March Thrive Challenge

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Comment by Meg Hebert on March 30, 2012 at 11:50am

Doing something that is fun keeps me motivated.  I just found out my iron scores were non-existent but I've kept playing hockey because it is so fun it would take a lot to make me quit.  I just ordered vega whole food health optimizer and am taking iron and can't wait to play hockey!  Growing up I had problems from eating gluten (but didn't know about gluten yet).  I kept doing BMX freestyle though because I loved it.

Comment by Nadia St.Amand on March 28, 2012 at 4:20pm

It is important to remember that when on a raw food diet and when eating super foods, not to over exert oneself just because there seems to be the energy for it. When I went to Vancouver to take the Living Foods Instructor certification course, I got locked out of the building because I did not know the suite number to get in.  Knowing there would not be any pay phones in Coal Harbor, I sprinted with all my might around Vancouver so I could call someone who had internet. To my surprise, I was sprinting quite adequately.  I had not run in years.  Living in Nelson, the only good running trail veered on the side of the wilderness and I am scared of bears.  Pleased with my superhuman abilities, I scarcely realized how the impact of running on that concrete in my flimsy skate shoes had actually injured one of my knees. I ignored it, seeing as the only activity I was doing in Nelson was trekking uphill.  One day, in Victoria, I had just eaten a matcha pudding from Cafe Bliss when, impatient with all this walking business, I decided to sprint: this time wearing shabby hiking boots.  All the pain came back. I had been given a lovely pair of cross trainers that I was reluctant to wear because I felt like it clashed too much with my style.  I much preferred the oh-so down to earth gum boot look.  Finally, I knew they were not going to work any more.  So I sucked it up and wore the brand newness. Originally I had set them aside for tai chi only but decided it would be better to do it in my socks anyways.  Tai chi helped subtly, but the thing I noticed the most was the way I was practicing Warrior pose in Yoga. I was so focused enduring that I overlooked whether or not I was squaring my hips properly. This simple error may have been setting the stage for this injury.   Jarring activity is something that can be practiced when the body is in proper alignment.  Proper rehabilitation through deep tissue massage, such as Yoga, is essential.  Corpse pose is arguably my favorite.

Comment by Nicholas Kershaw on March 26, 2012 at 8:59pm

I suffered from an illness by the name of Guillian-Barre Syndrome (GBS). GBS is a virus that attacked my central nervous system leaving me temporary paralyzed for a few weeks from my waist down. GBS caused the nerves in my legs to break apart. In my right leg the nerve fibers never healed the same as before thus leaving me with permanent nerve damage and muscle loss in my leg. I now suffer from muscle atrophy. With muscle atrophy from GBS I need to work-out consistently almost every day to keep the strength and muscle in my right leg. Before I could start feeling good and being regularly active again, I had to change my lifestyle from my diet to my exercises and find other ways to stimulate the nerves in my legs.

Over time I have discovered what my body needed so I could get on the right track to recovery. I observed how my body responded to the different things I introduced to it. I became very in tune with my body. The first and most important change to recovery was: 1. My Diet. Diet has been a vital part. Knowing the proper foods and nutrients to eat and which foods not to eat will enhance your body’s performance & function. This may mean to limit the intake of alcohol or any other stimulants that may delay healing. My diet has evolved over the years into becoming a vegan. And I really notice a difference within my body. 2. Stretching & Exercise. I had to constantly stretch my legs & lower back to relax the nerves & muscles to allow blood flow so I could begin to strengthen them. I cannot stress the importance of stretching. Yoga was also a great way to stretch and to build the strength & balance I needed.  Instead of conventional weights I opted for unconventional exercises such as resistance exercises using the weight of my body or the use of stretch-bands, slant-boards or balance disks. 3. Acupuncture & Massages. Acupuncture stimulated the nerves in my leg giving me some feeling back. Also it created the blood flow my leg needed. Acupuncture also helps with alleviating pain. I highly recommend acupuncture for nerve damage or any type of injury. Massages are a good way to promote blood flow and relax muscles, this helped me too. I would also recommend the use of hot pools and cold pools. Again this helps create blood flow and reduce inflammation which will speed up recovery. 4. Taking a positive approach. This means to have the determination and persistence that you can do it.

