body length, just like humans. There are other similarities. While carnivores manufacture their vitamin C internally, humans and herbivores get theirs from food.