Brendan Brazier and Thrive Book Review

Right now I am writing this post from my in laws balcony that looks out onto the ocean. It has been so incredibly hot here on the Jersey Shore (and east coast) the past couple of days. There is such an unbelievable ocean breeze, I am so thankful to be here. We are heading home tonight because Danny has to work Tuesday and Wednesday. I was thinking of staying, but with everything that happened last week, I thought it would be best to go home and check on my family. 


It has been a nice long weekend, it’s felt like forever since Danny has taken a day off for himself. He really needed this break and I wish it could have been the entire week, but I do appreciate the time he does have. 


While I have some time before dinner I thought I’d finally write up the Brendan Brazier seminar and Thrive book. A couple of weeks ago I found out about the seminar from Jes and I signed Danny and I up. I really enjoyed the book, so I figured I’d love to hear him speak about his experience being a vegan athlete. The seminar took place at Lululemon in Tribeca.

A little background on Brendan Brazier: He is a professional Ironman triathlete and the creator of VEGA, a whole food, plant based nutrition product line. When Brendan was 15 he decided he wanted to be a professional athlete. As he trained he kept looking for ways to be a better athlete and he realized that there were 2 things that make up an athlete’s routine: training and recovery. Brendan figured out that what greatly varied among successful athletes’ was their diet, which eventually led him to become a vegan. The vegan diet helped speed his recovery time and allowed him to work harder in a shorter period of time. 


When we walked into Lululemon we were seated at the very, very front of the room, basically right next to him…because we were late…as usual. Brendan really looks like your average guy. Don’t you always expect celebrities (is he a celebrity?) to stand out? For some reason I always do. He was well spoken and went through his experience as an athlete and how he ended up creating VEGA. I was amazed, as I was in reading the book, how much he knows about nutrition and food. He really has done his research. Danny couldn’t get over it as well. Danny took home the idea that you really have to know your body, what’s good for it and what it thrives on. Neither of us are vegans, but I really like the idea of adopting many of his principles. Eat whole foods, avoid processed foods, reduce stress (nutritional, mental and physical) being some of them. Brendan was very interesting and added many personal antidotes and then explained his product line. 

What continues to blow me away is the standard American diet (SAD), how ridiculously poor it is and how people have no clue about how to eat well, or just don’t care to. I already eat healthy, but this diet is the next level. It’s meant to improve the quality of life. 


The Thrive Diet is meant to:

• improve the ability to burn body fat as energy
• better sleep quality *quality not quantity
• eliminations of junk cravings
• reduced body fat
• less joint inflammation
• improve mental clarity
• improve ability to build lean muscle tissue
• quick recovery from exercise
• reduce cholesterol level
•  stronger bones
• better skin quality

The Thrive book goes through a background of Brendan Brazier, research on nutrition, food, exercise, meal plans, recipes and an explanation of types of foods. It is very detailed and comprehensive and I had many “aha” moments. I would read parts of the book aloud to Danny because some of the facts were so interesting. I highly recommend this book, vegan, vegetarian, meat-eater or not, it has facts and knowledge for all. If you are interested in learning about the Thrive Diet but don’t want to read the book (even though you should) then you can go through the Thrive in 30 which is a series of 5 minute videos that cover the important parts of the book. 


Interesting facts and blurbs:
“Food cravings, usually for sugary or starchy foods, are often a telltale sign that the diet lacks nutrients or is tired.”(page 61)
“Appetite will diminish as the quality of food improves.”
“The absence of healthy food in diet is a form of stress.” (page 23)
“Corn derivatives are used in upward of 90 percent of processed food.” (page 67)
“More fossil fuel is burned in the production, processing and delivery of food than in any other industry.” (page 99)
40 percent of the average North American’s total stress can be attributed to diet.
6 types of common food allergies: soy,dairy, yeast, wheat/gluten, peanuts,corn

I just won a VEGA product from Ashley and I actually just ordered the VEGA protein. I will let you know about it as soon as I try. I was able to sample some of the VEGA bars and protein at the seminar and I did really enjoy it. When I make some of the recipes and drinks and try the protein I will review that. So I say go out and get this book or watch the videos, you will learn a lot. 


Have a good night! Remember to check out my very first giveaway for Food Should Taste Good chips. Winner announced Wednesday!

Tagged as: Exercise, health, health-fitness, health-veganism