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She Says: Thrive Through Food.
I’ve been reading Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life, which I received in the mail.
Perhaps you remember reading Jenna’s interview with the book’s author, Brendan Brazier or Matt’s review of the book. Here is my non-vegan take on the book thus far. I’ve read it once, but there is a lot to digest (no pun intended) and there are some things I am not quite sure I understand yet, but upon initial read it raises some interesting points. I have more to say than what’s written here, but I know this already too lengthy, so I’ll share more thoughts at some other point.
Brazier writes as an professional tri-athlete who developed the Thrive Diet when trying to find a competitive edge. He hypothesized that the edge came not from specific training plans, which vary little from one plan to the other, but rather in nutrition. The basic premise of the Thrive Diet is that by reducing useless stress (some stress has a good purpose) through eating nutritious whole foods that are plant-based, mostly raw and alkalizing, people are healthier.
Although I am not a vegan, there are still some things that appeal to me in the book. Primarily, I was interested in his discussion of constant hunger in the Standard North American Diet. When I run a lot, I obviously burn more calories than days when I do not run. I’ve followed other advice I’ve read that during these times I need more complex carbohydrates, protein and fat. I try to do my best, but I eat my fair share of nutritionally void filler foods and inevitably, I am constantly hungry. In a time of increased physical stress through exercise it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to eat things that will make me feel worse, even if they taste good and I can technically “afford” to eat the calories.
Brazier’s take is that eating processed foods does nothing for hunger and may even make you hungrier. His example is my beloved bread basket. We’ve all been there. Eat the whole damn thing and your stomach is full, but you might still be hungry or hungry soon after because there was really no nutritional value and our bodies crave nutrients. Second, we expend a lot of energy digesting these processed foods and therefore might end up with an energy net loss. His argument and the basis of the Thrive Diet is eating foods with the greatest energy net gain. One of my favorite quotes from the book is, “The nutritional value of food stated on the food packaging label refers to what is in the food – not hat the body actually gets from it.” (p. 35). According to Brazier, eating nutrient dense foods that are more easily digestible leads to more usable, rather than wasted, energy.
The foods are not over the top crazy either. The four tiered Thrive Diet Pyramid has fibrous vegetables at its base and legumes, seeds & pseudograins sharing the second tier with fruit. So far so good to me. 
The book at least made me want to pay more attention to the snacks I eat. Are they helping me or hurting me?
Additionally, I want to find out more about what Brazier discusses in terms of bone health. Osteoporosis is a huge concern for women. My grandmas has it, so I play close attention to calcium. According to Brazier, it’s not lack of dietary calcium that leads to osteoporoses and simply having more calcium, usually in the form of pills, is not the answer. Again, this would be treating the symptom, not the cause. He argues that our diets, highly processed and acidic means our bodies take calcium from our bones in an attempt to reach a balanced pH level. Instead of ingesting more calcium, we should ingest more alkaline foods like leafy greens. This is really intriguing to me. I’ve often wondered how it is that osteoporosis is so rampant when people consume so much calcium in various forms. Something for me to learn more about I suppose.
I already tried out one recipe from the back of the book. For dinner I attempted to make the Blueberry Pancakes from the recipe section at the end of the book. One fun thing about this was that I made my own Hemp Milk, as hemp is Brazier’s protein of choice. Well, I sort of made it. I don’t have a blender, so I used my Mini Quisenart, which doesn’t exactly blend so I got a lot of hemp seeds at the bottom.
I had a terrible time getting these to bind together, so although both Mark and I agreed that they were hearty and quite tasty, they were an abomination to look at and I apologize for that.
I finally got one to look like a pancake at the very end.
I know, still not very attractive, but delicious – promise. I can’t give the recipe, but I can tell you there is quinoa in there, which is just so much fun in pancakes. I also loved using coconut oil to grease the pan. It gave them such an interesting almost exotic flavor.