Discovering about Brendan Brazier and Vega Sport has led my recovery techniques to reach new heights. Learning from Brendan about nutrition and exercise has really made my lifestyle evolve in a great way. I really recommend the works of Brendan Brazier. For me it can be a struggle sometimes to constantly be on top of my Autotrophy. This means I need to work-out every to every other day on my leg. To exercise often at a high rate I need to able to start and RECOVER at a quick rate. Prepare and repair. And the only way I will be able to do this is with the help of Brendan Brazier teachings or now with Vega Sport Recovery Accelerator and Pre-Workout Energizer. For the past 6 weeks I have been using both products and they work. Trust me. A big THANK YOU to Brendan and Vega. Thrive On.

Comment by Linda Scott on March 25, 2012 at 6:23am

I am an avid cyclist who's motivation for riding has always been riding for charity, with racing on the side. My big goal for 2012 was to do a cross Canada ride to support a charity. Then when I started to work with a coach my goals changed, my ego entered, and racing became the priority.  Then came an injury and I was sidelined and off the bike. Couldn't even walk never mind run. Talk about going through a process of self discovery...and went through all the emotions, depression, anger,  despair etc...but then when week 4 of being off the bike came round I decided it was time to take action. Here's what I did: (1) realigned my goals, abandoning the ego and going with what is important to me, realizing that riding for charity is my interest and passion. (2) researched what other injured athletes have done during their rehabs (like Brendan) focusing on healing nutrition (3) spending more time on meditation and visualizations.  Taking the time off training to focus on some pretty important elements of a training program. It is now going on 2 months, and I am still not back fully yet. However, I am getting there and learned a lot about training and myself. 

Linda

Comment by Beth Mickens on March 13, 2012 at 6:29pm

I've been fortunate enough to never have to had experience having and injury and recovering from it. However, I see my husband get injuries all the time. As a runner and an active soccer player, he seems to always come home with something: shin splints, pain in his calves, etc. He's had to take time to rest and recover making sure he stretches his legs daily and takes care not to go out and try to do any more damage, no matter how tempting it is. Unfortunately, he still experiences pain every now and then. Maybe I can find someone who's experiencing something similar and get some advice.

Comment by Kelly on March 12, 2012 at 3:55pm

I have been heavily active for about 20 years, running, weight training etc. I have been very lucky to not hav e any serious injuries.  Since I have been eating mostly vegan for about 6 months I have not really gotten sick as I usually do every winter. Everyone around me has gotten sick in the last few months, a few weeks ago I started getting a sore throat so I just made sure to force myself to rest more than normal. I kept with my same workout schedule I just turned the intensity down a notch. Added even  more greens to my diet, made sure to use my vega products and I felt better in 2 days. normally im "sick" for 7 days or so. 

Comment by Amy Wells on March 12, 2012 at 12:00pm

Many years ago, I hairline fractured my ankle while playing basketball.  I played the entire game on it, and stayed active for about two weeks until I finally talked myself into getting medical attention.  In part, I held off because I knew what the doctor would say," physical therapy and stay off of it."

Even with the ankle wrapped and crutches, I was stubborn.  I would hobble up stairs on it and try to tough through it.  Finally, after many weeks and no closer to being healed or able to perform to my old standard, I realized something about perseverance...it's not always physical.  There I was, fighting to force myself not to be injured (physical perseverance) when rest (mental perseverance) was what I truly needed.  Needless to say, the rest paid off and now, when faced with injury, I embrace rest as well as treatment.

