damdaman

I don't think "we vegans" are better than anyone else. It's pretty immature and rude to judge other people like that, not to mention arrogant.

Thanks, I think you're right, three times a week is probably pushing it. I'll start out with more moderate 1 - 2 times a week a goals, and see how things progress.

I've spent a lot of time trying out various things in the gym, but I'm starting to come around to the idea that maybe I'm just over thinking the whole thing and simpler is better. First off I don't want or need to get "bodybuilder" huge, just build strength and muscle generally, as my main focus is martial arts. In addition to this new and simple weight routine my MA training (3 - 5 days a week) involves extensive calisthenics and cardio conditioning, and I also run about 10-15 miles per week. So here's what I'm thinking... doing these four exercises three times a week, with core training done separately, as I'll often spend an entire session doing nothing but core. Squat Deadlift Flat bench press Pull-ups (using negatives when I can't do 5 reps) It seems to me that this would be all I need. What do you think? Maybe include a shoulder press of some kind?

Eating whole fruit is not the same as eating processed sugar. I think you're fine on that front. If you enjoy it, keep eating it. As for eating more greens, I'm not sure what to suggest other than eating more greens. Sorry if that sounds snarky, but just make more room for them in your diet. Broccoli is a good choice that you didn't mention. I eat broccoli every day, usually as part of a stir-fry, but also steamed with melted garlic "butter" (earth balance) on it. There's no trick to eating more greens other than eating more greens.

The taste and the dishes you are able to make. The price, easy preparation etc. It's very filling and gives you a lot of satiety per calorie (not sure if that makes it a good bulk food but you get the point). It's rich in some B vitamins, magnesium (a mineral a lot of athletes lack), selenium, phosphorus, manganese and some other stuff. Not to mention brown rice is high in fiber and a good source of protein.

Buy brown rice in bulk. It's dirt cheap, and you can cook up large batches of it, keep it in the fridge and just reheat and eat a bowl twice a day for two more meals. It's extremely nutritious, too. Cooking it with olive oil can add extra calories. Condiments like hummus and salsa (both cheap) make it tastier. Just cuz it's rice doesn't mean it has to be bland. Also while vega is a great product, if you're on a budget, you'd be better off spending that money on fresh fruits and vegetables - it's kind of expensive.

Yes... you're still giving your body a rest from digesting for a significant amount of time, and 5 days is enough time to clean out the colon pretty well. Yes. Good cleansing teas will be more than laxatives, they'll also have liver and kidney cleansing herbs in them. This stimulates your liver to release stored up toxins, which in the short-term can make you feel like crap or produce adverse side effects, but once you rid yourself of them, you'll be healthier. So make sure, both of you, do things like epsom salt baths, saunas are good as sweat carries toxins out with it, and take fiber to bind up the toxins and eliminate them through bowel movements.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/02/AR2009070203365.html?nav=rss_email/components (click link for full story) I remember when the USDA got in on the organic thing and people in the health food community were concerned that they'd drive the 3rd party "certified organic" companies out of business and lower the standards while muddying the whole thing in their bureaucracy. I very rarely see 3rd party certified organic labels anymore, and sure enough, stories like this are starting to pop up...

Certainly, I would agree. But there are also things that are outside of our control. Air pollution, water pollution, toxins from plastics all around us, and any other number of sources contribute toxins to our bodies. You can't simply eat well, not smoke, not drink and expect to be free of toxins and pollutants. I would also agree slightly that 10 days is pushing the limit on what I'd consider healthy. As I said the longest I ever went was 8. Personally I think 3-5 days is ideal, with 7 being the longest I'd probably do now.

Well, for starters, there are many toxins that your liver is incapable of neutralizing. So to protect the body, the liver stores them. These build up over time and can cause liver disease. Secondly, cleansing does a lot more than cleanse toxins from your liver. It's also good for your colon, kidneys, and immune system among others. If you don't want to do it that's your choice but to say it's totally unnecessary isn't accurate. It's a very helpful thing for many people who take the time to do it right.

I do a similar fast every year, at least I try to. Sometimes I only go 3 days, most I ever did was 8. It's great for your body, really gives you a chance to heal/repair things that tend to get lesser priority. One year I just couldn't shake a constant low-grade cold/flu infection I kept getting. I'd feel better and then a week or two later, bam, get sick again. So I did the fast and got better... the illness didn't come back. I think my body just needed the rest from the hard work of constantly digesting and as soon as I gave it the rest, it was able to divert energy to finally fighting that bug off for good. Personally I like to take herbal supplements during the fast as well that stimulate liver cleansing and colon cleansing/parasite cleansing. Very important to take probiotics immediately after a colon cleanse though.

Perhaps, and if that's the case, fair enough, but based on his comments I was led to believe that he was simply not getting the nature of the joke. However, as far as the morons not getting that they're being satirized, that is actually very true and what makes it such great satire. The Bush Administration actually invited Colbert to speak at the Whitehouse Correspondent's Dinner in 2006, where he proceeded to absolutely roast the administration and their toadies in the mainstream media in one of the most classic comedy acts of all time, because the people who invited him didn't realize he was actually mocking them every night on his show. http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2009/05/for-me-at-the-correspondents-dinner-the-gold-standard-is-still-colbert-in-2006/ Morons will be morons and whether or not they realize they're the butt of Colbert's jokes won't change that, so we might as well have a laugh at their expense.

