Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life

of each day and expect to be healthy in other aspects of your life. Even if only subconsciously, your determination will be eroded and making changes, even those as simple as dietary ones, will be a challenge. The Thrive Diet requires fewer biological resources—less expenditure of energy digesting—and therefore won’t place stress on the body. Plus, it is highly nourishing, which is itself a stress-reducing quality. Less uncomplementary stress translates into more drive, and drive is the catalyst for change. Following the dietary principles of the Thrive Diet will have a snowball effect: The body will begin to adapt to the changes, thereby reducing its stress level, which in turn will pave the way for even greater progress.
     
    Uncomplementary stress depletes motivation, making even small challenges seem daunting.
     
     
    Food production is also a big culprit in nutritional stress. Conventional farming involves the ongoing use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides on food crops. Unlike organic farming, conventional farming employs chemical dustings to discourage insects and rodents from eating the crops. If a pest deterrent—poison—is sprayed on both the crops and the soil, there is a good chance it will find its way into our food. Designed to kill small pests, pesticides when consumed by humans can at the very least cause a reaction from the immune system as it attempts to defend the body. People with suppressed immune function will likely experience even more of an impact, sometimes succumbing to sickness.
     
    Ground water seepage is a concern, too. Will the pesticides, having made their way into the soil, eventually end up in the water supply? According to some experts, this is exactly what is happening: Municipal drinking water supplies have tested positive for agricultural runoff. Drinking water that contains pesticides will obviously have an adverse effect on our immune system and health.
     
    As destructive and prevalent as uncomplementary stress is, its positive aspect is that we have control over it. Understand it and take steps to eliminate it, with the Thrive Diet as your guide.
     

complementary stress
     
    I call the right amount of stress to stimulate renewal and instigate growth within the body complementary stress . Exercise is a form of complementary stress. Essentially nothing more than breaking down muscle tissue, exercise is the best way to stimulate regeneration of the cells.
     
    Have you ever noticed that those who exercise regularly look younger than those who don’t? Although we have no control over our chronological age, our biological age is within our control. Biological age refers to the time that has passed since body cells last regenerated. When exercised, the body must regenerate its cells more rapidly than when idle. Depending on activity level, six to eight months from now our bodies will have regenerated nearly 100 percent of their tissue at the cellular level. This new tissue will literally be made up of what we eat between now and then. The body of an active person is forced to regenerate rapidly; therefore, it consists of more recently produced—younger—cells, making for a younger body.
     
    Exercise is also complementary in its ability to raise the body’s tolerance to physical activity. If a person exercises regularly and is in fair shape, everyday physical activities will not produce a stress response. This is significant. Here’s why. If someone who exercises regularly walks up a few flights of stairs, for example, the strain from doing so will be far below what the body is accustomed to enduring in a workout. The strain on the body from ascending the stairs will not even be noticeable, meaning no stress response. Cortisol, the body’s stress-fighting hormone, will not rise, and the immune system will not in turn decline. A fit person who engages in even minor physical activity will be less likely to succumb to ailments than will a person who does not exercise consistently.
     
    Similarly, people who jog on a regular basis experience no stress response from walking and very little from running slowly. Conversely, the body of a person who does not exercise regularly will perceive minor physical activity as a strain, and this will trigger a stress response. This is something to be mindful of when beginning an exercise program. Until the body has adapted to the higher level of stress, the immune system will be vulnerable. (Avoiding contact with