Comment by Beth Erman on March 12, 2012 at 8:19am

Unfortunately, I've had a lot of experience with this. I've had four stress fractures in 5 years. One of them was serious enough to require a non-walking, hard cast and crutches for 6 weeks. The others required wearing a walking boot. During my recovery from the first two stress fractures (both tibial), I learned how to swim and did a lot of pool running. Eventually I could add stationary cycling once I could put a little more weight on my legs. These two were the most emotionally difficult to deal with because I was so addicted to running that I couldn't see the big picture. The third one -- the one that required the cast and crutches -- was the most difficult, as I couldn't do any water exercise or cycling. I really wasn't supposed to do anything, but I found a way to work out on the weight circuit at the gym to at least keep my muscle strength up. After a few weeks I rode the recumbent bike at the gym, because there was no weight on the foot, and I could adjust the strap to fit my cast. The recovery from this one (a navicular stress fracture in my left foot) was very slow and deliberate. I knew that this was serious and had derailed the careers of others (Yao Ming had to retire after his navicular sfx wouldn't heal correctly). After I was cut out of the cast and released to do small amounts of exercise, I started very slowly on the elliptical machine, pool running riding the bike and continuing with the weight circuit. It was about 6 weeks before I could start running again, and even then, only 5 minutes at a time. This recovery required the most discipline of any of them. I SO wanted to get back out on the road, but knew things were going to have to change. Instead of being so focused on running, I incorporated much more swimming and cycling into my routine and was able to get back into triathlon. I was able to do a half-Ironman distance triathlon 10 months after beginning recovery. Unfortunately, stress fracture number four came the day after the half-Iron. This time it was a metatarsal fracture, so I could swim. I had been at such a high level of fitness from the half-Iron, so I wanted to keep it up. I swam 6 days a week for the 6 weeks I was down. During this time, I also saw a bone specialist to find out if it was something biological leading to my stress fractures. Turns out my Vitamin D was low -- too low for the amount of impact I put on my body. So I've been on prescription-strength Vitamin D, and in 9 weeks, my level went up 18 points to a very healthy level. I will remain on prescription-strength Vit D indefinitely.  I've taken my recovery very carefully again.
What have I learned? I've learned that running fast and winning races isn't all there is to life. Being healthy and whole is more important than having a trophy or plaque. I decided that I want to be able to run for the rest of my life. If that means I can no longer compete at the same levels as I did before, so be it.

Comment by Christopher Mccormick on March 9, 2012 at 3:52pm

I am still recovering from a torn MCL in my knee from an injury two months ago.  With this particular injury, the doctor told me I couldn't run or jog until I was at least 90% well which was a major burden to my normal routine and well being.  I decided that the only way to maintain my health was to think of some other kind of way to be pro-active about my health.  This is where preseverance and optimism came in.  Before my injury I ate and drank whatever I wanted including animal-based products and junk food.  I finally accepted the fact that I had to do my own research about plant based foods and adapt a vegan lifestyle if I was going to live well and prosper.  I've never felt better, plus my weight has dropped dramastically to a leaner, stronger figure which took the extra stress off my knee and helpd speed up my recovery.  Also, with the knee injury I could only do minor weight training and no running.  So, I asked my doctor what else I could do to maintain my cardiovascular health and he said bicyclng would be a good idea as long as didn't over do it, because the shock to the knee that running does will only prolong my recovery.  Since then, my daily bike ride has increased to ten miles and it gets longer everyday.  The moral of the story for those looking for advise on how to recover from an injury or sickness is to take charge of your life and turn your strengths into weaknesses by yourself.  Noone can do it for you. I recomend everyone to research the works of Brendan Brazier for a professional outlook on nutrition and overall fitness health.  If you can't afford the book, try the Thrive in 30 nutrition regime for free.  I guarantee by the end of the program you'll feel so much better that you'll find the money to buy his literature.  It's the best descision i've ever made.  I hope this helps! Good luck!

