Ex-Triathlete Urges Better
Sports Nutrition
by Patrick Ball
Up to 40 percent of North Americans’ stress is
nutritional. Based on this statistic, Brendan Brazier, a Canadian triathlete-turned
entrepreneur-turned author, developed Vega with the premise of “reducing stress
through better nutrition” and “treating the cause as well as the problem.”
Brazier said his product can be equally beneficial to a
athletic training regimen and everyday life.
He brought his newest product, Vega Smoothie Infusion and
his new book, “Thrive Diet” to Whole Foods Market in Bedford last Wednesday, for
a book signing and demo.
Michelle Ezzy, marketing team leader for Whole Foods, said,
“I was very happy when Brendan Brazier agreed to come to Whole Foods Market in
Bedford to support his new Vega line last year, and I could not believe our luck to get
him again this year in support of his new smoothie infusion product and ‘Thrive
Diet’ book.
“Having signings like this is just one of the many
ways we try to connect our customers to the products we offer,” she said.
Brazier, 32, started making the original version of what
has now become Vega for himself when he was a 15-year-old in Vancouver with aspirations of
becoming a triathlete. Using what he had learned researching nutrition and vegetarianism;
he combined an array of ingredients in a meal replacement.
Vega has evolved into a whole foods meal replacement mix
with protein, essential fats, greens, enzymes, probiotics, vitamin-mineral compound and
maca (a Peruvian root vegetable that brings down cortisol levels caused by stress). He
said the original recipe was “very utilitarian,” and the taste improved over
time.
Training hard and taking the utilitarian version of Vega
every day, by 1993, the 18-year-old Brazier started racing. Five years later, he turned
pro, and made enough money competing to travel and participate in events without needing
another job.
Six years later, he was hit by a car while biking and his
career as a professional triathlete was over. At this point, he wrote his first book, and
partnered with Sequel Naturals to market his Vega Whole Food Meal Replacement, which led
to his Vega products: the original meal replacement, Vega Whole Food Energy Bars and the
new Vega Smoothie Infusion.
Brazier has written “Thrive,” a Canadian best
seller, which outlines a nutrition program, and a second book, “Thrive Diet,”
which has been published by Penguin in Canada, and will be released by Avalon in the
United States this January. He plans to write a follow-up to “Thrive Diet,” and
has worked on a collaborative book called “10 Excellent Reasons to Think Twice About
Eating Meats,” for which über-vegan recording artist Moby wrote the foreword.
Three years removed from competition, Brazier said
he’s “homeless in a good way,” traveling on a promotional tour throughout
North America, England and Taiwan, where his Vega products have debuted.
“VegNews” recently named him one of the Today’s 25 Most Fascinating
Vegetarians. According to the magazine’s Web site, he is honored as such for his
status as an athlete and author, as well as Vega, his “vegan-fitness empire.”
Canadian production company Rockin’ Films has a
documentary about Brazier’s life in the works and Moby is doing the soundtrack.
What may be most remarkable about the vegan fitness guru is
not any one of his astonishing accomplishments alone, but the humility Brazier has
retained in the midst of his meteoric rise to worldwide acclaim.
Perhaps the best example of this came out of his reaction
to Vega’s Taiwan launch.
The island has not always had a market for health food.
And, in fact, only developed said market because of the junk food epidemic, which polluted
the Taiwanese diet dominated by chicken and rice.
“Vega would not be sold in Taiwan if not for McDonalds
and KFC,” he said. “It’s too bad they couldn’t just carry on with
their healthy lifestyle.”
For more information, check out www.brendanbrazier.com, www.thrivediet.com and www.myvega.com.
Copyright © 2007 GateHouse Media, Inc. Some Rights
Reserved.
Patrick Ball, Staff Writer, Bedford Minuteman, 150 Baker
Avenue Ext., Suite 101, P.O. Box 9191, Concord, Massachusetts 01742, http://www.wickedlocal.com/ |
