Just a quick blog for this week.
I had my annual physical yesterday and am incredibly happy with the results. I had a full work up done and everything checked out in the ideal range except for random glucose - that was still within acceptable limits but not ideal, so no worries - and this is the first time it's all been this good. This is a concern as there is type 2 diabetes in my family history. I just need to tighten back up on my use of raw sugar and the occasional junk that has made it's way back into my diet, and focus more on lower glycemic fruits.
In the past when I was weighing 220-230 my BP and lipid profiles were always a concern and not in good ranges - this was my main health concern for switching from a cannibal diet to a predominately vegetarian plan and it's worked very well based on yesterday's results.
As a Cannibal:
BW-220-230 lbs
blood pressure - usually around 125/85 when it was "good" to 135/90 when it wasn't "good"
total cholesterol - 220 mg/dL
HDL - 41 mg/dL
LDL - 130 mg/dL
triglycerides - best was usually 135 mg/dL worst was just over 300 mg/dL
As a Pescatarian:
BW-178-182 lbs
blood pressure - worst was 112/72 best was 102/67
total cholesterol - 151 mg/dL
HDL - 43 mg/dL
LDL - 95 mg/dL
triglycerides - 65 mg/dL
To say I'm thrilled with the results is an understatement! My goal now is to continue to improve these levels and continue getting healthier. Screw aging gracefully, I'm kicking ass the entire way to my next lifetime!
Stay Strong AND Healthy!
-Scott
Showing posts with label raw for 30 days. Show all posts
Showing posts with label raw for 30 days. Show all posts
Friday, August 10, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
End of my Raw Month - It's a Wrap!
So that's it. One month on the raw plan. I'll try to keep this a short wrap up as I'm sure you guys are sick of reading about food.
Progress
Progress
 |
| At the start of this month I was at 190 lbs and down from 220 when I started a mostly raw diet at the end of September 2011 - I haven't been south of 180 lbs since 2000.
As you probably read in my last blog post the most dramatic drop is in my bodyweight. The cool thing is that I've actually cut back on my training volume and intensity - this proves that if you want to lose weight it is mostly about nutrition, not training. The old saying "you can't outrun a doughnut" is definitely applicable.
My body-composition has changed for the better, I'm much leaner with better definition. My energy during training is outstanding and my focus and mental clarity (particularly during taiji class and practice) is great.
My joints feel really good, even after periods of heavier training.
My eyes are very clear and my skin is good - no cracking or drying - I attribute this mainly to the good fats in avocados, flax seeds / meal and flax oil -- but I could be wrong, sounds good anyway!
Planning
It's true!
The raw foods diet was very easy for me to follow. Probably because I've been eating predominately raw vegan foods since end of September 2011 this wasn't a very dramatic change, I could see how it'd be tough to jump in 100% if you don't eat that well right now.
Here's what I recommend if you want to give this a try:
I could go on and on so if you have specific questions about my experience post a question or email me directly at sshetler613@gmail.com.
Where do I go now
Now that the month is up I'm going to stay mostly raw, my goal was 80-90% for the end of this. I never planned on staying 100% vegan, as I will most likely eat some eggs and a little fish or cheese occasionally; but over time I see me getting closer and closer to pure vegan nutrition - but for only doing this a little over a year now (April 2011 is when I stopped eating meat and fowl) I've made some huge improvements in my overall health and fitness.
Mainly I'm looking at getting my training dialed in and building my strength back while maintaining a lighter body-weight right around the 180 I'm at now.
Thanks for following this month long experiment! I hope it inspired you to take a look at your nutrition and maybe make some changes for the better!
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
|
Monday, June 25, 2012
6/13/11 to 6/13/12 - My Fitness Year in Review!
Last year for my 36th birthday I decided to do a fitness test. Joel Jamieson has an online assessment tool, Bioforce Testing Protocol, that he built to test the overall physical preparedness of combat athletes. While I certainly am not a combat athlete, I liked this tool as it measured the following things: strength, muscular endurance, aerobic fitness, anaerobic fitness, explosive power and gave you a total performance index, an upper body and lower body strength profile and an upper body and lower body power profile. In addition the tests were easy to implement.
Keeping with my plan I performed the same battery of tests one year later - this jived well with my eating raw vegan for 30 days plan!
