Our Daily Rituals for Health and Well-Being

Written by Matt Frazier

No Meat Athlete is all about eating and running, but I believe that it’s the habits I keep while not eating or running that contribute most to my well-being.

In today’s episode, Doug and I decided to mix things up by avoiding the typical topics of running and a plant-based diet, and instead we discuss the daily rituals we practice that keep us healthy. Morning routines, work habits, bad habits, we dive into it all.

Here’s what we talk about in this episode:

Morning routines that kick the day off right
Healthy habits that keep the mind in check
Creating a workspace that removes distractions
Unhealthy habits we’re glad we kicked
Useful tools for creating healthy rituals

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Achieving Health in the Smallest Steps Possible with Sid Garza-Hillman

Written by Matt Frazier

When I first met Sid Garza-Hillman during my book tour last year, I knew we’d get along well. And by get along, I mean poke fun of each other’s quirky ideas and have a good time doing it.

Sid’s approach to health and fitness is all about tiny steps. So much so, that he’s now known by many as the Small Step Advocate. It was a pleasure to talk with him again, and not only discuss how effective the small steps approach is for diet and fitness habits, but also debate some of his other, more unusual philosophies.

As mentioned in the interview, we’re giving away two signed copies of his book Approaching the Natural. To enter, just leave a comment below and we’ll pick two people at random to be announced next week.

Here’s what we talk about in this episode:

The small steps approach to habit change from the Small Step Advocate himself
How to define how you want to live your life, and how to make that want a reality
Why the trampoline could (or could not) be your key to fitness
The truth about acid alkaline balance
Sid explains his quirky philosophies

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The YumUniverse Approach to a Gluten-Free, Plant-Based Diet

Written by Matt Frazier

For most of Heather Crosby’s life, she hated vegetables. Now, due in part to heath reasons that forced a change in her diet, she runs one of my go-to blogs for plant-based recipes, YumUniverse.

It was a pleasure to speak with Heather this week about her new book, YumUniverse: Infinite Possibilities for a Gluten-Free, Plant-Powerful, Whole-Food Lifestyle, set to release October 28th, and find out exactly what inspired her food philosophy and how she thinks a plant-based, gluten-free diet can work for athletes.

Here’s what we talk about in this episode:

Why Heather went from hating vegetables to a plant-based diet
How a plant-based diet opens you up to infinite cooking possibilities
The plant-based, gluten-free diet for athletes
Heather’s unique food philosophy
YumUniverse: Infinite Possibilities for a Gluten-Free, Plant-Powerful, Whole-Food Lifestyle the book

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Badwater Ultramarathon Winner and Vegetarian Harvey Lewis

Written by Matt Frazier

135 miles. In the hottest part of the summer. Through Death Valley, where temperatures sometimes reach 120 degrees and once melted the soles of anyone’s shoes who didn’t run on the road’s white line.

Badwater’s course was forced to change this year, and temperatures weren’t what they usually are (“only” 112 degrees or so this year). Seems like it worked out just fine for Harvey Lewis, a school teacher from Cincinnati and vegetarian who won the race this year — by 50 minutes — in his fourth time taking on the iconic race. Even more interesting, Harvey’s training mileage averaged only 100 miles per week. For me, someone whose dream race is Badwater (and who is never going to run anything approaching the 140-mile weeks that many elite ultrarunners put in), it was an absolute pleasure to talk to Harvey about how prepared for and won the Badwater 135.

Here’s what we talk about in this episode:

The appeal of Badwater and running 135 miles through the desert
How to train for the extreme heat
Harvey’s visualization and mind-focusing techniques
What Harvey eats during an ultramarathon
RunQuest and international running travel opportunities

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How to Stay Motivated to Run

Written by Matt Frazier

How do you stay motivated to run? How do you get there in the first place?

These questions are some of the most common we get from readers and listeners, and trust us, we don’t have the magic answer. Doug and I have both been through our share of ups and downs in our motivation to run, but through some 20 combined years of running, we’ve learned lots of tricks for getting out the door when you’re just not feeling it.

But even more importantly: we’ve learned how to set goals that matter to you, so that you don’t even need the tricks.

