The Organic Climber – Vegetarian running, cycling, swimming, rock climbing and raw foods.

Well, once again I only have a few moments to write this post. So, I will make it brief. The cleanse is still going well. Yesterday I operated at 110% with only 6 hours of sleep, and restless sleep at that. Today was another restless night as well, and yet I feel like I have a lot of energy. Today I have been eating mostly fruit and drinking water. I have had a little bit of raw granola I made, thought. I decided yesterday I have been eating too many nuts and seeds. I wish I had been juicing more.

I really feel like the cleanse has been helping me focus more on my day-to-day tasks. Even though I still have a slightly foggy head, my ability to focus and get work done has seemingly increased. Just this morning I rocked out a ton of Bearded Brothers samples, shipped off several orders, and prepared several wholesale orders for delivery later this week. I feel like I’m on fire!

I will say my fitness level has been a bit less than I was hoping for this week. I was hoping to exercise daily, but that has yet to happen but mainly because of a busy schedule, not for the lack of desire or energy. I was planning on going rock climbing tomorrow, but decided to take an impromptu trip to Stephenville, TX to the Barefoot Market to celebrate the last day of the cleanse with part of the Cleanse America crew. I’m looking forward to enjoying some of the delicious raw foods prepared in the wonderful cafe at Barefoot Market.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for now, aside from this delicious kale chip recipe I made earlier this week; and devoured within an hour! Warning, they are addicting!

Spicy Cheesy Raw Kale Chips

• 2 bunches of kale, washed and de-stemmed
• 1 cup of soaked cashews (drain after soaking)
• 1 red bell peper, chopped and de-seeded
• 1 cup of nutritional yeast (or more)
• 1 medjool date, pitted
• cajun seasoning
• paprika
• sea salt

After washing and de-stemming your kale place it all in a large mixing bowl. Blend the soaked cashew, chopped bell, nutritional yeast and medjool date in a food processor until you get a creamy consistency. After that, season to your liking with cajun, paprika and sea salt.

Once your mixture is seasoned to your liking spoon out on top of the kale in the mixing bowl and mix until all the leaves are well coated. After that, place on mesh dehydrator sheets and dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 5-6 hours. Now, enjoy!

Life and Motivation, RAW Food, Recipes by OrganicClimber
america, cheesy, chips, cleanse, detox, food cleanse, kale, kale chips, RAW, spicy
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It’s almost the end of day five, and I’m feeling pretty good! Tonight we made the Raw Chili from the Recipe Guide. It was one of the best raw meals I have had, and it was very easy to make. It’s one I will definitely have to incorporate into my regular rotation of meals. I think it’s good to have as many simple raw food recipes so that it’s easier to make a regular part of your life. Many raw recipes I see in books are very complicated and take lots of time. It’s essential to have simple things to make if raw foods are going to be a big part of your life.

Yesterday I took my trip to San Antonio and brought some leftover beet burger mix and flax crackers for lunch. I also had several pieces of fruite and some spicy cashews and Bearded Brothers bars. It just goes to show it’s still possible to eat raw on the road. It all boils down to keeping it simple! The day was also a “foggy headed” day, but thankfully the fog lifted again this morning and I was able to get out and enjoy a run around Town Lake.

I was planning on running 8 miles but my wife talked me out of it since I was cleansing and hadn’t run in a few weeks due to an injury. So I settled for a moderately passed 4 miles. Aside from the humidity the weather was great, sun was shining and there was a nice breeze as well. I’m hoping to get in some more outdoor activity tomorrow. But, it was good that I decided to cut down the mileage because around the 4 mile mark I started feeling like I needed to eat and rehydrate (even though I had drank 16oz of water during the run).

So, after the run I swung my Juice Land, formerly Daily Juice on Barton Springs and picked up green smoothie. I was sort of disappointed in the taste, but it was still filling and provided the nutrition I needed after my run. The smoothie contained papaya, lime, agave, and green vibrance. I chose this particular smoothie because I rarely ever have papaya, and wanted something different.

I already mentioned dinner, but for lunch we ended up having raw bbq tacos (recipe contained in link) instead of a salad since we had some romain lettuce leaves that were going to go bad. The recipe is another simple one, and an all time favorite of mine.

