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

increase energy, is to recalibrate the body.
     
    The Thrive Diet is a recalibration diet. It is naturally non-stimulating so your body will re-establish its sensory system, functioning at a healthier, more energetic level—without the cell-damaging need for stimulation. Recalibration can be achieved by removing as many stimuli as possible for a set period. The obvious stimuli are caffeine and refined carbohydrate, but there are others. Using your current health as a guide, you can determine where you want to begin. Your current diet and stress level will determine how long recalibration will take. If you are a regular coffee drinker and refined-food eater, it will take longer than if you consume minimal amounts of coffee and processed foods. That’s okay. Start slow and ease into it. Cleansing and withdrawal symptoms are common. If they are too intense, simply slow that rate at which you adopt the Thrive Diet. At the end of this chapter, I explain how to make the transition successfully.
     
    The bottom line: Once the body’s stress is reduced and stimulation is minimal, it will have a greater level of sustainable energy.
     
     

hydration
     
    Hydration is an extremely important part of the regeneration process and therefore the Thrive Diet. When the body is properly hydrated, the blood is at the proper consistency, enabling its efficient distribution throughout the body. The cells of a hydrated body swell, causing an anabolic response (growth of muscle tissue), speeding up cellular renewal. As well, hydrated cells remain alkaline. A catabolic response (breakdown of muscle tissue) will occur if the cells become dehydrated, advancing degeneration. Maintaining blood volume through proper hydration also allows:
    • red blood cells to deliver oxygen to muscles efficiently,
    • delivery of nutrients throughout the body,
    • removal of waste products such as carbon dioxide,
    • proper hormone distribution.
     
     
    With the Thrive Diet, in addition to water and water-dense foods, healthy blender drinks provide necessary fluid. The Thrive Diet 12-Week Meal Plan includes a smoothie each day. Smoothies are great for sipping throughout the morning or afternoon. As well as getting a break from water, you’ll be supplying your body with easily digestible health-promoting nutrition.
     
    While maintaining hydration is important, it’s not necessary to drink large amounts of fluid. On the Thrive Diet, you will notice that thirst doesn’t develop as often and isn’t as intense when eating. This is because the diet is based on raw and whole foods, which retain much of their moisture content. For instance, fruits and vegetables, a predominant part of the diet, are filled with water. When food is cooked, especially at high temperature, it loses moisture and can even act as a sponge once consumed to pull water from the system, increasing your thirst. The removal of the hull and the germ in the processing of grains also removes moisture; when you consume processed grains, your body’s need for fluids to aid in digestion increases. Many denatured foods are full of thirst-inciting sodium and chemical-derived additives such as MSG. Often added to enhance the flavor of near flavorless food (the flavor having been lost during the refining process), sodium is commonly used in excess.
     
    Maintaining hydration is paramount, but how hydration is maintained is just as important. Drinks containing caffeine are diuretic and actually dehydrate the body. Alcohol is also a diuretic. You will need to drink more water than usual after drinking caffeinated or alcoholic beverages to replenish the fluid your body has lost. A diet rich in processed, high-temperature-cooked food requires the consumption of several quarts of fluid a day to overcome the lack of fluid in the diet and control thirst. But drinking large amounts of water or other fluids to compensate for the lack of moisture in food is hard on the digestive system. Fluid drunk during or immediately after eating will adversely affect the body’s digestive efficacy, making the system work harder to do its job.
     
    As I mentioned earlier, those who eat a “dry” diet, one in which the food contains almost no moisture, will likely find they are almost always thirsty, because their body requires more fluid. Many people find plain water boring, and this is when excess calories are often introduced into the diet, in the form of sugary fluids such as sodas and juices with sugar