Fitness and Raw Foods

My Story

From that point on, not only was my fridge stocked with plenty of chicken breasts and ground turkey, but also eggs, cottage cheese and non-fat milk. But wait, not all that food will not be sufficient to gain muscle, I also had to purchase huge tubs of whey protein in order to meet my macronutrient goals for the day. And not just whey protein, but protein bars, cookies, meal replacements, you name it I bought it. I was a protein junkie!

So there I was hitting the weights and shoveling the food in like there was no tomorrow. Like any new weightlifter, I made gains quickly in strength and endurance in the beginning, but soon plateaued after a few months. This is when the wimps drop out they say. In order to bust through a plateau you had to switch up your routine and eat even more protein. So I did just that, heavier weights, more tubs of whey protein and guess what? I did not gain any more muscle and I was starting to feel a little sick. All this protein was making me constantly nauseous and I didn't want to look at another egg white omelet ever again.

After a few years of running around in a hamster wheel and spending literally hundreds of dollars on supplements that did not work, I finally threw in the towel. I trashed all my fitness magazines, all my whey protein garbage and decided to be "average" for the rest of my life. I then was diagnosed with food sensitivities to wheat and dairy products, along with Leaky Gut and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. So I cut out all the dairy products, but was still consuming a fair amount of lean meat, thinking I could "salvage" whatever muscle I did gain earlier. I was also still doing weightlifting, but not as intense as I was before.

A few more years had passed, I still felt nauseous and sick in my digestion system all the time. I knew something wasn't right but couldn't quite figure it out. Then I started researching digestive enzymes and came across the Raw Food Diet. Notsomuch a diet, but more of a way of life that includes eating fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds in their original, unaltered state. This interested me. Of course, like anyone who has never heard of eating only raw foods, I had the proverbial "Where do you get your protein??" question always stuck in my head. After doing some research, and experimenting on myself, I dispelled the protein myth and now follow a raw food plan. I feel great and have no plans of returning to the "bodybuilding diet" at all.

The Protein Hype: Magazines Profit Off You, Not the Other Way Around!

Why do you think there are so many advertisements in fitness magazines for protein supplements? Because they are trying to convince you that you need large amounts of protein to acheive your fitness goals. So you go out and buy from the supplement companies, who in turn make a profit and keep advertising in the magazines. It's a vicious, endless cycle. It was hard for me to realize that neither the supplement companies nor the magazines had my best interest at heart. It was all a money pit. It's okay to feel angry when you find out how gullible you have become... I was once gulliable too! But you don't have to be.

So How Much Protein Do you Need?

After much research, I have finally found an answer to how much protein you really need. NONE! Yes, none! Your body cannot utilize protein, it must break it down into amino acids before it can repair and build any muscle tissue. So why not eliminate the middleman and eat only amino acids? Amino acids are abundant in every living, raw food, which includes fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. All of them have amino acids. Eating a variety of raw foods is a great way to ingest all the amino acids that your body needs to build lean tissue mass.

Okay, How Much Protein Do you Really Need?

One pound of muscle is 454g. Your muscles are 75% water, so 454g x .75 = 340.5g. There are 340.5g of water in 1 pound of muscle. There's not much you can do about growing that 75% of the muscle, no amount of protein will cause it to increase so we will disregard that.

And that leaves us with 113.5g of tissue per pound of muscle. (454 - 340.5 = 113.5) Not a whole lot, right? So if you wanted to gain a pound of muscle, you would need 113.5g of amino acids, and 340.5g of water.

The most muscle any human can gain is 1 pound a week, ("Smart Exercise: Burning Fat, Getting Fit" by Covert Bailey) and that's really pushing it. Most bodybuilders agree that if you can gain 10 pounds in a year, you are doing good. That equals out to less than 1 pound a month! And if all you need to gain 1 pound of muscle is 113.5g of amino acids, well that doesn't seem too hard does it? So why on earth are people eating upwards of 100g of protein A DAY?? You just don't need that much people.

Stop being brainwashed by all the hyped-up magazines that tell you the only way to build muscle is to ingest large amount of animal products. It's just not true. And the only ones who are turning a profit from your hard-earned bucks are the supplement companies along with the meat and dairy industry. They do not have your best interest in mind, they know you don't need that much protein but they also know they will be out of business if they ever say so.

Being a Raw Food Athlete

One area I did struggle with is getting enough calories. I always had the bodybuilding mindset of low-calorie, high protein diets to keep bodyfat low, so when I switched to raw foods, I ate the same volume of food, but it was much less calorically dense so it was hard to eat more in terms of volume. It's like eating a container of yogurt for breakfast or half a watermelon, they have about the same amount of calories but one is a whole lot more food! But with eating raw foods I discovered you can really eat as much as you want and not gain bodyfat. I eat until I am full and have not gained any bodyfat, in fact I think I look more lean and defined.