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

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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Well, my wedding day is almost here and I managed to complete our Kickstarter project for Adventure Naturals. I knew I could get it done, but a small part of me freaked out when my business parter had to cancel our shoot last week due to flooding in his house. But we were able to shoot Tuesday morning, and I managed to edit the video in a short amount of time. It’s not perfect, but it will do until I get back from the Honeymoon and redo the entire thing!

I hope you will take a moment to check out our project and consider donating. Donating as little as $5 gets you an energy bar. We are trying to raise $5,000 on Kickstarter, but we really need $10,000 to get started, so please, keep on giving after the $5,000 goal is met. You still get gifts for the donation and we get closer to what we actually need to start.

Anyway, I will be out of pocket for the next week and a half (going on a cruise with my lovely new wife), but my business partner will be answering any emails and messages through Kickstarter. It’s always been my dream to run my own business, and what better business to start than a raw food company? It truly combines all my passions. So, please, help my dream become a reality

Climbing, Cross Training, Cycling, Health & Fitness, Nutty Friday, RAW Food, Recipes, Running, Smoothie Tuesday, Trip Reports, Uncategorized by OrganicClimber
business, energy bar, food, kickstarter, RAW
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Whenever people ask me what blender I suggest, I always tell them the Vita-Mix 5200, and this was even long before I was an affiliate (offering free shipping). In my opinion there is no other option if you are going to be making smoothies every day. There are numerous reasons for getting a Vita-Mix 5200, so I have composed a list of reasons to make the investment.

1. Ease of use – It’s just simpler. Just this morning I was trying to make a smoothie using my old Cuisinart blender that my fiancé currently has at her apartment. It was a very difficult process. Ever so often, I would have to stop the blender, take a spoon, and push the fruit back down into the blades. That is rarely ever needed when using the Vita-Mix. The base of the hopper is wide and the blades are flat. Things just blend well in the Vita-Mix! The two horsepower motor will pretty much blend rocks. This ends up being a huge time saver too, as blending your smoothie will only take seconds – and is fuss free!
2. Tamp it down – There are occasions where you will want to blend a large amount of fruit or create something like a sorbet, or a smoothie without much fluid to help the blades turn and process the contents of the hopper. The Vita-Mix comes equipped with a tamper that can be used to press down the contents without having to stop the blender. This is something other commercial grade blenders don’t offer. This again makes for an easier smoothie making experience.
3. Making breads – With a Vita-Mix you can easily knead sprouts and grains to make bread. I have made a couple of different raw breads using the Vita-Mix.
4. Chopping Nuts – The Vita-Mix 5200 is a variable speed blender that allows you to perform tasks such as chopping nuts. I have used this a couple of times to chop nuts for energy bars. It’s also good for creating things like almond flower and grinding flax seed to powder.
5. Breaking down the cell wall – With it’s two horsepower motor, the Vita-Mix blender will break down the cell wall of fruits and vegetables, releasing a plethora of nutrients otherwise not available from chewing.
6. Overall health – Owning a Vita-Mix blender will improve your overall health and well-being. Because of it’s ease of use you will find yourself making delicious smoothies and other wonderful recipes a lot more frequently. The only time I ever don’t make a smoothie for breakfast is when I meet eat at a restaurant with friends. As a result of owning this wonderful machine you will be giving your body wonderful nutrients provided by raw foods.
7. It’s easy to clean – The hopper is not dishwasher safe, but is very easy to clean. Simply place some dish soap in the container, fill half way with water, and blend on high power for a few seconds to a couple minutes and your container is clean.

If you are still using a conventional blender I would strongly encourage you to invest in a commercial grade blender; especially if you are making smoothies on a daily basis. The machine comes with a 7-year warranty. It’s guaranteed to work like new for seven years. For somebody consuming a large amount of raw foods daily and using a blender regularly, performance and a long lasting piece of equipment is key.

Before purchasing my Vita-Mix I did A LOT of research because of the price tag, but I firmly believe I made the right decision. I have never regretted it.

RAW Food, Smoothie Tuesday by OrganicClimber
5200, food, RAW, smoothie, Smoothie Tuesday, Vita-MIx, vitamix
1 comment

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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
1 comment

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I’m not sure how else to describe my new found addiction to running and cycling that is now competing with my climbing regime. I never in a million years thought this would happen to me. I mentioned before in other posts how I couldn’t understand my other climber friends lust for anything other than climbing, but now I am right there with them. Climbing is STILL and will remain my first and primary love. Even thought I am running and cycling more, it is simply because it’s easier to do without killing an entire evening.

Anyway, since purchasing my road bike for the purpose of endurance training as I previously posted I finally got go head out on a long ride today. I also left the homemmade gels at home and only brought a bottle of water with the juice of one lime, some agave nectar and sea salt for the purpose of replenishing electrolytes. The reason for doing this is to deprive my body of carbohydrates and teach it to burn fat as energy.

