The Organic Climber – Blogging about climbing, RAW foods, vegetarianism, running and cycling.

Sporting my new Texas cycling jeresey AND my mutton chop - handlebar mustache combo for tonights Reformation Day - Halloween party.

Well, I have to be honest. My training as of late has been somewhat lacking. I do have some reasonable excuses though; climbing trips, impromptu trips to Austin to visit friends, and injuries. Injury has perhaps been the biggest hindrance; I think it has somehow breed laziness as it has kept me from several runs.

I recently started having knee problems while running. I would end up getting pain on the left side of my left knee. This would happen a few miles into my runs after being warmed up. All sorts of theories as to what might have been wrong were going through my head as I researched online, but what the actual problem ended up being was something I had never heard of -  IT Band. Scientifically known was iliotibal band syndrome. IT Band is the tissue that covers the knee and runs up the thigh to the glutes. Essentially this muscle is getting stretched, thus pulling along the part that covers the knee causing the lateral pain.

A sports medicine doctor diagnosed me with the problem, which I am thankful for, but I was a bit perplexed after my follow up visit when he asked me to come back again on a daily basis. I’m pretty sure he was just wanting money in his pocket. If a doctor tells you you need this be cautious. You MIGHT need it, but from my research lots of stretching, ice and warm epsom salt baths do the trick. I have yet to take an epsom salt bath for mine, but I am now at the point that I feel like stretching is all I need.

Since I have been stretching better before and after runs my IT band really isn’t bothering me anymore. It is still somewhat of a problem, but I am at about 80% now. I am also interested in foam rolling as mentioned by Matt over at No Meat Athlete. I also have planter problems on my left foot so will likely start using a tennis ball to massage and stretch that. Now, it may sound like I’m one injured dude right now, but from what I have heard it’s all because I’m a new runner and it’s something all new runners go through.

Because of the injury and recent trips I have been running less. It seems to have decrease my motivation. Even last night I almost skipped my run. On my way home from work I ended up having to stop by the grocery store, and after that was just feeling lazy and stayed home. But, after a few hours of siting around I couldn’t take it anymore; I threw on my running shoes and hit the pavement – knocking out 4+ miles with a pace of 9:18. It’s strange, even though I have been inured my last two runs have been pretty fast.

My five mile run the other day (9:13 pace) was just under the pace (9:15) I will need to meet my 2 hour goal for the Dallas White Rock Marathon (running the half marathon). I was beginning to start thinking I wasn’t going to be able to meet the goal because of the injury, taking trips and being distracted by the new road bike I got (but that has helped in some ways). I am excited to get back on track though. I plan on getting a long run in this weekend. So far 10 miles has been my longest run, but seeing as how that was several weeks ago I will likely keep this weekends run under 10 miles.

Training for this half marathon has been pretty exciting. The other day my roommate suggested I just got for the full marathon, but I really don’t think I am mentally ready for that yet, nor am I sure I want to dedicate more time to train for the longer distance. I have already taken up cycling on top of running, and now both of those are competing with climbing – which is my true love. I had always secretly made fun of other climbers that also ran, cycled and had other hobbies on top of climbing. In my mind I didn’t want anything competing with that, but now I find myself right where they are and understand them a bit more.

So far, I have not let any of these interfere with my climbing trips, but my guess is there will eventually be a race scheduled for the same weekend as a climbing trip and then I will find myself conflicted and torn, but at the same time I will be enjoying one of them. Running and cycling may have been the smartest things I have decided to do for my health. Since beginning to do those things I am starting to feel even healthier than when I started a vegetarian diet. Now, with that said I am a firm believer that man can not add to his days, I don’t do these things to live longer, I simply do them because I enjoy them and they help me enjoy the days I have more fully. Just because God controls all things doesn’t eliminate human responsibility, and I believe we are called to take care of what he has given us, even our bodies.

Climbing, Cross Training, Health & Fitness, Running by OrganicClimber
Climbing, Cross Training, cycling, dallas white rock, fitness, God, half marathon, iliotibal band syndrome, IT band, knee pain, lateral, marathon, Running, stretching
1 comment

I spent this past weekend hanging out in Austin with friends, in fact, it was the same friends that first peaked my interested in raw foods. On Sunday morning before church we made a really delicious smoothie. It just so happened that the night before they held a game night and one of the participants brought grapes to snack on. There ended up being a lot left over and we used them in our smoothie the next morning.

