Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

that is all very understandable and well articulated.... you and L&G have definitely peaked my interest in the raw food thing. Sorry for taking this tread off topic for a moment.... I didn't mean to distract from the liquid awesomeness that is going down




p.s. andesuma, does the whole 'indigo children' thing have anything to do with all of that stuff?? (you can pm me if you want so as not to disturb the other peeps)

_________________
---megan---
http://www.myspace.com/ellaandfinnsmom
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
-Theodor Seuss Geisel

Yes
I think the indigo children is also deeply connected to our society overprescribing
medication...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_children

especially when it comes to Bipolar/Manic Depressive diagnosis, and just poisoning
someone who is purely submerged in a toxic environment.

Hence the polarities. I really hope everyone is able to understand you can heal
yourself from anything... you can heal yourself from anything.
(my body has proven to me and shown me time and time again, this is possible)

However I do believe emotion heals someone quicker than anything else.

_________________
::::::::::
http://www.rawnutrition.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.organicconsumers.org
http://www.rawfoodexplained.com

:::::
http://www.myspace.com/andesuma

Hey VeggiePrincess, thanks for stopping by to say hello and for the kudos on 8%. I want is to drop a bit more but i'm happy here, even if it remains at 8% for the remainder of this. I don't want to be above 8% even when I bulk as I am going to drop down to 3-4% in october for the comp. I have been meaning to give you a call, I will try sometime later, perhaps and get that info to you pronto. It's going to be awesome once everything comes to fruition.

Veganmamma, I have peaked your interest in raw foods..... OH my gosh, that is music to my ears girl! I encourage you to explore and add more unprocessed fresh produce into your diet. There's so many things out there you can do with raw foods if you're ambitious enough and the way you feel, well, you'll find that out for yourself if you venture down a path with more raw foods. No worries on the hijacking, we all do it, I have interest in the Mayan Calendar anyways since it is so specific on my birthdate in 2012....
__________________________________________________________________________.

Oh my my my today was a fun day in the world of juice feasting for moi! After my shpeal for the doc's visit i'll explain and the pics are below if you want to skip this info but it might be of interest to you.

Ok, so I went to a local internist, just a regular run of the mill doctor so he could run some tests on me through bloodwork and what have you to get my b12 tested and a fatty acid test. I am going back to request a heavy metal toxicity test as well as a parasite and candida test to see what's up. Hopefully he will provide me with assistance and not look at me like i'm crazy!

He asked why the b12 and I said because i'm vegan and he looked puzzled and said what? I said i don't consume meat/dairy or any animal products. His exact words were 'who told you to do that!?' lol at that point i knew it was worthless to get into it and simply said I just feel good this way so I do it.

It's better than my last internist who asked me how i could survive without my pasta/meatballs/veal and pork in the sunday sauce so i'm not complaining!!!! I was surprised at this guy though as he is indian, born there yet he had no clue what the word vegan meant.
He said my blood pressure and heart are slow but if i'm a very athletic person then that's why and it's ok.

blood pressure 90/60
resting pulse 56

these figures are alot lower than they were for me last year. Just goes to show how beneficial being fit is. Less bpm = more beats saved for longevity
i used to average around 120/80 and a pulse of 70 so i must be alot healthier right now and doing something right!

I spoke to Tasha and she said that when she's training vigorously for a triathalon, her resting pulse rate is in the low 40's so, I feel better after the doctor shook me up on this a bit.

The tests I want are as follows:

*b12 levels as well as functional (mma) i.e. is it being utilized
*Essential and Metabolic Fatty Acid Test: 24 fats and 17 ratios and readouts of omega 3,6,9
and saturated fats test
*Candida and Parasite stool test. (Immunodiffusion and ELISA --> enzyme-linked
immunoassay)
*Heavy Metal Toxicity tests for Cadmium, Arsenic, Lead and Mercury

He will get the b12 for sure for me, we'll see if he can assist with the rest. He already drew blood from me and i'll get other regular figures as well like wbc rbc cholesterol etc etc...

