One of the benefits of eating a raw vegan diet, meaning a diet of fresh, raw vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, is the ability to condition your body almost effortlessly.

Why do I say almost effortlessly?

Here’s why conditioning your body is quite easy when you remove the obstacles… remove the toxins, processed foods, cooked foods and most unnatural substances from your diet and environment.

You see, when your body doesn’t have to continue to struggle with obstructions, meaning the toxins we just mentioned, it can respond much easier to physical activity, and not need much recovery, if any to longer or more frequent activities.

For example, recently I found myself at a new aquatic center near my home. I normally don’t swim often since most pools I’ve been to in the past in the area use a wide array of chlorine chemicals. To my surprise, this new center uses a salt based filtration system so I decided to enjoy the water.

To give you a quick background, the most I’ve probably swam in a pool throughout my entire life is 2-3 laps continuously without stopping. That’s been the extent.

I noticed that there was a requirement for eligibility in order to be able to attend evening ‘lap night’ and found that you must be able to swim at least 20 laps without stopping. Oh my, 20 laps? Without stopping? Based on the fact that I hadn’t swam for more than 2-3 in my entire life, I wasn’t sure about 20.

Well, always enjoying a challenge, I decided to see how many laps I could do… without stopping.

30.

I was a little sore for a few minutes, but soon felt normal and energetic. In fact, I felt I could have continued (energy wise) but was getting a little dizzy :).

Now I’m not special, anyone can do this if they remove the obstacles our bodies battle with every day when we eat cooked foods, processed foods, ingest toxins and dangerous chemicals as well as being exposed to toxins in our environment.

On a raw vegan diet your body easily stays conditioned and you won’t experience cramps, soreness and have plenty of energy to accomplish anything you want. Run 6 miles? Sure. Go hike a mountain? Of course! Swim 30 laps non-stop? Absolutely.

Just stay active regularly and eat a pure, raw, fresh, low fat, whole food diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.

And this isn’t just me, ask any raw vegan athlete and they’ll share the same story. I had a friend that could do most any exercise, in most any length of repititions or distance without exhaustion or muscle soreness. He could go on as long as he wanted and enjoyed every minute. Of course this was after he transitioned to a raw vegan lifestyle.

Another benefit to the raw vegan diet.

Peace!

Mark

Related:

Use these two exercises you can do at home, without expensive club memberships or equipment, to stay conditioned, lose weight or tone up.

Something most Americans overlook in today’s increasingly active and busy world is one of the simplest and most effective ways to avoid getting sick and dis-ease…

Sleep.

Our bodies are designed to heal themselves of anything, given the right environment and opportunity. Popular wisdom tells us to take this or that… although it normally only masks the symptoms and doesn’t ‘heal’. Only your body can heal itself of anything if you let it – nothing else. And that’s the key… letting it.

If you’re feeling under the weather or not yourself, the most effective and natural way to return to a state of good health is to take it easy! Rest, sleep… do nothing and let your body heal itself. Of course popular wisdom tells us that we need to get over that cold, flu or other illness fast (or even faster!) and get back to whatever you were doing (work, school, work :).

This idea of resting has been presented to me several times in the past few weeks and I’m certain it’s for a reason. We can easily get caught up with too much on our plates and not take the time to sleep properly and rest. Sleep deprivation and insomnia are at epidemic rates in the US and the decline in health and increase in obesity are equally staggering. A coincidence?

I believe it’s time to get back to basics, simplify our lives and take time to rest and get adequate sleep to allow us to live fully with health and happiness always.

What do you think?

To your best health!

Mark

www.VeganRawDiet.com

The second case of Mad Cow disease in the US was confirmed last week.

What’s interesting is that the USDA covered up this last case for seven months. It seems that the original test on the cow that died had mixed results (one positive and one negative) and that conclusive re-testing didn’t take place until just a few weeks ago. Seven months is a long time in my opinion and an indicator that the inspection system isn’t working.

Could it be pressure from outside sources to make sure beef exports continue and previous bans due to the first Mad Cow confirmation from countries like Japan and Taiwan were reversed?

Would it surprise you to know that currently the US only tests 1 in 90 cows? Back in 2003 it was 1 in 1,700. Japan tests every cow, European countries test 1 in 4.

I predict this is just the tip of the iceberg. With the manner in which meat is processed in the US, there is little chance of getting clean, disease-free, healthy (as nature intended it to be) meat on regular basis – in my opinion.