Here’s what we talk about in this episode:

Motivating yourself through big goals and new challenges
Using new distances, revisiting old ones, and starting run streaks stay focused
How to break out of a mid-training slump
What keeps Matt and Doug motivated

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#VegRunChat Founder Brandon Frye

Written by Matt Frazier

One of the best things to come from Twitter is Twitter chats, and if you’re a plant-based runner and Twitter user, #vegrunchat is probably one of your favorites.

In this episode we welcome #vegrunchat founder Brandon Frye to get to know the man behind the popular chat (Sunday nights at 9pm ET), as well as talk about the factors we believe have made our projects in the plant-based running niche successful.

Here’s what we talk about in this episode:

Brandon’s journey from overweight to a plant-based runner
How #VegRunChat got started
The mission behind the chats
Building a successful online project

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Why We Love Diet Experiments

Written by Matt Frazier

If you haven’t already noticed, we love diet experiments. From juice cleanses and 80/10/10, to a vegan version of the Paleo diet, we’re willing to give just about anything a shot in the quest to figure out what works best.

But what we’ve learned is that no diet is perfect for everyone, and that experimenting with your diet is the only way for you to understand what works best for your body.

Here’s what we talk about in this episode:

An update on Matt’s experiment with the 80-10-10 diet
Why we encourage people to try diet experiments
How we used experimenting to reach a plant-based diet
The small steps vs. drastic changes approach to diet change

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Joel Runyon — Ultramarathons and Doing the Impossible

Written by Matt Frazier

After graduating from college, Joel Runyon couldn’t get a job. Not at Starbucks, not at Caribou Coffee, not at Target. He also wasn’t an athlete, and had never run a 5K.

Just five years later, he’s actually spoken at the headquarters of Target, one of the very companies that wouldn’t hire him. He’s spoken at TEDx, done a half Ironman, run an ultramarathon, raised $25,000 to build a school in Guatemala, and traveled the world. Joel now doesn’t need a job, because he makes a living documenting his perpetual quest to do the impossible and helping tens of thousands of readers to the same.

And it all started with a list. Not a bucket list, but an Impossible List.

Next on the list: run 7 ultras on 7 different continents (ending with the Leadville 100) to raise money to build 7 schools. All in the next year.

Joel has been a friend of mine for about as long as I’ve written No Meat Athlete, and it was a pleasure to have him share his knowledge and inspiration for doing the impossible on this episode of NMA Radio.

Here’s what we talk about in this episode:

How Joel went from unemployed and living in his parents’ basement to doing the impossible
How an “Impossible” list differs from a “Bucket” list
The 777 Project: 7 ultramarathons on 7 continents to build 7 schools
Breaking through self-imposed limits to do the impossible
How running helps build the “do the impossible” muscle
Joel’s tips for going from non-runner to multiple ultramarathons in just 5 years

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Ray Cronise and the Metabolic Winter Hypothesis

Written by Matt Frazier

Ray Cronise, whom you’ll know from a previous podcast episode and from Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Body (where Ray is the cold-stress fat-loss guy), is back — our first repeat guest on NMA Radio.

Why have Ray on again? Because in continuing his history of disruption — first in the aerospace industry and now in the field of nutrition — Ray has just published an academic paper that he and his co-authors believe lays the foundation for a revolution in nutrition science.

The paper is titled The Metabolic Winter Hypothesis, and you should download it here before you listen to the podcast.

It’s six pages long, and not difficult reading … but even if you don’t have time to read it all right now, at least take a look at the Food Triangle — a simple visual representation of Ray and his co-authors’ new approach to nutrition.

Among lots of implications for addressing the obesity epidemic, the food triangle explains how two diets so seemingly opposite as plant-based and Paleo have achieved such success at the same time.

If you’re ready to think differently about the way you eat, download the paper and give this episode a focused listen.

Here’s what we talk about:

The primary cause of obesity and chronic illness in our society
The impact of over-nourishment and the danger of nutrition in excess
Restricting calories to create longevity
Rethinking how we organize food
Why the plant-based diet isn’t the only way to lose weight … but can be one of the best
Why protein is not included in Ray’s new food triangle

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