Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Oeh, those look great, and very easy to make, with very few ingredients. I'll definitely try them soon.

And this one


http://www.vegacommunity.com/video/raw- ... ecipe-with

Hiya, freeheeler, welcome!

Just so you know, there is nothing inherently bad about chocolate. In raw form it actually has a higher amount of antioxidants than red wine. It's the way it usually gets processed--cooked to death and then drowned in chemicals, processed sugar, and fats--that makes it tough on the system in any substantial quantity. Raw cocoa is amazing and I have made the most decadent dark chocolate vegan cupcakes and brownies with it for special occasions. http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Cupcakes-Ta ... 1569242739 It makes great mocha and hot cocoa, too. I get Holy Kakow locally but it is available online as well. http://www.holykakow.com/products-raw-o ... powder.php When you are dying for a chocolate fix, mash a heaping tablespoon of raw cocoa powder together with a teaspoon of coconut oil and a teaspoon of coconut milk and eat it like fudge. Or make like an ancient Mayan and mix raw cocoa powder in hot water with a pinch of cayenne pepper and a pinch of cinnamon.

If unsweetened chocolate like that doesn't do it for you, then it's not the chocolate you were craving, it was the sugar.

Baby Herc

Martin, WOW! CONGRATULATIONS! That's so impressive what you've done, and how you were able to change your diet and lifestyle so completely overnight, and with such enormous success! Indeed, you have much to be proud of! I know we don't know one another, but I'm proud of you nonetheless!

Much respect,
Karen

I have no doubt that it was probably just the sugar. I always loved milk chocolate back in Britain, never liked dark, along with other candies. sugar on my cereal, sugar in my tea, you name it, I even dipped my apples in sugar!!!

I'll definately give some of those treats you mentioned a try

Thanks. I'm suprised I was able to do it so easily. Having been a big meat eater for over 50 years, including a birhtday treat at the House of Prime Rib in San Francisco last December where I demolished the King Henry VIII cut, which was the thickest cut they had, at least an inch thick. I don't miss it at all now.

Sounds like you know yourself pretty well and have it figured out, good for you. What good is a big brain if you don't keep it tuned up? If you try raw cocoa, brace yourself because it's s a bit of a jolt when it's devoid of sweetener. Maybe try a happy medium: make the Mayan cocoa with just a little raw agave in it.

1 heaping tablespoon raw cocoa powder
1 level tablespoon raw agave syrup
pinch cayenne pepper
pinch cinnamon
1 C. very warm but not hot water (don't want to destroy the nutrients in the raw cocoa)

The Mayans would whisk it all together to get it frothy but you will save time and arm cramps by pouring it into your blender and hitting Frappe. Drink it while it's fluffy--there will be some silt at the bottom which I find delicious--and then sit quietly afterwards and meditate. They used this stuff to bring on visions. But then again, they DID add a couple extra ingredients....

Baby Herc

What an awesome journey! Congratulations freeheeler on changing your life for the better.
Can I ask how your friends and family reacted to such a sudden and dramatic change?

Well, there is only my wife and I here in California.

My wife is a Filipina who grew up on meat and fish, especially Lechon (Pork) loving the skin with the fat attached. She has never been overweight being only around 102lbs. I was not going to force her to change her eating habits although I have always tried to get her to eat organically and swap the white rice for brown rice. Getting her to eat brown rice was a major deal. She also loved her fast food, McDonalds, Wendy's burgers and fries.

She sat and watched all the movies with me

Forks over knives,

Fat sick and nearly dead

food Inc

Etc etc and it did get her thinking about the food she was eating. She did start to eat a lot more veggies, mainly because i was doing all the cooking and preparing. Then one day I got her to watch "Earthlings" and this really shook her (and me). Since then she has cut way down on her meat consumption and cutting our dairy slowly. As a newly qualified Pilates teacher he is concerned about her fitness levels and energy levels and after seeing how much better I feel and perform she is now enjoying the benefits also. She will have a lot of difficulty sticking to this when she goes back home to the very rural area she is from in the Philippines due to a lack of supermarkets and stores but hopefully she will be careful.

Some friends have been supportive and talked about trying it, specially those that are cholesterol meds, others say it's too much hassle.

Great list of films!

Glad they were a helpful resource.

All the very best! I know traveling to remote and rural areas can be tough, but there is often a lot of produce available, especially fruits, depending on the area and time of year. Are there fruit or produce stands where she is traveling? I know they are often more common than supermarkets in some places.

Well, it has now been 7 months since my "Plant Strong" diet commenced

I had my cholesterol tested again this past week and it has now dropped to 132. My craving for sweet and sugary items is slowly disappearing.

Both my wife and I got to meet Rip when he showed up at the local Wholefoods store for breakfast which was great.

One other benefit from this has been my wife slowly changing as well. I did not involve her at the start or ask her if she wanted to turn vegan as well. This had been my choice and was done mainly for my health reasons.

However, she was always sampling my food and slowly but surely she ended up seeing the small difference it made to her body and fitness and now is probably 90% Plant strong" Now she enjoys her smoothies for breakfast and tofu scramble for dinner.

Again, thanks to everyone for the help in starting this process..

What a great transformation - well done!!

Hey you don't have to give up on chocolate haha, it does some wonderful things. Just switch to vegan chocolate, something with no diary and low sugar but high cocoa.

I haven't played badmitten in years, great reminder to get out there and play again! Haha last I heard of badmitten was the olympic throwing of games scandal earlier this summer... I'm sure you saw that.

Anyway just wanted to shoot you out another welcome to the group!

-Dylan