For example, did you know that the leftover pieces of a slaughtered cow is ground up and fed back to other cows? Well, it was the case until 1997 when they banned this practice. But they still feed cow remains to chickens and pigs. Dead chicken scraps are fed to cows, dead cow scraps are fed to chickens, dead pig scraps are fed to cows. And all the bacteria, disease, manure that’s around gets ground up and fed back into feed as well. This just circulates germs, bacteria and disease. It also makes the strains of viruses more resistant to antibiotics. It’s crazy! (but efficient) What happened to letting cows feed on grass?

Now let’s take hamburgers for example. Did you know that one hamburger can contain hundreds or even thousands of animals? Dr. Robert Tauxe, Chief of food-borne and diarrheal diseases branch of the CDC in a PBS Frontline interview in 2002 disclosed this strange fact. Years ago, when you got a pound of ground beef, it was usually from one or two cows. Not anymore thanks to efficiency in the meat industry.

And if that isn’t interesting enough, it’s been estimated that as much as 78% of ground beef contains bacteria spread by fecal matter. This is from a study by the USDA and quoted in many books and articles on the subject.

Cows stand around in manure every day. Have you ever visited a dairy or meat processing plant? In my area of the world outside of Phoenix, Arizona there are dozens of dairies. I drive by them almost daily and live within 5-10 minutes of many. One thing you’ll notice (or can’t miss) when you drive by is the incredible stench (my daughter usually plugs her nose and points it out – if I hadn’t noticed!). The cows are all crowded together, covered in mud and manure eating hay and feed. They don’t move around much and never see grass. Next door a farm is being sprayed with pestisides and heavy, diesel trucks are moving dirt as a highway is being built around the corner. Am I getting an appetite for a burger and glass of milk after seeing this?

Some of the material above was inspired by Morgan Spurlock’s new book “Don’t Eat This Book“. Haven’t finished it yet, but half-way through, I highly recommend it.

Read the whole mad cow article at Yahoo News.
Read the USDA Mad Cow coverup article at the Organic Consumers Asoociation.

I’m glad I’m a vegan

Mark
http://vegandiet.blogspot.com

To avoid sickness eat less; to prolong life worry less.
– Chu Hui Weng

Studies have shown that eating less prolongs life. It makes sense since the digestive system is probably the most overworked system in the body today. Did you know that digestion uses the more energy than anything else you do, especially when eating a conventional food (S.A.D.) diet. Ever get tired after a large meal? It’s your energy being directed to digesting your food.

Eating a living food diet, and eating less, lessens the burden on your digestive system and lets it work normally… allowing your body to run more efficiently and last longer.

Similarly, by letting go of the things in your life that you have no control over, and stop worrying, you free your energy towards better health and wellness.

To your best health!

Mark

You may recall the ads milk, cheese and yogurt producers have been running that claim three servings a day (3 a Day) of dairy helps burn fat.

The dairy producers rely mainly on one study from a University of Tennesse researcher that apparently is suspect because he receives funding from the dairy industry. Well, if you receive funding from an industry that you are conducting research for, then yes, I would call that suspect!

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which advocates a vegan diet and led by Neal Barnard MD, feels strongly enough about the fact this is largely a way to get people to eat more dairy (and feel good about it – in my opinion), that they have filed suit against dairy groups to stop using the ads.

There is more than just one study that concludes that eating dairy keeps you at the same weight or increases it, but also the dozens of side effects and links to health problems. Can these be discounted against just one study?

Read more about the suit at the Washington Post.

Peace, joy and health!

Mark
http://vegandiet.blogspot.com

This light, but satisfying Gazpacho soup is delicious!

What you’ll need:
(makes 1 serving, adjust if necessary)

• 2 tblsp extra virgin, cold pressed organic olive oil
• 2 large tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tblsp raw honey (optional)
• 2 tblsps lemon juice
• sea salt to taste
• fresh basil to taste
• 1/2 avocado (cubed)
• 1/2 red bell pepper (cubed)
• 2 stalks of celery (cubed)
• chopped parsley
• 1/4 yellow or red onion (chopped)

Make organic produce your first choice whenever possible.

How to make it:

First, blend the oil, lemon juice, sea salt, tomatoes, garlic and basil. Add small amount of water if necessary and blend until smooth.

Pour the soup into a bowl and add chopped vegetables.

Mix all ingredients and top with chopped parsely.

If you like a little spice, add a dash of cayenne pepper… wow!

This is a wonderful soup to start your evening meal, or make several servings for a full meal. Easy to make, satisfying and delicious!

Enjoy and all good things,

Mark
The Vegan Raw Diet

As you may recall, a directive from the Almond Board of California and backed by the USDA was put into effect in September of 2007 requiring all almonds to be pasteurized.

Read more…