1 Year Fitness Comparison
-bodyweight: 2011 = 220 lbs; 2012 = 179 lbs
-resting heart rate: 2011 = 90 bpm; 2012 = 54 bpm
-maximum breath hold: 2011 = 36 seconds; 2012 = 1 minute 19 seconds
-max push-ups in 10 seconds: 2011 = 13 reps; 2012 = 17 reps
-double leg triple jump: 2011 = 20' 3.5"; 2012 = 21'
-max push-ups (no time limit, reps must be continuous and never break form): 2011 = 30 reps; 2012 = 45 reps
-2 minute sit-up test: 2011 = 35 reps; 2012 = 55 reps
-max dead hang (NON-KIPPING) pull-ups (i.e. REAL pull-ups): 2011 = 8 reps; 2012 = 20 reps
-squat x 5 reps: 2011 = 240x5; 2012 = 245x5
-bench press x 3 reps: 2011 = 195 x 3; 2012 = 195x3
-1.5 mile run: 2011 = 19 minutes 10 seconds; 2012 = 13 minutes 33 seconds
Bioforce Test Indexes
-strength: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 5.5
-muscular endurance: 2011 = 1.5; 2012 = 3.5
-aerobic fitness: 2011 = 1.0; 2012 = 4.5
-anaerobic fitness: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 6.0
-explosive power: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 5.5
-total performance index: 2011 = 2.5; 2012 = 5.0
-strength profile: lower body 2011 = 6; 2012 = 7 -- upper body 2011 = 4; 2012 = 6.5
-power profile: lower body 2011 = 5; 2012 = 5.5 -- upper body 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 6.5
So, there you have it. Bodyweight went down 41 lbs and everything else improved, some better than others. While my strength certainly isn't anywhere near what it was when I was competing in powerlifting, I am happy to see that the numbers went up slightly in the squat and maintained in the bench - as these two lifts are very negatively affected by big drops in bodyweight.
Ultimately at 37 I'm happy with the results. My focus over the next year will be to maintain my lighter bodyweight and continue to build back the strength and power that I lost from my days as a fat, red-faced powerlifter and in addition keeping my new levels of health, mobility, flexibility and overall-fitness in check.
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
Keeping with my plan I performed the same battery of tests one year later - this jived well with my eating raw vegan for 30 days plan!
1 Year Fitness Comparison
 |
| Scott - before @ 220 |
-resting heart rate: 2011 = 90 bpm; 2012 = 54 bpm
-maximum breath hold: 2011 = 36 seconds; 2012 = 1 minute 19 seconds
-max push-ups in 10 seconds: 2011 = 13 reps; 2012 = 17 reps
-double leg triple jump: 2011 = 20' 3.5"; 2012 = 21'
-max push-ups (no time limit, reps must be continuous and never break form): 2011 = 30 reps; 2012 = 45 reps
-2 minute sit-up test: 2011 = 35 reps; 2012 = 55 reps
-max dead hang (NON-KIPPING) pull-ups (i.e. REAL pull-ups): 2011 = 8 reps; 2012 = 20 reps
-squat x 5 reps: 2011 = 240x5; 2012 = 245x5
-bench press x 3 reps: 2011 = 195 x 3; 2012 = 195x3
-1.5 mile run: 2011 = 19 minutes 10 seconds; 2012 = 13 minutes 33 seconds
 |
| Scott - 2012 @ 180 |
-strength: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 5.5
-muscular endurance: 2011 = 1.5; 2012 = 3.5
-aerobic fitness: 2011 = 1.0; 2012 = 4.5
-anaerobic fitness: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 6.0
-explosive power: 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 5.5
-total performance index: 2011 = 2.5; 2012 = 5.0
-strength profile: lower body 2011 = 6; 2012 = 7 -- upper body 2011 = 4; 2012 = 6.5
-power profile: lower body 2011 = 5; 2012 = 5.5 -- upper body 2011 = 4.5; 2012 = 6.5
So, there you have it. Bodyweight went down 41 lbs and everything else improved, some better than others. While my strength certainly isn't anywhere near what it was when I was competing in powerlifting, I am happy to see that the numbers went up slightly in the squat and maintained in the bench - as these two lifts are very negatively affected by big drops in bodyweight.
Ultimately at 37 I'm happy with the results. My focus over the next year will be to maintain my lighter bodyweight and continue to build back the strength and power that I lost from my days as a fat, red-faced powerlifter and in addition keeping my new levels of health, mobility, flexibility and overall-fitness in check.
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
Friday, June 22, 2012
Day 22 or Raw for 30 Days!
