The Margaux Alvarez Issue by BoxLife Magazine

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Margaux Alvarez Doing it all

THE STRICT PRESS, PUSH PRESS, & PUSH JERK

the vegan

athlete is a plant-based diet a good idea?

mental gainz Creating habits to

strengthen your mind

goodbye

rips 4 tips to keep your hands intact

WHATâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S THE DIFFERENCE?

FLEXIBLE EATING

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY

#LIVETHEBOXLIFE

7 CAUSES OF FATIGUE & HOW TO COMBAT THEM

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BECAUSE THE LIFESTYLE DOESN’T END WHEN YOU LEAVE THE BOX...

WHAT’S INSIDE... Cover Photo By Shayna Wright

October/November 2018 10 FEATURED WOD

Test the BoxLife Chipper individually or with a partner!

MARGAUX ALVAREZ

“It’s all about time management and prioritizing what things need your time because time is something you don’t get back.”

ENERGY VAMPIRES

Poor sleep, nutrition and stress are just some of the culprits. 2

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PRESSING & JERKING

Dig in to the differences of each and when one is better than the other.

PREVENTING RIPS How to care for your hands and what to consider to prevent rips.

7 CAUSES OF YOUR FATIGUE A look into possible energy vampires and ways to combat them.

MENTAL GAINZ 4 tips to help you strengthen your mental game.

THE STRICT PRESS, PUSH PRESS, & PUSH JERK Quick guide on each of the presses and when to incorporate into your training.

ATHLETE PROFILE: MARGAUX ALVAREZ On balancing multiple projects, what fuels her, and why she encourages enjoying a glass of wine.

JOURNEY OF A VEGAN ATHLETE What 10 months of being vegan taught one athlete.

FLEXIBLE EATING The trend is on the rise. Learn what’s good, bad, and ugly about it.

30 GOING VEGAN

One athlete’s journey into an all plantbased diet. FACEBOOK.COM/BOXLIFEMAGAZINE

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PREVENTING

RIPS

Keeping Your Hands Intact to WOD Another Day

Of all the preventable injuries that occur in CrossFit, the most frustrating might be hand tearing. You know it’ll heal. You don’t need rehab or therapy, but it’s enough to wipe out most gymnastics movements for days, sometimes weeks, depending on the severity. Proper hand care and a little prevention can be the difference in a pull-up PR and cleaning your DNA off the Speal bar. Personally, I prefer to shed sweat and tears during a nasty WOD and keep my blood to myself. Keep your hands healthy with these reminders SHAVE YOUR CALLUSES

While you certainly want to build up some solid calluses on those mitts, equally important is keeping them shaved down. I know, shaving off what you’ve worked hard to build up seems counterintuitive, but think about this: it’s much easier to tear something off a raised surface than to rip a smooth, even surface. You won’t be shaving your calluses completely off—just leveling them to be even with the rest of the skin. You can use a callus shaver with a blade for this—just make sure to change the blade often. Some people also prefer a pumice stone or sanding device (I’ve actually heard of someone who uses a Dremel tool for this. Try it at your own risk!).

MOISTURIZE

That’s right—put the lotion on the skin. After a long day of chalking up, gripping metal bars loaded with hundreds of pounds and throwing your body weight around on a rig, your hands need some love. Dry, cracked hands are a prime material for rips, so you need to keep the skin smooth and supple. Use a non-scented lotion, cream or salve on your hands throughout the day and definitely load them up at night if nothing else. Look for shea butter, coconut oil or beeswax based products and salves made for healing “working hands.” If it’s good enough 4

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for rugged farmhands and auto mechanics, it’s should work wonders on the one-hour-a-day CrossFitter.

CORRECT YOUR GRIP

If you’re taking proper care of your hands and still tearing, you might want to check your grip. Swinging with the bar smack in the middle of your palm pushes skin into the crease and creates a lot of friction in a vulnerable area of the hand. Grip the bar where the fingers meet the palm and, especially for newer athletes, keep your thumbs wrapped around the bar. It may feel uncomfortable at first, but it keeps the hands and wrists in a more stable position and reduces friction in areas that are likely to tear.