Grapes alone weren’t going to be enough, so we ended up adding raspberries, banana, hemp milk and vanilla flavored hemp protein. I didn’t record the exact ratios, but there were more grapes than the other ingredients, we also made enough for four people at once, so I will give my best guess for a single serving.

The Recipe

½ cup of grapes
¼ cup of raspberries
½ banana
¾ cup of hemp milk
2 TBSP of vanilla hemp protein powder*
*Alternatively you could use regular hemp seed protein and add about a teaspoon or more of vanilla extract.

This smoothie was tantalizingly delicious! The added vanilla flavor (along with the hemp milk) was perhaps the best part. I had never thought about using flavored hemp protein powder, but I think I will definitely have to add that to the mix. I apologize there is no photo for this one. Perhaps I will make another one on my own later this week and take a photo.

Remember, if you are interested in purchasing a Vita-Mix blender you can receive free shipping by using the link above. That is a $25 discount. The purchase also helps me out!

RAW Food, Smoothie Tuesday by OrganicClimber
banana, grape, hemp, protein, rasberry, RAW, smoothie, Smoothie Tuesday, vanilla, Vita-MIx, vitamix
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As of yesterday it’s official. I am now a Vita-Mix affiliate. What does this mean? Well, for you this means that when you order a Vita-Mix 5200 machine or accessories through the links on my web site you receive FREE shipping. Yeah, I know these coupon codes are all over the internet, but by purchasing it through my links I earn a commission on the sale. So, if you are considering purchasing a Vita-Mix I would greatly appreciate it if you use one of the links on my site. We both benefit from it!

As you likely know from reading my blog I am a huge advocate of this amazing piece of machinery. Sure they are pricey, but they make the raw food, vegetarian, and vegan lifestyle so much easier. I now rarely have to use the food processor. I can now use the Vita-Mix 5200 for making smoothies and lots of other amazing creations including raw breads.  It’s a purchase I have yet to regret.

If you happen to have any questions about the blender please feel free to message me. I know there are a couple other high end blenders out there, but I did my research before making this purchase and I am a firm believer that this blender tops all others, and I am seriously not just saying that to plug sales. Sure I am shamelessly soliciting the product, but I would be happy to tell you the differences and advantages in other machines as well.

Make sure you use links through my site to make your purchase, otherwise I don’t get the commission. Also make sure you use coupon code: 06-004609

Health & Fitness, RAW Food, Recipes, Smoothie Tuesday by OrganicClimber

1 comment

Last weekend I spent my Saturday up in Arkansas doing a little bit of rock climbing. We didn’t climb as much as planned since one of our other climbing partners decided to bail. So, while my climbing partner took some time warming up back at camp I went on a hike and took some photos of the fall colors that were starting to come out. I would say the color was at about 20%. When we go back in November I am hoping to see the trees at full color. Here are some of the photos I took.

Fall Colors 1

Fall Colors 2

Fall Colors 3

Fall Colors 4

Fall Colors 5

Fall Colors 6

Fall Colors 7

Sorry there were no climbing photos to share for this trip. I would have had some great shots had another person joined us, but it’s pretty hard to take photos when all you do is climb and belay. Hopefully we have three or four people on the next trip though so I will be able to get some good shots.

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
arkansas, Climbing, colors, fall, leaves, mountains, nature, photography, trees, Trip Reports
2 comments

I apologize for missing Smoothie Tuesday yesterday. I was out of town most of the weekend in Arkansas, and these past two days have been pretty crazy. I have had lots on my mind and have not had the time to invest in a blog post, much less putting energy towards thinking up a good smoothie recipe to post.

However, I do plan on bringing you some content by the end of the week. I will likely share some photos from my recent trip to Arkansas. We actually didn’t do much climbing this time, but I hiked around a lot and took photos of the beautiful fall colors. The leaves had just started to turn and the landscape was at about 25% color. I suspect that when we return in a couple weeks we will see a vibrant pallet of colors.

Again, sorry for not bringing you content yesterday. I will make it up to you next week with an amazing smoothie that will knock your socks off. Well, hopefully I do!

Uncategorized by OrganicClimber
just an apology, no tags
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Blue Diamond Almond Milk

For a while now, I have been using Blue Diamond Almond Milk to make my smoothies and use in my sprouted grain cereals. But recently I discovered something I wish I hadn’t, but at the same time I am glad I found this out.

