This is Sara Russert. My new vegan inspiration!
Did you ever have one of those moments when you felt invincible? When you could run ten miles and bike 20 and still feel like God’s own gift to creation? Well, I have. My most recent high as a kite, athletic moment involved taking a vegan creatine supplement for the first time.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have had creatine before. However, this was about two years back when I was still a vegetarian and consuming lots of eggs. I found it mildly beneficial, but I didn’t like the water bloat, and therefore stopped using it. When I started turning towards a more vegan diet, I did my due diligence and began reading up on what other supplements I might need. As a vegetarian, I already took DHA omega threes from algea and had 100% of my B12 in my daily multi vitamin. (This is also what PETA’s Vegan Starter Kit advises you to do). However, I was fully aware that by cutting my egg intake by 75%, I might need to add another thing or two.
I had also noticed a certain fatigue setting in about my fourth day of almost veganism. Strangely, it wasn’t the distinct protein fatigue I have felt off and on since being a vegetarian. For one thing, I wasn’t hungry. I actually felt like my eating was going great! I had a little trouble with some lost weight at first, but with some help from Jesse on my birthday I got back up to my usual 140 pounds. My muscles were not necessarily fatigue either. I could still do all my lifts, but I just felt… lethargic. I could do the lifts, but I didn’t want to. Now I know my body inside and out, and I knew it was missing something. However, I had no cravings to get information from. I didn’t WANT to eat eggs. I didn’t want to eat ice cream, or avocados, or any other fatty food. I didn’t feel like I needed to chug vegetable smoothies, and grapefruit juice held only its usual appeal.
SO WHAT WAS I MISSING?
Sara Russet uses creatine, and I think her advice should be pretty good! Don’t you?
Research revealed a prime suspect. Creatine. Many an anti vegan blog involves lack of creatine as a main reason to not ditch the meat. If you don’t know, creatine is a supplement vital to muscle growth and energy. Vegans make their own internally, just like non vegans do, but they can only make about half the usual amount. The result? A tendency towards lean muscle and less energy. Perhaps this is why vegans are so good at long distance athletic events, such as trail races and triathlons. Being able to form only lean muscle mass would be a tremendous advantage for such weight conscious sports.
But for me, as a weight lifter who trains for bulk and a runner who is trying to increase short distance speed, lean muscle mass is not what I am going for. Furthermore, with a decent amount of bulk already, and then adding limited creatine production, my almost vegan body was probably struggling to maintain the status quo. Thus, based on a hunch, I ordered a vegan creatine supplement (without caffeine or any other additives mind you) and it arrived last Saturday. I ran 10 miles, added it to my protein shake, and motorcycled home to Jesse so we could bicycle 20 miles round trip to a tiny house convention.
Can you say, “WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”
Holy crap. It was like consuming four espressos and twenty doughnuts all at once. I was a woman of steel. My muscles were iron. My will was unbreakable. I felt like I could punch through walls! And not with my fist, but with my entire body!!!! For the first time in a week and a half, I felt like my energy was back.
Since that first dose, I don’t feel like I can break through walls anymore, but I do feel normal. My energy is up, my lifts are good, and my running speed is back on track. To be honest, I am not sure if after a few more weeks, my body would not have adjusted and started producing more creatine on its own. Still, even the long term vegan athletes use creatine, like the famous No Meat Athlete. Therefore, I am adding a creatine supplement to the list of essentials for vegans.
New Vegan Supplement List
B12
DHA Omega Threes
Creatine
This Week in Updates: I got a blender!!!!
Check it out! I got a new blender and it is super bad ass. It makes delicious smoothies to use up all my extra vegetables, and it worked wonderfully while making vegan quiche for Jesse and I’s birthday brunch last weekend! I can’t wait to make hummus in it, and for this week’s recipe it came in handy with making vegan pepperoni. I was also flying a lot, so there was some poofy clouds, and I got to be a good Samaritan at a motorcycle accident. That was fun! No, not really. As a security blanket for the hopefully not next time, I invested in an $100 military IFAK kit complete with a rescue cat tourniquet!
Yummy vegan things!
THE POWER!
The Recipe: Vegan Pepperoni Pizza
Vegan pepperoni pizza
So, this is a recipe review, because Dana’s recipes from the minimalist baker cannot be beat! Love, love, love this blog! Oh, and yes. I loved, loved, LOVED the pizza. Easy, healthy, delicious, and VEGAN!
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