Hi everybody,

First of all I would like to say that I am relatively new to this particular lifestyle and I am very interested in the positive effects of the raw food diet on my sports performance. I have been a vegan for quite a while and I have tried to make the transition slowly to a raw food lifestyle after reading loads of texts on how to do it right. I came across some problems actually and this is my first attempt to gather some information from people who have real life experience with this kind of thing.

I started with making smoothies based on hempseed and apples in the morning as breakfast every day, and gradually adding more raw components to my meals every day. This to the point I ate 90% raw everyday and only cooked some potatoes in the evening for a week. I had a bad expierence at some point that I did not have enough energy to swim anymore. I would like to tell you I swim for an average of 4 kilometres a day and travel a lot with my bike also. After the week on the 90 percent raw I felt my muscles hurt a lot, and I felt like I was burning protein as a fuel. I was afraid I was losing muscle-mass and I started cooking food again, eating uncontrollable and feeling sick.

My questions are actually:

- How do you know if you are eating enough? I was having trouble with eating so much fruit to serve my need for carbohydrates. I ate a lot of dried dates en apricots also. But when I calculated the amount of calories I consumed I came out on 1400 kilocalories a day. I know it's about the amount of carbohydrates in grams, but it seemed very low for my standards.
- What kind of tips do you usually give for an rawfood athlete? What is a good source for advice on creating meal plans for endurance sportsmen?
- What was I probally doing wrong to end up on the cooked foods diet again?
- Can someone post an example meal plan for a competition swimmer? I do a lot of sprinting and previously did very well of pastas and rice as a source of complex carbohydrates.
- What is a good source of complex carbohydrates in a raw food diet?
- What can you recommend to read for me?

Thank in advance for helping me out!

Check out the raw athletes site (Dr. Doug Graham): [foodnsport.com]

100 - 200m track sprinter, Usain Bolt--

"Bolt had his custom-made Pumas designed in a color to mirror his favorite root vegetable, the yam..."

[www.sogoodblog.com]

Sweet potato (yam) soup, juice, smoothie etc.

Good luck

mark,

Google Brendan Brazier, the Iron Man athlete--he engages in endurance sport daily. And do do further reading up on Doug Graham as EZ suggested. You will find that he advises waaaaaaaay more fruit than you were probably eating, because, as possibly happened with you, when you consume carbohydrates--their complexness is irrelevant for now--in deficit, your body does burn protein for fuel. And that's bad! Good luck and I hope you learn what you need to learn to succeed : )

I've found that for me it's important to have just the right amount of nuts and seeds in my diet - not too much, and not too little. In my experience 80-10-10 (the current raw food trend) might work well for some - at least temporarily - but for me, it allows too few nuts/seeds to stay satisfied. I've been raw for 23 years, and long ago lost my desire for cooked food.

Nuts and seeds are high in fats, but also high in energy and essential minerals. If I eat too many nuts/seeds/avocado/coconut, then I get stomach cramps when I run. If I eat too few, then I don't have the energy to sustain a long run.

Two handfuls nuts/seeds per day, or one handful nuts/seeds and 1/2 avocado (plus lots of fruits and some greens) is usually just about right for filling my energy/calorie needs. I'm female and only around 90 lbs, but your hands are probably bigger than mine, so two handfuls for you might be about the same as two handfuls for me.

I've found that it takes a lot of self-experimentation to find the exact right mix of raw food groups. My advice would be to try to get a good portion of all the essential micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), utilizing all of the raw food groups: fruits, veggies, greens, sprouted grains/legumes, nuts/seeds/avos/coconut, and seaweeds. Go moderate on the fats, but settle for the amount of fats that best enhances your athletic performance and your overall feeling of well-being.

A raw food diet that's somewhat moderate in nut/seed intake, might feel less confining and more satisfying than a diet that's overly restrictive and ends up with a cooked food binge.

To help cut cravings for cooked vegan starchy foods, you might occasionally enjoy adding some raw wheat germ to your salads, along with a cold-pressed hemp oil and lemon juice dressing.

Be open to changes along the way.

Texts won't give you all the answers; and in fact, I'm not aware of any texts on a raw food diet that are based on validated scientific research that's specific to a raw food diet. Very few raw food texts adequately cover the micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) requirements that are essential for maintaining a healthy raw food diet. Keep reading, but know that you will have something of your own to contribute.

Swim on!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2009 09:40PM by suncloud.