With any diet, you should be aware of what you are putting into your body. It truly amazes me that people just don’t know what is in their food – after all, this food becomes you and directly impacts your energy levels, health and appearance. We’ll spend billions on beauty products, supplements and medications when all you have to do is put the right things into your mouth.

B12 is one of the big vitamins that vegans really do have to take as a supplement.  B12 is essential to cell division and blood formation. Without enough B12, you can suffer symptoms such as numbness and tingling, difficulty controlling muscles, fatigue, memory loss, difficulty focusing, anemia and weakness. These symptoms usually appear gradually and intensify with time, but can come on quickly. Older people often experience B12 deficiency due to the decline in stomach acid production that occurs as you age – your body simply doesn’t process the vitamin as efficiently. Vegans are at risk because plants don’t make vitamin B12. Animals don’t make it either – they just eat things contaminated with bacteria that make it – and by default, become sources of it.

Sea vegetables (think nori/kelp/dulse), tempeh and miso are sometimes said to be sources of B12, but the Vegan Resource Group says they are not reliable sources. You don’t need a lot of B12 daily, but you do need some. You can get it from nutritional yeast, specifically a brand known as Red Star T-6645+. It has a cheesy taste – really. It is a flakey product that you can stir into marinara sauce to mimic Parmesan, sprinkle over popcorn (my 7-year-old loves it), toss into salad or mix into salad dressings, blend into a smoothie, stir up with almond milk, flour and salsa to create a “nacho” cheese sauce or add to soups and other sauces for flavor. It is inexpensive and two teaspoons provide the recommended amount of B12 for adults.

If you aren’t ready to stock your pantry with nutritional yeast, fortified soy milk and other fortified “vegan” foods contain some B12. But, regularly including these foods can cause you to fall back into pitfall 1 of junk veganism.

Choosing a supplemental pill or liquid can be confusing. Look for one that includes at least 250 mcg of B12 – you need to take more of the vitamin than is recommended to allow for the fact that your body doesn’t always process nutrition from pills efficiently. Take it daily, or go for 1,000 mcg pills 3 times per week. Good luck on remembering those, though.  Opt for one made with methylcobalamin, a natural kind of B12 that comes from bacteria and that your body can actually process. Avoid cyanocobalamin sourced B12. You’ll have to read your labels and do some searching. Sublingual (dissolve under the tongue) forms are most often recommended, but talk to your doctor about the patch or injections (especially if you have intrinsic factor, I won’t get into that here, but it basically means you have trouble absorbing B12).

You may have heard that bacteria in your large intestine produces some B12. While this is true, we don’t seem to absorb it. You might get a trace amount if you have poor post-bathroom hygiene habits, but I don’ t think anyone would recommend this. You may also have heard that certain vegetables (mushrooms, spinach) grown in soil treated with manure contain B12. At this point, it is unclear if this B12 is processed by the human body or an inactive form.  The vegetables contain such trace amounts, that even if you can process it – you’ll have to eat 23 cups of spinach to get a day’s worth of B12 notes the Vegetarian Resource Group.

If you always hit the treadmill at a steady pace, try distracting your mind with Fartlek training — a Swedish term for “speed play.” Fartleks are random, meaning you don’t go for a measured amount of time or distance, but simply speed up or slow down to add variety to your workout. For example, after you warm up with a walk or light jog, speed up your pace for 30 to 60 seconds and then slow back down to your warm-up pace. When you feel ready again, challenge yourself to go another 45 seconds, but even faster than the last interval. Because you’re varying your routine and watching the intervals instead of thinking about the maddening length of your entire workout, your treadmill session will fly by and you’ll experience a boost in your fitness level as well.

Run Fartleks outside by picking a random landmark — a tree or a parked car. Surge to that landmark and then slow back down. You can do these drills back to back — or leave long breaks between them. Fartleks give you more freedom than specific distance or time intervals which make you a slave to your watch or a track. Your runs take on a carefree nature — while still providing a functional improvement in your fitness.

I’ll admit, during cycling, I was thinking about the pool. I wasn’t having marvelous thoughts of cooling water and seamless strokes. I was convincing myself not to bail because it was early and I wanted to just go home and get ready for the day – pack lunches, make sure kids were fed and watered, plan the next classes. Then it dawned on me. My suit…no bathing suit. I had an out.

Instead of relieving me, the lack of suit made me antsy. I really had no intention of bailing on the swim and now it seemed inevitable that I’d have to. As class progressed, I realized I had nary any other time to swim in the next three days. It was Monday at 6:30am or never (well, post 8pm but that is bedtime, thank you.) I couldn’t swim in padded cycling shorts…could I?  And then I remembered: my daughter’s yellow, frilly pineapple bikini was in the bag. Dare I try to squeeze my woman’s size medium body into a girl’s size 10 swim suit?

