TAG | Vegetarian
For 30 days Fitness Competitor Caitlin McCann and I are eating a 100% Raw Vegan diet. I was inspired by top Trail Running marathoner Tim VanOrden of the Running Raw Project to try this.
The Rules
All food must be raw and alive. No meat, grains, legumes, or beans. My fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouts must be raw. I will use a blender, food processor, and food dehydrator to prepare many of my meals.
Planning my diet
I wont be tracking calories, fat, or carbs. I will eat as much as I want whenever I’m hungry. Everyday I will make a green smoothie, eat a large salad, and fill the rest of my meals with fruits, vegetables, and raw vegan recipes.
By eating simple foods that have been around for thousands of years, my hypothesis is that it isn’t possible to over eat. Raw plant based foods are filled with fiber, water, and vitamins. Digestion will be too slow to over eat, unlike with todays refined and processed foods.
How it works
By eating raw alive foods, I will get all the vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, anti-oxidants, and amino acids. The bio availability of these elements are highest in raw plant based foods, so no need for supplements.
Protein
Proteins are chains of amino acids. Instead of consuming large amounts of protein, I will get all the amino acids I need in the form of enzymes. These plant based enzymes are destroyed at 118 degrees Fahrenheit, hence why they must be consumed raw.
The vast majority of muscular animals: Horses, Cows, Fish, Chickens get all their amino acids from plant based diets. Fish eat Algae, horses and cows graze on grass. These animals convert the enzymes in plants to protein in the form of muscle. I’m just cutting out the middle man.
30 days from now
I’m excited to post my results next month. I will post strength gains or losses, weight gain or loss, and times for running and rowing.
health · Nutrition · raw vega · running raw · Tim vanorden · Vegan · Vegetarian
“The standard diet of a meat-eater is blood, flesh, veins, muscles, tendons, cow secretions, hen periods and bee vomit.
And once a year during a certain holiday in November, meat-eaters use the hollowed-out rectum of a dead bird as a pressure cooker for stuffing.
And people think vegans are weird because we eat tofu?”
- vegan bodybuilder Robert Cheeke
You’re doing it wrong
It’s crucial that you balance your diet with the three macronutrients (Protein, Carbs, and Fat) in each meal in the proper proportions. You will immediately feel better, balance you A1C Blood Sugar to normal levels, and begin to lose body fat.
Many of our members are vegetarians of differing degrees. When I review their weekly diet logs I notice that eighty to ninety percent of their caloric intake comes from carbohydrate sources. These are near toxic levels of carbohydrate. Most people don’t realize but the body is not designed to handle that kind of Glycemic load. The consequences are obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension, Hyper-Insulinism, along with other metabolic derangements.
The body is designed to work within a very specific blood glucose (sugar) level. If it goes below where it needs to be you will eventually slip into a coma and eventually death. The body keeps this from happening by releasing glucose stored in the liver to your blood stream.
If your levels go too high you will go into Gylcemic shock and die. Once again your body has developed a system to keep this from happening -storage. Your body converts and stores toxic levels of carbohydrates as fat.
Zone Proportions
Over that past ten years I’ve seen the best results when following Dr. Barry Sears Zone Diet proportions of 40-30-30.
40% of your calories come from carbohydrate sources (fruits, vegetables, grains, and sugars).
30% from protein sources (Tofu, Soy, Dairy, Legumes, Quinoa)
30% from unsaturated fat (Avocado, Olive Oil, Almonds)
For more on the Zone Diet read my article here http://solidbodyfit.com/workouts/archives/461
Supplementing Your Diet
To reach a low body fat percentage and maintain your muscle mass, protein plays an enormous role. Protein is where almost all vegetarians fall short. There are many great plant sources of protein such as Soy, Legumes, and Quinoa.
If you are unable to get the required protein intake there are shortcuts. I use protein power, it’s incredibly convenient. Just add water and shake it up. I prefer the powder to RTD (ready to drink) protein shakes because you will have better control over the ingredients. I use Optimum Nutrition’s Casein Protein. It has the least ingredients and I found it to have the highest quality protein. You can tell the quality of protein sources by the gas test. Poor quality protein remains undigested and actually decomposes in the intestines causing gas. This doesn’t happen at all with the Optimum Nutrition Protein.
A quick meal replacement is Organic Food Bar’s Protein Bar. It has only seven ingredients and all of them being real food items. It has 22 grams of protein, 33 grams of carbs, and 13 grams of fat. It’s very Zone friendly. I’ve included links to these products below
Healthy fat sources are Almonds, Almond Butter, Olive Oil, Avocado’s to name a few. Stick to Poly-Unsaturated and Mono-Unsaturated fat sources which are heart healthy (http://cholesterol.about.com/cs/faq/f/difference.htm).
Links
Organic Food Bar
http://www.organicfoodbar.com/products/Protein
Zone Diet Resources
http://www.zonediet.com/RESOURCES/ZoneDietHints/tabid/79/Default.aspx
Justin’s Almond Butter To-Go Packets
http://www.justinsnutbutter.com/products.php
Optimum Nutrition’s Protein Powder
http://www.optimumnutrition.com/products/100-casein-protein-p-219.html
NutritionData.com a great resource to look up nutritional information on any food.
http://www.nutritiondata.com/
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Jason@SolidBodyFit.com
Diabetes · Nutrition · Vegetarian · Vegetarian Diet · Weight Loss · Zone · Zone Diet