Fighting Cancer With Food, Pink Ribbons Inc. and a New World Record by Vegan Athlete Patrick Baboumian

Vegan Athlete Patrick Baboumian

Update

I have been very emphatic in this blog on how we have more control over cancer than we think.  We can change how hospitable our bodies are to cancer by the food we eat, the chemicals we expose ourselves to and the positive or negative thoughts we have. I wanted to bring a very interesting lecture to your attention.  Roots Market in Olney, MD will be hosting a program titled,"Fighting Cancer with Food".  It will take place on Monday October 21st.  You can find more detailed information here.

There is also a documentary titled,"Pink Ribbons, Inc." which is an expose on this seemingly humanitarian fund raising event.  You can view it here on Chris Wark's latest blog post.

Power Vegan Athlete Patrick Baboumian

I can't tell you how many times I encounter crazy biases against a plant based diet.  I remember one woman who heard about the way I eat and she said in response, is her hair falling out?  People with zero knowledge about nutrition are usually the most outspoken.  The idea that there is no possible way to be healthy without eating meat is so pervasive that it sometimes drives me a little crazy.  Truth, studies and science be told, the healthiest most longest lived people in the world thrive on a plant based diet.  And no, vegans are not a bunch of weak waifs!

I absolutely loved an email I received about vegan athlete, Patrick Baboumian.  He recently carried the most weight ever and broke the world record for most weight carried for 10 meters.  You can read the article here.

October Hiatus

I will have very limited internet access for the month of October.  I hope to post but I can't make any promises.  I'm not falling off the face of the Earth and I'll tell you all about it when I get the chance!  Happy October!

Have a great Day!

Feeding Our Children The Absolute Best Nutrition

When I was in the hospital after giving birth to my son, our diet came up in conversation with the nurse.  I told her that we are vegan.  She gave me a very worried look.  Although there are many doctors (Phycisians Committee for Responsible Medicine) and nurses who are more informed about nutrition, it seems that nutritional ignorance is what is most prevalent in the medical community.  As seen in this clip, they barely touch upon the topic when they are in school, so by design they are prepped to feed the pharmaceutical money-making machine.  The nurse called the nutritionist to visit with us - presumably to set us straight.  We told the nutritionist what our dietary choices are and being far more informed than the nurse, she had no problem with it and just smiled at having been called at all.  I have never fed my children any dairy and I can assure you, they have strong bones and bare no semblance to slithering octopi.

If, however, I were to feed my kids plenty of dairy foods, take them to McDonald's, let them eat whatever candy, soft drinks or junk food that so liberally is given to children these days, no one would ask me about the absence of nutrients in their diet...unbelievable!  I read this article and really thought you should too.  I met Dr. John McDougall, MD during a Q & A session in California at Danny Vierra's Health and Healing Crusade.  I consider him to be a pioneering physician who dared to do his own research and educate himself in regards to the consequences our dietary choices.  Please take the time to read this very important article.

Arian Foster is a running back for the Houston Texans.  With adult diseases becoming prevalent among children, he has determined to be a good role model to those who look up to him.  He consequently has decided to become a vegan.  Take a look at this clip where he relates his reasoning in regards to his diet and lifestyle.

Enjoy the journey!

Body Building on a Plant Based Diet

Vegan Derek Tresize

Nothing annoys me more than when I hear people say that you need to eat meat to build muscle.  I am very non-confrontational and when a debate heats up I am usually the first to bow out. So when I hear people start spouting off about how necessary it is to eat meat, I usually just grit my teeth and bear it.  In this post I want to showcase some amazing body builders who fly in the face of conventional wisdom and have defied what people constantly say is not possible.  Yes, you absolutely can build muscle without eating meat.  Just look at these people!

Andreas Cahling is a Swedish body builder who competed in the 70's and 80's.  Be sure to click on his link.  I love this quote that I found from him:

"My idea of optimum nutrition is rather complicated, but I can give you an outline of it fairly quickly. I firmly believe in fresh goods, preferably raw, so their enzymes are still intact. Cooked foods also have many of the minerals turned inorganic, so raw food seems best to me, and had certainly worked well. I also believe in very little animal protein, other than some raw milk products. I also believe in taking goat's milk, since it is more easily used by the human body. Beef is totally taboo, since it is loaded with saturated fats, uric acid and chemicals from the steroids farmers feed their cattle.

"Many bodybuilders have said that nutrition is 75% of the battle in bodybuilding. I would go a step farther and say that bodybuilding is as much as 90% nutrition, and good nutrition can make or break you in the sport."  Please read the entire article here  (If this link doesn't work, go to worldclassbodybuilding.com and look up Andreas Cahling 10 Rules for Body Building Success.)

Raw Vegan Wade Lightheart

You should also look up Bill Pearl and Luiz Freitas.  I could not obtain permission to use their photos, but please take the time to view their photos via the links provided. These men were huge in their heyday. You'll have to scroll down for the Freitas photo (on the cover of MuscleMag), I couldn't find an official site for him. I did manage to get in contact with Derek Tresize, Wade Lightheart and Sherif Kamal for permission to use their photos. Click here for Derek Tresize' very interesting bio.  Markus Rothkranz has a how-to video about raw vegan body building.  