This had to be the first sign that I was losing it. This triathlon thing has made me clearly batty. Surely my commitment to training had gone too far.

Regardless, I hit the locker room. I slyly took the bikini bottoms with me to the restroom stall. I figured if it was a failure, I could put my shorts back on and no one would know. If they fit even a little bit, I could wrap a towel around me and slip unnoticed into the pool. I wasn’t going to try for the top – I could wear the dry-fit cycling tank I had on. I hadn’t gone full-blown nutso.

As I scraped the suit over my thighs, I knew I could do it. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. The one lone pineapple on the backside stretched quite thin, but I seemed to be covered. I didn’t dare check the mirror to make sure. I hadn’t the foresight to bring a towel into the stall with me, so I sprinted back to the bench to only to discover,  I had grabbed a pile of hand towels from the laundry room, not a full-sized towel. This particular facility doesn’t provide towels for you. I thought briefly about tucking them into the pineapple frill to create a skirt, but that would only call more attention and frankly, I’m not sure I had a towel-width of space to spare.

I was committed, however. It was like a dare I made to myself. So, I put on my oversized sweatshirt jacket and walked to the pool deck. Success — just one lone swimmer who barely gave me a look. I slid into the water. The bottoms were rather tight, but I managed to get in a good swim. When I went to get out, a gaggle of men sat in the hot tub. I took a deep breath and made a run for it – fast out of the water and to the locker room.

Perhaps I was the subject of some gawking, some laughter – maybe no one noticed.  hope to never know. I did get my swim in and felt much more satisfied because of it.

Just goes to show, when there is a will, there is a way. It isn’t always pretty, but you can do it.

You can’t think of anything else to eat, so you bake a potato, boil up some pasta or throw some peanut butter on a white bagel.  You snack on pretzels, chow down on veggies and white rice and gorge on rolls or tortillas with your lentil chili.

This, my friends, is a vegan diet – but not a smart one. Unless you are running a weekly marathon, no one needs 500+ grams of carbs daily.

First, examine your carb choices now. Under almost no circumstances should you put the white, airy bread in your mouth. I’ll give you a pass if you live in France and can get your hands on a true French bagette – otherwise, nope – no way.  Sweet potatoes, occasional white potatoes (not fried into crispy, oily bits, please), brown rice, quinoa, millet, teff and amaranth are your friends. Skip pasta – especially the white variety – as much as you can and if you can eat gluten, go for barley or farro.  Have your nut butter on a banana or an apple, rather than bread. You’ll get carbs in your fruits, your vegetables and your beans – you don’t need to load up on them in empty ways.

Second, remember all those other vegan foods that aren’t carb-centered. Almonds, cashews, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, walnuts, pecans, tofu, tempeh, nori, roasted soy beans, vegan protein powders, berries, cucumbers, artichokes, green beans, asparagus, celery, avocados and greens. A salad once in a while won’t kill you. Add water to your smoothie instead of almond milk.

Most of you have had the experience of a run going terribly wrong. If you haven’t had this experience yet, it is in your future. Just you wait.  But, I digress.  Let me start from the beginning.

For an upcoming marathon on May 5^th, I have been following a new training plan: one I’ve never used before. I thought it best to be less aggressive this training and choose a plan that culminated with just one 20-miler as I’ve also added swimming and biking to my regimen for upcoming summer triathlons. I’ve always told clients – when choosing a training plan,  having more than one 20-mile run planned is important just in case something happens. You’ll be guaranteed of getting at least one in.  Well, wouldn’t you know, something happened – but to ME! A stomach bug struck Friday into Saturday –one that wouldn’t let me eat much and left me weak and sleepy. I woke up Sunday – feeling functional. I figured I’d try for the 20 – I could force it. I’d get it done.

From mile three, the legs felt heavy. The wind gusts of 30 mph did not help. I walked for a few seconds every half mile or so to make myself feel better.  I choked down a gel at mile six and immediately felt nauseous….kept it down and trodded on. At mile 10, I resisted the urge to call for rescue figuring I could fight the lightheadedness for another 10. After all, I just had to put one foot in front of the other. At mile 12, the nausea was subsiding, so I downed another Gu only to be struck by a side stitch. I stopped and walked, it subsided so I started to run. Stitch returned within 30 seconds – I know it was 30 seconds, I had my eye on my watch.