Overall, this is a book I will be re-reading and using as a reference as I continue to train for my second half marathon. I do not plan to fully follow the principles because I love yogurt and can’t imagine giving it up, but I will try to experiment here and there. Any “diet” that prescribes one big green salad a day can’t be that bad.
Thanks for the review! Super interesting. I bet those pancakes tasted amazing – not all food is created equal in the looks department!
I’ve been reading the Thrive Diet too and agree with everything you’ve said! I’m actually experimenting with meat again after being a vegetarian for a decade, so I’m kind of moving in the opposite of the vegan direction. But I love the core idea and principles to the book, and often think back to it when making food choices. It’s pretty info dense, and has been tough to get through. But I’d still recommend it to anyone, vegans and non-vegans alike
Especially active people who don’t feel like guzzling back protein shakes all day 
Great Review!
Some of the best tasting things dont look very pretty (cue refried black beans!)
I guess my only concern about this would be what his credentials are for writing a diet/nutrition book. Obviously, he is extremely athletic and in great shape, but I always am a little skeptical about diet-type books in general.
Another note, you can ingest all the calcium you want, but you need to have vitamin D in order to absorb that calcium, which a lot of people miss out on. Also, you might be ingesting leafy greens (like spinach) because they are alkaline, but they contain calcium, too!
I don’t mean to trash the book, since I haven’t even read it! These were just a couple thoughts I had. And I definitely would have to agree with you, I couldn’t give up my yogurt (or ice cream!)!!
Very interesting ideas. Those pancakes do look horrible, but I bet I would love them too! I just ate a pint of blueberries. Is that in the book?
Sounds like a very interesting read, and definitely one I need to add to my “to read” list. I have a horrible time with pancakes – no matter if they’re from Bisquick or vegan and healthy – yours look good in my book!
Niki: Yes, you are absolutely right about all the calcium in those leafy greens. I need to get more.
As far as his credentials, you are right that he is not an RD or MD. He just talk a lot about science and not just “these are my beliefs.”
Thanks for the review! I actually have about half of the Thrive in 30 emails sitting in my inbox, waiting to be viewed when I feel well enough rested to full appreciate them (yes, I have sleep issues). I’ve started drinking smoothies for breakfast and salads for lunch and I was feeling much better, until a family vacation blew all that out the window. I’m not sure that I can really pay for the book, but I’m definitely going to check around the local libraries and see if I can lay my hands on a copy. A lot of what he says definitely makes sense!
I’ll believe you that they were tasty
Tina’s blueberry pancakes may have looked just slightly tastier this mornin 
Hey Heather, thanks so much for mentioning my Thrive review! And don’t worry, my Thrive food so far hasn’t been much to look at either.
But I’ve been feeling great, and I love that Thrive is making its way onto blogs as popular as this one, so that so many people will see that you CAN do endurance sports and be a vegetarian (or vegan, in Brendan’s case).
Great review!
I’m so glad you reviewed this book – it is on my list of “must reads” but I’m sure it will be a long time before I get it from the library waiting list. This review piqued my interest and I can’t wait to read it!
So as a non-vegan, do you see yourself making any dietary changes after reading the book?
Val: I think I will read it again right now. I also think I will use a lot of the principles – more plants in the form of fruits and veggies and less processed carbs. He also has really cool smoothie recipes and even gels.
Good review!! I haven’t made it that far in
Interesting about the calcium. I will try to ask my fav. professor about this in the fall.
I’m also lovin this book. I’m contemplating not returning mine to the Salem Public Library. Shhhhh….
I read the book a couple of months ago. It was really informative. I had never heard of that information on calcium until I read Thrive. I never tried any of the recipes though. I think I may start with one of Brendan’s smoothie recipes and work my way up
It’s interesting to read your initial thoughts. The part about energy expansion catches my interest. I’m looking forward to your thoughts on the rest of the book! Unlike Sarah, my library sucks and doesn’t carry anything this new, so I’d have to buy it if I were interested. So I really appreciate the review!