As I write this blog it's Day 22 of my Raw for 30 Days birthday plan. So far it's been an outstanding experience! This morning my body-weight was at 180 lbs. I haven't seen 180 lbs since 2002, and I'm definitely a lot leaner and carrying more muscle than I did back then, so at least something good came from being a fat and bloated 220 lbs for all those years.
Despite the lack of "direct" protein consumption I have not atrophied, gotten sick, become "skinny fat", or spontaneously combusted. Yet.
If anything my body composition is changing for the positive, I'm leaning up, getting tighter and definition is improving and the cool thing is I train less than I did before. I still put effort into the workouts, but I have cut my training time down tremendously. Plus my recovery is better and overall I feel a lot better.
As a side note - I recently read Dr. Gabriel Cousens' book and watched his DVD on reversing diabetes naturally, due to the fact I have relatives who are diabetics as well as knowing many people who suffer from this horrible disease. It was incredibly informative and enlightening, then my friend Antony posted a link about Dr. Cousens recently on Facebook which reminded me about this - his approach to treating diabetics and getting both Type 2's and 1's OFF insulin and medications is a raw food nutrition plan. Here's a great video intro of his program:
And here's a link to the preview for Dr. Cousens' video I purchased my father:
I'm looking forward to seeing what the last week has in store! Also, last year for my birthday 6/13/11, I conducted a personal fitness test. I repeated the test for my birthday this year and will be posting my 1-year comparisons in the upcoming week.
Thanks for reading!
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
 |
| #1 question I've been asked for the past 22 days - Where do you get your protein? If I had a dollar for every time, I'd have a Bugatti by now... |
If anything my body composition is changing for the positive, I'm leaning up, getting tighter and definition is improving and the cool thing is I train less than I did before. I still put effort into the workouts, but I have cut my training time down tremendously. Plus my recovery is better and overall I feel a lot better.
 |
| This cracked me up! It's funny, this is the type of crap I always used to say about vegetarians and vegans - now I'm on the receiving end. Karma I guess. Oh well - you can't argue results!
Where do I go from here?
With one more week left on my 30 day experiment I've been thinking about this quite a bit. Will I stay 100% raw vegan? Nope. That was never my intention. My goal was to improve from the 70-80% raw vegan plan I was following since September of last year. I wanted to go the 30 days for a couple of reasons, one to prove to myself I could do it since one of the biggest obstacles I see with my clients is motivation and discipline to change their nutrition habits.
Look, I'm just as busy as everyone else. I work 6 days a week, run my own business and do all the domestic stuff everyone else does. I still have time to eat healthy and workout.
I'm sick of hearing excuses from people. You are responsible for what you put into your mouth and it takes the same amount of effort to put a handful of goji berries into your mouth as it does a handful of M&Ms. More people need to take ownership of their lives and stop making excuses.
In addition my goal was to use this 30 days to detox and cleanse a bit as well as tighten up my nutrition so that I can maintain an 80-90% raw vegan plan with only 10-20% coming from cooked vegetarian foods. Basically I will continue to follow what I'm doing now with 1-2 servings of cooked food a day. However there will probably be 2 or 3 days a week that are 100% raw and I will continue to do 100% raw periods as well as periods of juice fasting throughout the year to detoxify and maintain the improved health I am experiencing now.
One reason is personal, I want to be healthy and have a very high quality of life through my twilight years and when it's time for me to trade this body in I want to make that transition as strong and healthy (mentally, physically and spiritually) as possible.
I also need to be a role model for my clients. How can people take health, weight loss, and training advice from someone who doesn't embody what they teach? One of my top rules "Don't be the fat trainer selling a fat loss program, DVD or book!"
 |
And here's a link to the preview for Dr. Cousens' video I purchased my father:
I'm looking forward to seeing what the last week has in store! Also, last year for my birthday 6/13/11, I conducted a personal fitness test. I repeated the test for my birthday this year and will be posting my 1-year comparisons in the upcoming week.
Thanks for reading!
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
Friday, June 15, 2012
15 Days into Raw for 30 Days!
And 15 more to go!
After two weeks of raw vegan eating I feel like I'm in the groove with it. This is good and bad. It's good from the standpoint that I can pretty much find the right kinds of foods no matter if we are going out to eat or staying home. It's bad because I can see how falling into the trap of eating the same limited menu over and over would become easy. However this was a problem before I switched to vegetarian nutrition as well.
Preparation is simple - that's one of the things I love about eating this way, nothing to cook! The foods that take the longest are things that I have to prepare in the dehydrator, but even with that it's like 10:00 of prep time to get it ready to dehydrate.