I punched myself in the side, I rolled in the grass, I did every twisting yoga pose possible, I walked and then I tried to run and that darned stitch…it wasn’t going away.

Then,  I started to cry. I knew. I wasn’t just crying – I was gasping for air and sobbing. I knew it was only a run – it happens. But, not to ME! This pity party, rolling, yoga-pose train continued for a mile…and at mile 13, I cried even harder because I knew it was over. Twenty miles was not going to happen….and since the taper needed to start the next day, neither was the marathon.

I was mad – angry, really – and in denial. I rationalized that I’d go do another 13 after the four classes I had to teach the next day…or go on Tuesday for 20, even though wind and snow was forecast…I’d do it on the treadmill. I knew of a marathon on May 19 – I’d change to that — I was determined to make it happen. These were the ramblings of a crazy person. A crazy person who knew what she’d tell any client who’d been battling injuries all Spring, hadn’t hit training as consistently or effectively as she should and had a long racing season ahead of her.

My mind kept spinning and I realized I was getting really, really tired. When I stopped, I thought I was only about 4 miles from the trailhead where my family could pick me up. Turns out, I was about six…and although I wasn’t hobbling, I wasn’t going at any enviable pace either. I tried to run again and now my legs were stiff and the side stitch returned. I passed people, “They must think I am such a loser,” was my internal speak. Funny how we think people judge us, when it is us judging ourselves. F rankly, I don’t think anyone gave me a second thought. About 1 ½ miles from the trail head I saw a dog that looked freakishly like mine…”oh, how cute, a dog with two kids – about my kids ages and…”oh!” I realized —  that  IS my family.” They came to rescue me. My heart warmed, at least for the rest of the walk to the car.

Monday, I woke up still trying to figure out how to make the marathon happen. I researched articles and training forums to learn from those magic people who tell stories of how they didn’t do any run longer than 16 miles and still pulled out sub 3 hour runs. “I would run it anyway – who needs a stupid 20-mile run?” I thought.  I knew better though.

Another night’s sleep and I began to accept reality. What was I trying to prove? After all, my training has been less-than optimal. I’ve been fighting injury after injury. At every run, I had trouble bringing myself up for tempos and ended up bailing on those hard runs more often than not. I’m coming off two poor marathon performances and several lackluster halves. My mojo wasn’t there and my body wasn’t cooperating.

I have a long season ahead with my first century ride, my first sprint, Olympic and half ironman triathlon, a member of a 12-person team running across Colorado with the Epic relay, at least two more half marathons…if I get injured, I miss all these – that’d be a shame especially because I know better..

So, I’ve come to grips with the fact that I will do just the half. Now, when I put it in perspective – this isn’t a disappointment. It’s an opportunity.  Oh, my ego hurts just a bit because I want to do it all – but I have to accept I’m not superwoman. I can leave that to someone else.

So, catch me at the Colorado Marathon in Ft. Collins. I’ll be running the half. Same beautiful course, shorter distance, quicker recovery? What isn’t to love?

Many new vegans find they just don’t know what to eat – so they don’t. Or, they end up eating only fruits and vegetables and skipping essential fats and protein-filled foods. The result? Hunger, weakness, fatigue and nutrient deficiencies that lead them to proclaim: I just can’t do vegan, I need meat.

Switching to a vegan diet is one of the times you would benefit from meeting with a nutritionist, especially if you don’t have much of a culinary or nutrition background.  You need to be smart about including healthy fats, which include coconut oil, raw nut butters, seeds (try pumpkin, sesame, hemp, chia and sunflower) and avocados. The inevitable protein question still lingers – you do need to seek out foods from substantial sources, which may include the same nuts and seeds that offer healthy fats, chickpeas, black beans, pinto beans, white beans, lentils, tempeh, tofu or seitan. To feel satisfied and get your calorie needs, aim to include healthy fats and proteins at every meal. Quinoa, teff, amaranth, oats, corn meal, brown rice and sweet potatoes add calories and substantial, healthy starch to your vegan diet as well. If you eat gluten, experiment with farro and barley.

Here’s a sample day with 1,800 calories – sufficient for most active women and for inactive men. If you need more calories, add another serving of starch or protein at meals and include another snack. If you need fewer, skip one of the snacks.

