C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Vegan Muscle Building      I spend about half of every year as a vegan.   In other words, for about half of the year I never eat meat or any form of dairy—milk, eggs, cheese, butter, etc.   I don’t do this because I necessarily feel it’s the healthiest way to eat—although I must admit that my blood pressure, cholesterol levels, triglycerides do improve while eating this way—or because I think it’s a good way to build muscle.   I do it for religious reasons.   A few years ago, I converted to Orthodox Christianity.   Part of being Orthodox is living an ascetical life, and that ascetical life includes “fasting”, i.e. abstaining from meat and dairy.   Orthodox do this on every Wednesday and Friday throughout the entire year as well as 40 days before Christmas (the Nativity fast, sometimes called Advent), 40 days before Easter (Lent), and there are a few other fasts of a few weeks duration scattered here and there throughout the liturgical calendar—Dormition fast, Apostles’ fast, t