It’s hard to believe I have now gone 6 days eating 100% raw, even in the height of my past raw food experiences I had never gone that many days on all raw foods. I doubt I had ever gone more than 3. It has definitely ben a pleasant experience so far, but a little bit of hard work involved for meal planning and recipes. But it has definitely inspired me to up the raw food intake in my life and be more cautious of the little things in my diet.

Just a few more days of the cleanse left. I look forward to sharing more of my experience with you, especially doing a final recap of all my thoughts.

Health & Fitness, Life and Motivation, Recipes by OrganicClimber
america, cleanse, detox, food cleanse, RAW
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So, my attempt to post every day has already failed, and I almost missed today too, but decided to take a few minutes for a quick update. So please forgive any gramatical errors in the post. I won’t have time to go back through and proof it – yeah, I’m that busy. Let’s just say I normally sit down in the afternoon to work, and it’s now 9 p.m. and I just sat down 30 minutes ago.

Anyway, day three went pretty well. I felt energized and my brain fog had lifted. I ended my day with some rock climbing on The Greenbelt, here in Austin. I felt really strong and confident despite not having climbed much in the past month. It was great to be outside enjoying the amazing weather. It was a perfect afternoon for climbing. I was surprised more people didn’t show up. The only crappy part of the day was crossing the creek to get to the climbing wall… my iPhone was in my pocket and got submerged. So my phone is now burried in a bag of rice in attempts to dry it out.

Today, though was very interesting. I was full of anxiety, stress and worry. My work day in the Bearded Brothers kitchen was jam packed, and the afternoon was filled with deliveries to stores. We are growing fast, which means I’m doing a lot more, but don’t have any extra time. I have had days like this in the past but wasn’t as anxious as I felt today. After hearing Paul Risse talk about his irritability symptoms on day 2, it leads me to believe that heightened anxiety was very possible.

Despite the anxious feelings I attempted to take deep breaths as much as possible and pray. Prayer is definitely something that hasn’t been as present in my life as it should. I’m constantly distracted by work problems, so even when I do pray my mind alway seems to gravitate towards solving work related problems. I definitely see the need for more quiet time in my life, but struggle how to make that happen.

I was also pretty bummed out my work day was so long and hectic. It caused me to miss my group run this evening. I was really looking forward to getting outside and de-stressing in nature. But, on the bright side I was able to go to the grocery store again and pick up some more delicious raw foods and prepare a meal for my wife and I. We enjoyed one of my favorite raw meals “Beet Burgers” (recipe below), along with some flax crackers and guacamole. Time with my spouse has been lacking lately too. We are both looking forward to spending the weekend together. We plan on going to Beets Cafe for a raw desert with the money I’m saving from not buying any coffee or tea this week.

So, overall I would have to say I’m feeling pretty good. Tomorrow I will be attending Entre Leadership One Day in San Antonio. I’m hoping the time away from work will refresh my mind and the commute there and back will give me time to reflect and pray. The conference I am going to is lead by Dave Ramsey, of Financial Peace. His material is helping my wife and I get out of debt and he is also helping me grow my business with passion and integrity.

Anyway, that is all for now. Daily posts throughout the weekend are questionable since we don’t have internet at our house. If you don’t hear from me this weekend expect something from me on Monday!

Raw Beet Burgers

• 3 Beets
• 2 Carrots
• 1/4 cup pistachios
• 1 avocado
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• pinch of sea salt (or more if you like)
• 2-4 teaspoons of dijon mustard (my modification to original recipe, original calls for 1-2)
• several romaine lettuce leaves
• capers for garnish (highly optional)

Directions: Grate the carrots and beets using a food processor or grater (food processor highly recommended). After the carrots and beets are grated, transfer into a large bowl and attach the S blade to the food processor. Pour the grated beets and carrots back into the mixing bowl and add the remaining ingredients, except for romaine lettuce leaves. Process the ingredients and then pour back into serving bowl.

Finally place the mixture on romaine lettuce leaves and enjoy.

This recipe goes really well with spicy flax seed crackers and guacamole. I will likely post that recipe later this week. It was a modified version of the flax crackers in the Cleanse America recipe book.