Breakfast: ½ cup dry oatmeal cooked in water with 1 ounce of almonds, 1 cup of blueberries and 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk (394 calories)

Lunch: 8 ounces of black beans, 2 cups of romaine lettuce, ¼ of a medium avocado, 60 calories of vegan dressing and 2 tablespoons of salsa with 2 corn tortillas on the side (474 calories)

Dinner: 1 cup of brown rice with sautéed tempeh (240 calories worth), 1 cup of broccoli, 1 cup of zucchini  and 1 carrot (537 calories)

Snacks: 2 tablespoons of hummus with cut up celery and cucumber (150 calories) and 2 tablespoons of raw cashew butter with an apple (280 calories)

Trap 1: Eating Junk

Just because a food is vegan doesn’t mean it is healthy. The food world sells unhealthy foods with and without animal products, so you can’t let your guard down. For example, Swedish fish, Lay’s potato chips, DumDums, Cracker Jack, Oreos, Airhead’s taffy and 7 Eleven’s select cherry snack pie all make PETA’s snack list. I don’t for a moment think anyone would call these health foods.

You can eat a junky, processed diet as a vegan just as effectively as you can as an omnivore. Have a bagel with soy cream cheese for breakfast, a couple of vegan dogs for lunch on white buns and a bowl of white pasta with jarred sauce for dinner and call yourself a vegan – but you certainly won’t win any nutritional awards. People usually follow a vegan diet for ethical reasons – that doesn’t mean they necessarily care about their health. Just like you have to take control of your own health as an ominivore, you have to do it as a vegan too.

A processed vegan diet that mimics the Standard American Diet is equally SAD. Instead, a healthy vegan diet that promotes weight maintenance and good health should contain mostly plant foods…real plant foods. This isn’t rocket science: think leafy greens (spinach, kale, arugula), green veggies (green beans, zucchini, asparagus), starchy vegetables (sweet potatoes, winter squash), whole grains (barley, faro), pseudo grains (quinoa, amaranth), legumes (lentils, black beans, chick peas), soy products…in moderation…(tofu, tempeh), fruits and nuts (almonds and walnuts.) You don’t have to eat only these foods – sometimes you can have a treat just like you do on any sensible ominivorous diet. But, think about limiting processed vegan food as much as you’d limit processed animal-containing food; vegan yogurts, vegan cheese, vegan burgers and dogs and nuggets, meat substitutes, refined crackers, white pasta and breads and, of course, sweet treats are not staples.

Next time, we’ll talk about calories — consuming enough can be a problem for some vegans.

On Mondays, I teach a cardio-strength interval class. Lots of jacks, plyometrics, step moves, kickboxing – you name it, I throw it in there. Of course I offer modifications and lower intensity options, but this is supposed to be a high-intensity class.

She came in with a cane, looking hesitant, and set up a step. As she walked toward me, I took a subconscious sigh as I would of course encourage her to try class – but was worried she would get discouraged and leave as soon as the warm-up started. The closer she got, I could see she was young – probably younger than I was.

“Hi,” and she gave her name, “I have MS and was in a wheel chair six months ago.”  I wasn’t quite expecting that.

She went on to say that she’d been trying several classes, classes similar to the one I was about to teach, and that they seemed to be helping. I told her to do the best she could and you know what?

She did. She was amazing. She didn’t jump, but she kept moving. Balance eluded her, but she still tried. She kept up better than some of the regulars. She sweated it out through the whole hour.

After class, I stopped to ask how she felt. The classes, she said, were helping her signficantly with core strength and she was hoping to get off her cane soon. She also revealed that she recently removed gluten from her diet, which had given her the biggest boost of energy and ability to get out bed. She’s overcome most of her rheumatoid arthritis symptoms and other inflammation. She said her doctors asked repeatedly how she’s done it.

I can tell you: her spirit and willpower. She had the drive to seek out cures for herself. She had the humility to not worry about whether she could or couldn’t do a class – she got in and did the best she could. She didn’t allow my judgment, or anyone else’s stop her. The results were profound.

So, the next time you say, “I can’t,” realize that  you can.

But, you do WANT to commit to an unprocessed, plant-based diet. How to make it work?

I’m not going to sugar-coat it. Eating a plant-based menu will complicate your life at first simply because you have to think differently about what you are going to eat at every meal. Plant-based foods and their preparation are not more complicated – but they may be new to you.  Your go-to meals and snacks have to change – which means breaking old habits and creating new ones. This is a challenge for anyone – even foodies. If food prep and cooking aren’t a passion or priority for you – the challenge is that much greater.

But, you can overcome. Here are five quick and chewable breakfast, snack and lunch ideas if you are an on-the-go type of person who needs to pack these meals to bring with you all day. You can shop for them and have the foods on hand – most of these foods last so you don’t have to make a daily grocery trip.