No offense but I don't think you're understanding what satire is... The character that Stephen Colbert plays is deliberately obtuse and ridiculous. He pretends to be a crazy right-wing media talking head (think Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly) so he can make fun of those people, not because he agrees with it. So when he has Eric Schlosser on his show to talk about his book, he's not making fun of or making light of meat slaughter, he's making fun of people who defend agribusiness by pretending to be one of them while he plays a character. That's satire, and the most brilliant satire is so brilliant because the people being satirized (in this case, the people who would defend agribusiness) don't even realize that they're actually the punch line to an elaborate joke. The joke is not "haha agribusiness is awesome" it's "haha douchebags who think agribusiness are awesome are stupid idiots."

He's a satirist. He's playing a character and making fun of that character, not the guest.

That is typical with vitamin supplements. Your body doesn't absorb all the vitamins in the pill and they get urinated out.

Yeah I feel ya I've been in the same position. Here's what I'd recommend. Find the amount of food that you normally eat that pretty much maintains your weight at your current activity level, then increase it slightly, just 10-20%. This can be as simple as adding a shake in between workouts (orange juice, flax oil, hemp protein powder) for an extra 150-300 calories, or an organic food bar. See how your body responds over a few weeks. If you are getting too much belly fat, increase your cardio, but keep the extra calories. If you're not getting belly fat but not gaining, add in another 10% and keep at it. If you aren't getting belly fat but also gaining muscles, keep doing it until you need to change again. Ultimately, though, this type of muscle building will probably take more patience and be a long-term endeavor as you'll gain more slowly (but also more steadily), but I think ultimately it's probably better for your body than the classic bulking and cutting extremes. Good luck.

You should feel exhausted after a good work out, especially if you've never done HIIT before. Personally I would take this as a positive sign rather than a bad sign, and start measuring the success of the routine after a few weeks when you notice that you're no longer so exhausted. That's the best feeling in the world. Personally I love HIIT and Tabata. It's taken my fitness to a new level, although I still also do low-intensity (jogging) and regular weight lifting a couple times a week.

I eat a lot of soy. Like, probably about 16oz. of tofu and/or tempeh a day. I recently had blood work done and my thyroid function was well within normal range.

Your diet looks to be lacking significantly in starches and other carbohydrates, which I could definitely see contributing to exhaustion and sickness after a workout. I would strongly suggest eating some brown rice on a daily basis.

The simple answer is that it varies. It varies based on how well conditioned to lifting your muscles are, how well your diet is, and how much rest you get. You can also do other things to aid recovery like epsom salt baths, alternating hot and cold water in the shower, foam rolling, etc. Although these are more for clearing out lactic acid than actually repairing damaged muscle tissue. Most people focus on protein as a recovery food, but personally I prefer fruit. This is because your body already has large amounts of amino acids ready to use to repair the muscles, eating more is fine, but not necessarily what I would consider the first priority. First priority should be glucose, because your body can't recover if it's lacking in energy.

Well, I'll start by saying that a) what will make you stick with the diet will be determination and perseverance, and b) don't be surprised if, when you change your diet radically in *any* way, you feel worse before you feel better. Your body needs time to adjust to radical changes in diet. That being said up front, I train martial arts and my staples are brown rice, tofu, broccoli, spinach, bananas, beans, avocado, tempeh and berries. If you buy plain tofu, please research extensively how to cook it properly before deciding it's the grossest thing on earth. I recommend starting out by buying pre-baked, pre-flavored tofu. You're going to have to learn creative ways to use these types of ingredients though. You will have to cook for yourself unless you want to spend way too much money. There are a plethora of cookbooks out there that can help as well as websites and posts on this and other forums.

The doc said that all the tests were perfect. It's good to have validation of a vegan diet come in such a concrete form... I don't do anything special other than eat lots of fruits and vegetables, brown rice, tofu and avoid processed foods. A couple times a week I'll eat a blended fruit smoothie with some protein powder, but only when I don't have time to make a proper meal - I don't depend on powders for my protein, only as a replacement supplement if I can't eat a meal before heading to the gym. My biggest staple is broccoli. I eat it every day, sometimes more than once. Here are the biggies that people tend to look at and/or criticize a vegan diet for... Cholesterol: HDL 58 (normal > 40) LDL 59 (normal < 130) mg/dL Triglycerides: 82 (norm < 150) mg/dL Glucose: 88 (norm 65-99) mg/dL Creatine: .96 (norm .8-1.6) mg/dL ... I do occasionally take about 2.5g of creatine, but I don't take it regularly Calcium: 9.4 (norm 8.6-10.2) mg/dL Protein, total: 7.4 (norm 6.2-8.3) g/dL White and red blood cell counts as well as liver, kidney and thyroid (I eat soy every day, yet my thyroid is fine) indicators were all within normal ranges. Pretty much every single count they did was right in the range it should be. Makes me feel good!

lol... sounds like he's posting spam too. I'm waiting for it to appear.

Agreed. Having a penis makes you a real man. Nothing else is required.

Brilliant, thanks!