The Thrive Diet, New Edition, Soft Cover

Thrive features:

• the best whole foods
• a 12-week whole foods meal plan
• over 100 easy-to-make recipes with raw food options that are all wheat-, gluten-, soy-, corn-, refined sugar-, and dairy-free.
• exercise-specific recipes for pre-workout snacks, energy gels, sports drinks, and recovery smoothies
• environmental preservation

About Brendan Brazier

Brendan Brazier is one of only a few professional athletes in the world whose diet is 100 percent plant-based. He's a professional Ironman triathlete, bestselling author on performance nutrition, and the creator of an award-winning line of whole food nutritional products called Vega. He is also a two-time Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon Champion.

Nominated in 2006 for the Manning Innovation Award, Canada's most prestigious award for innovation, Brendan was shortlisted for the formulation of Vega. In 2006, Brendan also was invited to address US Congress on Capitol Hill, where he spoke of the significant social and economic benefits that could be achieved by improving personal health through better diet. The focus of his speech was to draw attention to the role that food plays in the prevention of most chronic diseases currently plaguing North Americans.

In 2007 Brendan returned to Capital Hill to lobby against the Farm Bill and was also named one of the 25 most Fascinating Vegetarians by VegNews magazine

Brendan has become a renowned speaker and sought-after presenter throughout North America, helping individuals and businesses thrive by sharing his dietary stress-busting program, the Thrive Diet.

Brendan lives in Los Angeles.

Praise for Thrive

"Thrive has revolutionized the way I go about fueling my body and helped push me to a higher level of performance and workout recovery. There's no other resource like it out there.” - Mac Danzig, Ultimate Fighter 6 Champion

“Brendan’s knowledge is second to none.” - Simon Whitfield, Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist (triathlon: Sydney, 2000; Beijing, 2008)

“Thrive is a life changing book!” - Jon Hinds, former LA Clippers strengh training coach and advisor to MLB and NFL teams

“Thrive is an authoritative guide to outstanding performance, not just in top-level athletics, but in day-to-day life.” - Neal D. Barnard M.D., President, Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine

“Brendan Brazier’s Thrive will increase the micronutrient density of your eating style and enable you to live longer, live healthier and thrive.” - Joel Furhman M.D., Bestselling author of Eat to Live and Eat for Health

“Thrive is a must read.” - T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D, author of the bestselling The China Study

Thrive Frequently Asked Questions

What inspired you to write Thrive?

Thrive grew out of necessity. At the age of 15, I decided that I wanted to become a professional athlete. My goal was to ultimately be a professional Ironman triathlete. As you can imagine, I needed to dedicate a huge amount of time and effort to training for this event. I turned to other professionals in the field to see how they trained. I learned that there are two prime components that make up an athlete's routine: training and recovery. Often referred to as stress and rest, both elements are of equal importance, yet usually only one gets attention: the training. Recovery occurs when the body is at rest-removing stress during times of rest will speed the rate of recovery, and so I realized that it's the recovery that needed to be my prime focus, not the training. This led me to look at the importance of diet. The research I found went into Thrive.

What is the general premise of Thrive?

Reducing stress through better nutrition. Stress is the root cause of just about all ailments, from minor irritants to major diseases.

Sleep deprivation, fatigue, mental fog, irritability, weight gain, sugar, starch, and caffeine cravings are commonly the first signs of stress. They're the red flags we must recognize; indicating that stress levels are higher than what's healthy. These symptoms of stress play an important role. They alert us that something is out of balance and will worsen if not fixed. Unfortunately, the common approach is to treat each individual symptom while ignoring the cause. Coffee and sugary foods to ward of fatigue, sleeping pills to help us sleep, and restrictive diets to help us lose weight; they are all a symptom-treating approach that is not healthy or sustainable. If we continue to ignore the root cause by treating each individual symptom, we mask the problem. Over time, if allowed to become chronic, these problems can become serious diseases. Thrive is about recognizing the first symptoms of stress and addressing what is causing them through better diet, so we never actually develop a major problem.

Thrive is more of a lifestyle than simply a diet. While technically what we eat is our diet, many people associate the word "diet" with a restrictive way of eating. It doesn't have to be. Thrive is one of inclusion, not exclusion. By simply adding more of the foods suggested, eventually there will be no room left for the less-healthy ones. Additionally, the body will begin to develop a taste for simple, more natural foods and over time will no longer desire processed foods. Many foods will begin to taste over-flavoured. This is the best situation to be in, when the best food for you develops into the ones you desire. From that point, everything is easy. This does take time, however; it won't be an overnight occurrence. But that's fine. Your current diet will determine your starting point and how long it will take to develop a taste and appreciation of simple, whole, clean, natural foods. If, for example, you eat a standard North American diet, it may take your body six months to transition to the new way of eating. That's okay. Considering what you are gaining, taking the time to transition is a positive investment. The payback is higher-quality living.

Healthy people are closer to their ideal weight. Therefore the best long-term solution for a lean body is to ensure health is priority one. Those who treat excess body fat with a restrictive or fad diet are simply treating a symptom. Being overweight is merely a sign that something's out of balance and therefore optimal health has not been achieved.

Can Thrive help me gain lean muscle?

Yes. If you follow a muscle-building weight-training routine, Thrive can help reduce inflammation after each workout to enable the next workout to be scheduled sooner. Therefore, more training can be performed and recovered from in less time. This is how to maximize true gains in fitness and muscle tissue regeneration. Higher-quality building blocks (food) facilitate higher-quality body tissue to be generated.

