Everything I will talk about here today is based on my experience. A few months ago I started to use PH testing to control my training and this experience has been amazing. It is true and proven that a alkaline body is a healthy body. Also it is proven that animal products, and processed foods make your body acid. So when I first started studying about vegan and raw foods, first thing I learned is that a vegan diet specially a RAW diet make your body more alkaline.
Since I don't believe in "no pain no gain" (I think you have to push but not go over, specially in training), and I focus a lot on recovery I started to test my PH pretty much everyday. The reason I started doing that is because when we exercise we make our body acid, so that is when nutrition comes into play! It is really important after training make your body alkaline, therefor the body can recover faster. The faster is your recovery is the closer you can schedule hard workouts. The closer hard workouts are the faster you will improve. Simple isn't it?
What I did was every time my PH was a little bit acid I will drop the intensity of that workout a little bit, if I was more alkaline I could push a little bit harder. Remember, alkaline means healthy body and with a healthy body you can push more the limits. Of course I still follow training plans and periodization, with weeks focus on recovery but with the PH test as a plus.
The result has been amazing, to have an idea, every year I do the race for the faith here is west palm beach, since I do my first Ironman of the year around may, I am always at the same period of training. So this year I drop 2 min form my previous year, and not only that, the week before I raced a half marathon and I did 10k a week after and still drop 2 min. Also the day before the race, I did 10 miles of speed interval. The other years I was doing an easy run the day before. Technically I should be tired, but I improved 2 min. So I extremely suggest in taking a closer look on your PH. It is really easy to test, you can buy PH straps at your local pharmacy and test on your urine.
The best thing you can do is focus on your food intake, SPECIALLY your recovery drink! This is one of my biggest fight, most recovery drinks on the market are not good because they have whey protein. Whey protein is extremely processed, is from milk therefor is ACID forming. The other bad thing about is MALTODEXTRIN!!! Malto is extremely processed, but is a cheap carbohydrate that is why the companies use, but it is ACID forming. Also Maltodextrin is not well absorb but the body and it contain is most of the sport drinks out there.
Lucky you there are brands out there they are natural or you can make your own recovery drink (RAW). Vega is a really company with lots of good products including recovery drinks.
Here is my recipe:
Chocolate "Milk" recovery drink
1/4 cup of Nutiva Hemp seeds
1 scoop of Garden of Life Raw protein
10oz of water or Zico coconut water
2 dates
3/4 of an apple (you can juice the apple if you prefer) or 1 banana
1 tbs of Raw cocoa
Put all in the blender and blend well! Note, you don't need a vitamix neither a powerful blender, just a regular blender will be fine.
Feel good and go RAW!
RW
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
How to start
Lots of people ask me how to start on a vegan diet, and usually give 2 options. I always compare food with running barefoot and how to start on a vegan diet I do the same thing.
The hard part: Do a 3 day juice cleanse, that will help you reset your body and after that you start on a vegan diet! Is hard to do like that so I really don't recommend if your diet is really poor, because it will be really hard. If you are already vegetarian or eat fairly good, this might be the best way to start. Just for reference, when people ask me about barefoot, I tell them if they want to go straight to barefoot, you need to learn how to run again, that means that you will start running 1/4 mile a day.
The other way is to start is little by little. For example, calculate the % of your diet is based on animal products. Once you figure it out, start taking 10% less a week, and start adding fruits and vegetables to replace those 10%. Every week lower a little. Change milk to almond/hemp/rice milk. It is really important to pace your self, specially because you will have a few detox symptoms during this phase. The good thing is, the worst you feel during the change the better you will feel later on! Detox (strong symptoms) can take up to 6 weeks, so pace yourself, but minor symptoms might take even longer. Just for reference, this is I usually suggest to start running barefoot, adding little by little into your daily mileage.