OKAY TIME FOR THE FUN!!

Inspired by the talented andesuma and I'm Your Man and their picture taking skills, I tried to get a bit creative with deco and cups and stuff. That Blue Sunset is the most gourgeous think i've ever served (pour over a backwards spoon to prevent separation when adding layers...)

(dragon fruit and the blend made with blueberry deco, of course i didn't chew them, just thought it looked nice! The preparation and display of the magnificent Blue Sunset; recipe taken from 'Pure Food and Wine' prep book, minus many ingredients, only used the fresh fruits and vanilla bean listed....) WHAT A YUMMMMMMMY DAY TO BE A JUICE FEASTER! Who says we can't enjoy ourselves to the fullest in a gourmet sorta way

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

Hey all, just read Matt Monarch's 'Raw Food World' newsletter I get via email and I found this portion of it to be relevant for my blog. As quoted....

"There are hundreds of people who are not 100% Raw and decide to juice fast for 3 - 5 months at a time. When you do something like that, you do so much cleansing that it is like fast-forwarding the process. If I would have done a massive juice fast like this when I first went 100% Raw, there is no way that I could have then gotten away for 4-5 years afterwards eating a few avocados at a time without digestive discomfort. Going 100% Raw is like going on a 'fast' in itself, because you are eliminating all foods except for the most water rich foods out there, which also happen to be the LEAST damaging to the body. Most of the time, my recommendation to younger people who want to embark on a long-term juice fast is to just do a 100% Raw Food Diet 'Fast' to begin with.

Don't get me wrong; juice fasting can be EXTREMELY beneficial. For example, I have a friend who has psoriatic arthritis. He has been taking cancer drugs for years now to calm the "symptoms" down. Every time his body tries to rid itself of all the drugs and disease, it is interpreted as him 'getting sick with the flu' and the doctors raise the dosage of drugs to suppress it once again. If he wanted to take the 'lightning speed trip' to recovery, a SUPERVISED juice fast with internal cleansing may be extremely beneficial for him. Many younger people seem to just be intrigued with the 'status' of doing a long-term juice fast and they don't often really understand what they are getting themselves into. If you understand and are prepared, then more power to you... "

So basically in a nutshell, embark on a journey like this and know that on your way back to normal dietary habits, you will feel discomfort and it will take a bit getting used to. Honestly, this is so life changing that if you venture down this path and participate, you will want to continue on a cleaner path of intake anyway. It wont hurt you, will just change the internal chemistry alot; you can always go back but you need to transition back slowly. I will be sure to post my transition back to solids for a better understanding....

Matt Monarch is awesome and I loved his book 'Raw Spirit'. If you wish to be on his email list, you can simply email him and request to be added =)

TheRawFoodWorldNewsletter@rawspirit.org

you get discounts on select raw foods as well each newsletter; sometimes the specials are really worth it.

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant!!


Thank you so much for this, I am SO starting one in August.

Seriously, as long as I have the variety of produce, enemas & a few colonics
(from Chakra 17 and yes, Wendy is amazing), my blender.
I should be fine. I'll probably do a lot of blended foods too..and maybe one or two
juices a day as well.



This is so inspirational.. seriously.. it's VERY easy to fall into a habit of
gourmet raw foods, especially when you live in a city where there is tons of
ways to eat heavy. And some raw foods are even more heavy and toxic than cooked!
But this is totally fabulous and I am excited to start mine, we'll discuss more in person
for sure!


I know exactly where I want to take you to break the goodness... Proper Eats!
I know everyone will want to go to Blossoming Lotus.. but, there is a salad at
Proper Eats I think will be gentle enough for your system...



Great job, and delicious photos!

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http://www.organicconsumers.org
http://www.rawfoodexplained.com

:::::
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Andesuma,

Awesome, I cannot wait to hear of all the exciting things you consume and what happens when you begin a feast in august! Very true, myself included, living in a city where gourmet/abundant heavy raw foods are everywhere, something like this knocks you right back to where you want to be, amen!

