Ghaas poos He-man

For the first 10 days after ditching meat and dairy Siddharth Shukla was quite miserable The 41yearold Ironman triathalonermdashwho started training for triathlons in 2016 practising 15 hours a weekmdashtook the call in 2015 after a prolonged battle against kidney stonesYear after year I would develop kidney stones 14 millimetres in size That paired with a corporate banking job led me to falling ill frequently While I stayed as active as possible my blood pressure and cholesterol too were on the higher side At the time though Shukla was working in a corporate banking job he regularly played football and practiced taekwondoGunjan Sharma Martial arts practitioner and calisthenics athlete PicSatej ShindeThough he switched to vegetarianism in 2010 the problems persisted Finally on analysing his condition he discovered that he had an excess of calcium oxalate in his body By 2015 after connecting the dots and becoming more aware of what worked for his body he turned to a 100 per cent plantbased dietInitially Id feel weak and low on energy I had cravings for refined carbs but I stuck to consuming only raw fruits and vegetables On the 11th day however I woke up with the urge to run On that day he ran at an average of eight minutes per kilometre Over time Shukla says he noticed his stamina increasing very quickly and his ability to run longer distances improving Even his breathing pattern was corrected That his hair and skin started looking healthier was the cherry on the cakeKiran Kumar Raju Cyclist PicKrishna By 2017 his heart rate dropped from 86 beats per minute to 38bpm that of an optimal athletes His cholesterol which was at a high of 239 mgdL is now below 200 mgdL At 38 I decided to start training for an Ironman Triathalonmdashmost would think thats impossible but for me turning vegan made it easier he saysFor a generation that grew up on the eat meat for your proteins advice Shukla as a topnotch advertisement for veganism may seem counterintuitive Yet he is in the exalted company of Novak Djokovic and Lewis HamiltonSiddharth Shukla Triathlete PicSayyed Sameer AbediIn fact Djokovic and Hamilton who have switched to veganism are among the many producersmdashother names include James Cameron Pamela Anderson Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chanmdashof the very popular documentary The Game Changers Having released on Netflix in October and viewed by 158 million the nearly twohour film illustrates the benefits of a plantbased diet highlighting the multiple success stories of some of the most accomplished international athletes across the globe whove switched from eating meat to being vegan In it former UFC fighter James Wilks travels the world while recovering from injury to observe how some of the most elite sportspeople have redefined the idea of strength and recovery and its relation to meat and proteinIn recent times cricketer and captain of the Indian national team 31yearold Virat Kohli has also spoken about adopting a plantbased diet In conversation with a national newspaper last year he said he isnt missing meat or dairy and has substituted them by eating a rich supply of veggies soya and drinking protein shakes While feeling stronger he has also noticed its calming mental effects But he has stated in several instances that he still consumes ghee occasionally Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri has also given up meat and dairy to get fitter For him its more about being aware of what goes into his body and understanding what works best He says that at his age 35 it helps with recoveryJames Wilks former UFC fighter host of The Game ChangersMartial artist and calisthenics athlete Gunjan Sharma stopped consuming meat and dairy in 2014 after observing how the food industry functions A chicken which takes 70 to 80 days to fully grow is pumped with medicines to become four kilograms in 20 days Thats not right His diet since then has changed from being an allround nonvegetarian one to a breakfast of two coconuts with its meat along with banana papaya or orange mixedveggie juice and root vegetable patties with hummus or cashew dip and sprouts for lunch and nut milk for dinner For snacks he munches on fresh fruit or roasted nuts He prefers this over dal sabzi and rice since eating these foods made him sluggishIf Shukla and Sharma noticed more energy in their body post the switch Matt Frazier coauthor of the book No Meat Athlete shaved off a full 10 minutes from his marathon time after he switched in 2009 The USbased authors book is filled with information and recipes for people who are active they dont have to be athletes and interested in eating a plantbased diet which specifically means no dairy or dairy productsSunil Chhetri and Virat Kohli say they have turned veganFrazier much like the experts Wilks spoke to argues that humans can get all the protein they need from whole foods even when those foods are derived from plants Coauthor Stepfanie Romine explains Digestion takes a lot of energy The more calories