HAND PROTECTION

I tend to be more of a purist in this area. I believe that if you take good care of your hands and practice proper grip, you shouldn’t often, if ever, tear your hands. Therefore, you really shouldn’t need anything

extra to keep yourself on the bar other than a little chalk. With that said, there are plenty of professional athletes and gymnasts who swear by grips, tape and gloves to keep them on the bar longer and their hands protected. So, experiment with different options: leather grips, padded neoprene and everything in between. Keep in mind that CrossFit HQ updated the standard for hand protection in 2018: Athletes may either tape the bar or use some kind of hand protection, but they cannot use both. While it’s unlikely anyone is keeping tabs on this during the rest of the year, you may want to go ahead and get used to it if you’re planning on competing in The Open. A quick word on chalk—a little goes a long way. Chalk should be used sparingly, simply to reduce excess moisture on the hands. Too much chalk can actually lead to more tears due to drying out the hands and creating a buildup of friction. So cool it, Lebron. FACEBOOK.COM/BOXLIFEMAGAZINE

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7 CAUSES OF YOUR FATIGUE

By Audrey Carson

elieve it or not, it’s not normal to feel like you could close your eyes and sleep in the middle of the day. While we’re a coffee-culture nation, we shouldn’t depend on the stuff to keep our eyelids open. Lack of sleep is an obvious culprit, but if you’re feeling fatigued, you probably can’t think past the obvious at this point. Luckily, we did the work for you. If you’re tired of fatigue affecting your physical performance—or hell, just plain tired—read on for possible energy vampires and ways to combat them.

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1. SLEEP QUALITY

By now the CDC-recommended 7 hours of sleep per night minimum should be beaten into your brain. But just because you’re between the sheets for seven hours doesn’t mean you got the rest you needed. Fragmented sleep can often be worse than a short, but uninterrupted, night of sleep as the body does not have a chance to enter the restorative part of the sleep cycle. So instead of waking up refreshed and repaired, you feel lethargic and sluggish, and that shitty feeling tends to last all day. Set yourself up for sleep success. Use blackout curtains to shut out any excess light. Stop using electronic FACEBOOK.COM/BOXLIFEMAGAZINE

devices at least an hour before you hit the hay (or look into some funky blue light-blocking glasses if you must wind down with Insta). Parents of little ones have it rough, but consider switching duties on nights before WODs, or consider being an evening athlete for a while.

2. POOR NUTRITION

Not eating enough, overeating, and/ or eating the wrong foods can all lead to an overwhelming feeling of fatigue. Refined carbs for example can cause a rise in blood sugar followed by a drop in insulin levels—this causes the body to feel tired and sluggish. Even if you’re eating the right foods, if you’re not eating enough of them, you also have a problem. Some signs you’re not meeting your body’s caloric demands include low energy levels, sleep issues, irritability, and a decrease in strength at the gym. Nutrition is key—You’ve probably already heard this before. When it comes to fighting fatigue, it’s no different. While there are gobs of fad diets floating around at any given time, the common denominator comes down to fueling your body with quality meats, tons of high-fiber, leafy vegetables and, yes, carbohydrates at the right time.

3. STRESS

The typical CrossFit class is about an hour in length; letting you to come in, focus, blow off steam and get those good vibes flowing. Unfortunately, you are probably far more affected by what happens in the other 23 hours in the day. Work, school, home life and traffic are all variables that can compound and cause nagging stress. High levels of stress and anxiety release cortisol, the body’s stress hormone. While it’s good in small doses—say if you have a presentation or are being chased by a rogue bear—chronically high levels of cortisol keep the body in fight-or-flight mode. That means walking around with high blood pressure, an elevated heart rate and that constant “edgy” feeling in your gut. It can take the wind out of your sails. Take some time for deep breathing, journaling, meditation or even therapy. Health is multifaceted, and the mental side all too easily affects the physical, so it’s worth getting it right.

aren’t giving your body a chance to recover, you’re going to be working against yourself. If your training volume is too high, your body starts pulling from your own fat and muscle stores for energy. This creates consistently low energy levels and could explain your fatigue. If your times and lifts are consistently sluggish, take a look at your volume and consider a routine rest day or two. This can even include active recovery if you simply can’t sit still—walking, hiking, yoga or mobility work are great options.

5. YOU’RE AT THE WRONG CLASS TIME

As much as many of us try to be “early birds,” we can’t change our DNA. You are genetically predisposed to a certain chronotype, or the natural category you fall into based on when you most easily sleep in a 24-hour period. So, it’s not your fault! Work with your body, not against it: If joining dawn patrol has you dragging the rest of the day (assuming you got plenty of sleep), try switching to evening classes. If you’re dragging ass by the time you get home from work, try getting up a little earlier and jump-starting your day with a WOD.

