Barbeques, beer, and broccoli? Fitness coach Andrew Raines says eating your greens is the manly thing to do.
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Former competitive kickboxer and soccer player, Andrew Raines thrived on his native British Isles diet: red meat, treats from DQ, fried foods. You know, all those manly foods that put hair on your chest, and a spring in your step. Vegetables? Forget it. Potato chips were the closest thing to ‘green’ that Andrew ever ate, thank you very much.
And yet today, Andrew, a coach, trainer, and Registered Holistic Nutritionist, also has a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from eCornell. It would seem that as demands in both his work and fitness life increased, he began to delve deep into the world of nutrition, craving a better understanding of how nutrients and supplements really worked inside his body. What he found was an entirely new relationship to food, and – to his surprise – a new found love for green vegetables. Goodbye red meat, hello broccoli.
Andrew is now an ambassador for Vega, a plant-based nutrition natural foods company. He also happens to be a full time plant-based eater. Still heavily involved with organized sports, Andrew recounts his experience of what it’s like to be the only plant-based eater at the local pub, post soccer game, with his non plant-based buddies.
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I will never forget the first time that my masculinity was questioned. I had recently embraced a plant-based lifestyle and sat in the local neighborhood pub with some of my closest male friends. To be completely truthful they were more than friends—they were also teammates. If you have played organized sports at any level, you will have experienced the special bond that grows with those that share the same jersey as you. That being said, the development of this close relationship is often accompanied by the removal of all filters, and a thick skin is needed to be able to both give and take the “male bonding” that occurs post-game.
As I perused the menu to find a plant-based option, I was of course left with one option. One by one my teammates ordered the usual pub fare such as chicken wings, burgers and nachos, and when the server eventually came to my seat, I politely requested the Garden Salad. Whether it was because of the terrible music playing in the background, or the rest of my teammates were too busy making fun of each other, it seemed my request had gone unnoticed. But, as soon as the noise at the table lowered, it happened. “I can’t believe you just ordered a salad.”
Less of a man?
Ask most people what it is to be a man and images of grilling meat on a barbeque, beer in hand, will often come to mind. We have been taught that men are to be aggressive, to hide their feelings, and boast about how much steak or how many burgers or hot dogs they can down in one sitting. Eating meat seems to be some sort of engrained rite of passage, and for athletes like my teammates, necessary for strength and performance. By ordering a salad, my masculinity was being challenged. It made no difference that I embody many of the other stereotypical characteristics of man. I drink beer, enjoy the company of women, and can even grow a half decent beard! I competed in mixed martial arts and have cauliflower ears and a crooked nose as reminders. By ordering a salad at a pub in front of a bunch of men, I was suddenly accused of being less of a man.
From jokes to curiosity
The verbal abuse continued for the rest of the meal but luckily I’ve been able to develop a thick skin over the years. This was simply part of the locker room culture and not something to take offense to. I stuck to my convictions and as time went by my teammates grew accustomed to my eating habits. As my health and body composition improved, so did my performance. Eventually the jokes were replaced with questions and eating a plant-based diet did not seem so alien to them. I quickly became the resource for my teammates when it came to health and performance, and learned that many of them were interested in eliminating or at least reducing the amount of meat and dairy in their diet.
I have found that as a result of the increased availability of books and documentaries on a plant-based diet that more and more men are embracing this lifestyle. The days when eating meat was required to be considered a real man are fading. Of course being a real man goes much deeper than what goes on your plate. Real men eat many different types of foods and believe many different things, but they stick to their convictions. Real men care about the environment and show compassion for those living in it. And yes, real men eat plants.
For more information on starting a plant-based diet, visit myvega.com.
This article originally appeared at MyVega.com
Photo credit: ShannonKringen/flickr
Wow, that looks really good. I think I would eat it. Not so sure about the toddler he is so picky lately but that looks really good.