Life and Motivation, RAW Food, Recipes by OrganicClimber
america, cleanse, detox, food cleanse, RAW
2 comments

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Well, it’s almost the end of day two, of Cleanse America – a 10 day cleanse with people all across the US participating. I officially decided to take part in the cleanse just a couple days before it started. Prior to that I didn’t thank I was going to be able to afford 100% raw for the 10 days, but thanks to a friend, it has become possible!

I’m extremely grateful to be able to take part in the cleanse. Having formerly eaten a diet as high as 80% in recently years I didn’t think I would begin experiencing detox symptoms at all, much less at the start of day two. I woke up this morning feeling foggy headed, the feeling stayed with me most of the morning and lifted later in the day, but returned just before beginning to write this post. It just goes to show how much diet affects the body.

I think the thing I’m most excited about it just getting to eat raw foods! Since moving to Austin my food budget has drastically decreased, thus not really giving us the option to eat as much raw foods as we would like. And, to be completely honest, Austin got the best of me with its local eateries and taco joints. When I first moved here I was trying a new restaurant every week. However, my wife and I had to tighten the reins on the food budget which has lead us to cooking almost every meal at home; though my breakfast and lunch is usually raw.

I’m also looking forward to a variety of salads and other yummy raw meals. For the past year I have been stuck in a salad rutt, eating the same salad nearly ever day, which had caused me to move away from raw foods for weeks at a time. So, I hope the cleanse will break my salad boredom streak with some variety and new recipes. Just this morning I made a delicious walnut vinaigrette dressing (recipe below) that went really well on my apple and hemp seed salad!

I also hope to break my “addiction” to coffee. It was something I had given up for about a year previously, but got addicted again when I moved to Austin and started working from coffee shops. Sort of ironic, since I was in the planning stages of Bearded Brothers, my raw organic snackfood company! I was originally planning on allowing myself tea during the cleanse, but I decided yesterday that forgoing caffein for the entire cleanse was going to be best. I went sans coffee through the weekend and had my last cup of tea yesterday!

I’m also hoping my energy levels will rise. Even though I get consistant sleep and a good amount of exercise, and still eat an overall healthy diet my energy levels are not what they used to be. I remember when I was able to run half marathons and then still go out and have fun doing other things in the afternoon, without a nap. Lately, though I’m wiped out after a 10 mile run or 40 mile bike ride.

And finally, I hope to get motivated to exercise more, even if it’s just pull ups on my hang board at the house. It was one of my new years goals that I have failed out due to lack of motivation, and honestly remembering to do it. So hopefully the cleanse will help clear my mind as well and help me to remember better. I plan on getting exercise nearly every day during the cleanse.

To learn more about Cleanse America, check out their website and Facebook Page.

I hope to make daily updates about my progress during the cleanse.

Walnut Vinaigrette Recipe

• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup of water
• 3/4 cup of walnuts
• 1 clove of garlic minced
• 1 TBSP of raw honey
• dash of sea salt, to taste

Instructions: Place all the ingredients in the blender and whirl! If the mixture is too thick add a bit more water. I like the constancy of mine fairly thick though, it sticks very well to lettuce leaves.

Health & Fitness, Life and Motivation, RAW Food, Recipes by OrganicClimber
america, cleanse, detox, food, organic, RAW
2 comments

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Looking for reasons to go raw this New Year? Make your New Years Resolution to, “go raw”. Here are nine good reasons to make this dietary transition. These are all reasons I have learned along the way and have experienced myself first hand. Additionally I would like to note, this is really not a “diet”. It’s a food philosophy. It’s not something temporary as a means to loose weight, this is about how you look at food.