6. DEHYDRATION

We’re not talking hospital-level, dramatic dehydration here, but if you ever feel thirsty throughout the day, your body is already in a mild state of dehydration. Without enough water, your blood volume runs low, making your body work a little harder to push oxygen around. No wonder you feel tired! Carry a water bottle with you at all times and keep it filled. Aim to drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day. In addition to drinking more water, check your alcohol and caffeine intake too. Both drugs can cause rapid dehydration and have other side effects that can cause fatigue, especially if you’re drinking too much of either.

7. LACK OF CONSISTENCY

You know the feeling—you’ve been out of the box for a while, finally drag yourself back in and you wake up sore the next day. So, you figure you need a rest day. One turns into two and the trend continues, and suddenly you’re only getting in once a week at best. Regular exercise releases endorphins and while, yes, you’ll get that hit-by-a-truck fatigue immediately after a solid WOD, by getting to box regularly, you’ll find you have more energy throughout the day. Find an accountability buddy, sleep in your gym clothes, do what you need to do to eliminate excuses and get into an exercise routine that becomes a habit.

4. OVERTRAINING

I know, that elusive snatch PR is killing you. You want to shave 10 seconds off your Fran time. I get it. And there is something to be said (a couple paragraphs down, in fact!) for consistent, varied training. However, if you BOXLIFEMAGAZINE.COM

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Mental Gainz 4 Tips to help you strengthen your mind When you first start CrossFit, you experience what people like to call “newbie gainz.” These are big weight jumps on lifts and frequent PRs as you start learning better technique and trusting your body with new movements. These last about six months, give or take, before things start leveling off. But ask a coach, and they’ll likely tell you that what separates the cream from the crop in a box is usually an athlete’s mental grit. What does their attitude look like—especially if they have a bad day or fail a lift? How do they prepare for the day’s metcon? What are they doing outside the gym that benefits their fitness? The answers reveal much strength lies where we can’t see it: between the ears. Here are a few exercises to strengthen your mind that will undoubtedly help your physical abilities. Get off to a good start. Get yourself in a good mindset before you even walk into the box. On your drive to the gym, think about why you’re going: a chance to get stronger, test a lift, see people you like being around. Leave the rest of the world behind and anticipate what’s coming just ahead. Instead of “I have to go to the gym today,” your attitude should be, “I get to go to the gym today!” The more specific the better. If the WOD calls for pullups, start focusing on your form during your car ride. A positive and focused attitude will carry you farther than you think. Strike a pose. Have you ever watched an Olympic Weightlifter or Powerlifter approach the bar? They look strong and powerful, not just because they’re superhuman, but because they purposefully change their body language. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy, who has studied power posing extensively says, “Our bodies change our minds, and our minds change our behavior, and our behavior changes our outcomes.” Don’t let a 8

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particular movement get in your head. Take control of the bar. If you’re attempting a max lift that usually gets the best of you, puff out your chest, hold your head up high, and approach the bar with confidence. Set attainable goals each day. If you’re listening, and if you have a good coach, he or she will often explain the intention of each metcon, strength, or skill session for the day. For example, the point of doing Grace isn’t to take ten minutes to perform 30 near-max-effort clean and jerks—it’s quick, consistent barbell cycling. So if you’ve never come close to performing Grace at RX weights, your goal probably shouldn’t be to Rx at all costs. Doing so will set you up for disappointment and the feeling of failure instead of gaining strength mentally. Put yourself in a growth mindset: Maybe you can’t Rx the WOD today, but that’s not the focus. How can you get better today? Always seeking to improve yourself will increase mental and physical gains substantially. Practice patience. Double-unders come to mind as one of those movements that require an extreme amount of patience and practice from athletes who struggle with them. While there are drills to improve them, the best way to get better at them is to practice—ideally, every day. This requires going in with patience. They will likely build slowly, but the gradual payoff will be huge. Patience requires trusting the process, which leads to a stronger mindset. Hoping for a sudden miracle is a good way to set yourself up for failure and a bad attitude. You are in control of your body and mind, so make sure you set a plan and commit the patience to follow through with it. You will be stronger mentally because of it.

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PUSH YOUR LIMITS. Your grip shouldn’t be the limiting factor in your workout. Victory Grips’ patented design functions with your hands perfectly to provide more power and protection. From the first set, you will experience the difference. Choose from four different styles in various materials and sizes to find your perfect grips at victorygrips.com. Affiliate discount program available. Contact wholesale@victorygrips.com for details.