For some reason I had always assumed this product was raw – that is until I finally read the label. Normally do my due diligence and read them, but for some reason I never read this one.  I won’t list all of them, but the fact that there was numerous ingredients in almond milk instantly tell me the product is not raw, but the most disturbing ingredient was soy lecithin.

I have recently been learning that processed soy has been linked to tumor growth and has estrogenic effects on both men and women, there are even products sold using soy as an estrogen supplement for women.  Although my research on this has only scratched the surface what I have discovered is somewhat alarming. But, unprocessed versions of soy, such as tempeh, which is fermented, are not known to have the same effect.

However, soy in small doses will have little to no harm, but the more I read the label in products the more I see that they contain soy, even the sprouted grain tortillas, breads and cereal that I eat contains soy, even the veggie burgers and other such products all contain soy. I have been giving this a lot of thought lately because I actually have a neurological condition called neurofibromatosis that causes tumor growth along nerves. I am fortunate enough though to have a very mild case of the condition that has yet to limit having an active lifestyle.

With what I know about soy, I struggle with how to avoid consuming this product as a vegetarian. I wonder if the amount I consume is enough to have an impact on tumor growth or not. Granted my diet is high-raw just about everything I have on the side of that contains soy. It’s almost unavoidable unless you eat 100% raw diet – and since my condition is not life threatening it’s difficult to go 100% raw. But had somebody told me you are going to die unless you change your diet, then it would be an easy choice.

There is also a huge flip side to this. How I approach my diet has a lot to say about my faith in God and how much I trust Him.  I truly believe He is in control of all things and know that ultimately He is in control of my health, but that doesn’t mean I can be irresponsible and make foolish decisions. I still have to do my part and make wise decisions. So, as I continue to learn more about my health conditions and food I will better be able to make wise decisions. For now I will continue to consume soy, but attempt more moderate amounts.

As far as the almond milk goes, I may find myself switching back to the store bough rice milk. Granted I know this also is not 100% raw either, I am sure that it does not contain soy, and since the “milk” in my every day smoothie this is one way I can definitely limit my soy intake. Another alternative I have is to make my own almond milk. The only down side to that is that it would be fairly expensive.

If you are interested in making your own almond milk, here is a VERY simple recipe.

Almond Milk Recipe

• 1 Cup of RAW soaked almonds*
• 3 Cups of water
• Optional Sweetener: 2-3 pitted dates and/or 1 vanilla bean or vanilla extract

*Soak almonds in water for at lest 2 hours

Instructions: blend all the ingredients in a high-speed blender. I use a VitaMix. Then strain the mixture through a milk bag or fine cheesecloth into a container.

Health & Fitness, RAW Food, Recipes by OrganicClimber
almond milk, cancer, growth, lechtin, neurofibromatosis, RAW, soy, tumor
5 comments

Raw Energy Bar - Cashew Cookie and Pumpkin Spice Energy

This post is essentially a re-hash of the Larabar post I did a while back. These recipes are different and the date to nut ratio is far better. After seeing some raw energy bar recipes in Thrive by Brenden Brazier I got a better idea of how I should actually be making these. It is far simpler than what I was originally doing. Rather then pre-chopping the nuts I just toss all the ingredients into a food processor. So, I will actually be presenting to you two recipes here. One for Cashew Cookie and the other Pumpkin Spice Energy.

The Cashew Cookie flavor is my favorite Larabar, so now that I can make these on my own I will be buying them a lot less. Especially since I found out it’s easier than I had been making it out to be. For this recipe all you need is cashews and dates. It’s that simple!

The Recipe – Cashew Cookie

• 1 cup of pitted dates
• 1 cup of cashews

Directions: Place all ingredients into a food processor and process until the dates and nuts are well mixed and the nuts are coarsely chopped without any large chunks lingering about. There can, and likely will be a few but you don’t want too many. After your mixture is complete you have two options. One, place them on a teflex dehydrator sheet and shape into bars. I found myself creating one large square and then using a pizza cutter to divide into shapes. Once you have your bars shaped on the dehydrator sheet, place them in the dehydrator at 115 degrees overnight. In the morning flip them over onto the mesh sheets and remove the teflex sheet. Then dehydrate a few additional hours if needed.

Option two is to place them in the refrigerator overnight. They should also be stored in there as well. Your dehydrated bars won’t need to be stored in the fridge. My experience though with doing the refrigerator method with similar recipes is that they start to turn to mush after they warm up, so they have to be consumed relatively quickly after removing from the fridge, this is why I prefer using the dehydrator. When storing in the fridge wrap the bars in cellophane or place in a Ziploc bag.

