Anxious to learn!

[carreannjoe]

Hi all,

 

I am trying to adapt to a raw vegan lifestyle and I need to learn so much, I know.

 

I am currently reading the China Study, and I have Thrive, the vegan nutrition guide and Thrive fitness on my kindle, waiting to be read!

 

I embrace the reasoning behind this type of 'diet' and now I really just need to know how best to apply it. I need recipes and things I'm hoping my reluctant, meat eating husband and children will accept..

 

My big thing too is that I weight train 5-6 days a week. I have been looking at figure competitions as my personal goal. I really want to know which raw vegan foods I should buy, and consume, specifically with building muscle and low body fat in mind.

 

I have some protein powder on the way. Is this a good one? Lifetime Life's Basic Balance Protein? Anyone heard of this one? If not, any recommendations that are not $75 ??!!

 

I went to my local health food store and HOLY COW things were expensive! It was discouraging to be quite honest because we are on a budget, for sure.

 

I lift as heavy as I can right now for a max of 6-8 reps and do 30 of cardio daily. I've been eating very clean according to your typical competition diet. I eat lots of protein via protein shakes (3 per day) and the rest of the day is only carbs right after I work out and lean protein like chicken or tilapia.

 

Of course, my concern is how to make sure I build enough muscle and get as lean as I can in order to be the best competitor that I can be on stage by March 31st of next year!

 

I'm 36 in May and I'm about 5'2. I'm not sure my exact body fat %. It has to be around 15-17%. I also am not sure of my current weight - no scale in my house!

 

I'm very excited about this site and can't wait to devour all the information there is to offer on here!!!!

[lobsteriffic]

Hi there! Welcome!

 

I manage to eat pretty healthy on a budget. I'm not raw though.

Sun Warrior is a rice protein that is raw. If you don't care if your protein is raw or not, trueprotein.com sells pretty cheap protein by the pound (you can create your own custom mix of protein type/flavor).

 

Health food stores are indeed expensive and I don't buy many things at them. Sure, the things they sell are nice to have, but they are certainly not necessary. I buy a LOT of produce from my local farmers market. Most of it is organic.

 

Bags of dried beans are super cheap. If you want to stay raw, you can sprout them yourself.

 

May I ask why you want to commit to a 100% raw lifestyle? I don't think either the China Study or Thrive say you have to be 100% raw (of course I realize Thrive advocates a high raw diet, but I seem to remember non-raw recipes in that book).

[carreannjoe]

Thank you for the response!

 

I sort of got 'sold' after watching food matters, the documentary. I have always been health conscious, and after watching this, I felt convinced this was the way to go. They advocate raw. I'm reading parts of all three books right now..china study, and the two thrive books. I'm gathering information!

 

I'm doing really well but also easing into this way of eating, although I have not consumed any meat since I watched the documentary. That isn't hard for me at all.

 

It's all about being as healthy as possible for me. I want to share that with my family. We've been experimenting with different 'green smoothies' and loving it!

 

Thanks for the website tip for protein powder that isn't so damn expensive! The one I ordered seems fine but I will go through it fast so I need options to explore!

[Derek]

Welcome! That's awesome that you'll be competing soon!! It sounds like a lot of your questions can be answered by looking at my wife Marcella's info and diets etc. She has been vegan 11 years, is 5'2, has the same bodyfat% as you and plans on doing her first bodybuilding contest this September. She will be adding articles and recipes here soon, and we have a ton of info on our blog which is linked in my signature. Great job making positive changes in your life and welcome aboard again!