Comment by Michael Rogan on March 9, 2012 at 10:43am

At the end of 2009 I had double hernia surgery and was unable to lift more than 15 pounds for 3 months.  During 2010, I lost everything I owned due to an inability to sell my home and unemployment.  It seemed like a snowball effect of bad things.  For me it became the the little things: knowing what I could control, knowing that each situation was temporary and manageable, and that if I did what I could each day any set-backs would be easier to endure.  Diet became crucial during the times I couldn't workout, as it kept me energetic and positive and also helped in recovery and preventing too much deterioration.  Working out became my savior during the rougher financial times, because it gave me something I could target and improve when everything else seemed so out of my control.  So ultimately, "keep calm and carry on," as life is life.  You have your good days, your bad, your triumphs, your hurdles, and we are only human through it all.  We do what we can to be whom we strive to be.  When all was said and done, I am now in the best shape of my life and thriving.

Comment by Marc Antoine De Rosa on March 8, 2012 at 5:18pm

Well living in Canada the winters are pretty on someone who likes biking and running, but I recently read something about how in the past people used to see sickness as bacteria that's not normal for your body to be in your body. And colds were just when bacteria that thrives in a cold body enters your body, and so by lowering your body temperature you could invite such bacteria into it, and they would do this as a means for cleansing their bodies. Because when you're sick you drink a lot of fluids and your body flushes out the bacteria and whatever other garbage, or you get really hot and your body burns out the bacteria and whatever other garbage. On the flip side of this, if you didn't want to cleanse your body you just need to keep your body warm and if you can't do that just drink hot beverages and the cold bacteria won't thrive in you.

I learned this knowledge this winter and it has helped me to get over sicknesses and out doing what I want to do.

Comment by Jean-François Picard on March 6, 2012 at 7:36pm

**The tips I can give you to get from point A to point Z, quite simple tips actually, are the following:**

Comment by Jean-François Picard on March 6, 2012 at 7:33pm

I have been lucky enough over the years. I have not suffered from any major injury, nor illness.

I can say though, that I have changed my health habits drastically. I think I could count this as getting back on track :)!

Even though it was a mentally challenging period for me, the tips I can give you that I have used to get from point A to point Z, are the following:

1) Don'T make a habit of eating lethargy-prone foods (ie: greasy foods, big meals, alcool)

2) Drink as much water as you can (preferably alkaline water (ionized)

3) Stretch as much as you can. By doing this, you activate the lymphatic system in your body, in which circulates most bad substances that have passed through your body from eating, breathing, drinking, etc. You can call it a detox!

4) Make sure you get enough sleep.

5) Keep a positive attitude ( The most IMPORTANT tip!)

6) take a physically conscious walk.( for injuries)

That's my 2 cents! I hope it helps someone, anyone!

cheers

JF

To me, if you follow these rules

Comment by Jean McDermitt on March 6, 2012 at 5:43pm

Before I found out that I was pregnant I was working out every day and was hoping, if hamstring let me, to do the Vancouver Marathon.  3 weeks ago I miscarried which took a lot out of me physically but emotionally as well.  Didn't workout and didn't pay much attention on the foods I was eating and was going downhill until that little warrior in me kicked in.  I am back to eating vega foods again and have been feeling like myself again.  Amazing what good food will do for you.  I am back at working out.  I even did 26k on Sunday, run/walk that hurt like the dickens but did it.  Not sure if I am going to be able to pull off this Marathon but I'm determined to workout every day and continue to feed my body good fuel.  The new Vega sports line is awesome and works really well for me and I see the difference it makes!! So I am determined this month of March to lose this baby weight and get my body in optimal shape to hopefully in a couple of months try again.  Hee, hee, my baby will be a vega product baby.  Thinking positive:)

