Ezra Stevenson, FoodNSport, and Doug Graham

I first met Ezra at a Doug Graham "FoodNSport" event in Washington state, about an hour north of Seattle at a retreat center. Doug's retreats are some combination of a sports training boot camp, profound nutrition education, and the best time ever. This particular event was a 12 day water only fast, followed by 6 days of "refeeding" combined with increasing levels of physical activity (during the actual fast we rested).

Ezra was to be my roommate, but I was informed just before bedtime on the day of arrival he was coming in on a late flight, and wouldn't arrive until 2am. Oh...and he was bringing a dog.

Wait. A dog? On a 12 day water fast, in a small room with a small window? I was imagining a large odoriferous canine, and a lot of shedding. I thought to myself "I'll deal with this in the morning" before rolling over and going to sleep.

I opened my eyes the next morning to see a gorgeous border collie sitting by my bed looking at me...and smiling. Then Ez said "that's Luna", I looked over at Ez...as sturdy a young man as Luna was beautiful.

OK, welcome Ezra and Luna! We became fast friends (no pun intended), and remain so to this day.

So why am I writing about Ez? He has undergone a pretty amazing personal transformation since I met him, and I think it makes an interesting post for a few reasons. The lead reason is a little myth busting: "we need animal protein for good health, physical performance, and especially if we want to put on muscle".

But Ezra has been 100% vegan for years. And he began strength training only about 6 months ago.

Here's a pic of Ez about the time we met at the retreat, healthy and slim:

And here's a recent pic of Ez, a few years later:

And here's Ez hitting it at the gym a few days ago:

One of Ezra's older brothers was a bodybuilder, and the young Ez would go with him to the gym. Apparently he learned a lot from his brother, because Ez knows a lot about bodybuilding! Combined with what he learned from Doug Graham about nutrition and athletic training and et voilà!

I'm lucky that Ez likes company at the gym, because when I'm in town he asks me to go with him. If I were here (in the Palm Beaches) all the time I would be way more fit than I am, but Ezra has educated me in strength training, and he inspires me to do better. Ezra has been as good a model for motivation and consistency as I could hope for.

Thank you Ez! And thank you Doug Graham for all you have done, and continue to do, for so many.