The Plant-Based Vegan Bodybuilder…Becoming…

None of those words I’d thought in a million years would come together in one sentence to describe a part of me.

So no it’s not something I intentionally set out to do or be it  just listening to my body and soul and answering to their needs.

When I first started bodybuilding I was a meat eater. I mostly ate fish, however when I started bodybuilding my coach at the time wrote me a meal plan; 6 meals a day of which 5 consisted of lean meats like ground turkey, chicken breast, and fish. Everything was fine in the beginning but not to long after I started having digestion problems. The thing was I could see my body changing and leaning out – I was looking good but inside I felt sick. I started feeling full even when I hadn’t eaten yet. I was bloated most of the time. I felt nauseous around the food I had been eating. Instinctively I knew that the increase of meat was the culprit. The problem was it was working to get my body in shape for competition but I felt awful. So I ask my coach if we could substitute one or a few of my meals for a meatless meal and use beans as protein. He told me it would never work for a bodybuilding competition. So with him having over 10years experience in the bodybuilding world I took his word and adhered to his suggestions of using probiotics, and digestive enzymes to help alleviate the problems and went on to win second place in my first body building competition. Wow! Winning 2^nd was huge for a first timer!!! It was also bittersweet because as much as I wanted to celebrate that moment my insides felt like they were near death!

I’m pretty intuitive especially when it comes to my body. I think I developed that from years of having no health insurance and knowing I had no choice but to stay healthy if I was going to be pursuing a career as an artist.

So after winning 2^nd in my first competition I went on a mission to research plant based and vegan athletes. The Internet was full of information. I was inspired by so many athletes who most of the time were #1 in their field living a plant-based and Vegan lifestyle! While researching and taking a break from training and parting ways with my coach, I went on a test run of a plant based diet and after not even a week— the feeling, the energy, the focus I had I knew it was no turning back and I’ve been plant based ever since.

I’ll share what my meals are now competing on a plant based diet in another post!

Anyone else made the switch? I love hearing people’s journey to a plant-based diet! Feel free to share yours!