Raw Vegan Sherif Kamal

Sherif Kamal has a great site called Nature's Fitness Model.  Athletes such as the ones featured in this post have done much to bring the raw food lifestyle mainstream.  These fitness competitors feel that their bodies are so much cleaner and more efficient on a plant based diet.  What's most impressive is when they win competitions against meat-eating body builders.  If you have the time, read what fitness competitor Michelle Batterman and model Lauren Whelan have experienced with raw foods.  You can find their testimonials under the section titled "Natural Bodies".  What these women share is very inspiring! 

Ahem, excuse me?  Who was it that said you need meat to build muscle?

Enjoy the Journey!

Raw Foods and Athletic Performance

One of my favorite sections of the book The pH Miracle (see previous post) is titled "Green Athletes" on pp. 66 and 67.  Dr. Young has had many impressive clients including a couple of bi-athletes for the 2002 Olympics, the top soccer team from Trinidad, and the West Point Gymnastics Team.  He even consulted Stu Middleman, an ultra-marathoner, who ran from San Diego to New York City in an astounding 56 days - powered by alkaline foods.

Brendan Brazier

Dr. Young performed a study while working with the West Point Gymnastics Team.  He made two groups from 11 gymnasts and supplemented one of the groups with concentrated greens, pH drops to alkalize their water and a pendant to deflect electro magnetic frequencies.  He did not implement the entire pH Miracle program.  In other words, they did not change their diet save the supplementation.  The results were astonishing.  The group that received the supplementation outperformed the non-supplemented group by almost 100 percent.  They increased in strength and endurance and had faster recovery times.  They also had better attitudes towards their training sessions.

Tim Van Orden

There are many athletes who have eschewed the conventional wisdom of obtaining their protein from meat and have made great gains because of it.  A couple of notable athletes in this category are Ironman tri-athlete Brendan Brazier and Tim Van Orden.  Both these athletes are mostly raw vegan and continually win races in their respective divisions.  I have heard testimonials from athletes that say that their bodies recover much more quickly from their training sessions on a plant based diet, meaning that they could train more frequently.  More frequent training sessions means faster and better competition times.  They most definitely have an advantage over other athletes who need more time to recover from their training sessions.  Tim Van Orden states that aging is no longer an issue in his performance.  He easily outperforms athletes that are much younger than him.  He has a very interesting YouTube clip in which he talks about where he gets his protein.  Brendan Brazier is featured in several articles by Natural News.   Check out this particular article!  (There is a typo in this article, Brendan mentions using ham protein.  I'm sure he meant hemp protein.)  Celebrity nutritionist Kimberly Snyder also has an excellent post on plant based diets for fueling athletic performance.  In this post she tackles the issue of animal based protein and how it can actually hinder optimal performance.  I know I have just given you a lot of links to check out, but the information is so good and worth taking the time to look at.

Using Supplements

Dr. Young has a chapter in  The pH Miracle where he explains what the best supplements are.  This chapter is very informative!   (Please pick up a copy of this book for his extensive information on this topic.)  He highly recommends concentrated greens as well as an alkalizing diet.  The greens he is referring to are grasses such as barley grass, wheat grass, kamut grass and dog grass among others. (Sun Warrior, linked below, carries concentrated greens.)  Find a high quality supplement that is organic and dehydrated below 118 degrees so that it can retain all the beneficial live enzymes. He also recommends using pH drops.  You'll need to pick up the book for the rest of what he recommends!

Brendan Brazier mentions foregoing the highly processed energy gels that are available on the market and make your own.  He makes his by using agave nectar, dates and lemon juice.  If you want to stay away from agave, try coconut palm sugar, dates, lemon juice and enough water to blend or process this mix and make it into a gel. You could also use raw honey.

I can't stand those awful sport drinks.  You are far better off drinking coconut water.  Here is an excellent article on Natural News about the amazing benefits of coconut water and how it contains higher quality electrolytes than the toxic sport drinks that are available on the market.

Don't forget to use chia seed!  The Aztecs used chia seed as well as the Mayans.  The Aztec runners would fuel their bodies with chia and consequently did not dehydrate during their distance running.  Here is a blog post that covers this topic.

Lastly, if you are interested in a plant based protein, I highly recommend Sun Warrior.  As you probably would guess, I'm not a fan of most of the protein supplements available on the market - whether from whey or soy.  I don't like them.  I would much rather use something that grows from the earth rather than something manufactured in a chemistry lab.  Products that are entirely from plants, organic and dehydrated at low temperatures do not tax the liver with all the chemical byproducts found in manufactured protein supplements. Not only do natural plant based sources deliver high quality protein, they also have the added advantages of fighting disease (including cancer) and nourishing the body.  All organic foods that come from the earth have this attribute.  While they are known for their high nutritional value, they also boast a broad spectrum of other benefits.  Check out Sunwarrior's newest product, Sunwarrior Blend here. 

Coming up:  Body-building on a plant based diet.

Enjoy the Journey!

Famous Vegan or Vegetarian Bodybuilders and Athletes

I was searching for raw recipes online when I found this clip on youtube.  I had seen it before but had forgotten about it.  It is incredibly inspiring.  If you think that you will become a skinny, protein deficient waif from a plant based diet, think again!

Watch this youtube video!

You may need to right click on the link and open in a new window.  I can't figure out why you tube has this glitch in some browsers.

Enjoy!