The Recipe – Pumpkin Spice Energy

This one is destined to be one of my favorite raw treats. The Pumpkin Spice Energy bar is 100% my own invention too. Granted it was inspired by other raw goodies. Pumpkin Spice is one of my favorite flavors, so I will be more than likely making this recipe again and again. Another thing I like about it is I incorporate chia seeds. I have mentioned this potent little seeds before in Eating for Energy. The nice thing about chia seeds is that they slow down the breakdown of glucose when consumed with fruit (dates in this case), thus giving you loner lasting energy. Great for a long day at the crag, running or cycling.

• 1/2 cup of dates
• 1/2 cup of organic raisins
• 1/2 cup of almonds
• 1/2 cup of cashews
• 1 TBSP of chia seeds
• 2 tsp of pumpkin spice
• 1-2 TBSP of raw honey or agave nectar

Directions: Follow the same directions for the Cashew Cookie energy bar.

Oh, and on a side note. I fixed the overlapping comment box that occurs on shorter posts. So you will now be able to see the entire comment box without it being hidden by the sidebar. Yeah! Finally took the time to find the line of code that needed to be changed.

RAW Food, Recipes by OrganicClimber
almonds, cashews, chia seeds, dates, energy, energy bar, Lara bar, Larabar, nuts, organic, RAW, RAW Food, snack, sweet
4 comments

Cosmic Explosion Smoothie

I gave myself a big pat on the back after making this smoothie! Simply put, this one is amazing! I was hoping to incorporate a fruit I don’t normally use in my smoothies and just happened to have a couple of ripe nectariens lying around the kitchen. So, I looked around to see what else I had and ended up using some frozen strawberries I had just put in the freezer the day before, added a banana and then tossed in the nectarine and pure amazingness happened.

The Recipe

• About 8 oz of frozen strawberries (or one BIG hand full)
• 1 pitted nectarine (ripe is essential)
• 1 banana
• 1 cup of almond milk

Blend in high speed blender until smooth. Optionally, you can add greens to this as well. I actually ended up adding a huge hand-full of spinach after taking the picture and it didn’t affect the taste too much at all. This will definitely be a repeat smoothie for me. The nectarine really added some punch to what would normally be a mundane strawberry banana smoothie.

RAW Food, Smoothie Tuesday by OrganicClimber
almond milk, banana, nectarine, smoothie, smoothy, spinach, strawberries
1 comment

Students and instructors on top of the Tiny Bubbles formation in the Wichita Mountains Oklahoma.

A few weekends ago I spent my Saturday with the Texas Mountaineers helping instruct a beginners climbing clinic. We had a great time teaching them a lot of basics such as belaying, rappelling and simple anchor set up. We set up numerous climbs so they could get accustomed to different styles of climbing. The climbers were able to climb cracks, chimneys, slabs and face climbs. They definitely got a variety of styles in that day.

Every time we put on these beginner’s climbing trips I am reminded of the first time I went climbing. It was on a Jr. High Youth Group lock-in at Stone Works climbing gym. It was my first time to ever climb and was instantly addicted. Soon after that we took another trip to Mineral Wells State Park, this was my first exposure to outdoor climbing. Not to long after that I bought my own harness, carabineer and figure 8 belay-rappel device.

I didn’t get much use out of the harness until years latter though. I only climbed periodically, mostly indoors with the rare outdoor trip; in college I never really meet anybody that climbed, at least not that became consistent climbing partners. It wasn’t until a couple years after I finished college I finally decided to just dive headlong into the sport. I friend of mine had just bought a rope and another one expressed interest in getting into climbing; the latter being John, who went to Colorado with me this past summer to climb the Flatirons and summit Longs Peak. The other friend is now my roommate and although he doesn’t climb as much as I do he still graces me with his presence from time-to-time.

My intro into climbing was not as formal as the new members we recently trained. I wasn’t given formal instruction on how to set up a top-rope. I simply remembered a few things from watching people set up top-ropes on my first outdoor trip and things I read online and in books. Needless to say I made a few mistakes in my formative years of climbing, but for the most part I think I knew what I was doing.

Being the “self-taught” kind of guy I pretty much taught myself how to sport climb as well. Aside from the quick gym course on leading I learned how to clean an anchor on my own, perfected my belay technique, learned not to let the rope go behind my leg and many other essential skills required to stay safe. But with trad it was a different story!

