Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Since the idea has been floating around, I'm putting this thread out there for all us rawsome weight lifters. No agenda, just a place to post your observations if you are raw vegan, ask questions, and toss ideas around. Include links of good raw vegan sites and recipes if you know 'em. As usual, leave your religion, politics, etc. at home and just share the love.

Baby Herc
95% raw vegan
5% adventurer

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Several months into raw veganism, I noticed feeling colder while being sedentary, especially my hands and feet. I've turned up my thermostat by one degree but any more will give me a headache at the moment. Adding clothes doesn't seem to help. Working out helps but I can't do that all day, though that would be fun. Warming spices are already part of my diet; I live on hot peppers. I'm not into supplements.

Anybody else gone through this phase? (I'm hoping it's a phase.) Is it just my body adjusting to thirty pounds of sudden weight loss?

Baby Herc

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Not a raw vegan here but I know what you mean. I do IF and have cold hands (even while not feeling cold in general) during mornings until I start to eat at noon. And yes, exercise helps but as you already said we can't do that anytime we like.

Do you notice a similar pattern? As soon as you get some sufficient calories into your body, your hands get warm again?

Only if I'm moving, too. A great deal of my day is being stationary at my standing desk and typing with frozen fingers. If I sit down to do research and client consults, my feet become blocks of ice. But within fifteen seconds of moving around, I'm good again. Also, if I take a power nap, they warm up. That's tells me it's mental.

I'm thinking it's 75% my mind and 25% my body figuring out how to manage a new body composition. I've started running again. I'll give it a few weeks and see if that doesn't alter the metabolism and my perception that I'm okay.

Baby Herc

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I don't know if it's really mental. As soon as you start moving around, circulation begins to move again. I know about those cold hands and feet while typing at the desk. I usually don't sit around long enough to become cold, lol.

It is for me, because once I relax and breathe--no matter what I'm doing--blood flow improves and I warm up. Much of what I'm working on at my desk is stressful right now, so it makes sense that I'd be clenching up internally. It's a no-brainer, pun intended. I just need to practice thinking a different way about a few things.

Baby Herc

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Yo

Yeah I love raw veganism, it seems so healthy and purifying... like, the body just seems so well balanced on greens, veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds. I love knowing I'm putting such good food into my body - makes me feel good in itself!

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Me, too. I struggled for decades with pretty much every non-raw kind of food and supplement, trying to figure out what was "wrong" with me. Well, the answer was nothing. My body was doing the best it could with the crap I was giving it to work with. The week I went raw vegan--in fact, after day three--I got this tremendous buzz and felt this lightness all over. It was freaky, I felt like I was floating. I went back and forth between cooked vegan and raw vegan to test it and sure enough: the things I was feeling were real.

Since going raw, all joint soreness is gone, my strength keeps increasing at the dumbbell rack, and I have so much energy, I've taken up trail running. I never get sick and I can handle shocks to my system with more leeway, like getting caught in the rain while running in 45 degrees and getting soaked. Because there is no longer any food-chemical stress on my system, I absorb everything I eat efficiently so I don't need to eat as much and I can build muscle on less protein. I've always had great skin but now it seems translucent; at 42, I get accused of being 34. My mood is lighter, too, and it's easier to stay happy. Plus, I'm a cheap date: only a couple sips of coffee or beer will get me there!

My favorite part of being raw vegan reflects what you said: I can completely relax mentally and not even give what I eat a second thought because I know everything I choose is the cleanest, purest, most natural and naturally complete nutrition I can possibly get on this planet. Quite a relief from all that struggle I had in the beginning. I believe the mental rest is a big part of my increased health and as a Mind/Body Coach, I love being a walking visual aid.



Baby Herc

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My first non experienced/educated guess on the body heat thing is that you're eating less complex carbohydrates now that you've gone raw. You might want to add potatoes or something.

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Thanks for the insights. I asked around to some other friends who recently dropped a lot of weight and they all concurred that thermostats had to be adjusted warmer in their houses. I'm okay with that. Besides, I'm not a starch fan, just don't care for them. But have some French Fries in my honor!

Baby Herc

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How long have you been a raw vegan? and when was the last time you had a blood work up done?

what are your raw fats situatioins looking like? Nuts seeds avocado etc. could be a combo of your weight loss and winter.

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My understanding on the feeling cold thing is that once you lose a great deal of your body fat, you have less insulation and your body has to adjust. Personally on a mostly-raw diet I went from 30lbs of fat mass to 10-12. Since I live in TX I haven't really experienced the cold thing. But since fat is an insulator, many people do have an adjustment period after losing a lot of fat mass.

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Thanks, all. Lots of good ideas. My blood is spectacular and I get plenty of good nuts and oils, all kinds. My money is on the sudden fat loss thing. I can already feel my internal thermostat accommodating the change. My goal was only to lose a certain amount per year but it seems my body is ready to just dump it all. Fine by me: I have a whole storage closet of clothes I'm looking forward to wearing.

I'm okay with running cooler in general (cooler core/muscle temps allow a hotter burn and ultimately a better performance during high intensity activities) and turning up my house thermostat a few degrees at certain times of the day is not an issue. Hell, I've had it at 63 degrees for years so 65 will probably make my house guests cheer. Plus, it will be nice not to hate on summer and actually be able to go out into it without uttering a stream of expletives and running from shade tree to shade tree.

Baby Herc

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I used to have that as well. I'm 18 and have been mostly raw for a little a year.
It is actually your system getting used to the new lifestyle. It doesn't really know what to make of it, and all your cells are kinda freaking out. You could say it's another part of the detox (which I'm sure you experienced when you first went raw) I was worried at first, but I pushed through it.
And NOW my body has gotten used to this diet. Now, I have excellent body temperature ALL THE TIME. I'm pretty much always slightly warm, even though I live in Vancouver and right now the weather is definitely NOT warm. I only have to wear light sweaters and I feel great. My friends and family are always like "aren't you COLD?" It's pretty funny.

So just push through the detox and soon you'll have better body temp regulation than anyone you know! It's so awesome! Because even when I ate a conventional diet, I was usually a little cold. Now - comfortably warm all the time =)

It's just another amazing and great thing about eating raw food.

Here's some sites that have pretty reasonable explanations for your problem. Hope I helped!
http://www.raw-living-food-success.com/ ... foods.html
http://okinhealth.com/articles/eating-a ... ili-recipe
http://rawkinraw.wordpress.com/tag/kettle/

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