Comment by Kristina Bangma on March 6, 2012 at 5:38pm

During the summer of 2008 I was suffering from severe chronic fatigue syndrome.  Within 2 weeks I went from racing a Half Ironman to hardly being able to walk 2 blocks with feeling winded and exhausted. My original three year plan was to race 2009 Ironman Canada, so I had to get healthy - quick!  From July until December I put as much time and effort into rebuilding my adrenal glands as I would training for a race.  Instead of logging my weekly training hours, I logged how many hours I slept, how much meditation I did that week and monitored my energy levels.  I spent hours  researching and shopping for organic alkaline foods that would help heal my body.  I took naps seriously and logged them in my training diary as well.  For someone who is so regimented in my training, it really helped me mentally to feel like I had some control over getting healthy again. The careful logging also gave me motivation to see the small daily improvements.  

On January 1st 2009, I ran my first of many training miles which lead to a fantastic Ironman race.  My advice is two fold.  One, don't allow yourself to develop chronic fatigue by carefully monitoring your mental and physical stress levels - and when in doubt - do less. You can do a quick online search for the warning signs.  Two, if you are already deep into the syndrome, allow yourself time to fully heal 100% before going back to training again.  If you start back too soon, you will only drop back into the state, starting a yo-yo cycle that gets worse each time. 

Comment by Jennifer Lohman on March 6, 2012 at 4:11pm

My body has been healing from the illness of hypothyroidism and the removal of my thyroid gland.  The disease slowed my metabolism down so much that I gained 74 pounds in one year.  The weight gain continued and I peaked at 278 (most of my adult life I have been 150 & I am 5'-7").  About a year ago my knees started to go out on me which really limited my exercise.  Although I am just starting the vegan life style it has allowed me to loose over thirty pounds so far.  I have a real sense of wellness and I am not starved crazy with food cravings.  I have noticed that I definitely can not live in two worlds with this life style.  If I go back to processed foods with their chemicals my body rejects them and I actually feel sick.  No other diet allows me to consume such a limited number of calories with the nutrient density and feeling of fullness & wellness. I am taking my recovery very seriously and I believe vegan is the way to go for life.  Thank you Brendan for your wonderful books & products, all the good science and encouragement!

Comment by Kristina Lemieux on March 6, 2012 at 12:09pm

A year and a half ago I injured my left knee playing indoor soccer. Being an active person my entire life I found it very difficult to do nothing but rest and it was next to impossible for me to relax, in fact if anything I was feeling extremely down as exercise has always been my way to relax. I started to push myself even though I couldn't even straighten my leg or bend it past 90 degrees due to the swelling, I tried to push through the pain and do light jogs on it with my dog. This quite obviously only made it worse and increased my recovery time. I finnaly gave up seeing no positives from my actions and bought a gym pass and started to ride the bike. I focused on eating whole foods and in riding the bike found a new outlet in which I could relax. It was hard not to push and be frustrated at first but sometimes injuries force you to be more open about new things and you end up finding something you love.

Comment by Jenn's Adventures on March 5, 2012 at 6:57pm

After learning my Dad has an inoperable pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (pNET) my family has completely revamped the nutritional intake by adapting a strict raw/vegan/plant-based lifestyle. 

Previously I think we had all been in slight fitness rut, but this wake-up call to reality shook us to the core. Healthy decisions are made daily including exercise and choosing to eat healing foods and consciously avoiding toxic foods.

Living Raw, Vegan, Soy-Free, Gluten-Free, & Sugar-Free has been the best decision my family has ever made -- and Brendan makes this transition an inspiration for my otherwise omnivore family! 

Comment by Samantha on March 5, 2012 at 1:09pm

The hardest thing for me after getting injured is not jumping back into the activity too soon and with too much intensity. Resting and doing gentle rehabilitating exercises along with accupuncture has given me the best results.

Comment by Emily on March 5, 2012 at 8:12am

I completely agree with Judy, after an injury do something.  Maybe I can't do the same training I was working on prior but I do need to stay active in some shape or form.  Maybe it means some very low impact water work for a while.  I do think it helps healing, for most cases, to continue to be active while caring for the injury.

 

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