Once I finally decided to start trad climbing, I sought out formal training. I knew how a cam functioned, I even knew how to place them for the most part, but didn’t feel safe pursuing it on my own. There was A LOT I didn’t know and sought out formal training needed to stay safe. I had already been involved in the Texas Mountaineers for about a year at that point so attended their intermediate climbers clinic where climbers learn to “second” a route, clean gear, work on gear placements and anchor building.

I still remember the first climb I did with my trainer Carl. After arriving at the second pitch of the climb we pulled the rope through so he could lead the second pitch, but as I looked at it I saw how easy it was and told Carl I wanted to lead it. So my second pitch of formal training was my first trad lead. It was an easy climb, but still lots of fun. The second climb I did after that day was even better. It was a long deep crack up a slab on Elk Mountain in the Wichita Mountains. I had somewhat of a hard time because I was nervous, having to stop and place gear, being unsure if my placements were good and fiddling with them over and over until I was happy with them. But I finished the route without falling and even set up the belay station successfully.

Since then I have become quite an avid trad climber. Most of the time I would rather spend my days on long easy trad climbs getting high rather than working hard 40-80ft sport climbs.  It’s kind of funny because when I first started climbing I told myself I would never sport climb, once I started that I said I would never trad climb and now I catch myself saying I will never ice climb, but I guess we know what that means!

To any readers out there considering getting into climbing I would recommend getting involved with a local climbing club. It will be your best resource for real training. I also highly recommend the book How to Rock Climb. It was a book I read when I first started climbing and it helped tremendously. For those of you wanting something more focused on training and improving your climbing abilities I suggest The Self Coached Climber – This book really helped me a lot with my form and was essential in helping me improve and break out of my rut of not being able to climb anything over 5.9.

Climbing, Trip Reports by OrganicClimber
beginner, Flatirons, gym climbing, instruction, Longs Peak, Mineral Wells, n00b, noob, rock climbing, Stone Works, trad
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Raw Coconut Honey Almond Butter on a sprouted grain tortilla.

Ever since I purchased a Vita-Mix blender I have enjoyed making my own nut butter. I recently started adding other ingredients to enhance the taste. Initially I just started with just honey, then one day I added coconut oil, and what resulted was purely amazing! The sweet satisfying flavor will have you making batch after batch. My last climbing trip to Arkansas was the first time I ate this recipe, and let’s just say I only came back with half a jar. It’s that good!

For those of you that don’t have a high-speed blender such as the Vita-Mix or Blendtec you can use a food processor, you just have to process A LOT longer. I was never able to obtain a satisfactory consistency when I made them in my food processor, but I recently saw a blog that had a very creamy mixture from a food processor. They key is patience, and processing for up to 15 minutes. That is why the Vita-Mix is so amazing. It will only take you about 3-4 minutes of blending to obtain a nice creamy texture.

Anyway, without further or do, here is the recipe for creamy almond goodness.

Recipe – Raw Almond Butter – Honey & Coconut Flavored

• 3 cups of raw almonds (you can also use cashews in place of a cup, or do half-and-half)
• 1/2 cup of cold pressed olive oil (extra virgin)
• 1/4 cup of coconut oil
• 4 TBSP of raw honey (or raw agave nectar for 100% vegan option)

Pour all the ingredients into the blender, staring with the almonds. Process for two minutes using the tamper provided with your Vita-Mix to push the almonds down into the blades. After two minutes dial the speed of the blender down and let the motor cool off a bit, then finish processing for up to two minutes until a rich creamy consistency is obtained. By the end, the nut butter should be smoking from the heat of the blades working hard. Warm almond butter is the best kind in my opinion, so enjoy it while you can, just don’t burn your tongue!

For those opting to use a food processor us a spatula to scrape down the sides of the blender periodically. If you are not patient enough to spend a good amount of time waiting for a creamy consistency, you can stop once you get a moderately smooth consistency. It will be a bit chunky, but still spreadable. Either way, the flavor is still delightful.

This recipe is great for every day use! It goes great in smoothies, on apples, celery or on raw flat breads and sprouted grain tortillas.

Uncategorized by OrganicClimber
agave nectar, almond, blendtec, butter, coconut, cold pressed, creamy, ezekiel, grain, honey, olive oil, smooth, sprouted, tortillia, Vita-MIx
1 comment