The best thing to do is to do is to add lots of greens on your diet, and make little challenges with yourself like: 1 day just juice, or one day no animal product, one day just fruit, one day all raw etc etc Add lots of smoothies (specially green), they taste good and satisfy a lot. .Also try to get a friend or family member to do with you, having company will help you. When you see, your taste will change, and your body will start craving more of the good stuff. The big secret is never get hungry!
A great thing to do is to start exploring new restaurants and tasting new dishes, look up restaurants in your area, avoid big chains and start exploring a new taste! When I first started I was impress on how a raw vegan diet is so tasty! There are wonderful restaurants and wonderful products vegan and raw out there you just need to try! You can always ask me here, because I try lots and lots of different products out there!
After you go vegan you can start going Raw!
Daily raw food intake:
Morning: 1 banana, 3 tangerines and 8 oz of perfect raw food (Garden of life)
Lunch: 4th generation market, I had the raw mock tuna wrap and 1 sweet potato enchilada, and raw "mozzarella" stick
Dinner: green smoothie with raw protein (garden of life) and hemp seeds (Nutiva)
Feel good and Go RAW!!!
RW
The hard part: Do a 3 day juice cleanse, that will help you reset your body and after that you start on a vegan diet! Is hard to do like that so I really don't recommend if your diet is really poor, because it will be really hard. If you are already vegetarian or eat fairly good, this might be the best way to start. Just for reference, when people ask me about barefoot, I tell them if they want to go straight to barefoot, you need to learn how to run again, that means that you will start running 1/4 mile a day.
The other way is to start is little by little. For example, calculate the % of your diet is based on animal products. Once you figure it out, start taking 10% less a week, and start adding fruits and vegetables to replace those 10%. Every week lower a little. Change milk to almond/hemp/rice milk. It is really important to pace your self, specially because you will have a few detox symptoms during this phase. The good thing is, the worst you feel during the change the better you will feel later on! Detox (strong symptoms) can take up to 6 weeks, so pace yourself, but minor symptoms might take even longer. Just for reference, this is I usually suggest to start running barefoot, adding little by little into your daily mileage.
The best thing to do is to do is to add lots of greens on your diet, and make little challenges with yourself like: 1 day just juice, or one day no animal product, one day just fruit, one day all raw etc etc Add lots of smoothies (specially green), they taste good and satisfy a lot. .Also try to get a friend or family member to do with you, having company will help you. When you see, your taste will change, and your body will start craving more of the good stuff. The big secret is never get hungry!
A great thing to do is to start exploring new restaurants and tasting new dishes, look up restaurants in your area, avoid big chains and start exploring a new taste! When I first started I was impress on how a raw vegan diet is so tasty! There are wonderful restaurants and wonderful products vegan and raw out there you just need to try! You can always ask me here, because I try lots and lots of different products out there!
After you go vegan you can start going Raw!
Daily raw food intake:
Morning: 1 banana, 3 tangerines and 8 oz of perfect raw food (Garden of life)
Lunch: 4th generation market, I had the raw mock tuna wrap and 1 sweet potato enchilada, and raw "mozzarella" stick
Dinner: green smoothie with raw protein (garden of life) and hemp seeds (Nutiva)
Feel good and Go RAW!!!
RW
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Benefits
You know there are plenty benefits form a Raw vegan diet but one benefit impress me more than anything: The Mental benefit! Is even hard to explain, but since I started on the raw diet, and specially after the detox my mind is working faster than ever!!!
The reason I say that, is for example long workouts I don't get the mental fatigue anymore therefore I am able to concentrate longer, having a better quality workout! Another example is I always wanted to do a newsletter for my company and I never had ideas, and today I did my second newsletter in less than a week! (if anyone wants to join the list contact me at www.rwtraining.net )
The body, mind and spirit feels like is in completely in harmony, the good energy just flow with zero effort, specially after my friend did Reiki, it is incredible. My body and mind just naturally seek positive energy! The cool part is, my entire life I was looking for that, and I study a lot of stuff like: The secret, Buddhism, Tao, Body Talk, Auyrveda, Yoga etc all of them mention positive energy, abundance and all that, BUT with raw foods, for me looks like that your body gets in Harmony, that state of positive energy happens naturally, and abundance becomes easier!! Is hard to explain! My view on that is, if the mind don't get tired, your body won't get tired either :)
Second great benefit is the sleep! Oh my god, my sleep quality is amazing! I can sleep 5 to 6 hours and wake up fresh, even with very hard training days. Maybe one day I can explain all that in a deep way in a book!!!
