Comments on: Climbing Health Care: The Vegan Diet

By: Sharyn Lacount

Sharyn Lacount — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 21:11:38 +0000

Incredible article!

By: just another vegan climber

just another vegan climber — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:33:40 +0000

you rule!

greetings from switzerland

By: Caleb

Caleb — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:00:40 +0000

I would suggest hemp seed protein for a protein source. I put about 4tbsp in my smoothie every day, that equates to about 16grams of highly digestible protein!

And I can say from personal experience that a vegetarian diet is highly beneficial, I actually eat about 50%-70% of my diet from all raw foods. I still eat some dairy though.

Also, for B vitamins I would suggest nutritional yeast for your salads. I sprinkle some on almost all my salads, plus it has a nice cheesy flavor to it

By: chetroy

chetroy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:01:45 +0000

Forgot to mention my wife and i have been fully vegan for over 3yrs now. Just keeps getting better
pe4ce

By: chetroy

chetroy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:59:52 +0000

Yo Steph
I fully support the vegan lifestyle. Love to see other climbers/athletes that do too. I have been climbing for 15 yrs. Experimented with diet for gains and retaining my youth (i am 36). Tried vegetarian and noticed a big change for the better, but still to much cheese (vegetarian for 10). Then took the vegan/no refined sugar or oil, or white flour/balanced diet. Wow, is the best way to describe it. My recovery, strength/weight ratio, and over all feeling of being is awesome.
My wife has a very informative vegan blog, check it
http://chetroy.com/healthyvegan/
pe4ce

By: simon

simon — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:48:17 +0000

It’s funny when I first started to read your blog and about yosemite I thought it would be great to live there I really wanted to be there.
but then I thought well we also have some rocks in switzerland, actually not only some but quite large amounts of great rocks and cliffs and mountains. and when I read what you write about food and factory farming I feel very happy with the situation here in swizterland, you can find almost everything as “organic” and since switzerland is not very large, you can be sure that it didn’t travel very far if it is from switzerland and it’s not even much more expensive.
it seems this time the grass is much greener here where I am.
you really made me realize that. thank you for that.

By: amy

amy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:38:39 +0000

I would definitely recommend checking out Brendan Brazier’s book The Thrive Diet. He is a world class triathlete and maintains a completely plant based diet (it’s also really great for Celiac’s because he uses mostly gluten-free grains too!) His book gives a really easy to read breakdown of what your body needs, and how it reacts to different foods, all from an athletic viewpoint, and about half the book is great recipes that follow his “rules” of eating. Worth checking out for a vegan/vegetarian/celiac lifestyle, and great for it’s gearing towards athletes!

By: Charissa

Charissa — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:04:09 +0000

Hi Steph,

I’ve been following a vegan diet for about 8 years and climbing for about a year. Love being vegan, love rock climbing, and love your website…thanks for putting up all the great info! Reading your book now. Cheers, Charissa (in Seattle)

By: Steph Davis

Steph Davis — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:28:43 +0000

Hi Himmi! It’s easier than it seems like it would be, to be vegan even if the other people eating with you are not, especially if you are the one who cooks. Almost anything can be made as a non-meat dish, with the meat cooked on the side and added by those who want it. Then everyone can have what they prefer. My experience has been that anyone I’ve lived with eventually has found themselves always wanting to eat the vegan food I make because it tastes good, and then gradually becoming aware that it works very well for them too, physically.

When traveling, the only thing that’s really difficult for me is wheat. Of all the things I don’t eat–refined sugar, hydrogenated anything, animal products and wheat– wheat is hands down the hardest to deal with. Both because I love bread, and also because wheat seems to be in almost everything other people make or sell on this side of the world. The only reason I avoid it is that I get a stomachache when I eat too much wheat flour, especially at night.

In Switzerland, where I walk by cows living idyllic peaceful lives in green fields every day, I often eat the local cheese. And if I end up having salad or plain rice for a few meals while I’m traveling or at restaurants with friends, it doesn’t bother me that much, though I usually do try to vote for a thai or indian restaurant rather than a steakhouse But I’m certainly not gong to starve, and it’s kind of natural for creatures to eat more at some times and less at others.

As with climbing, eating habits are a lifestyle change. Climbers are willing and able to make extremely radical lifestyle changes for the sake of climbing, and nutrition is no different. I guess it just doesn’t seem like a big deal to me to change something like eating habits, especially when it works.
Steph

By: Himmi

Himmi — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:59:41 +0000

I just have one question, which goes more into your social life as a vegan and to some may sound funny but I think is quite relevant. I have no special dietary habits, just eat to survive, but recently I have started to think a bit more about it in order to improve my physical and mental state for my sports. I dont think I am ready to give up meat nor dairy but if it will change my life to the better I am really keen on giving it a go.

But here is my question. When on trips (just like Steph´s recent trip to Lauterbrunnen for example), or going out with family and/or friends does it not make things more complicated? That is, if other members of the group (travel partners), your family or friends are not vegans is it not a hassle to find a place to eat, to make dinner and so on?

This question just popped up because I had to change my diet from normal milk to skimmed, and less fatty cheese when I started my relationship years back. Not a great change, and something I had no problem with changing (took me just few weeks to get used to milk that was closer to water than cream in taste). And now when we have a kid we started buying full cream milk again adding to the inventory in the fridge. So that is why I thought about it. If I change my diet to vegan and not the other family members it will require 2x the inventory and sometimes making 2 dishes instead of just one for everyone.

Himmi