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Free preview What, When, & Why

The Strict Press, Push Press, & Push Jerk

By Audrey Carson

Push it real good—ideally overhead, with a barbell in hand. The strict press, push press and push jerk are natural progression movements that all have a place in the box. Each differs slightly from the other, and we can often get confused on which is which. That’s why we’ve developed a quick and dirty guide for your pressing movements.

The Strict Press

The Push Press

Things to keep in mind: • Keep a tight core. There’s a tendency to arch the lower back at the top of this movement, putting unnecessary stress on the lumbar spine. Keep that tailbone tucked and the core engaged. • The bar should rest on the palm of the hand, not in the fingers. You have a lot more stability on the palm, and this protects your wrists. • Note that this movement does not start in a “front rack” position. Your forearms should be vertical.

Things to keep in mind: • We’re not looking for a front squat. Think about the dip-drive like you went to sit down and you hit a tack. Controlled down, drive up. • When repping out several push presses in a workout, make sure you are locking out elbows at the top every time and using the end of a rep to push you into the next dip-drive. Work smarter, not harder.

The strict press is a pure strength and muscle-building exercise. Specifically, it targets the shoulder muscles and develops your overhead pushing strength. Start with your hands just outside the shoulders, wrists stacked on top of the elbows with a neutral spine (as pictured to the right). Then, simply press overhead. As the name implies, it’s a strict press, so there will be no dip to generate power from your legs. The bar should finish directly over your shoulders. You’ll return to your start position by reversing this motion. The strict press is the least technical of the three variations we’ll be discussing in this article.

When to incorporate: While they will come up in the rare metcon, strict presses are ideal for building upper body strength to better perform more technical lifts as well as gymnastics movements. You’ll notice stronger handstand push-ups, kip swings and butterfly pullups with this old standby in your training.

The Push Jerk

You’ll be able to move the most amount of weight with a push jerk. Like other Olympic lifts, the push jerk involves dropping your body under the barbell. You’ll incorporate the same midline stability, bar path and dip-drive of the push press, but you’ll be adding a second knee bend to receive the bar. After the dip-drive and hip extension to get the bar moving, you will “punch” yourself under the barbell, landing locked out in a slight overhead squat. The lift is completed when you stand tall with the bar overhead.

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A popular metcon staple, the push press is similar to a strict press, but it brings the lower body to the party. You’ll initiate a push press with a dip in the legs and then transfer that momentum into an upward drive that helps thrust the bar from the shoulders to the overhead lockout position. The dip-drive should be quick, just enough to get momentum going under the bar. You will be able to move more weight with a push press than with a strict press.

When to incorporate: Push-presses are often seen in metcons because they’re quick and somewhat easy to do in large volumes.

Things to keep in mind: • You’ll start this lift with elbows slightly in front of the bar, in more of a front rack position. • This may be a movement where those with larger or longer arms may prefer a slightly wider grip. • It can be easy to dip in a bad position when all your focus is on bringing the bar overhead. Remember to drive the knees out. When to incorporate: The push jerk is a useful introduction to overhead Olympic lifting, and could be used as part of a clean and jerk, as well as in metcons with heavy shoulder-tooverheads. Don’t use more energy than necessary if there is no specification on how to get the bar overhead—use a push jerk.

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x u a g r Ma z e r a v l A l l A t I Doing

emaker

• Win Entrepreneur • r e in a Tr ff ta eminar S

sFit HQ S

Athlete • Cros

Interview by Yeimilyn Lorenzo Photography By Shayna Wright

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argaux Alvarez isn’t just a CrossFit Games veteran, she’s also a CrossFit HQ Seminar Staff Trainer, a former member of Team USA at the CrossFit Invitational, and a small business owner and winemaker. Focused and determined on making the most of opportunities that lie ahead, Margaux is all in, with a glass of wine in hand, of course. Born in La Jolla, California outside San Diego, as the oldest of three sisters, Alvarez knew competition at a young age. Her family moved to Montana when Alvarez was 8 years old and staying active became a family affair. Alvarez practiced taekwondo, ballet, horseback riding, and golf. In high school, she focused on volleyball and golf, sports she credits with helping her develop mental discipline. Unknowingly, Alvarez was cultivating the work ethic required to become the athlete she is today. In 2003, Alvarez attended Hawaii Pacific University where she earned her Bachelor’s in Corporate Communications with a minor in International Business and Spanish. Taking a break from competitive sports, she made the most of her college experience by focusing on her interests and studying abroad for two semesters, in Spain and in Monaco. After college, in 2008, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where she took up running, completing several half marathons and obstacle course races. Two years later, in February 2011 a friend suggested she check out CrossFit. “My first class was snatches and burpees. It was so different. I had never really worked with a barbell— and the hook grip was like, ‘What is this?’ I loved the challenge of pushing myself and giving myself something different to work towards. After that day, I signed up for the on-ramp class, and became that Kool-Aid drinking CrossFit girl.”

