Last week I got the chance to meet up with Matt, the No Meat Athlete, in New York after getting an early copy of his new book(!!). The last time I met up with Matt was when he was running the Boston Marathon; since then he’s run a 100-miler and started plans to run a sub 3-hour marathon, so it’s safe to say he’s been busy.

The book covered a lot of the same topics you’d find on Matt’s blog from running/workout advice, recipes, anecdotes and more. I’ve taken a hiatus from running recently and have plenty of pages bookmarked to go back to when I get my next fitness itch.

Of course I was drawn to the recipe section, including the easy peanut butter sauce shown above. The book advocates a plant-based diet, a flexible term which means different things for different people. However you eat it’s a good reminder that you can always use more fruits and vegetables(this definitely rings true for me).

I got the chance to ask Matt a few questions about food, fitness, and the topics in his book.

A lot of the recipes in your book are more like math formulas; why is that?

I think the obvious answer is that it’s because I studied math in grad and school and my mind just works that way, but the real reason is that food for me is more about practicality than it is art. With ultrarunning and kids and writing and everything else, I have less time for cooking than I used to, so it’s helpful to have a template you can use, say, to throw together a veggie burger with the ingredients you happen to have on hand. I think a lot of people find themselves without a whole lot of time or energy to spend on food, and having formulas that you can use over and over with different ingredients, is really convenient.

I once had a blog with the very hokey name “Food Makes Fun Fuel.” What would you say is your most fun fuel for your workouts?

Fresh dates! The ones with the pits in them, so they’re still soft and have an incredible flavor. They taste like candy, but they’re nutritionally very similar to energy gels and are compact, too, so you can carry a few with you when you run and know that you’re fueling with something far healthier than processed gels.

What’s your favorite indulgence food?

Does beer count? Assuming it doesn’t, then pizza. It was the hardest thing for me to give up when I went vegan, but as much as I hated Daiya vegan cheese at first, I eventually got used to it. Now I can make or order a vegan pizza with Daiya and honestly I don’t enjoy it any less than I used to when it had real cheese. It’s so easy to make dough at home, too, and a lot of times I change it up with BBQ sauce and red onions, or even homemade Caesar dressing as the sauce and lettuce and grilled tempeh to top it.

What’s been your biggest sense of joy from your years of blogging?

Wow, great question. I’ve come to really appreciate how important it is that blogs allow anyone to pick themselves (as Seth Godin put it), instead of sitting around waiting for the publisher or the record label or whoever else to “pick” you. You can just start writing, sharing your ideas, your food, your music, etc. And then it’s just up to the audience to decide if your work and your message are good enough. The gatekeepers don’t have the power anymore, and if you want to do something special, it’s up to you to do it and you don’t need to wait for someone to tell you it’s okay. And blogs, as simple as they seem, are the most important tool for doing that.

What food, lifestyle, or fitness blogs do you check most frequently?

Zen Habits (zenhabits.net) and Tim Ferriss’ blog (fourhourworkweek.com/blog) are some of my favorites; both are more in the “lifestyle” category than anything else. For food blogs and recipes, I’m a huge fan of Oh She Glows (ohsheglows.com) and Choosing Raw (choosingraw.com) — they almost always have a healthy, vegan version of whatever it is I’m trying to make.

What 3 ingredients should everyone who’s reading this add to their weekly grocery list?

1. Baby kale. It’s not as bitter and tough as the regular stuff, so it works really well raw, in smoothies, in salads, and on sandwiches, and it’s one of the most nutrient dense foods you can eat.
2. Hummus. Spread it on a bagel, dip broccoli, carrots, and cucumbers in it, make a simple sandwich by spreading it on sprouted bread and topping with some kale, or use it in a wrap or pita for long run fuel.
3. Raw trail mix. It’s not really an ingredient, I know, but I eat it all the time — it’s a great way to get in a bunch of nutritious calories while you’re traveling or for between-meal snacking. If I’m in a pinch for breakfast on the road, a few big handfuls of trail mix with a banana or apple gets me by.

Congrats Matt on the book and for being an inspiration to so many!