How much do I want to "Thrive"

I've been intrigued by the Vegan athlete for years.

I did the vegetarian thing when I raced in the '80's and I was not too far off other than I missed the "Good Fat" thing. It was harder back in those days, stuff was not available and most vegetarians only ate bean sprouts (plus I was in Texas at Texas A&M, and you eat beef there) so I was not supper strict, but it made a good way to get fed and feel good. The "good fat" would have helped me at the peak of the season keep my body fat above 7% which I kept going under and I now know it cost me in the longer road races (OH if I knew then what I know today).

Back to the Vegan Diet, I have a friend who is a Vegan except chocolate, he just can't stay away from it. But he plays his cards close to his chest in eating and in training. But with the Core Blog group Tiguru and Eva are both Vegan's. I was reading some of Tiguru's experience with the Thrive Diet, and yesterday I made a variation of Eva's crock pot lentil soup (I used sweet potatoes because that is what I had). My daughter loved and took it with her for school lunch; she knows I'll pack anything but a white bread sandwich in her box (I think she likes to be different than the crowd).

Because of my injury (broken collar bone) and last year I was diagnosed with a hypothyroid, my doctor has had a hard time getting the dose right this winter. On top of that I just know I always feel better on days when I don't eat meat, but I still have to feed my family and w/ a 12 year old dancer I don't want to mess up her growth if she needs meat (unlike some authors I believe some people can be vegetarians and others have to have the meat).

ANY HOW, with two Vegans going here, I'm now half way through the Thrive Diet and researching local sources so that I can at least experiment with some aspects of Vegan. I get my protein from eggs, cheese, cottage cheese and plain yogurt, and whey protein drinks. So I've got to make some changes. With Cyclo-FUEL I refined my diet to the five to six meals through-out the day and balanced out my meals with carbs/fat/protein. So Vegan or the thrive diet is just a small step. I'm interested in the debate between the natropaths and medical folks that say soy product block the thyroid. I like my soy milk, I don't like rice milk... so there's almond and hemp milk. I like my Pad Thai Tofu... So I'm reading and then I'll have to make some transitions and I'll have some compromises as no one else in the house cooks except Mac and Cheese or TV dinners (I don't touch either). One thing about Brendan Brazier is he does not like coffee, I ain't giving it up, both Steve Borne and Graeme say its bad but they have one a day so I'm beginning to cut back in anticipation for this trial (4 cups today).

I'm also interested to see how much energy I get back I've been so stressed out over trying to collect from my customer for all the work I did, that I've not been able to get up early enough to get in my workouts, plus I've been exhausted. I think part of it is my medicine is off. When I do get on the bike I'm still nice and strong but I'm just holding my fitness not improving much. I've been quite short on the floor workouts but I'll throw a couple of kitchen up in the next couple of months so I'm not too worried as long as I keep up the core work. Plus I'm an old guy (by my daughter's standards) and fitness is a little harder to get to.

That all I have to say about that.