Tia Blanco, 16, is a member of the Surfing America team and has won numerous amateur surf championships. She is being hailed as the next big thing in women’s surfing and she’s VEGAN. She is also a member of the DFS (Drug Free Surfers). She does a lot of charity work and in her spare time does art, takes martial arts and travels the world. We caught up with this amazing young vegan recently to chat about surfing and the vegan lifestyle.
1. What prompted you to make the switch to the vegan lifestyle?
I was vegetarian my whole life until 6 months ago. I started getting more interested in health and nutrition. I read The China Study, watched “Forks Over Knifes” and watched how they produced the meat. That is what changed my mindset and lifestyle completely.
2. What is your typical daily meal plan?
I like to switch it up daily so I can get a variety of different vitamins. One day I will make a green juice in the morning, vegetables and quinoa at lunch, and maybe a kale salad for dinner. The next day I’ll have fruit in the morning, an acai and banana smoothie for lunch and lentil soup for dinner.
3. Any special recipes you would like to share?
Whenever I have a sweet tooth I have a go to shake I make in my blender. It consists of bananas, mango, cocoa beans, vanilla almond milk, and dates. It’s soooo yummy and it gives me lots of energy.
Click to view slideshow.4. Does the vegan diet provide enough energy and stamina for a top class surfer, such as yourself?
Yes, in fact I feel more energized than ever before. I am rarely ever sore after my workouts. I also find myself reaching a higher athletic level.
5. Do you have any vegan and vegetarian surfing friends? What do you say to surfers who question your vegan diet?
Yes I have multiple vegetarian surfer friends. Sometimes I get the questions like “where do you get your protein?” My answer to those people is, “do I look protein deficient to you?” I have always been a pretty strong girl growing up and I’ve consistently won many arm wrestling matches against boys. 
6. Is there anything else you would like to add?
I used to say the only reason why I didn’t eat meat was to be healthy, but I would be lying if I said that now, knowing the horrible things they do to the animals. Any person who has a heart for animals and knew how they are treated would be vegan. I challenge anyone to go to the PETA website and watch videos about slaughter houses.
Connect with Tia:
Instagram: tiablanco
Twitter: tia_blanco
In other vegantastic news….
The Animal Effect team (one of the Vegan of the Year Award 2013 winners) are running a course in Sydney on Sat 7th December and Melbourne on Sat 30th November.
‘Skills for Conversations that Matter’ is a practice-filled course that provides tools and techniques to confidently address:
* Keeping calm when people say ‘Don’t show me those images. It upsets me’.
* Feeling tongue-tied when people resist, criticise or ignore animal cruelty issues.
* Feeling frustrated at having to defend veganism around the table.
* Avoiding confrontation but later feel guilty for not speaking your truth. y
The course is facilitated by Clare Mann.
Tickets are selling fast! If you bring some friends, you can come for as little as $78.00! This includes:
* Vegan lunch
* Morning and afternoon tea
* Lots of practice and feedback
* A hardback copy of Clare’s book Communicate (RRP $49.95)
* Networking with like-minded people
* Fun and inspiration
They are running a competition on Facebook to win a free ticket to the course: http://on.fb.me/1blTrxO
For more details and booking information, visit: www.animaleffect.com/course