By teaching my body to burn fat for energy I will be able to perform better in a carb depleted state, maintain more energy for a longer period of time and build up a higher tolerance for pain as Matt from No Meat Athlete mentions in his Running Shorts blog.  This is important because there is more energy available in stored fat, this energy source is also more readily available; not to mention sugar burns a lot quicker.

I was also recently reminded of this concept in Brendan Brazier’s Thrive, an amazing book on sports nutrition from the standpoint of a Vegan. Brendan is a huge advocate of eating a highly alkaline diet, which I am also a big proponent of. Our bodies maintain a constant PH level of 7.35, but it has to work hard to maintain that level of PH. We can help our body out thought by eating less acid forming foods and more alkaline foods.

The cleaner and more alkaline foods we eat the less our body has to work to maintain a PH level of 7.35, thus making our bodies more efficient machines and giving us more energy. This is why I tend to eat more raw foods close to race days. I usually shoot for a 100% raw diet in the three days before, but so far have fallen short, mostly due to Holiday parties at work. In the future temptations to deviate will be minimal (at least I hope).

You can find Alkalizing / Acidifying food chart here.  Its best to avoid as many acidifying foods as you can, but many of them are still healthy for you, so it’s important to balance them out with more alkalizing foods.

As far as today’s ride… it was tough. It was extremely windy and there were lots of hills. You can view the elevation profile below the route map. I rode just over 35 miles in about 2 hours and 20 minutes. My time and speed weren’t too bad considering the conditions. I also was feeling a bit light headed at times because of the lack of carbohydrate intake. It was all for the good of endurance training though.

After getting out of the winds on more rural roads without having cars whiz by be at 60mph, the course become enjoyable and I had fun soaking in the quiet countryside, seems like I saw lots of farmers out working too. There were a number of hills though I didn’t get a lot of momentum going up and barely made it to the top. One of them I actually thought I might have to get off my bike and walk, thankfully I pulled through though. Somehow I was able to do quite well on the hills though and powered up them pretty will, which was surprising since I haven’t been on a ride in over a month.

I am looking forward to more and longer rides like this thought. I plan on riding the Hotter than Hell 100 in Wichita Falls in August 2010. I don’t know if I will do the 100K or the 100 mile yet though. More than likely it will just be the 100k. There are a couple other guys I climb with in the Texas Mountaineers that ride the race every year so I will more than likely have somebody to ride with.

On a side note I should be getting back into the climbing grove starting in January, so I will be able to start bringing you some climbing content for a change! Something I am excited about. Also, be looking for the announcement of a new climbing area I know about as well. It will likely excite a lot of trad climbers in North Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. That is all I can say for now, but if you dig through past blog entries you will see more information I have leaked!

Uncategorized by OrganicClimber
100K, acidifying, alkaline, alkalizing, Brendan Brazier, carbohydrates, carbs, Climbing, cycling, endurance, energy, fat, food, Hotter Than Hell 100, Running, Sports Nutrition, sugar, Thrive, training, vegan
9 comments

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Wow, it just dawned on me that I have been into RAW foods for about a year now. My first real exposure to RAW foods was 4th of July weekend while visiting friends in Austin. I had known they were RAW foodies for a while and even joked around about it with a mutual friend. I merely saw it as “extreme veganism” and never once did I stop to realize the true health benefits from the diet. But that weekend I had my first taste of RAW foods and actually enjoyed it. Prior to this you would rarely even see a vegetable on my plate – much less going into my mouth. After realizing there were lots of ways to eat and prepare RAW foods I began researching it on my own when I returned home.

By the end of the month I knew I wanted to start eating RAW foods. I started off easy at first, making smoothies in the morning and snacking on RAW foods throughout the day. After I purchased a dehydrator I started having simple RAW meals for lunch, but after realizing that was pretty hard to do every day, I replaced the “meals” with salads. Pretty soon I was eating around 70-80% of my diet RAW. At the time I was still eating meat and had zero intention of giving it up, I had been a hardcore omnivore up until that point.

However my omnivore mentality slowly went away. The healthier I ate the less I wanted to eat meat. I remember the day I decided to give it up. Before heading off to a one day climbing trip with a friend I decided I would no longer eat meat, however I inadvertently purchased a Lunchable to snack on, thinking it was only cheese and crackers; I had forgotten momentarily while in a hurry to leave the gas station that they contained ham. I mention this because it led to me eating a huge greasy burger and fries from Whataburger on the way home that evening. My friend had offered to pay for dinner since I drove, so I didn’t want to pass it up. I remember feeling slightly sick afterwards, but that, for the most part was the last time I had meat.

I have to admit though I have not held 100% to that standard, I occasionally slip in a slice of peperoni pizza with my veggie supreme and one time attempted to eat a very rarely cooked piece of red meat, but it just turned my stomach into knots. I have also very willingly had fish on occasion, although I could probably count those times on one hand.  I occasionally consider introducing chicken and fish back into my diet on a more regular basis, but the thought is usually fleeting, all I have to do is think of all the health benefits I have had from becoming vegetarian.