1. Live a more vibrant life. I say this because to say “live longer” conflicts with my religious beliefs that our days are already numbered. But we can take good care of ourselves while we are here and live a healthy enjoyable lifestyle.
2. Cardiovascular health – Greens contain chlorophyll, which improves oxygen uptake, thus increasing your VO2 Max. This is amazing news to any athlete, as it boosts energy levels, increases endurance and reduces recovery times.
3. Less sick days – Since going green over a year and a half ago I have only been ill once. Sure there were days I wasn’t feeling great, but I have only had a cold once, and I know exactly how I got it too. Eating green improves your immune system, thus warding off the attacks of virus’.
4. More energy – Back when I was eating the SAD (Standard American Diet) I would always get really tired and sluggish about an hour after lunch. I would often times have to go for a second round of coffee (which for me was another 3 cups) just to stay awake. Eating green will require less energy to digest your food, thus giving you more energy to go throughout your day and be more productive. In fact, you won’t even need to depend on coffee if you chose to give that up, as your body will naturally be more energized.
5. Less sleep – Eating a nutrient rich diet will require less sleep. I am fully functional on six hours of sleep. This isn’t much different from when I was not eating raw foods, but the main difference now is I am actually functional and I don’t need coffee to keep myself going.
6. Reduce Stress – Eating a nutrient rich diet also leads to less stress on the body. It also affects mental stress as well. When the body isn’t adequately nourished it becomes stressed, thus accumulating additional body fat. The less stressed we are the better our bodies and mind can function.
7. Reduce the risk of cancer – Eating pure, whole foods greatly reduces your risk of cancer. I have read numerous articles about people’s cancer going away through raw foods. Kris Carr of Crazy Sexy Cancer is a prime example. Eating raw foods also reduces your chances of diseases in general. Today’s modern diet is a major cause of obesity and chronic disease in our society.  Take diabetes for example: simply changing ones diet will cure one of this disease, but most are unwilling to take on the challenge. They would rather be addicted to medication. (please note I say this knowing that there may be some situations where that is not the case and medications are a must)
8. Maintain weight – Through eating raw foods it is much easier to maintain a healthy weight. When I first went raw I dropped 10 lbs FAST, but since then  have maintained that weight and have only fluctuated within a couple of pounds. I have yet to drop below 170, and usually stay around 173 – I am 6′ tall.
9. Eating high amounts of raw food leads to healthier looking skin. That makes perfect sense – cut out greasy foods it’s only natural that your skin will begin to look better. I had some friends from Austin that commented on how great my skin looked after not seeing them for two months, and I had just started introducing raw foods into my diet the last time I had seen them.

Ready to take the plunge yet? Well, it’s easier than you think. You don’t even have to become 100% raw, I’m not. You will get many of these health benefits just from switching to a 50% raw diet. But the more raw foods you include into your diet the better. I always feel better when I am eating more raw foods.

They key to making it work for you is starting simple. I recommend starting with nutritious smoothies every morning, then begin working in fruits and other raw snacks (such as nuts, seeds and flax crackers) throughout your day and eating smaller cooked meals for lunch and dinner. Then, start phasing salads into your diet until you are having a large filling salad every day. At this point you will be eating 66% of your diet raw.

After that you can start phasing in “raw meals” made from cookbooks and the plethora of raw food web sites and blogs on the internet. I tend to have one or two “raw meals” a week, sometimes more. So, about 75% of my diet is raw. 50% is about the lowest it will ever go and that only happens when I forgot my salad for lunch or I go out of town.

Many of the raw cookbooks out there portray “raw gourmet” recipes that are difficult and time consuming to make. There are lots of blogs out there the offer simpler recipes that don’t require lots of prep time. A few of my favorite blogs for simple recipes are RawDawg Rory, Rawmazing, and Julie’s Raw Ambition.

Once you start eating more raw foods I suggest you purchase digestive enzymes to take for those times you do eat cooked foods. It will help you digest your food more easily.  You will quickly begin to notice the difference in how your body digests food. When you eat raw foods you will find yourself feeling much better afterward, as your stomach will not be churning trying to process a bunch of crap.

Also, expect to experience detox symptoms. This can come in a variety of ways, for me, it was strong headaches (but not migraine strength) for nearly a month. My system was getting rid of lots of toxins. I was also giving up coffee cold turkey at the time as well. I have sense then though allowed myself to have coffee a couple times a week. But detox is a good thing. If you are starting to go raw and experience this, just know you are doing something good for your body.

Health & Fitness, RAW Food by OrganicClimber
cancer, cardiovascular, detox, diet, energy, food phillosphy, health, healthy skin, new years resolution, RAW Food, stress
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