When asked why she became vegan, Kelly Nauyokas said, "I became vegetarian in 2001 while I was in the US Marines. I was only consuming protein powder made of whey at the time. After cheating a few times and eating meat, I noticed that I felt horrible after eating them. I completely stopped eating animal products in 2005 when I had experienced chemical sensitivities to artificial sweetners and ingredients. I feel amazing now!"

Click here to read Kelly's complete profile.

Calcium and Vegans
When vegans consumed at least 525 mg of calcium per day, they had no difference in fracture rate when compared to meat eaters, fish eaters, and lacto-ovo vegetarians. When vegans had a calcium intake lower than 525 mg per day, they had a higher risk of fracture. Protein intake did not appear to affect fracture risk in this study. Make sure and get adequate calcium from sources like kale, bok choy, collards, mustard greens, calcium set tofu, calcium fortified non dairy beverages, or a supplement.

Appleby P, et al. Comparative fracture risk in vegetarians and nonvegetarians in EPIC-Oxford. Eur J Clin Nutr 2007 Feb 7.

Plant based diets and living longer
Three groups of dietary intake patterns were formed in this study, ranging from a high plant based diet, to a low plant based diet. The group with the highest plant based score had markedly lower mortality (risk of dying from any cause) than the low plant based diet or medium plant based diet.

Barnia C, et al. Dietary patterns and survival of older Europeans: the EPIC-Elderly Study (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition). Public Health Nutr 2007;10:590-598.

Skin cancer influenced by diet?
Skin cancers are the most common cancers. 1,000 adults were studied over an 11 year period to see which factors were associated with skin cancer. Sun exposure and skin color were considered. Even after those factors were taken into account, people who ate a lot of red or processed meat and high-fat dairy products had a greater risk of developing squamous cell cancer. Those eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and keeping a low fat intake had a 54 percent lower risk of developing squamous cell cancer.

Ibiebele TI, et al. Dietary pattern in association with squamous cell carcinoma of the skin: a prospective study. Am J Clin Nutr 2007;85:1401-1408.

Vegan diets and slimming down
The world renowned Dr. Neal Barnard has published a study indicating that a vegan diet was associated with significantly greater weight loss than a moderate low fat diet all the way up to 2 years out! The research also found that group support and meeting attendance were associated with significant weight loss at follow-up.

Turner-McGrievy GM, et al. A two-year randomized weight loss trial comparing a vegan diet to a more moderate low-fat diet. Obesity 2007;15:2276-2281.

Meat and pulmonary function
Cured meats have nitrates. Nitrates can combine with amino acids in an acidic environment and form nitrosamines, which are carcinogens. A cross-sectional study of over 7,000 adults indicated that frequent cured meat consumption was associated independently with an obstructive pattern of lung function and increased odds of COPD.

Jiang R, Paik DC, Hankinson JL, Barr RG. Cured meat consumption, lung function, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among United States adults. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2007;175:798-804.

Thanks to OA's health editor, Ryan Andrews, for this month's news.

OrganicAthlete Member and founder of OrganicAthlete Ontario Minna Mettinen sent this video of her latest skydiving adventure.

OA member Melissa Moser organized a survey for graduate school class.

She writes:
"It definitely takes less than 10 minutes to complete, as it is only about 8 questions and some are really easy (like what state do you live in). You can skip questions if you want, or write as much as you like on open ended questions. It's totally voluntary and confidential. I will give a short summary of results with anyone who wants it who takes the survey (you provide
your email at the end of the survey if you want the summary).  Here is the link:

http://uncodum.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_8H6xHahNSmqRNuQ&SVID=Prod

If you could pass this message on to other vegans you know, I would appreciate it. The more folks who answer, the more interesting it will be to see patterns in the results."

Sami Fournier writes:

Cross is in high season here in OR, and I managed to rack up a win for the OA squad here this weekend.

Saturday was the first in the Fox Hollow series in Eugene, and I lined up against 2 other A women and 10 B men.  With the hilly, technical course working in my favor, I managed 1st in the women and 5th among the B men.  This despite tripping over my bike once on the way up a run-up, and stepping on my rear wheel.  Fun!