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Having joined CrossFit right before the start of the 2011 Games season with the Open around the corner, Alvarez couldn’t have imagined the start of her competitive career in CrossFit lay right in front of her. “People in the gym were talking about a fun, online competition, and I thought it would be cool to sign up since I enjoy trying new things. I signed up and barely could do double-unders for the first workout. It was really challenging. I’ve noticed that I like to put myself in a position where I challenge myself and where I have to work to get better. I really like to push that boundary of not knowing what I’m capable of. That was what really got me into the competitive side of CrossFit.” Just four months after starting CrossFit, she earned her Level 1 Certification and volunteered at the Southern California Regionals. It’s been a whirlwind career from there. Over 7 years later, in 2018 Alvarez has made her sixth CrossFit Games appearance where she reminded us of her ability to persevere, finishing the marathon row event, that’s 42,195 meters of rowing, in first place with a time of 3:00.42. In our one-on-one with Alvarez, she shares details about her training habits, the loss of her sister and how that powers her, along with the exciting projects she’s developed around her personal brand and lifestyle.

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o t e k i l y l l a e r “I y r a d n u o b t a push th t a h w g n i w o n k of not ’I m capable of.” Photo credit: nobull

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Journey of a vegan athlete

What 10 Months of Being Vegan while Training Taught Me

at meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. For as long as I can remember, that’s been the standard CrossFit nutrition prescription. It’s toted as the best diet as this is what we, as humans, have evolved to eat. But what if we eliminate the first, and arguably most important component of this guideline? Can we eliminate meat, and for that matter, all animal products and maintain or improve our current levels of strength, endurance, and overall health and well-being? Much of the science says that a vegan diet can significantly lower the risk of heart disease, certain cancers, improve kidney function and lower blood sugar levels, and alleviate pain from arthritis, joint swelling and morning stiffness. My journey into a completely vegan diet started just under a year ago. Before that, I was as far from being a vegan as you can be. I ate red meat about 4-5 times a week. Every other meal, almost religiously, included chicken or fish. I counted my macros and stayed rather strictly within a 40/30/30 carbohydrate/ protein/fat ratio. Whey protein (a protein supplement derived from cow’s milk) made steady appearances in my daily diet. I was generally healthy except for one thing: I had consistently 16

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By Damect Dominguez high blood pressure, as does much of my family. Specifically, my diastolic was usually in the mid-80s to low 90s. Less than 80 is considered normal. My doctor prescribed a low dose blood pressure medication in early 2017. Looking back, my desire to not take this medication for the rest of my life was a big driver in my decision to eliminate animal products. The Beginning I decided in late December 2017 to make a rather abrupt start. January 1st I’d start my vegan diet (or lifestyle, whatever you want to call it). Except for the general idea of ‘no animal products’, I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d be eating. For the most part, I was forced to answer the same questions most people have about a plant-based diet: • What do you eat? • What are your sources of protein? • Do you need to take extra supplements? • Will you lose weight? Get weaker? Lose all your gains? • Is it expensive? • Can you do this for the rest of your life? I didn’t have any answers when I started. All I had was a growing sense that making this change was probably the right thing for me to do. As such, I’d figure it out along the way. Looking back, was starting abruptly a good idea? For me it was, although it’s not what I recommend to those who ask me how to make the transition. FACEBOOK.COM/BOXLIFEMAGAZINE