you eat the more energy your body has to devote to the digestion process The idea behind a plantbased diet for athletes is that if you can get all the nutrients you need to repair your muscles and cardiovascular system in fewer total calories then you can recover more efficiently The energy that is not used for digestion can help with rebuilding leading to faster recovery after workoutsSports scientist Karishma Boolani explains that the protein debate isnt clear cut Eating protein doesnt build musclemdashyou need to exercise to tear and condition your muscles and protein helps rebuild it So whats important is how you are incorporating your proteins Our bodies run like engines with carbohydrates being the primary source of energy and fats the secondary If you eat more protein the body will adapt and convert it into carbs for energy But these cover only macronutrients which you can source from meat or plants However micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals are best found in plants So in a sense you can survive without meat but you definitely cant thrive without plantsDr Anant Joshi founder Sportsmed MumbaiAnd the believers of veganism are a tribe thats growing a taste that goes beyond kale juice and avocado salads Take for instance footballer Nikhil Bhushan who is currently playing for Manises Club de Futbol in Spain The 27yearold goalkeeper started suffering from fainting spells and breathlessness which his doctors attributed to high acidity due to excessive meat consumption He needed to switch his nutritional intake immediately to balance his bodys pH levels With sixnine hours of daily rigorous training my body wasnt able to keep up and was vulnerable to injuries and mental collapse he says He weaned himself off meat slowly eating fish or chicken twice a month initially But its been 21 months that he has been completely vegan His speed and reaction timings have improved and he says he can focus better His body fat has dropped to seven per cent from 11 and though he looks leaner his muscle volume has increased His heart rate rests at 39 bpm compared to 55 bpmYet if the difference is between meat and plants why should milkloving Indians give up their morning chai or coffee Weve grown up learning that milk is good for you makes your bones stronger and is the best source of calcium But contrary to the fact milk has been found to suck out the calcium from your bones says SharmaStepfanie RomineKuntal Joisher a professional mountaineer who has scaled Mount Everest twice gave up dairy in 2002 after seeing the atrocities of the dairy industry Dairy farming also has the same cycle of suffering for animals as the meat industry As a consumer I felt like I had to take a standmdashwe can control the market with our choices About his climb he recalls Out of the eight of us who were scaling the mountain I was the only vegan The rest were allround meat eaters Through the journey as the climb got tougher the rest suffered severe bouts of diarrhoea and exhaustion which I thankfully didnt take toIf Joisher and Sharma argue that its the production of dairy and meat that made them switch Wilks who we connected with over email says As the evidence presented in the film shows it isnt so much the source of the meat but the fact that we arent biologically equipped for an animalbased diet that lays the foundation for the argument In fact for the two blood flow experiments we featured in the film we intentionally chose organic grassfed freerange beef pork and chicken to show that plantbased sources of protein and fat still yielded far superior resultsMatt FrazierBut not everyone agrees that a wholly plantbased diet is the panacea humans are looking for Dr Anant Joshi founder of Sportsmed Mumbai also a competitive cyclist says Wilks documentary can be chalked down to just another food fad I believe in enjoying your food to benefit from it If you eat something you dont like youre not going to be healthymdashdefinitely not mentally healthy he laughs adding The importance is a wellbalanced meal Most vegetarians or vegans dont seem to be eating the right vegetables to get all the nutrition they needAnd consuming protein powders and whey shakes over a prolonged period as a substitute has led to an increase in uric acid levels in patients Professional cyclist Kiran Kumar Raju who trains for 1822 hours per week warns that what works for Djokovic may not work for the average person A lot of the international sportsmen featured in this documentary have a team of food managers catering to every dietary need and this comes at a high cost Most people even the most elite athletes cant afford thatNo Meat AthleteAnd just so you dont think a vegan switch will make you healthy electronics engineer Chandi Das who specialises in diagnostic medical imaging and is a lifelong mountaineer and cyclist points out Overall your food wont make you healthy You need to focus on regular exercise to target a healthy heart rate while working out for 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