Then Sunday was a race at Barton Park in Estacada, OR. This race was subtitled, "The worst possible course for Sami," with its long flat windy stretches and rocky steep run-ups.  I nevertheless had a good time racing
in my rockin stars and stripes skinsuit, and pulled off 9th of 20 in the A women's race.

Casey McDonald also represented OA well at Barton.

Photos and results are here:

http://www.obra.org/

Congratulations to OA member Ken Lyle whoo completed the Richmond Marathon in 3 hours, 41 minutes, and 37 seconds this weekend.

Pro-Activist member and Running Raw founder Tim VanOrden finished an amazing 3rd place (out of 2000 runners) in the GoVertical Chicago, a run up the stairs of the Sears Tower. 

After an embarrassingly long wait, I'm getting caught on sending membership packets.  What you see here is memberships since August.  This is over 50 new members!  Thank you all for joining OrganicAthlete.

With chapters forming in Chicago, Washington DC, and Victoria, our organization is expanding its reach all over North America.  Having been working on OrganicAthlete for 5 years now, I can't tell you how wonderful it is to see this growth.  I hope you'll join us and be a part of our efforts to create a better world through sports.

Posted by Bradley..
Don't forget about the great deals we have on cycling and triathlon gear at our online store right now.

OA member Tim Barnes in the thick of the action at a cyclocross race in Boulder, CO.

Here's Sami Fournier (Women Master's 40-44 National Champion) at a local cross race in Oregon.  Go Sami!

Posted by Bradley.

OrganicAthlete Pro-Activists Brendan Brazier and Tim VanOrden are featured in the Raw Summits 1 & 2.

Brendan Brazier is the author of Thrive and  a professional Ironman triathlete, the 2003 and 2006 Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon Champion, a bestselling author on performance nutrition and the creator of an award-winning meal replacement and energy bar formula called VEGA.

Click here to listen to Brendan and several other leaders in the Raw and Living Food movement.

Tim is the founder of runningraw.com talks about the impact his making the Olympic team as a 40 year old 100% Raw Vegan could have on the way athletes are trained and the diet of the kids who use them for role models.

Click here to listen to Tim and several other leaders in the Raw and Living Food movement.

Tim VanOrden just emailed this update.  Go Tim!

I was a bit disappointed with my third place at the Sears Tower, so I drove up to Milwaukee yesterday afternoon to compete in the Climb for a Cure tower race up the US Bank Center. Although it's the tallest building in Milwaukee, it's only half as tall as the Sears Tower in Chicago. I thought a 45 storey climb would be a sprint compared to the 103 floors of the Sears Tower. I thought wrong.

Anxious to "redeem" myself in this race, I edged to the front of the line as the racers began to line up. Standing next to me were a group of some of the finest examples of athleticism I've ever seen - The Milwaukee Bonecrushers arena football team. These guys have speed, strength and quads that go on for days. In addition, there were several elite stair climb athletes that I've seen in LA, Chicago and NYC. So needless to say, I was VERY nervous. When the starter announced that the race would begin in 30 seconds and asked who would
like to go first (15 seconds seperated each racer), everyone backed away, leaving me standing alone. I've never started first in a stair race, and the thought of there being no one to catch and EVERYONE behind me chasing my heels, made my pre-race jitters even worse.

The gun went off and I ran like an antelope with a cheetah in hot pursuit. I knew my pace was unsustainable, but the fear inside of me drove me on with reckless abandon. I didn't want to have ANYTHING left in the tank when I finished this race.

When the pain in my quads, the nausea in my stomach, and the sandpaper like feeling in my throat had all reached an intolerable limit, I lifted my head to see how much more of this torture I had to endure. The sign said 21. I was not yet halfway done. But i was DONE. I slowed my pace a bit and lurched forward with pride being my main fuel at this point. I pulled myself up the stairs with mostly my arms (using the railings) as my legs just wouldn't cooperate anymore. I drifted into some safe place in my head where I wouldn't feel the pain anymore. I imagine it's similar to the experience of going into shock.  That only lasted until I lifted my head again and saw that it only read 30 - I still had a long way to go. At this point, the high volume of dry stale air I was inhaling began to really burn my trachea and lungs, my throat was beginning to close off, and it was becoming hard to take a full breath.

At the 35th floor I began to somehow pick up the pace. Not because I wanted to finish with a good time, but because I could no longer endure this, and I needed to be over as soon as possible. In a flash I was coming through the door at the top and people were cheering, and then I collapsed. I laid there writhing in pain for quite some time as others began to finish behind me.