I've been told that I have low bone density and may develop osteoporosis. Can Thrive help?

Yes. Thrive is alkaline forming. This means that bone mass will not be broken down in an effort to maintain blood's neutral pH of 7.35. When refined, denatured foods are eaten; upon digestion, they create an acidic environment within the body. As a survival mechanism, blood draws highly alkaline calcium from the bones to maintain a neutral pH. Over time this leads to weaker bones and possibly to stress fractures in athletes. If not resolved, osteoporosis later in life is likely to transpire. As a society, we are developing osteoporosis in an earlier stage of life than ever before. This is not due to a lack of dietary calcium as originally thought. But rather to the over-consumption of processed, refined foods that cause calcium to be leached from the bones. Thrive includes a chart showing which foods are acid forming and which are alkaline forming. By following Thrive principals and the meal plan, the body will retain an alkaline state.

Is the nutrition program in Thrive good for children?

Yes. Information from several organizations devoted to children's health and welfare have reported that there is an undeniable coloration between children's ability to learn and their diet. They have reported that processed sugary foods such as cereal can cause children to have an energy spike that commonly makes them hyper and unable to concentrate. Following a sugar spike, a crash always occurs. During an energy crash, it is incredibly hard for children to focus and retain information presented to them.

A diet rich in whole, unrefined, plant-based foods is the simplest solution. Eating this way will also help children stay leaner and be less susceptible to diabetes and other diseases later in life.

The greatest challenge for most parents is getting healthy food into their children. In Thrive, there are many recipes that will appeal to kids including Banana Chocolate Pancakes (pp. 213-214), Apple Cinnamon Energy Bars (pp. 228), and Tropical Pineapple Mango Smoothies (pp. 223). Vega Whole Food Smoothie Infusion is also popular with kids.

Is Thrive good for athletes?

I developed Thrive to help speed cellular regeneration after training to improve the rate at which I improved as an athlete. So, yes, it's tremendously effective for helping to reduce inflammation, which in turn will allow for workouts to be scheduled closely together and improvement to be expedited.

There is also a sports-specific section that details what the best food (all with recipes) are to eat before, during, and after exercise. There are recipes for sport drinks, energy gels, and recovery, post-workout smoothies.

Is Thrive good for diabetics?

Yes, most recipes in the book are good for diabetics. The sport-specific recipes, however, are not suitable for diabetics as they contain sugary fruits, which are exactly what an active person needs during physical activity, yet the opposite type of fuel diabetics need to function well.

Can I incorporate only small amounts of the diet and expect to see results?

Yes. Even one meal or snack a day from the diet can make a noticeable difference over the course of six to eight weeks. Having a fruit smoothie with plant-based protein, essential fatty acids, and fibre for breakfast instead of sugary, starchy cereal is a sensible and easy way to begin.

Do I have to make the recipes to experience results?

No. Making up your own recipes while following the guidelines of the book will allow you to exercise your own creativity when it comes to plant-based whole foods. The recipes are there for those who need some guidance.

Do I have to follow the meal plan exactly to experience results?

No. The reason I included a meal plan was to give people an idea of how much variety the diet offers. Also, to give people a snapshot of what my personal diet often looks like, since I get asked about it frequently. As long as the principles of the book are followed, the mean plan can be mixed and matched with the recipes as well as your own creations.

Some people like having a "plan" to follow, others don't. It really just comes down to what works within your lifestyle.

Is it expensive to follow the dietary suggestions in Thrive?

Higher-quality ingredients cost more than lower-quality ones. I view food cost in terms of preventative medicine. I don't like the word "medicine" since it's for sick people, but the fact that healthy, whole food can prevent sickness from ever occurring is reassuring to me.

If the bulk of your diet is healthy, the odds of developing disease later in life are greatly reduced. As we are well aware, a major problem now facing senior citizens is the cost of symptom-treating drugs. Many simply can't afford them. Of course the need for drugs could be eliminated in nearly all instances if a person's diet had been healthy years prior. So, simply put-pay now for higher-quality food or pay later for drugs to treat symptoms caused by poor diet.

In addition, those who are healthier don't require as much sleep, have greater energy, better mental clarity, and are physically stronger. Furthermore, they aren't as prone to develop starch, sugar, or caffeine cravings. This leads to a significant gain in productivity, which some may choose to put a dollar value on.

Will I need to buy branded products to make recipes from Thrive?

No. The recipes have been developed to avoid specific name-brand products. However, to make finding top-quality ingredients easier, I've mentioned industry leaders and the ones that I personally use and trust. These are listed and described on the downloadable shopping list (link to come).

Are the ingredients hard to find?

The basic core ingredients can be found in most supermarkets. Next Level Foods can be found in most health food stores. I'm pleased to say that an increasing number of major supermarkets now include natural food sections and consequently are an excellent place to find Thrive ingredients.

Are the Next Level Foods an essential part of Thrive? Are they expensive?

Next Level Foods featured in the book include:

Chlorella
Coconut
Green tea
Green tea seed oil
Maca
Rooibos
Salba
Yerba Mate

They are whole food sources of concentrated nutrients that can be greatly beneficial to overall health. However, none of them need to be eaten to experience results on Thrive. I view them as a substitute for vitamin and mineral supplements. That being considered, it very well may be cheaper to eat Next Level Foods that a myriad of laboratory-created supplements. And the results will certainly be better.