NMP#39: The High-Performing Vegan Athlete with Matt Frazier

A lot of what I talk about on this site is about the transition to a vegan diet. However, there’s something to be said about once you’ve made that transition and taking it to the next level. Today I’m talking to the No-Meat Athlete, otherwise known as Matt Frazier, about being the High-Performing Vegan Athlete. You can learn more about vegan diets through 3 Ways to be Vegan or listen in to my interview with Rachael Hutchings on Autoimmune Disease and Plant-Based Diets.

Today Marly is chatting with Matt Frazier, otherwise known as the No-Meat Athlete (see link below). If you want to see the results of someone who is highly motivated by a clean diet, you will want to listen to Matt discussing the High-Performing Vegan Athlete. But you don’t have to be an athlete to benefit from today’s show.

There are a lot of health benefits attributed to a plant-based diet as described by Matt in today’s episode. In addition, Matt talks about the importances of exercise as well.

If you haven’t made these kinds of changes in your life before, or if you’ve tried and failed in the past, we also discuss the importance of taking small steps. Most of the people who have made these changes have done it that way. I don’t know too many folks who have go straight to a plant-based vegan. Most of us begin as vegetarians, then switch to a vegan diet with processed foods, and then progress on to a more plant-based diet.

The most important thing you can do is to carve out a little bit of time for an activity that you really enjoy every day. — Matt Frazier

This is the advice that Matt gives to make huge changes in your life — get used to treating yourself well. This will help you build up your momentum for change, rather than relying on willpower.

Matt also recommends creating a calendar where you can track changes, kind of like creating it as a game. To help yourself make the transition to a vegan diet, begin with the Meatless Monday program. It’s ok to go just one day a week. Begin there and once you have that down successfully, then add another day a week. Then you can add more vegan meals as you go.

Also, Matt recommends creating certain times of the day you can be certain of some habits. So, for example, maybe you decide to have a vegan breakfast every day. That healthy vegan diet could be a smoothie or it could be a healthy bowl of oatmeal. In the beginning this might require some willpower, but eventually it will have a certain momentum to it.

We discuss the notion of your diet as a skill. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing on day one. You can learn and grow.

The more you can lessen the drain on willpower — make the steps smaller and easier — the more likely you are to succeed. — Matt Frazier

The more you can give yourself some compassion as you’re getting used to this, the more this will be like second nature. — Marly

Our goal at Namely Marly is to provide you with inspiring resources to take on a vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and inspired, energetic life. We hope today’s interview about the High-Performing Vegan Athlete has been helpful and informative.

Go be your best you!

Featured Content – High-Performing Vegan Athlete

Here are some of the highlights of my discussion with Matt:

• How Matt transitioned to a vegetarian diet
• Why Matt was inspired to run his first marathon
• The way Matt eats and what he doesn’t eat
• Matt describes how they feed their children
• We discuss the importance of exercise
• Matt talks about what running is
• Are you curious about standing desks? We talk about that
• Marly asks Matt about the importance of habits
• Matt describes a small steps approach to improving your health
• We talk about making changes to your exercise routine and your diet
• Matt and Marly discuss the benefits of self compassion and less perfection
• We talk about the best skill you can have in changing your habits

This High-Performing Vegan Athlete episode includes references to some resources you might find interesting. Here they are:

• Check out the site No Meat Athlete
• I listen to the No Meat Athlete Podcast and you should check it out. It’s a great listen!
• Related post: Listen to Julie Piatt talking about Spirituality
• Give a shout-out to Matt and connect via Twitter and Instagram
• Matt mentions the Thrive book by Brendan Brazier
• Related Post: Dr. Greger talks about his book How Not to Die
• Marly mentions Ray Cronise who has done a lot of studies on weight loss
• Marly talks about how a tick bite leads to meat allergies
• Matt talks about the VariDesk, an adjustable desk
• We mention the app by Dr. Greger called the Daily Dozen, a good guide on how to eat every day
• Matt mentions the Raw Til Four diet
• Connect with Marly: Namely Marly |  Instagram  | Twitter
• Production, music, graphic art & sound design by Shawn Beelman

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That’s it for today’s podcast. As always, thanks so much for joining in the discussion!