I am excited for the meeting of the minds as well and a salad from Proper Eats sounds A OK to me! I'm not looking or craving to dive into any crazy intricately designed gourmet raw food meals right away anyhow. Granted they will be enjoyed but no reason to rush it. I don't even want a salad the first day of breaking it, perhaps on day two and not nuts or seeds or gourmet until day 3. Blossoming Lotus, we will enjoy, i'm sure but not until a couple of days into it. How else will I savor and enjoy the soaked prunes I break the feast with



Morning Weight: 178lbs (-1lb) Wow , very surprised. I thought I consumed
alot yesterday and I layed off cardio but I guess the cardio from last week coupled with a
massive colonic release on friday, steamrolled into a further progression of weight loss. I
AM CHANGING MY SIG TO GOAL REACHED. I wanted to be in the 175-180 range and I have
achieved that and it is highly unlikely I will go above this range. As long as I maintain this
range, i'll be happy. August is a different story...
Bodyfat: 8% I'd like this figure to drop by another % by next tuesday. We'll see what
happens. For now i'm fine here.


So I will continue my consumption habit as of recently. Not slightly undereating to lose anymore and not eating enough to truly fuel lbm growth and maintenance. Somewhere in the middle. I know before I go to bed that I could have consumed more but I discipline myself to not have done that. In the same sense I know that i'm satiated enough. If I get to around 176lbs, which is likely, then I will most def up the intake drastically to make sure I do not dip below 175lbs. It just might happen, take it day by day.....

As mentioned above, I changed my 'goals'. I want to maintain no less than 7% bf while I try to put a little muscle on before the final cut down in september and I think 7% is a good resting point. I am not trying to make this a race to 175lbs and it was getting to become one mentally for me. I don't want that to screw me up. I stated from day one that I simply wanted to be within 175-180lbs and at 178lbs I am pretty much set in that range; I wont gain more than 2lbs back right away. Weight loss is addictive and I could easily see myself going too overboard and forgetting that i'm a bodybuilder not a stick figure. I've done it before and i'm not going that route again. I'm going by looks here and I am most certainly lean enough to stop with rapid and all weight loss for at least another week. I'm pretty much certain that i'll take off another 2-3lbs though within the next 7 days in an attempt to shed last lb of bf and with all the heavy cleansing that's been going on.

Without fail 36 hours after a colonic session, as with the othr 2, I have the most vile, unholy of all smell in nasty gaseous matter that have been uprooted looking for an exit. It is so bad, like nothing that has ever come out of me. Thankfully it only lasts for 16hours or so and then disappears. I couldn't bear that on a daily basis. BYE BYE TOXIC GASEOUS MATTER!!!!!

Today's Intake kickin it up a notch back to the higher intakke days.
-15oz rejuvelac
-Another Blue Sunset 31oz fruit juice blend (1 organic banana, 1 organic mango, 2 cups
conventional pineapple, 1/2 organic vanilla bean)
-231grams spirulina/chlorella blend in 99oz water (was slackin last 2 weeks)
77 grams at 12:30pm
77 grams at 4:30pm
77 grams at 11:00pm
-60oz organic vegetable juice blend (organic watercress, organic avocado, organic macintosh
apples, organic Russian purple kale, organic red swiss chard, organic sorrel, organic dandelion
greens, organic bok choy)
-sucked on 10 Cassia Pod disks at 12pm, by 6pm it should be 4th of July all over again,
nervous and curious at the same time. You don't swallow the plastic like disks only suck the
resin off them. (laxative like effect)
-32oz fruit juice blend (3 cups frozen durian)
-70oz organic fruit juice blend (1 organic honeydew melon)
-A huge Avocolada 70oz fruit juice blend (1 conventional pineapple, 2 organic avocados, 1
freshly squeezed organic lime)

Bought Today
-2 conventional pineapples
-4 organic avocados
-2 bags frozen organic strawberries
-2 bags frozen organic raspberries
-2 bags frozen wild blueberries
-1 small box organic peaces
-1 small box organic nectarines
-1 small box organic kiwis
-1 small box organic apricots
-13 organic bananas
-2 small boxes kumquats

NOTE: I will freeze whatever is not used. Trader Joe's had so much organic fresh fruit this time around, I had to capitalize. They usually only have a couple of things.

