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| 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.)
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| 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.
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| 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!