It would be half an hour before my throat would open up enough for me to get more than a thin wisp of air in my lungs. I swore to those around me that I'd never do another tower race, that I hated them.

Half an hour after that, I was informed that I had won the race by 50 seconds, finishing in 5:23, well ahead of the Bonecrushers and the other elite racers. With the taste of victory in my mouth, it didn't take long for someone to talk me into doing the 84 storey Aon Center in Chicago in January, and the 90 storey Hancock Center in Chicago in February. The ego is a funny thing. I just hope that someone, somewhere is inspired by what I'm doing.

Post by Bradley.

OrganicAthlete members in Chicago are in the process of starting a local chapter.  They are looking for some local members!  If you are interested in joining, please email chicago@organicathlete.org.

Here's the latest from OrganicAthlete's local chapters:

Boston

The Boston chapter-in-formation has completed a successful first season of racing.  The two active members raced close to two dozen races including a handful of top tens/podiums, one win, and a full cross season.  OA-Boston also received a shout-out in the "New England Sports Magazine" in the "Go-Green Sports" issue.
-Matt

Colorado

Colorado Chapter is in full swing.  We don't even sleep around here. Members Tim Barnes, Josh Wiegand, Catherine Johnson, and myself have all been racing the extremely competitive cyclocross races throughout Colorado.  I celebrated my November 10th singlespeed cyclocross victory with some bananas and beer.  Helen Cospolich is still running like the energizer bunny.  With a few 100 mile races under her belt who knows what she plans on next.  In other news Simple Foods in Denver has re-opened as a vegetarian cafe.  Come and check it out at 3901 Tennyson Street.
-Colin

New York City

Hi all!

Our New York Chapter, in addition to cycling, is putting together a running team that will compete in numerous races and the NYC Marathon in 2008. We recently changed the fate of many turkeys, convincing the organizers of so-called Turkey Race to donate money, instead of donating frozen birds to a charity. Our team also more than doubled the organizer's cash contribution! We train hard and play hard, supporting our teammates on and off the bike. Our member Pamela is helping to organize a roller race event to benefit local junior racers and our team will compete in it. We're also letting it all hang out at our member Davey's Punk Rock Heavy Metal Karaoke (http://www.punkmetalkaraoke.com/).

Jack
www.teamorganicnyc.org

Ontario North

Ontario North Chapter athlete Minna Mettinen-Kekalainen participated in the Canadian National Sprint Kayak Championships (with a second place finish) in August, and the World Sprint trials in Rochester NY in Sept. (with again a 2nd place finish) qualifying for the World Sprints in Sacramento CA in Aug. 2008.

There was an organic vegetarian meal/celebration prepared by Minna's sky diving coach in Oct. to finish off our racing season.

Our member Callen McGibbon began a new career managing the gym at Laurentian Univ. and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in healthy organic living to the student body at the university. Callen, Claudia and their daughter Haley are expecting the arrival of the newest member of our OrganicAthlete community - their third child sometime in January or February 2008!

Philadelphia

Hello everyone - 

The Philadelphia chapter is just getting going, but in not quite three months time, we've grown from zero to seven members. Two of us, Dara and Emily, are running the Philadelphia Marathon - today! Next year, we're committed to organizing training and support for anyone who wants to join us for the Broad Street Run, the '08 Marathon, and at least one century ride.

We're an even split of runners and cyclists, and we've received interest from a few more cyclists, at least one other runner, and even a couple of rock climbers. We're shaping up to be a multi-sport club.

Dennis, Emily and myself have donated our time in various ways for an upcoming auction that is part of an anti-foie gras campaign that Dara is very involved with. Our willingness to help has already generated positive response.

We're very excited for the months to come, and for our cyclists to get down to racing in their OA kit next spring.

Mark

Portland

OrganicAthlete Portland has taken off.  In November of last year I was struggling to find two other board members to form a chapter. Last night we had our first team meeting with with 8 of the 10 racing team members present.  Casey McDonald got our first OA win last week.  Our womens team is three members stong and growing. The OA kit shows up in most every race here in Oregon racing and gaining respect. We also do weekly group rides for our non racing members, which is a hit also.

Jim