Martica Heaner PhD, is a nutritionist and exercise physiologist and health writer. She is an adjunct associate nutrition professor at Hunter College in NYC and the author of 6 books including Cross-training for Dummies and Lean Mommy. She has been a group fitness instructor for over 30 years and starred in a fitness TV show while living in London in the 90s. She has been a vegan for 5 years (prior to that was vegetarian for 32) and teaches plant-based nutrition in a conventional nutrition 101 class.
Martica and I got on the phone and talked about her childhood, her education, her fitness career, and some of the myths floating around the plant-based world. We discussed:
- wanting to become a novelist
- reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair at age 11
- becoming a vegetarian in her early teens
- smoking cigarettes (and other substances) and getting drunk in high school – while eating healthy
- teaching aerobics senior year in high school (big hair and leg warmers)
- developing the fitness industry in England and Europe
- “Body Heat” – fitness show on daytime TV (before “Topless Darts”!)
- becoming fitness director for Fitness magazine in NYC
- “I always feel like I don't know anything”
- drifting toward academia with obesity and exercise research
- going vegan five years ago – after discovering the truth about dairy cows and plant-based diet and asthma
- eliminating dairy and not using her inhaler for the coming year
- the Columbia University nutrition curriculum: “olive oil and lean meats are healthy”
- nutrition textbooks have a mission to promote dairy, even when not relevant
- it was harder to be a junk-food vegan 10 years ago
- how much controversy really exists in the scientific literature?
- exploring Valter Longo's longevity findings
- “anecdotal evidence is more convincing to people than good science”
- “everyone thinks they're better than they are… and that holds true for vegans”
- vegan junk food can crowd out nutrients (the Kind Bar diet)
- livestock are supplemented with B12 before they're slaughtered
- signs of protein deficiency in humans
- getting the quantity of nuts, seeds, and beans
- “we don't have to work for our food anymore”
- the Amish pedometer study
- focusing on the wrong thing: osteopenia isn't as big a problem as sarcopenia
- “walking is absolutely not enough for health”
- physical activity is fundamental – a good diet doesn't excuse lack of exertion and movement
- and much more…
Enjoy, add your voice to the conversation via the comment box below, and please share – that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.
Links
Martica Heaner on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook