Raw vegan journey

[liberationstudios]

Hey all, this is my first post and I'm super excited to have this kind of resource! I've been mostly raw for several months now (vegan for a decade) and I just started transitioning from an endurance training into more of a complete body buildup. These pics were taken a couple months ago, after only a month of minor lifting, with lots of push ups and pull ups. I'm really increasing the free weights now, and I'll take a couple better pics after I get some much needed sun in a couple weeks haha.

[vegimator]

Impressive!

[Fallen_Horse]

Good deal! I would recommend keeping up with the pullups, but perhaps replacing pushups with dumbbell bench if you have access to weights. Seated rows have really helped with adding mass to my back, and dips have helped for triceps and chest.

 

Basically do whatever you enjoy, and try to stick to compound lifts if you can. Good luck!

[liberationstudios]

Thanks! I've found a fair amount of criticism on this forum regarding 80/10/10, but it seems to be working pretty good for me. I think sucking it up and finally getting a basic bench is the next step.

[Im Your Man]

congratulations ! keep experimenting with the 811 and weightlifting and keep posting progress !

[vege]

i like 811, but dont have enough fruit.

you look very good! What is your typical menu?

[katz]

Welcome aboard, fellow raw foodist! That second pic shows an awesome forearm! Overall, I would say your gains are very impressive!

 

If your body responds that well to only push ups and pull ups, imagine what some serious weight pounding will do.

Edited December 15, 2010 by katz

[liberationstudios]

typical menu/day now is 16 ounces of water upon rising. Do some rebounding for 10-15 minutes. Maybe an hour after that i'll start nursing a huge green smoothie comprised of 3-4 bananas, cup of blueberries, a half cup of goji berries, a few stalks of kale pulled off from the stem and a tablespoon of hemp seeds. After about an hour of digesting i'll do more rebounding before I start whatever workout I'm doing. Post workout is a similar smoothie, usually with a little maca and maybe a little raw hemp powder instead of seeds. An hour later I will have a completely massive green salad with some sort of home made dressing, like cucumber, celery and a little avocado pureed together. Last meal of the day will be purely fruit, whatever is as fresh as possible. I'll have a handfull of nuts a few times a weeks, and every once in a while I'll make a cashew based dressing for my salad.

[Fallen_Horse]

....some sort of home made dressing, like cucumber, celery and a little avocado pureed together....

 

It doesn't seem as if this would be thin enough or strong-tasting enough for a dressing. Are those the only 3 ingredients?

[liberationstudios]

Those 3 alone would be a little bland. I would probably throw in a couple dates, or some carrot, red pepper, lemon and a little garlic. Today i went crazy and used cucumber, brocoli, red pepper, celery, avocado, lemon, garlic, carrot, dates and I even splurged with a little sea salt. Blend for a minute in the vitamix and toss with a chopped up head of letuce. Its different every day. Sometimes i just use a little raw hemp or olive oil and a little lemon. The cashew based ones are my favorite, but i try to limit those to once a week.

[Fallen_Horse]

Those 3 alone would be a little bland. I would probably throw in a couple dates, or some carrot, red pepper, lemon and a little garlic. Today i went crazy and used cucumber, brocoli, red pepper, celery, avocado, lemon, garlic, carrot, dates and I even splurged with a little sea salt. Blend for a minute in the vitamix and toss with a chopped up head of letuce. Its different every day. Sometimes i just use a little raw hemp or olive oil and a little lemon. The cashew based ones are my favorite, but i try to limit those to once a week.

This is very interesting! Is there a specific place you found these recipes or did you just randomly start throwing stuff together one day? And you don't add a liquid to thin the 'dressing'?

[Im Your Man]

Maybe its better to replace cashew with some other nuts. I don't know I just heard that cashews are toxic, so maybe its better raw almonds, sesame, etc... As for me I notice I don't feel so well after I eat a few raw cashew, it kind of slows me down. Hemp is amazing of course, I put hemp seeds on everything. I made some raw lemon bars simply by blending and putting together these ingredients: juice and zest from 1 and 1/2 lemon, lots of Ruth's Chia Goodness natural or cranberry-ginger flavour, some dates, raisins, raw peanuts, pumpkin seed protein powder, hemp and flax seeds, other things that I forgot... Excellent for pre or post-workout, very energetic and quite high in vitamins, fibres, proteins, sugar, fats, omega-3, etc...

 

I love eating raw and I should increase more the amount of raw food I eat. There's definitly a difference when taking a bite in an apple, compared to eating some spagettis. Must be because the apple is raw and still alive, full with prana, life-force energy, oxygen, water, vitamins, enzymes... We need to eat living food in order to be alive, only life begets life! Well, a rotting apple or rotting corpse may be food for the worms and vermin, or when a person dies his death may be the beginning of a new life, but that's another story!

[liberationstudios]

@ fallen_horse I have a few friends that are professional raw chefs, but my method is more of a just throw whatever I have into the vitamix, and hope its not disgusting. I usually add half a cup of water and the juice of two lemons. I'm sure I'll eventually go back to trying to make things taste as good as possible, but right now I like the simplicity of not caring. My fruit meals always taste good, so if my one salad meal is not so great, I'm still enjoying most of what I eat every day.

[RawSoul]

I'm trying to do the Raw Vegan bodybuilding route, I haven't started (or ever eaten raw)

Can you give me tips? How many meals do you eat a day? Do you aim for protein ratios or do

you just go for it?

 

p.s. you look goooood!

[slodki]

i'd like a full body pix. plz n thanx.

[Fallen_Horse]

@ fallen_horse I have a few friends that are professional raw chefs, but my method is more of a just throw whatever I have into the vitamix, and hope its not disgusting. I usually add half a cup of water and the juice of two lemons. I'm sure I'll eventually go back to trying to make things taste as good as possible, but right now I like the simplicity of not caring. My fruit meals always taste good, so if my one salad meal is not so great, I'm still enjoying most of what I eat every day.

Fair enough, I have just been looking for a good salad dressing recipe to use with my salads, IE one that doesn't use a lot of oil. I was thinking something with lemon, nutritional yeast, and flax seeds, but it's all a gamble at this point. I know, nutritional yeast isn't raw, but we can't all be raw foodies!

[Im Your Man]

Fair enough, I have just been looking for a good salad dressing recipe to use with my salads, IE one that doesn't use a lot of oil. I was thinking something with lemon, nutritional yeast, and flax seeds, but it's all a gamble at this point. I know, nutritional yeast isn't raw, but we can't all be raw foodies!

A base for dressing recipe that I like to experiment on is about providing a bit of each taste so the result is full of flavours: squeeze some lemon or lime for sour taste, some hot peppers for spicy taste, Bragg's liquid amino sauce for salty taste, apple cider vinegar, some dates for sweet taste, kale, spinach etc for bitterness, olive oil or some avocado, etc... The salad itself has more possibilities so if the salad has enough flavours no need dressing: corn, sweet peas, peppers, tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, goji berries, strawberries, hemp seeds, pineapple, parsley, romaine lettuce, sprouted fenugreek, alfalfa, rice, etc...

[lobsteriffic]

Fair enough, I have just been looking for a good salad dressing recipe to use with my salads, IE one that doesn't use a lot of oil. I was thinking something with lemon, nutritional yeast, and flax seeds, but it's all a gamble at this point. I know, nutritional yeast isn't raw, but we can't all be raw foodies!

 

 

I used to make a dressing with apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, and dijon mustard. There were some other things in there too, like garlic powder and what-not. I'm foggy on the specifics. But if you like mustard, it was pretty good.

[vege]

mmm, raw talk here, nice!

my favorite raw dressing is simple and cheap. Soak shelled sunflower seeds overnight. Drain the soaking water, and rinse seeds 3-5 times again, working the seeds bettween fingers, trying to get rid of the most thin skins that fall of the seeds when soaked. You can also leave the skins on, but they give weird greenish colour.

OK, so once the skins are away, put the seeds in the blender with lots of lemon juice and a little garlic. Blend until smooth, adding some water if necessary. You get something like liquid yoghurt. Put lots of finely chopped dill in it and voila! Great over salads or if you make it without much water, you get a nice dip for veggies.

[liberationstudios]

Here's a tricep shot. I havent had more than 50 grams of protein in a day for ages and my body is really responding. Yes, I'm naked.

[Richard]

Booyaka

[vege]

looking good!

[liberationstudios]

abs peeking out a bit

[Joss]

Awesome work! Love triceps

[Fallen_Horse]

Yo liberation, how's it going?