Here is a video talking about acids and bases, and how to balance them in your diet. As a vegetarian I don’t personally have to worry about this much, but I do have to watch my carbs. The video is short and informative.
Cross Training, Health & Fitness by OrganicClimber
acid, alkaline, base, diet, food
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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.
Raw BBQ Tacos, my favorite, easy to make raw meal.
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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I often get a lot of questions from people when they find out I eat a raw food or vegetarian diet. I usually love answering them, as I find it gets people thinking about their own healthy. I actually was talking to one friend the other day that reads my blog and was telling me how some of my posts have inspired him to run. So, I present to you answers to some commonly asked questions.
Where do you get your protein?
Simple, I just eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. I also take a few tablespoons of hemp seed powder in my daily smoothie that gives me about a 16-gram boost of protein for the day. Other than that, I don’t worry about it.
Many people worry too much about protein. I have come to believe that our FDA Food Pyramid is faulty and recommends more protein than we actually need. I have had blood work done twice since becoming vegetarian. Once, two months after I started and the second time almost a year latter, and both times all of my levels were fine, even calcium – everything was at a perfectly healthy level.
How do you get enough calories?
Some people have wondered how I get enough calories eating mostly fruits and vegetables. Well, I make sure I get enough calories by eating a lot. I am constantly snacking on fruit and nuts throughout my workday. I felt like calories were a problem when I first started eating raw foods, but now I have come to realize I get an ample amount of calories.
Do you feel better?
Yes, yes and YES! I feel better than I ever have before. I have more energy than ever before; I am able to function off only six hours of sleep, sometimes less. I also noticed an increase in my climbing ability after going raw.
An improvement to my cardiovascular system was also a benefit. Once I started getting into running I was already at a good fitness level. After starting to read The Thrive Diet by Brendan Brazier I believe this to be because of the consumption of chlorophyll-rich foods that help improve oxygen transport in the body, thus increasing energy levels and athletic performance.
This blog is still pretty new, so as I continue to post you will better understand how raw foods increase your energy level.
Is it hard being vegetarian? (i.e. finding things to eat at restaurants, etc)
No, not at all. A vegetarian diet is just what I eat, just as some people are allergic to gluten, others choose not to eat red meat, and everybody has particular taste buds. Sure the menu selections might be smaller, but I can always find something to eat. I rarely eat out on my own anymore, but when I do it’s simple for me to make healthy choices (although I do indulge now and then).
I would actually say it’s easier for me to be vegetarian than just having a balanced diet. The reason being, I used to be a straight-up meat and potatoes guy. Vegetables never touched my tongue, except for the occasional house salad at a steak house. Being at the “extreme” end helps me limit my choices. I desire to eat healthy now, so not having the option to swing into the BBQ joint around the corner from my office helps me stay on a healthy path.
What do you usually eat?
As far as my raw food diet is concerned, I start off every morning with a smoothie, for lunch I will have a large salad and snack on fruit and nuts throughout the day. I occasionally will prepare a raw meal or make a raw desert to snack on for the next week, but the raw deserts actually usually don’t last very long, especially if I make them for a party. My dinner is usually a cooked meal at home or a simple sandwich consisting of mostly raw veggies. The really interesting meals are ones like raw nachos, BBQ portabella burgers and raw pizza’s.
Some of my favorite places to eat are: Spiral Diner vegan café, Cosmic Café vegeterian restaurant and Bliss Raw Café. Oh, and my local favorite (in Denton, Texas) is a bar called The Greenhouse that has the largest vegetarian selection of any restaurant in town, aside from the iconic Mr. Chopsticks, but I’m not a huge Asian food fan anyway.
Do you ever crave meat?
Not really, about the only thing I ever crave is a burger. If the craving goes long enough I will fulfill it with a black bean burger, which has been a little bit too often lately. Other than the burger nothing else really appeals to me that much anymore.
What is your reasoning behind going vegetarian?
My primary reason was health. I had spent years of my life eating a very unhealthy diet, heavy in processed foods – mostly through eating out. It would not be odd for me to eat out every meal of a day, on average I would say I ate out eight times a week.
My second reason was environmental. I believe as a Christian I am called to be a good steward of the earth, and going vegetarian reduced my carbon footprint. There really isn’t a third reason, but since going veg I have started to see problems in the factory farming and have somewhat of a moral problem with the treatment of animals – again this goes back to being a good steward of the land, but am not opposed to eating meat. If I ever do go back to eating meat I would make sure I was wise in my food selection – eating only grass feed free-range animals.
What is your food philosophy?