Being Vegan

My first two months on a vegan diet weren’t ideal. Before going vegan, I had bulked up to about 173lbs at under 12% body fat. For me, 173lbs was an achievement, though not the final goal. The plan was to get above 180lbs. I tend to float around the 163lb range if I don’t pay attention to my nutrition. At 5’10’’ that’s personally not ideal for me. Before going vegan, on a good day I consumed 4,000 calories. On my off days, just over 3,500 calories. Now, back to, “my first two months or so weren’t ideal”. By mid-February I was back to floating around the 163lb range. A few times, I sunk under 160lbs! That’s right, I lost over 10lbs in less than two months. A common conversation at the time looked like this: Them: “Hey, you look like you’ve lost weight.” Me : “Mmmmhm.” What about my training? Well, that wasn’t going great either. Both my strength, overall endurance and energy levels at the gym were suffering. I was having an extremely difficult time back squatting 300lbs, when I easily squatted 405lbs a few months earlier. My performance in the Open was one of my worst over the last 4 years as well. You get the idea. Things weren’t going great. For one, I was still learning what to eat. Rather, I was learning how to find, eat, and enjoy calorie dense vegan foods. It was easy to consume spinach leaves, mushrooms, and other vegetables, but these weren’t giving me the calories I need. I was constantly searching for calorie Meal 1 & 1A Tofu Vegan Bowl & Vegan Bowl 954 Calories (127g Carbs, 38g Fat, 27g Protein) • 2 Cups of White Rice • ¾ Cup of Pinto Beans • 3.5 Ounces of Tofu • ½ Hass Avocado • 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil • 1-2 Handfuls of Spinach Leaves • ¼ Cup of Salsa 1A: For the vegan bowl, I remove the tofu and add sliced almonds, mushroom, onions, red & green peppers, and broccoli. This bowl has about 60 calories and 7g of protein less than the tofu vegan bowl. BOXLIFEMAGAZINE.COM

dense vegan recipes. And don’t get me wrong, there are plenty out there. The problem is we, all humans, tend to eat what we’re use to; in large part because of convenience. On Monday, for example, I’d find a recipe, spend a few hours shopping for ingredients and cooking and have a great day of eating. Did I really want to go through that again on Tuesday? Probably not. So, I’d resort to the easy low-calorie foods that wouldn’t consume much of my time or mind. Hence, my 10+ pound weight/muscle loss. Keep at It & You’ll Figure It Out I have a motto I usually tell people around me who are having a difficult time with something: “F.I.O.”. When they ask me what those letters mean, I tell them, “figure it out”. And that’s exactly what I did. I stuck with it and figured it out. Nine months into being a vegan I’m at 171lbs (and gaining) and my strength, endurance and overall wellbeing are as good if not better than ever. I’ve stopped taking blood pressure medication and my diastolic pressure consistently stays under 80. Of all the benefits I can attribute to switching to an all plant-based diet, that one probably tops the list. So how did I settle in to a vegan diet? The short answer, I figured out what 3-4 meals I’d be eating on a regular basis and I began taking supplements to make up for any nutrients a vegan diet might lack. If you want to try going vegan for a few days, here are some of my go-to recipes:

Meal 2 Protein Shake 516 Calories (58g Carbs, 60g Fat, 47g Protein) • 2 Scoops Plant Protein by plnt • 1 Scoop MCT Powder by nutiva • 5 Grams Creatine Monohydrate • .75 Cups Oatmeal • 1.5 Cup Unsweetened Pea Milk by Ripple

Meal 3 Chickpea Pasta Dish 475 Calories (Carbs 80g, Fat 9g, Protein 35g) • 5 Ounces Banza Chickpea Pasta • Tomato Sauce • Mushrooms • Eggplant • Tomato

Common Questions What do you eat? Generally, the same 4-5 meals. In short, lots of vegetables, beans, plant protein shakes, rice, some tofu. What are your sources of protein? Most of my protein comes from plantbased protein shakes. You can generally get 20+ grams of protein from a scoop of powder. Most of plant protein powders are mostly made from pea protein, hemp protein, brown rice protein or some combination of that. Do you need to take extra supplements? Currently, I’m not taking any supplements—not even B12, which is widely recommended for non-meat eaters. The truth is, most non-dairy milks like almond, coconut, and pea milk and other vegan staples are fortified with essential vitamins like B12 and iron. However, when first making the switch, I would recommend most people take a multivitamin and some B12 supplementation as it is easier to be deficient in this as a vegan. Will you lose weight? Get weaker? Ahh, lose all your gains? Yes and no. Whether your goal is to lose or gain weight, the key is to adjust a vegan diet to your specific lifestyle. At first you may find this difficult. I’ve actually gained muscle mass and strength since switching to a vegan diet. Is it expensive? It’s all relative isn’t it? If you compare one of my standard vegan meals to one of my standard pre-vegan meals that generally included some type of grass fed meat, it’s either comparable or cheaper. The bulk of my items are actually pretty inexpensive: beans, rice, tofu, vegetables. Can you do this for the rest of your life? I can only speak from personal experience, but since switching to a plant-based diet I never crave meat, chicken, dairy or other non-vegan foods. Coming from a life-long daily consumer of meat/poultry, once you build the right habits, you can do anything. 17

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