Breakfast:

1. Toast (check your brand for honey) and almond butter with an apple. If you are gluten-free, note many brands are not vegan (including Rudi’s and Glutino). A local bakery here in Colorado Springs (Outside the Breadbox) makes a vegan oat bread, but it may not be available to everyone. If gluten-free is important to you, Van’s gluten-free, all-natural waffles are a perfect sub.
2. Svelte Organic soy protein drink and a banana.
3. Pro bar and a pear. (I originally had recommended Lara bars only to be informed of their GMO status and fight to KEEP GMO labeling off products. Pro bars are GMO-free and a similar product. You can also find them in many health stores on sale for $1.
4. Handful of cashews, raisins and an orange.
5. Corn tortillas wrapped around sliced avocado. Handful of pumpkin seeds on the side.

Lunch:

1. Individual serving of hummus (Sabra makes these prepacked, or you can pack your own), baby carrots, rice cakes (or crackers), fruit
2. Pre-cooked brown rice, sliced avocado, sprinkled with hot sauce and nutritional yeast. (Brown rice does require pre-cooking, but you can make a big batch when you catch up on Facebook at home, while you get ready in the morning or wind down at night…it takes about 40 minutes to cook and apart from turning it down and covering it once it boils, it needs no babysitting. Store in fridge)
3. Open a can of white beans, rinse, measure out a ½ cup and save the rest in the fridge or freezer (this takes 30 seconds). Put on top of baby spinach with cucumbers and hemp seeds. Top with (vegan) dressing (I like to shake together ½ balsamic vinegar and ½ olive oil with sea salt – another 30 seconds). Have three clementines on the side.
4. Amy’s organic bean burrito – it isn’t homemade, but you can pronounce all the ingredients and it is a super easy grab and go. (just make sure you don’t get one with chicken or cheese). Found in the freezer section of most supermarkets.Fruit on the side
5. Celery with almond butter, a few dates and a large apple.

Snacks:

• Handful of walnuts, almonds, pecans, macadamias – whatever nut you like. Go for no-added salt and raw if you can.
• Handful of seeds – sunflower, pumpkin
• Fruit
• Pro bars
• Dried fruit (dates, prunes, raisins)
• Handful of vegan granola
• Purchased kale chips (okay, these can be pricy, but an occasional splurge)
• Dried wasabi peas
• Roasted edamame (purchased in packs like nuts)
• Applesauce – the cups don’t just have to be for kids
• Guacamole
• Nut butter packets
• Corn thins/rice cakes/nut thin crackers
• popcorn (sprinkle with nutritional yeast) – pop it and pack it

It’s your warmup. You may think you are saving yourself time or not really doing any harm.

Think again.  A warm up is essential if you want to get maximum benefit out of your workout.

Physiologically, the warm up gently raises your heart rate, your breathing rate and the blood flow to the muscles. When your body’s temperature is higher, your muscles are looser – stiff muscles are more likely to strain or not perform to their maximum capacity. Warm muscles also use fuel more efficiently and work against heavy loads more effectively.

Light aerobic activity raises your body temperature. In the early morning, when your body temperature is generally at its lowest, you may need 10 minutes or more of this light activity to get ready. In the afternoon, a five-minute bout might be enough. Bodies are different too – some people just need longer to warm up. Light jogging, marching, high-knees, cycling – any light aerobic movement – works. Usually, it is best to choose an activity that mimics your planned workout session. For example, brisk walking works before a run, but might not make sense before an upper body lifting session. Aim for this light activity session to start at about 40% of your maximum heart rate and progress it to about 60% by the end of the five or 10 minutes.

After your light activity, you want to do dynamic stretches – not static ones – to loosen up your body. If you are still touching your toes and doing the hurdler stretch, come back from 1976 and join us here in 2013. Static stretching before a workout does not reduce injury reported a meta-analysis in Sports Medicine in 2004.

Dynamic stretching involves moves that you don’t really think of as stretches: body weight squats and lunges, jumping jacks, slow mountain climbers, inch worms and spiderman crawls are all valid warm up moves. “What?” you say. “Those aren’t the primary workout?” They can be if done at a rigorous intensity, but slow, methodical and weight-free versions are a great way to loosen up muscles and joints. A 2009 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research confirmed, “The data suggests dynamic stretching has greater applicability to enhance performance on power outcomes compared to static stretching.” Dynamic stretching doesn’t have to take a lot of time – maybe you lunge across the room two or three times and perform shoulder rotations before a full-body lifting session; you could do high knee hugs and a few striders (50- to 100-meter sprints) before a run; torso twists, shrugs and mock swings help you prepare for a golf game. Some research suggests that golfers who skip dynamic stretching prior to a workout have nine times the chance of injury.

So the next time you go to workout — take the time to warmup. It still burns calories and improves your body — so why would you skip it?