I don’t even know that I would consider myself a “raw foodie,” in fact I prefer not to be called that because that is not really who I am. However, my RAW food intake is usually pretty high, I don’t think it ever slips bellow 50% on any given week and on a good week I find myself eating as much as 80% of my foods RAW. The main reason I don’t go 100% RAW is primarily fellowship with other people. My life revolves around it, and I never want to have to pass up a social occasion to spend time with people and I don’t want to have friends strictly based on my diet, I would miss out on so much.

As for the health benefits? Well there have been many. I am rarely tired in the afternoons after lunch now, I never feel as though I need a nap. I feel fully functional off only six hours of sleep, sometimes less. I have a lot more overall energy than I had before. I dropped 10 pounds and keep a stable weight. My climbing ability also took a big jump as well once I started eating a high RAW diet; my cardiovascular health is also really good. I also have seen clearer skin and a few benign tumors I have shrink a bit. I am pretty amazed at the changes that have happened to me, it pretty much keeps me motivated to continue on this journey.

For anybody considering starting a RAW food diet I would say just start off simple; make smoothies in the morning, eat salads, snack on fruit throughout the day and just make wiser food choices overall. I believe you can improve your overall health simply by increasing your intake of fresh fruits and veggies, but at the same time you can’t expect to continue eating junk and see positive results. I liken it to an over weight person who makes lots of poor food choices and becomes frustrated when they don’t drop pounds after running and working out. It’s all about making wise choices, and I will admit I’m not perfect. There are STILL times I make poor choices. Usually it’s because I simply want to enjoy a certain food. I always enjoy it going down, but often times the after effects are not so great.

But I think the most important advice I can give is to not let food become an idol. People will always be way more important than food, thus why for me personally I will never go 100% RAW.  I also won’t do something that I don’t enjoy and for me maintaining an all RAW lifestyle would be too much work. Find a balance that works for you and go for it.

Health & Fitness, RAW Food by OrganicClimber
energy, food, health, junk food, omnivore, RAW, vegan, vegetarian, veggies
2 comments

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My apologies from neglecting the blog this past week. I was in a car accident earlier this week. I was rear ended on the highway while sitting at a stand still in traffic. The guy behind me must not have been paying attention and plowed into my little Toyota Matrix at about 50+ MPH (he was driving a giant Dodge truck with a humongous brush guard). That is just my guess at how fast he was going, but with the damage it did to my car it had to be at least that fast. My body is still recovering from the accident. My back, neck and right shoulder are still very sore. Hopefully more rest and a couple additonal trips to the Chiropractor will fix me up.  So, this past week has been spent recovering and shopping for a new car since mine will likely be totaled out.

Anyway, I got the idea for this post partly because of the accident. I have been spending so much time resting and shopping for cars online I have gotten lazy and didn’t make my daily salad a couple of times this week. One of those days I decided to stop at Kroger on the way into work and pick up some fruit to eat for lunch. During my visit I remembered Lara Bars were available there, so I picked up a couple of those as well. For $6 I was able to get two Lara Bars and a tropical mix fruit cup, which was very tasty. The Lara Bars provided the boost of calories needed to make it a substantial meal.

I was quite thrilled that I could walk into Kroger and provide myself with delicious RAW foods without breaking the bank. Had I gone to Urban Eatz, as I usually do when I forget to pack my lunch, I would have spent $8 on a large salad that isn’t totally RAW. The only down side to the food purchased at Kroger is that none of it was organic. It’s kind of a shame that Lara Bars are not organic, but if they were they would definitely cost more. I am just going to have to start making more on my own to bring on days I am feeling lazy and don’t want to make a salad.

I will definitely bee keeping this in mind for my trips to Colorado this summer. Rather than eating greasy fast food I can just swing into a Kroger (or just about any other grocery store) and pick up up a pre-packaged fruit cup and a Lara Bar. It will be even better if I could find a Whole Foods, they are more likely have an organic option on the fruit cups.

Case in point, living a RAW food lifestyle (or increasing your RAW food intake) is not quite as hard as some people make it out to be. Granted I will never be eating a 100% RAW diet, it is pretty easy to maintain a high RAW diet without putting tons of effort into preparing elaborate meals that take hours to prepare. Those meals have their place, but I believe it’s important to keep it simple.

As far as my car shopping goes, I think I have pretty much settled on the Subaru Outback. It’s not offical yet, but it is most likely going to be the car I end up getting. Once I make a final purchse thought I will post about it, because my lifestlye as a climber has a huge impact on my purchase. It’s crazy how much life decesions revolve around climbing.

p.s.  Sorry for the crappy picture. It was taken with my iPhone. I did not have my real camera with me at the time.

Climbing, RAW Food by OrganicClimber
Climbing, easy, food, fruit, LaraBars, lifestyle, meal, RAW
5 comments

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