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

i love the cooler! hehe. how has it been working out for you so far? i love mine...even if it is purple.

congradulations on reaching your target weight range. its just so impressive. i was actually talking with my buddy about you at dinner last night (he took me out to sushi and OF COURSE they didn't have brown rice....sigh, so i was feeling guilty about eating white) and i tried to explain to him about your juice feast and your dedication and dicipline and whatnot. it really really is amazing. i don't think you quite realize how many people's ears you've opened up to a raw diet AND juice feasts/fasts. single-handedly at that! they say live by example and if that's not what you're doing then i don't know what is. you've definately made me think that it is about time to kick my diet up a notch and give these protein isolates the boot and try something cleaner.

but not til after vv08...i mean c'mon now! .....but seriously, after that, i'll probably be blowing up your phone asking for advice.


amazing progress, just amazing. keep it up. you're setting the example for the rest of us

_________________
the beginning is always today.

Wow, awesome job sticking with it! Looking back, would you say you had an overall easy time or difficult time not falling to temptations of cooked foods (or solid foods)?

A question... how is drinking blended fruits different from chewing them? I can see how drinking juice would be different - you're not getting any of the fiber. But when you chew up a mango or a banana, isn't it the same as if you blended it and drank it (except maybe for the amount of work you saliva does to start the digestion - and the amount of work your jaw muscles get)? Isn't what ends up in your stomach the same either way?

From what I know (which is some, but not tons), I would think you would have had the same results (fat-loss, elimination benefits, etc.) if you had chewed most of your meals as opposed to drinking them all. If I'm wrong, do you have any links to articles or anything? I'd love to learn more about it.

Greg

I'll answer just a bit, and later L&G can answer it too.
To blend fruits in a blender, it's work that the stomach won't have to do later, with fruit juices or veggie juices, there's almost no digestion work needed (especially with proper food combining) so it saves energy, calories, so the body can be free to walk or work out at 100% efficiency, instead of 50% digesting, 50% working out. Digestion takes a lot of the blood to the digestive muscles, so there's less for the muscles lifting weights. Eating solid foods by chewing really really well could do the samething than drinking, but it would take too much time to eat enough fruits and veggies that way. Also, it would be hard to stay on detox mode that way, psychologically speaking, because as soon as you would chew your first solid mouthful, you would fall in the normal eating pattern in no time, chewing less and faster and then have normal meals.
Real juice are better for detox, but it may be interesting to have some blends too, because fibres add some good things to the digestive system and prevents it from being completely out of work. And juices mean removing the skin of some fruits and veggies where lots of vitamins are concentrated, so it's a bit of a waste.
Personally on my liquid diet, I do both, but a bit more blends than juices since I don't have a juicer, and I'm too lazy to always press the fibres in a nut bag.

_________________
"Do your best, don't worry, be happy" - Meher Baba

Dani! Thank you so much. I couldn't have read a more pleasing post. I do not push my influences on others ever but hearing that others are open to more raw foods/fast/feasts/cleansing as a result of reading this is truly a beautiful thing. The cooler is grey and blue, well mine is at least Don't forget where you came from. A cleanse is good and all but protein powders are very beneficial so don't necessarily ruel them out. I took my algae in the whole time except for 4 days, before colonics. Hemp Protein powder, even if I had some available, I would have not included it but if I had some on me, I would be consuming it upon breaking the feast. I'm actually learning of other raw sources of protein which I will look more into and discuss with VP and post in the raw section at a later date; hoping to get my hands on some before I do the radio talk show in a few weeks...