Day and Raw food intake!
Today was a busy day, I coached swim in the AM, came back home worked in the newsletter and some other stuff like my interview (http://firsttimeironman.com/richard-wygand.aspx ), then I went to a bike ride on my favorite time of the day, 1 PM I love when is hot, that is just one more excuse to drink more Zico (coconut water), after that did some TRX training, and in the end of the day our family time: Dog park, we love taking Bolt to the dog park!
Daily food intake:
1 banana before coaching
Breakfast Raw pancakes
Lunch green smoothies
50 miles bike ride (intervals), with raw gel, Zico coconut water, and fresh apple and celery juice.
Dinner: salad with sprout quinoa, sprout mug beans, spinach, kale and avocados
Feel good and go RAW!
RW
The reason I say that, is for example long workouts I don't get the mental fatigue anymore therefore I am able to concentrate longer, having a better quality workout! Another example is I always wanted to do a newsletter for my company and I never had ideas, and today I did my second newsletter in less than a week! (if anyone wants to join the list contact me at www.rwtraining.net )
The body, mind and spirit feels like is in completely in harmony, the good energy just flow with zero effort, specially after my friend did Reiki, it is incredible. My body and mind just naturally seek positive energy! The cool part is, my entire life I was looking for that, and I study a lot of stuff like: The secret, Buddhism, Tao, Body Talk, Auyrveda, Yoga etc all of them mention positive energy, abundance and all that, BUT with raw foods, for me looks like that your body gets in Harmony, that state of positive energy happens naturally, and abundance becomes easier!! Is hard to explain! My view on that is, if the mind don't get tired, your body won't get tired either :)
Second great benefit is the sleep! Oh my god, my sleep quality is amazing! I can sleep 5 to 6 hours and wake up fresh, even with very hard training days. Maybe one day I can explain all that in a deep way in a book!!!
Day and Raw food intake!
Today was a busy day, I coached swim in the AM, came back home worked in the newsletter and some other stuff like my interview (http://firsttimeironman.com/richard-wygand.aspx ), then I went to a bike ride on my favorite time of the day, 1 PM I love when is hot, that is just one more excuse to drink more Zico (coconut water), after that did some TRX training, and in the end of the day our family time: Dog park, we love taking Bolt to the dog park!
Daily food intake:
1 banana before coaching
Breakfast Raw pancakes
Lunch green smoothies
50 miles bike ride (intervals), with raw gel, Zico coconut water, and fresh apple and celery juice.
Dinner: salad with sprout quinoa, sprout mug beans, spinach, kale and avocados
RW
Green Smoothie Recipe
Here is one of my favorite green smoothies:
Fill up half of the blender with kale and spinach.
1 and 1/4 cup of water of apple juice (fresh)
4 dates or figs
1 banana
1 kiwi (take the skin out)
1/4 cup of Nutiva hemp seeds
1/4 cup of Raw Garden of Life Protein
1 tbs of ground flax seed (optional)
Blend well and enjoy! That makes a really big smoothie!
Feel good and Go RAW!
RW
Fill up half of the blender with kale and spinach.
1 and 1/4 cup of water of apple juice (fresh)
4 dates or figs
1 banana
1 kiwi (take the skin out)
1/4 cup of Nutiva hemp seeds
1/4 cup of Raw Garden of Life Protein
1 tbs of ground flax seed (optional)
Blend well and enjoy! That makes a really big smoothie!
Feel good and Go RAW!
RW
Raw pancakes
Recipe for the raw pancake that I post the other day!