Well, it’s pretty basic. Eat lots of whole foods, mostly raw, and consume as little processed foods as possible. I also allow myself some freedom to “indulge” on occasion. My life often centers around community and dining with friends so I don’t want to restrict myself too much, that is the main reason I am not 100% raw, plus I really do enjoy cooked foods. Additionally I don’t want to be defined by what I eat. There is more to me than that, while I really enjoy promoting healthy eating and seeing my friends make changes to their lives but there are other things I would rather emphasize.
Health & Fitness, RAW Food by OrganicClimber
carbon footprint, diet, environment, health, protein, RAW, vegan, vegetarian
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As a rock climber I spend long days outdoors hiking around and exerting large amounts of energy scaling up rock faces. This requires a lot of energy, so when I am out climbing I want to eat a diet that will allow me to perform my best. I believe this is best accomplished through a RAW food diet. The days I am at the crag at least 2/3 of the days food intake comes from RAW foods.
Most of my RAW food intake is through fruits. Typically I will carry with me: 3-4 bananas, 2-3 apples and an orange. The reasoning for the high fruit intake is that fruit (as well as vegetables) is easily and quickly digestible, thus providing me more energy for climbing. The fruit provides energy in the form of glucose, which the body turns into energy by using oxygen. Fruits also contain lots of water, and we all know drinking lots of water is essential to the human body and even more important for an athlete during performance days.
Protein is also essential for energy, as well as muscle recovery. On crag (climbing) days I consumer most of my protein through nuts and seeds, or the occasional smoothie with hemp seed protein added in that I blended up the day before. Nuts and seeds are high in protein and an essential part of a RAW food diet. Just don’t overdo it, as they are high in fat. I will usually pack a home made trail mix with me consisting of cashews, almonds and raisins. Sometimes I even throw in pumpkin or sunflower seeds as well. My Buckwheat Treats also contain a lot of seeds and are high in protein and I usually have these with me as well.
A new snack I have recently started bringing with me on climbing trips are Chocolate Chia Seed Crackers. Chia seeds are magical little seeds that are extremely nutritious and have tons of health benefits. One of their major advantages is that they slow down the breakdown of glucose, thus making the release of energy last longer when eaten with fruit. I often sprinkle chia seeds in my fruit salads for this reason. These tiny little seeds also pack tons of protein.
One of the major advantages in my opinion of the high RAW diet on climbing trips is that it affords me more time to climb. There is never a long stop down for lunch because I am always eating throughout the day between climbs. I do however occasionally have to wait on climbing partners but can usually find others to climb with while they stuff their face with foods that will begin slowing them down later in the day.
In the past I would feast on gummy bears, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or turkey sandwiches and all sorts of other random junk. Sometimes I would even forgo eating altogether. But now that I am smart about what I eat I find I not only perform better while climbing, but I enjoy it more too.
A plethora of RAW food ready for a weekend of climbing.
Here is what a typical daily meal looks like for me when on weekend climbing trips.
Breakfast – A smoothie I prepared the evening before, sprouted grain cereal (not truly RAW, but still very healthy) toped with agave nectar, bananas, raisins and hemp seed milk or almond milk. Since the smoothies won’t keep very long I have started to dehydrate them into a giant fruit rollup. I will have this for breakfast on the second day. Unfortunately they don’t taste that well dehydrated because of the hemp seed and veggie powder mixture I put in them.
Lunch – Don’t really have “lunch” but I snack on lots of things throughout the day, nuts, seeds, fruits, etc.
Dinner – This becomes tricky. I usually pack a mixed green salad with fruits, but often end up going into town to eat with the crew. Most of the people I climb with rarely stay in camp to eat so I often compromise this meal. This is not ideal for me, but I am a very social individual and refuse to compromise friendship over food.
So next time you are out climbing, backpacking, biking, swimming or running try eating for energy. Eat lots of fruits and veggies that are easy to digest. I promise, you will enjoy a real boost of energy. When I first started eating RAW foods I almost immediately noticed an increase in energy, not just when climbing, but in every day life. I no longer went into a food comma after lunch at work, thus making me more productive. But in terms of my climbing, my ability almost immediately went up. I jumped from bouldering V1 to V3 and went from climbing 5.9 to getting my first 5.10b onsight.
The benefits of eating RAW foods are tremendous!
Here are some recommended Web sites to find out more about RAW food. These will eventually be added to a resource section of this site once I finish up the new design.
Living and Raw Foods
Give it to me Raw
Kristen’s Raw
Raw Fu
Gone Raw
Climbing, RAW Food by OrganicClimber
chia seeds, Climbing, diet, energy, fruit, RAW Food
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