The dehydrator has really opened up some great new options for raw foods, my favorites so far have been the raw sweet bread and flax seed crackers. In addition I've made some guacamole and some awesome raw hummus to eat with them.
Since this was my birthday week, I loaded up on some raw desserts - raw cheesecake (macadamia nuts, sea salt and dates for the crust and cashews, honey, lemon juice, coconut oil and vanilla for the filling) and some raw chocolate (raw cacao, honey and coconut oil).
As I wrap up week two I have to say the experience thus far has been great. I feel better, I recover faster after workouts, my energy is great, my body composition is changing rapidly, I'm much leaner and tighter and my weight is down to 181.5 lbs as of today (190 lbs when I weighed in on June 1).
Even though I only have two weeks of my 30 days raw plan left, I am definitely going to keep up 80-90% of my daily nutrition as raw vegan, and most likely a lot of days will be 100% raw.
I'd have to concur with legendary turn of the century strongman, George "the Russian Lion" Hackenschmidt, who in his book "The Way to Live in Health and Physical Fitness" said, "I believe I am right in asserting that our Creator has provided food and nutriment for every being for its own advantage. Man is born without frying-pan or stew-pot. The purest natural food for human beings would, therefore, be fresh, uncooked food and nuts."
I'll have another update at the end of week 3!
Until then,
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
After two weeks of raw vegan eating I feel like I'm in the groove with it. This is good and bad. It's good from the standpoint that I can pretty much find the right kinds of foods no matter if we are going out to eat or staying home. It's bad because I can see how falling into the trap of eating the same limited menu over and over would become easy. However this was a problem before I switched to vegetarian nutrition as well.
Preparation is simple - that's one of the things I love about eating this way, nothing to cook! The foods that take the longest are things that I have to prepare in the dehydrator, but even with that it's like 10:00 of prep time to get it ready to dehydrate.
The dehydrator has really opened up some great new options for raw foods, my favorites so far have been the raw sweet bread and flax seed crackers. In addition I've made some guacamole and some awesome raw hummus to eat with them.
 |
| Guacamole! |
 |
| Raw Flax Crackers! |
 |
| Raw Hummus - a MUST with the Flax Crackers! |
 |
| Raw Cheesecake! |
 |
| Raw Chocolate! Happy Birthday to ME! |
For my birthday dinner we went to R Thomas Deluxe Grill in Atlanta for dinner. R Thomas has a very healthy, diverse menu with tons of vegetarian and vegan meals and for the resident cannibals they use only free-range hormone-free meats. They have a great selection of smoothies and juices as well. I got a raw vegan entree that had flax chips, sweet potato chips, a mixed veggie salad, mixed veggies, hummus and a couple other raw spreads. I also had a green smoothie and raw apple pie for dessert. Lisa had a raw vegan entree with a veggie / fruit juice. The meal was amazing and if you are in Atlanta check out R Thomas-great food!
 |
| Birthday Dinner at R Thomas Deluxe Grill in the ATL! |
 |
| Scary but this is probably closer to the truth than we'd like to admit! |
I'd have to concur with legendary turn of the century strongman, George "the Russian Lion" Hackenschmidt, who in his book "The Way to Live in Health and Physical Fitness" said, "I believe I am right in asserting that our Creator has provided food and nutriment for every being for its own advantage. Man is born without frying-pan or stew-pot. The purest natural food for human beings would, therefore, be fresh, uncooked food and nuts."
 |
| George "The Russian Lion" Hackenschmidt |
Until then,
Stay Strong and Healthy!
-Scott
Sunday, June 10, 2012
30 Days Raw - Week 1 Recap
So 1-week of 100% raw vegan eating is in the bag. It's actually Day 10 as I'm writing this and going 100% raw vegan has been an awesome experience so far. I do not plan to do a daily update as the nutrition is pretty similar on a daily basis - I outlined my typical day in a previous blog post. From hear on out I'll only do 1 or 2 updates weekly on the blog as writing, and for you reading, the same daily nutrition over and over will be quite boring.
Here is what I've experienced after the first third of my 30 day experiment.