1 banana
1 tbs of raw cocoa powder
4 dates (can use figs as well)
1/4 cup of milled Nutiva chia seeds
2 tbs of ground flax seed
1 tbs of raw macca powder (optional)
1/4 cup of wall nuts
In a food processor mix all ingredients until is all is in cake is solid. Note, add more chia seeds if is too "watery".
Make pancakes forms and serve. If you want to make it hot, put in the dehydrator for 15 min at 115 degrees.
You can top with fruits, agave nectar, raw honey or raw coconut nectar. Enjoy!
Feel good and go RAW!
RW
1 banana
1 tbs of raw cocoa powder
4 dates (can use figs as well)
1/4 cup of milled Nutiva chia seeds
2 tbs of ground flax seed
1 tbs of raw macca powder (optional)
1/4 cup of wall nuts
In a food processor mix all ingredients until is all is in cake is solid. Note, add more chia seeds if is too "watery".
Make pancakes forms and serve. If you want to make it hot, put in the dehydrator for 15 min at 115 degrees.
You can top with fruits, agave nectar, raw honey or raw coconut nectar. Enjoy!
Feel good and go RAW!
RW
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Mens Health Brazil
Funny just saw my article when I was at Mens Health Brazil, and now I am 15 kilos (33 pounds) less!!! I got to the weight that everyone said was impossible, 71 kg (159 pounds)!!! So for me impossible is a word that does not have in my dictionary!!!
Now with 71 kg (159 pounds), I think is time for another before and after article? LOL
All I have to say is don't let anybody tell you what is possible or impossible. Follow your dreams and Just do it!!!
Feel Good,
RW
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Busy
The last few days were pretty busy, I did a few clinics, training a lot, did the A1A half marathon as training. So I was just busy over all.
The half marathon went well, it was humid and hot, but was a great training run. One thing I did notice, and I have been noticing for awhile my recovery time is so fast!!! For example I ran the half at a good pace (1 hour and 26 min) that's a 6 30 pace (4'05'' per km), normally a training day like that (21km) at this pace would make me tired. But with raw foods I notice I recover so quick that even 48 hours after (when it hits) I was not tired at all. That is so good! During the race I tried my new Raw gel and it worked really good! By the way did any read the article in runners world the other day? about gels with arsenic in it? Please check it out: http://news.runnersworld.com/2012/02/16/refueling-with-arsenic/ It is insane!
I think I am seem more benefits from my detox now! My energy levels are insane! Today I did one of my best bike workouts and didn't even felt tired!
Sorry I missed my food intake on the last few days but I was very busy!
Today:
Breakfast: Garden of life raw meal
Snack: apple and dried figs
Lunch: salad with Kale, spinach, sprout lentils and peppers
snack apple
dinner: salad with kale, flaxseed ground, spinach, sprout alfalfa, cucumber, carrots and bell peppers
Feel Good and Go Raw!
RW
The half marathon went well, it was humid and hot, but was a great training run. One thing I did notice, and I have been noticing for awhile my recovery time is so fast!!! For example I ran the half at a good pace (1 hour and 26 min) that's a 6 30 pace (4'05'' per km), normally a training day like that (21km) at this pace would make me tired. But with raw foods I notice I recover so quick that even 48 hours after (when it hits) I was not tired at all. That is so good! During the race I tried my new Raw gel and it worked really good! By the way did any read the article in runners world the other day? about gels with arsenic in it? Please check it out: http://news.runnersworld.com/2012/02/16/refueling-with-arsenic/ It is insane!
I think I am seem more benefits from my detox now! My energy levels are insane! Today I did one of my best bike workouts and didn't even felt tired!
Sorry I missed my food intake on the last few days but I was very busy!
Today:
Breakfast: Garden of life raw meal
Snack: apple and dried figs
Lunch: salad with Kale, spinach, sprout lentils and peppers
snack apple
dinner: salad with kale, flaxseed ground, spinach, sprout alfalfa, cucumber, carrots and bell peppers
Feel Good and Go Raw!
RW
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