Greg, thanks for the support pal! One can never have or give enough as it keeps us all going. You know, logically, your theory was the similar to mine. Thanms for this feedback. Calorically, it would make sense right? I have no links nor did I attribute my doings to anything more than a hunch on the weight loss idea. What I have to speak from is experience. I am consuming anywhere from 2X to 3X ('calorie' wise) than I normally would before this weight drop and the lbs just melted off LITERALLY. So there has to be something to it. the cleansing effect, the break on digestion, the way matter moves easier through your body. I hear you with the chewing throughly idea man but think about it, can you really liquify all that fruit in your mouth with 300 chews per piece of fruit? You'd lose weight from not being able to consume enough more so than the liquifying process? I'm new to this whole concept so i'm going by what has transpired over the past 39 days and these are the results and this is what i've been doing. I definitely do feel liquid going straight down is easier to digest than vigorously chewed solid fruits and what about your vegetables my brotha? there is no way you are going to liquify a fibrous vegetable in your mouth. Blended vegetables surely play a major role and the amount you are able to take in..... of course the juices are awesome as well without the fiber. I modified the theory, it is in practice a juice not blend feast but i don't think i could have mainted my physique as easily and it would have been major work to do so. This was a breeze.

As for the temptation theory, it's the furthest thing from it. Of course no desire for cooked as i've been raw for 2 years and so that was taken care of back then but for solids, nahh. It's actually going to be a struggle just to go back to solids as I enjoy juices/blends so much more now.

just saw simultaneous post from I'm Your Man, EXCELLENT points i didn't think of as well, read above

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

MY FIRST JUICE FEAST VIDEO - CASSIA POD PURGE I apologize for the volume weirdness, i had a fan on, it's super humid here..... I'll refilm this at a later date btw, there is no chewing or swallowing of them them, the outer layer is sucked out then you spit them out. Posted a pic of what on looks like once the outer sticky resin like layer is sucked off.....

(cassia pod, last batch of fruit bought today and last batch of buckwheat sprouts for this feast)

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

Hey, yeah, that makes sense (IYM and L&G). Especially the psychological thing.

I've been experimenting with an 80-10-10 thing but tying to have entire meals of just fruit, or even going a whole day or two. And it's true, the volume of food can be overwhelming - for that I've certainly blended up a giant smoothy or two. I've been able to stick to at least 1 or 2 meals a day as just fruit for the last couple weeks, but my cravings for (addiction to) cooked really gets to me. I actually haven't even been vegan for that long (I've jumped in and out for about a year now - but have been for about a month now) - and that's been pretty easy - I haven't had much desire for meat, dairy or eggs (well, maybe seafood a little...)

L&G, I didn't know you were eating that many more calories than before. I guess if we had nothing to do like gorillas then we could sit around all day just chewing.

Greg

Greg Yeh, I suppose but how boring would it be to chew ALL DAY LONG!
You know, I haven't really looked into the calories or ratio of what i'm putting into my body but if I had to hazard a guess, I would say it is something to the effect of:
60% carbs
30% protein
10% fat

That's just a guess. I know fat intake is pretty minimal. Even if I consume alot of the fatty fruits like avos/coconuts/durians, I still get most of my calories from carbs and protein overal. Some days, i'd say fat is even lower. Also some days, the carbs and proteins are more balanced in ratios like 50% 40% but I think it's more like as mentioned above overall.

Cassia Pod Purge Report
-Well I was surprised as I went to bed and absolutely nothing happened at all. I felt a little different right before I went to bed and I had a feeling something was churning but nothing before that. I sucked on the Cassia disks at 12:00pm and they're supposed to kick in 4-6 hours later but it was 12am, 12 hours later and nothing happened. WELL, I woke up several times in the middle of the night, say around 2:30 4:30 and couple of times from 5-6am and it was flying out of me. I guess everyone is different, especially considering what i've been doing in comparison to the norm. Very intense and relentless. I finally got some sound sleep from 6-8am and then felt like crap like there was much more to let out. Did my enemas and oh man, it was very crazy. Like no other enema prior. Usually by the second bag i'm ok but I knew there was more being held back and I had to keep on going. By the 4th enema bag, I think I pretty much got everything out. I am resting off the intensity of that unbelievable relase right now as we speak.