-weight is down about 7 lbs (190 - 183) in the first week, getting tighter and body composition is improving, I'm even starting to see those ab things I haven't seen in about 12 years
-caffeine headaches last about 2-3 days, after the third day everything just started getting clearer
-energy is great, I get about 4-5 hours sleep a night and honestly I am waking up at 3am during the week without much of a problem
-energy and strength during workouts is great
-sleep is good, I feel pretty well rested when I wake up
-skin / complexion is clear
-eyes are clear
-recovery post workout is improved, I don't experience much fatigue either, endurance is good
-greater mental clarity
-better focus during work, writing and reading
One of the things that I am really liking is raw foods taste amazing and are very satisfying. I am never hungry. I don't experience any reflux like when I was eating a lot of meat.
Based on a lot of the things I've read particularly the work of Dr. Max Gersen, who's raw juicing and vegan approach to nutrition has successfully helped many people survive horrible bouts with cancer, and Dr. Gabriel Cousens, who has helped numerous type 2 and a handful of type 1 diabetics go completely off ALL insulin and oral meds, raw nutrition is definitely beneficial in healing disease. One of the things I plan to do is get my annual physical toward the end of this month, I can't wait to compare my lab work to my last physical when I was a 225 lb hardcore carnivore!
Raw foods are very easy to prepare as well. Just chop some things up, blend some things up, whatever, prep time is basically but in half.
This past week I have experimented with some of the "transitional" raw foods, some of which require preparation in the dehydrator.
I've made some raw sweet bread, raw flax chip, raw oatmeal, raw banana crepes, raw pad Thai, raw macaroni and cheese and raw cheese cake and it all tastes amazing. It's pretty crazy to eat some of the stuff and think that it is 100% healthy.
My Omega 8006 juicer and my Vitamix blender are the rockstars of my kitchen. While the dehydrated and "transition" raw vegan foods are awesome for some flavor and variety, nothing beats loading up on raw fruits and veggies and the juicer and the vitamix make it super easy. Through the vitamix alone I get anywhere from about 10-20 servings of green veggies and fruits daily-the blender is awesome because you are getting 100% solid food nutrition as it utilizes the entire fruit and vegetable-, plus the juicer adds in the highly concentrated micro-nutrients from fruits and veggies. Between the juice in the morning and the 1-2 blended green smoothies I am getting about 64-96 oz. of super high quality raw veggie and fruit nutrition daily on top of the raw fruits and veggies I eat.
One of the benefits to the blended drinks and juices are that they ensure the extraction of the good stuff in the greens, the chlorophyll, that's locked up in the cellulose. When you eat raw green veggies you really have to chew them up well to break down the cell walls to unlock all the good stuff in the greens (think about cows and horses grazing, all they do is chew). The blender and juicer take care of that for you and ensure you're getting access to all of the health promoting and healing nutrients in the veggies.
Even after my 30 days of 100% raw are up, I plan to be tighter with my nutrition. Prior to this I was about 60-80% raw vegan and 20-40% cooked vegetarian foods for my daily nutrition. I hope to maintain closer to 80-90% raw vegan after this month is up. Travelling will be the hardest, but Lisa is eating more raw now and enjoying it so that will make it easy.
Training has been good as well. Basically I am practicing Taiji and Qigong daily with three classes at my Shaolin School. I'm weight training with conditioning 2-4 days per week, and doing a LOT of mobility, stretching and Indian club work.
Overall I feel much healthier and more fit than ever. Granted due to the fact I've lost about 40 pounds since last September my strength dropped as expected with that much weight loss, but I have begun building it back even though I am still losing weight. Also - contrary to everything I've ever heard non-vegans say about this type of diet, my muscle has not vanished and my bones are not brittle. Body-fat has disappeared pretty quickly though. I guess I am getting a sufficient amount of protein as I have not turned into Captain Atrophy yet. The funny thing about training and vegan nutrition is that no-one talks about real plant-based vegan foods. Everything I read on the internet is usually something to the extent of "vegan nutrition is bad for training, all that fake meat, soy based crap is poison." Um. Yeah. It is. It's hysterical to me that following a vegetarian or vegan diet means loading up on processed soy. Where is the "vege" in vegetarian?!?! It's raw fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. Anyone I've talked to who is raw vegan, vegan, etc. who trains hard stays away from processed soy like the plague. If you decide to try this nutrition - do your research first. Eat real plant based foods, not processed crap. See video below.
I'm definitely looking forward to what is in store for the next 20 days of this experiment - but raw will continue to be the majority of my nutrition lifestyle for the remainder of my days in this human experience.
Stay Strong and Healthy!
