Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Anybody try this one? It's quite simple, just eating 'whole foods.' What does that mean? Only a food that has not been separated from any of it's components due to mechanical or chemical processes, but it doesn't matter if a food has been cooked or not. This means you would only eat:

Nuts
Seeds
Legumes
Fruits
Vegetables
Whole grains
Spices

There is still some confusion if tofu/tempeh should be included, and I think it could go either way.

Anyway, I think this would be an ideal diet for health and athletic performance, but I suppose the real challenge is following it, just like the challenge posed by any other diet. Has anyone here tried or done this?

i tried for off/on for a couple of years...I was a runner then..it worked, but spouses/ significant others and later, kids get annoyed, and going out to eat is tedious to THEM
I did NOT include tofu at the time- lived on potatoes, salads, fruits and nut butters...gets boring and sometimes its hard to adhere to w/ modern convenience. I think its all part of the vegetarian/ vegan evolution thing as well. It was harder in 1979/ 1980 to find advice and back up and I learned my weird food shit reading Frances Moore Lappe, Jane Brody, Ann Wigmore and Viktoras Kulvinskas- I think 20 plus years later there is more support and acceptance and the proliferation of food, books etc in my Industry shows that (I am in organic and natural foods Industry). If you are in Bakersfield, do you shop at Lassen's?

Most of my diet is like that. All of it would be but I ran out of money because I only buy organic. Now, I'm on the Part Food Diet: I only eat part of what I want and I lose weight.

Baby Herc

btw, i eat like this most of the time, just basic food, and i love it!

I think the biggest challenge to this would simply be mental. IF you can learn to eat food for fuel instead of for pleasure, then the problem is solved. But that's the real challenging part isn't it?


divamom, you must live in LA to have heard of the Lassen's in Bakersfield haha. It's basically an expensive Whole Foods, and since Whole Foods is an expensive Vons, well, that means it's quite expensive. We also have Nature's Food Market, which is a nice independent store. They are the first place I have found that actually sells dried, UNsweetened cranberries, and they are delicious!

Food is SUPPOSED to be pleasurable. We weren't designed to have to psyche ourselves up for the agony and disgust of our daily meal. Of course, if you restrict yourself to food you hate, then that would be your reality. Strangely, I love food but I'm also one of those people who can go all day without eating if I'm concentrating on a project. Sometimes, I wish the Nutritious Food Pellet idea would manifest. But it would have to be a pleasurable food pellet.

Baby Herc

I am an Organic/ Natural Foods Industry professional; I know all natural stores (or most) west of the Rockies! Ya, Lassen's is a huge ka ching (but they buy my product!!!!)- and I reside in San Diego. Was in Lassens Bakersfield in May. Been in the other store you mentioned as well. Bakersfield is unfortunately , never my prme destinato. lol. I like where Baby Herc is...great Vegan- a -topia! In love with Dr. Brews Kombucha, and only available in the Pac Nor West!

no, I really LOVE my simple food! I am not forcing myself or crave for other complicated food (though indian food is always welcome, but I thibk of it as taking drugs, like something pleasurable, but unhealthy)... If you eat like this for some time, then the "gourmet" food becomes to strong and sometimes unpleasant... nothing better then simple baked potato with skin, no salt, no spices. Just plane potato, 1,5 kg a meal

+1 !!!

I love the food for fuel/ or pleasure debate. It definitely can be both. I agree with some of what both sides say. It is interesting how tastes can change dramatically after cutting out foods that taste delicious to us and eating healthier. The healthy foods start tasting delicious and the old foods we used to love tend to lose their appeal.

-Dylan

I have heard of this as well. I wonder how long the 'readjustment' process takes for most people....

Me, too.

I definitely haven't made the transition so far.

I pretty much eat that way all the time. When I made the switch, it didn't take long for the heavily seasoned/sauced, semi processed or fully processed food to start tasting really bad. Things start to taste really sweet or really salty once your taste buds adjust to the way food in it's natural state actually tastes. I never thought I would be able to eat a salad with nothing but an avocado squished up on it, or homemade fresh salsa on it. MUCH better than dressings. I also use homemade tahini a lot as a base for healthy sauces or dressings when that's something I feel like. Almond butter works well too. I actually find it hard to eat at restaurants now, even healthy ones, the food has too much stuff on it. Whole food just tastes better once you adjust and it happens faster than you'd think. Everything else starts to taste less like food.

Makes sense. You learn to trust your instincts.

This is how I've eaten for the last six months, and it completely changed my health, my life. The last two months I've even taken out most starchy carbs even if they are "whole" like potatoes, oats, or rice. Dr. Fuhrman's book "Eat To Live" (his six-week plan) is my blueprint and his section on True Hunger talked about how much better the good stuff tastes when we're eating because we're hungry, not for any of the other reasons. I can't believe how much I crave my spinach salad or bean soup!