GQ recently got up close with ultramarathoner and Appalachian Trail record-holder, Scott Jurek, about being vegan in the world of pro athletes. Jurek, 41, finished all 2,160 miles of the Appalachian Trail this summer in a mere 46 days, eight hours and seven minutes. That’s a super-vegan.
See what GQ found out about our friend below in our favorite tid-bits of his interview.
Article sourced from GQ. Originally posted Oct. 13 by Luke Darby. Check out the original article here.
Jurek grew up in Minnesota, and paints his mother in the style of Betty Crocker. Meals were meat heavy, and everything revolved around the huge family dinners at the end of every day. While most of his diet has changed dramatically since then, dinner is still the biggest meal of the day. Food has been such an integral part of his life that his memoir is titled Eat & Run.
And for almost two decades now, Jurek has been a vegan. He eased into it starting in college, cutting out meat, then eschewing fish and becoming firmly ovo-lacto vegetarian, then finally eschewing all animal products completely. The decision was precipitated by his family history of chronic disease, including his mother’s multiple sclerosis.
“I grew up hating vegetables, eating meat and potatoes,” he says. “When I was in college I started reading more about different diets and the vegetarian and vegan diets really came up quite a bit. As I worked in hospitals through physical therapy school it became clear to me that I needed to change my diet to avoid the health problems I was seeing. It was definitely a long-term decision rather than one made for short-term performance gains.”
Still, Jurek credits his diet for not only the length of his career—he’s 41 now—but also his recovery time and lack of injuries. Contrary to what most people think about veganism, according to Jurek, the real challenge isn’t making sure you’ve got enough protein in your diet. It’s making sure you’ve got enough fat.
This was especially important during the Appalachian Trail run: “When I was having meals at the end of the day it was about getting extra calories, dumping extra olive oil on pasta, my wife was bringing toast lathered in coconut oil. The carbohydrate is a vehicle for fat, which is what most people who are sedentary and not as active don’t want to do. But I needed to get the maximum amount of calories for the time that I had.”
What Jurek Eats In A Day:
Breakfast (post run)
- Smoothie with banana, blueberries, coconut, Seven Sources essential oils blend, pea protein, brown rice protein, coconut, lacinato kale
- Oatmeal with coconut oil
Lunch
- Green salad
- Beans and corn tortilla
Snack
- Sandwich with nut butter
Mid-run snacks
- Clif Bar
- Sushi rice balls with miso paste
Dinner
- Vietnamese vermicelli bowl with tofu, cucumbers, homemade pickled daikon and carrot, Thai basil, cilantro and green onion.
Read the complete article, here.