Truth be told it may have not been just the cassia or not it at all. Could have been the fact that I consumed 2.9 gallons of liquids yesterday. The fact that I consumed twice as much algae as I have been the past two weeks on the daily, or all three reasons. Whatever the case, i'm glad that mess is out of me as I feel so much better. Next time I try the Cassia, possibly saturday, i'm going to do it first thing in the morning as soon as i wake up.

Thursday, July 10th DAY FORTY Hey didn't Jesus fast for 40 days and 40 nights granted I think his was just on water, ahhhh whatever

Morning Weight: 177lbs (-1lb) ok I think this was just from the fact that even though I
consumed alot I used the cassia pod so it went right through me. Kind of dumb, pointless
and wasteful on my part huh? Like trying to accomplish two different things at the same time
that are opposites, o well. Perhaps I can put back a lb of bw on by saturday.
Bodyfat: 8% (same) i'm getting caliper tested at my gym friday morning to see what
that reads out as well as a more advanced scale, out of curiosity for another perspective.
They're both most likely more accurate....


-Performed 4 bag enema flush

Today's Intake
-28oz rejuvelac it is strong and good, nice batch
*going to try and up the fat intake today; perhaps it will stop the progressive weight loss. Last 7 days has been very aggressive. Just about as aggressive as it was during week 1.
-40oz fruit juice blend (4 cups frozen durian)
-32oz organic fruit juice blend (4 organic bananas) 80+lbs of bananas offically polished off!
On to new supplies
-270grams spirulina/chlorella blend in 132oz water (Algae mass consumption is back!)
77grams at 10:30am
77grams at 1:30pm
58grams at 6:00pm
58grams at 9:30pm
-28oz Pina Colada (young thai coconut, conventional pineapple, organic vanilla bean)
-60oz organic vegetable juice blend (organic watercress, organic avocado, organic macintosh
apples, organic Russian purple kale, organic red swiss chard, organic sorrel, organic dandelion
greens, organic bok choy)
-70oz organic fruit juice blend (10 medium organic oranges)


Work tonight, 'Miss Dani' will be attending, no not thendanisays, the cooler named in honor of her. Going to make a whole bunch of blends and juices right now for the next 2-3 days so I can do my thing on the go and not make a drink every 3 hrs...

More pictures from yesterday:

(organic honeydew blend, humongous Avocolada)


Off to cut some durian and take some video footage of the KING

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

My Durian video!

I wonder if the whole 'Durian Fiasco' from last vacation had anything to do with Robert chewing on or swallowing a seed? Not to worry, if the desire is there, I will prep one the right way...

Jay Bird, the other bird I am birdsitting was camera sy and didn't want to come to me. As soon as I finished the video, he flew to me and was scratching my foot and cawing

_________________
Where do you get your protein?
http://www.VeganProteins.com

Avocolada?!? Wow, that's interesting. Can you taste the avocado with all that pineapple? Is it just one pineapple and one avocado?

Is anything in your "honeydew blend" besides honeydew? (I thought melons were supposed to be eaten by themselves... true?)

I have to say L&G, this thread is making me want to try the all-fruit thing (811) again. It's so awesome to be able to see someone else (that knows what they're doing) do it to and be able to emulate them. I've never lasted more than a few days whenever I've tried it (or just "regular raw") because I don't know anyone else doing it. I don't even know anyone around here that's vegetarian, much less vegan (I'll be moving in January!!). I hope you keep posting these kinds of things even after your juice feast is over. Did you eat mostly fruits even before you started the "feast"?

Greg