Wow, I didn’t realize those were the pancakes when I saw the picture. That’s good they taste good, because they don’t really look it! I’ll have to try them sometime
Thanks for the review.
this is a perfect review. i am also a non-vegan and have been super interested in this… but not sure how i feel about it. i have tried his “vega” products and really just don’t like them!!!!!!!!!! lol. but they have almost identical info as the amazing grass products, which i like so i figure it is the same thing. what is a pseudograin???? and hemp is his protein of choice?! that seems odd to me for some reason… like what about beans/legumes, etc?
thanks for the review! i read about half of that book but want to read it again. the pizza recipes in there look super good!
hope you have a great day
I’ve been wanting to buy Thrive but can’t find it anywhere in Perth. I’ll probably get it off Amazon I suppose. Thanks for the review, very helpful!
I 100% think that eating nutritionally void foods can make us hungrier and its in all our best interest to really minimize the processed foods however I do agree with the previous posters about the lack of credentials being a bit of red flag and always a bad sign when writers don’t back up their claims with credible references.
As for osteoporosis I don’t think that most people consume a lot of calcium. Probably quite the opposite. Sure there are a lot of calcium supplements on the market but how many people actually take them? And how many eat a high calcium diet that includes good amounts of dairy and leafy greens? Most people eating the SAD do not.
Lacey: The reason he likes hemp best in part is because it is more alkaline than most proteins and one of the goals of the diet is to get more alkaline. It is also a complete protein, raw and highly digestible. I would say that he doesn’t really push protein at all. A pseudograin is a seeds that are usually referred to as grains like quinoa.
Lara: I think many women, even those who eat the SAD, are conscious of calcium even if they ignore every other “health” tip and therefore make an effort to get calcium from some source, even if it is milk and yogurt.
Re: Sources – there are four pages of references at the back of the book, but he does not site specifically within the text of the book unless it’s a diagram taken from another source.
Thanks for reviewing this book! I really want to read it. It looks fascinating.
[...] Heather Trains « She Says: Thrive Through Food. [...]
I’ve thinking about reading this book, but wasn’t sure I would enjoy it since I am not Vegan. I am glad to finally see a review from someone who is not Vegan! Thanks!
Actually, studies done by the CDC show that most adults do not meet their calcium needs, they cite approximately only 46% of adults meet the RDA.
Lara: I am sure that’s true, which is interesting because a lot of stuff today is calcium and vitamin d fortified. Perhaps an argument for Brazier? Additionally, although he doesn’t say it in the book I would guess he doesn’t care much for RDAs.
Thanks for the review. I may end up picking it up as well. I’ve read books like This Crazy Vegan Life: A Prescription for an Endangered Species and Skinny Bitch but I’ve noticed that they tend to be lacking in any scientfic backing and are often based on the experience of only one or two people rather than a sizeable number. It sounds like this one is a little better researched though so I may have to pick it up. Overall though I tend to pull a few health tips here and a few there since almost every book it seems has a few flaws and limitations.
i recently read this and am loving it! i have been following a lot out of it and recently made one of his pizza which is delicious! its on my blog…
on CALCIUM-i agree with a lot of what he said as it has measured up with other nutritionists i have spoken with, especially those on the more naturopathic route. one thing to note is how the correct nitrogen balance aids in the absorbtion of calcium and that relies on lysine. He also brought up that a good ratio of hemp, yellow pea, and rice protein is “complete adn synergistic” that is more easily absorbed and digested which I found cool because whey has alway been so popular. I have been trying one vega shake a day and been loving it. They keep me very satiated and energized.
He has a calcium booster smoothie in there but I think a good green monster would be:
1pkg berry vega meal
3 kale leaves
1T flax
1T tahini
1c almond or hemp milk
1/2 banana
1/2 apple or frozen berries
handful ice
NUMMERS!
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