Scott
Here is what I've experienced after the first third of my 30 day experiment.
 |
| Juicing the healthy way! A typical breakfast. |
-caffeine headaches last about 2-3 days, after the third day everything just started getting clearer
-energy is great, I get about 4-5 hours sleep a night and honestly I am waking up at 3am during the week without much of a problem
-energy and strength during workouts is great
-sleep is good, I feel pretty well rested when I wake up
-skin / complexion is clear
-eyes are clear
-recovery post workout is improved, I don't experience much fatigue either, endurance is good
-greater mental clarity
-better focus during work, writing and reading
One of the things that I am really liking is raw foods taste amazing and are very satisfying. I am never hungry. I don't experience any reflux like when I was eating a lot of meat.
Based on a lot of the things I've read particularly the work of Dr. Max Gersen, who's raw juicing and vegan approach to nutrition has successfully helped many people survive horrible bouts with cancer, and Dr. Gabriel Cousens, who has helped numerous type 2 and a handful of type 1 diabetics go completely off ALL insulin and oral meds, raw nutrition is definitely beneficial in healing disease. One of the things I plan to do is get my annual physical toward the end of this month, I can't wait to compare my lab work to my last physical when I was a 225 lb hardcore carnivore!
Raw foods are very easy to prepare as well. Just chop some things up, blend some things up, whatever, prep time is basically but in half.
This past week I have experimented with some of the "transitional" raw foods, some of which require preparation in the dehydrator.
I've made some raw sweet bread, raw flax chip, raw oatmeal, raw banana crepes, raw pad Thai, raw macaroni and cheese and raw cheese cake and it all tastes amazing. It's pretty crazy to eat some of the stuff and think that it is 100% healthy.
My Omega 8006 juicer and my Vitamix blender are the rockstars of my kitchen. While the dehydrated and "transition" raw vegan foods are awesome for some flavor and variety, nothing beats loading up on raw fruits and veggies and the juicer and the vitamix make it super easy. Through the vitamix alone I get anywhere from about 10-20 servings of green veggies and fruits daily-the blender is awesome because you are getting 100% solid food nutrition as it utilizes the entire fruit and vegetable-, plus the juicer adds in the highly concentrated micro-nutrients from fruits and veggies. Between the juice in the morning and the 1-2 blended green smoothies I am getting about 64-96 oz. of super high quality raw veggie and fruit nutrition daily on top of the raw fruits and veggies I eat.
One of the benefits to the blended drinks and juices are that they ensure the extraction of the good stuff in the greens, the chlorophyll, that's locked up in the cellulose. When you eat raw green veggies you really have to chew them up well to break down the cell walls to unlock all the good stuff in the greens (think about cows and horses grazing, all they do is chew). The blender and juicer take care of that for you and ensure you're getting access to all of the health promoting and healing nutrients in the veggies.
Even after my 30 days of 100% raw are up, I plan to be tighter with my nutrition. Prior to this I was about 60-80% raw vegan and 20-40% cooked vegetarian foods for my daily nutrition. I hope to maintain closer to 80-90% raw vegan after this month is up. Travelling will be the hardest, but Lisa is eating more raw now and enjoying it so that will make it easy.
Training has been good as well. Basically I am practicing Taiji and Qigong daily with three classes at my Shaolin School. I'm weight training with conditioning 2-4 days per week, and doing a LOT of mobility, stretching and Indian club work.
Overall I feel much healthier and more fit than ever. Granted due to the fact I've lost about 40 pounds since last September my strength dropped as expected with that much weight loss, but I have begun building it back even though I am still losing weight. Also - contrary to everything I've ever heard non-vegans say about this type of diet, my muscle has not vanished and my bones are not brittle. Body-fat has disappeared pretty quickly though. I guess I am getting a sufficient amount of protein as I have not turned into Captain Atrophy yet. The funny thing about training and vegan nutrition is that no-one talks about real plant-based vegan foods. Everything I read on the internet is usually something to the extent of "vegan nutrition is bad for training, all that fake meat, soy based crap is poison." Um. Yeah. It is. It's hysterical to me that following a vegetarian or vegan diet means loading up on processed soy. Where is the "vege" in vegetarian?!?! It's raw fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. Anyone I've talked to who is raw vegan, vegan, etc. who trains hard stays away from processed soy like the plague. If you decide to try this nutrition - do your research first. Eat real plant based foods, not processed crap. See video below.
Quick - someone tell these guys to eat some meat or get on the anabolics before they atrophy!
I'm definitely looking forward to what is in store for the next 20 days of this experiment - but raw will continue to be the majority of my nutrition lifestyle for the remainder of my days in this human experience.
Stay Strong and Healthy!
Scott
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