By Scott Dinsmore of Live Your Legend
“I’ll have the vegetarian special please.”
“Oh… and can you add double meat? Thanks.”
For years that was my standard order.
I loved the veggies, but I couldn’t imagine a meal without meat.
It just didn’t make any sense to me. Without the meat, there was no meal. I couldn’t possibly get full. I wouldn’t have any energy. And without any of that protein there wouldn’t be a chance of me gaining any muscle.
I was actually that guy who constantly questioned vegetarians and vegans. I wasn’t an asshole or anything to them – at least not directly. I had just never heard a logical reason for giving up animal protein so I was always curious.
For the most part every time I’d ask a vegetarian “why”, I’d get some general explanation that appeared to be totally void of science or logic.
And if six years ago you would have told me that I would consider trying a vegan diet, I would have laughed in your face.
I also would have been dead wrong.
And it all came down to one simple action: I decided to give myself the chance to prove my beliefs wrong.
About six and half years ago I attended Tony Robbins’ Unleash the Power Within event. The day’s topic was Energy. Tony spent the next 12 hours telling us of his research and studies of some of the world’s top athletes as well as medical research done by some of the world’s most renowned scientists.
He talked of a man who ran from San Diego to New York, setting a world record. And how that same man, for his birthday ten years later, did the same run and beat his old time. Or of Scott Jurek, one of the best 100+ mile ultra marathon runners on the planet. Or former terminal cancer patients who’d gone into remission. The stories and data went on and one.
He shared how all these people ran off plants. And not because it was an environmental or moral issue, but because that was what they found allowed them to perform at their absolute physical peak.
And of course Tony made sure to show us plenty of downright disgusting videos from the factory farms that provide most of the world’s meat. He showed the chickens, cows and pigs, practically stacked on top of each other. I can still see and feel how I felt when I saw that first video…
The crazy thing was that I could feel my thinking changing as the day went on.
Then at the end, he said “I know a ton of you guys are thinking I’m crazy to suggest the diet and lifestyle I am. But since you paid so much to be here and you’ve listened to me for 12 hours about this stuff, please do yourself one favor. Just try it out. See how you feel.”
And he went on to throw down the “10-day challenge”, and being the experimenter I am, I was game. That night when I got home and had finished my first huge salad, something hit me. I called my wife and said “Hey do you realize that Tony just told us to go vegan for 10 days, without ever saying the word vegan or vegetarian?!”
It was brilliant. And it worked. It got me to try.
And guess what?
Ten days later I felt more energized than I had in as long as I could remember, and never once was I hungry.
Give yourself a chance to see what might be possible.
We talk ourselves into silly things all the time. Often without ever doing the proper research or experimentation.
All it takes is doing something small to prove yourself wrong. Then the momentum completely shifts.
I mean what’s the worst that can happen if you go all plants for a week or so? You lose a few pounds perhaps?
It might be about time to find out.
I think you’ll be surprised.
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Read more from Scott Dinsmore at Live Your Legend. Please note that while Scott did a 10-day vegan challenge as described in this post, he eats about 90% plant-based diet now and isn’t 100% vegan.
