30DC = 30 Day Challenge for those that were wondering about the cryptic abbreviation.

As you may remember this challenge could have had a slightly better start… being ill is not exactly the most fun thing to be when you’re embarking on something new and exciting. Yesterday was really tough and I was most utterly unexcited about the food I ate. I’m sure it was beneficial and helped my body fight the illness, but I craved cooked food so much. All I could think of was pies, chips and burgers… I didn’t succumb.

Today is the third day and I’ve yet to have breakfast (it’s 10:54 am as I write this). An apple have been consumed and a glass of water and some vitamin C (supposedly helps to fight colds, yet to be confirmed). I will soon have breakfast and have put some fruit to defrost and soaked some oats (again the oats are not raw, but this is more of a high raw attempt). These ingredients will be used for my regular breakfast smoothie.

But I wanted to talk about something that I think is more important namely “follow through”. I’m doing this challenge in an attempt try and start a new routine and hopefully make it last. This can be difficult as the first couple of weeks will always be the most “inconvenient” as I’m forced to change my behavioral patterns and change takes a lot of effort. I’m hoping that if I involve myself in the process of making food, preparing and learning about it I will be more inclined to continue once the first 30 days have gone.

It’s all too easy for me to rely on Johanna to make me all the food and so forth, but I need to be independent in this challenge. I have found a raw food chef (Russel James) that inspires me with his absolutely amazing creations. Clearly I won’t have time, nor do I want to, style my food like him… but if I can pick up a few good recipes that can help motivate me to continue, then great.

Not sure about what I will be eating today, but I’m sure I’ll figure something out with the help of Johanna. Now my stomach is starting to make me aware of his presence so I will need to go make that breakfast smoothie.

/ Christoffer

To those of you who know me this should come as no surprise, I tend to embark on what some might consider rather extreme challenges. Raw vegan is really not that extreme in my opinion seeing as though I’m already vegan, and have been for the past 6 years or so… still alive.

Today marks the start of the challenge and I have to admit I wouldn’t have minded a somewhat better start… I’m home ill, very likely due to some people at work refusing to stay home when they are ill. Few things annoy me more than those that decide, despite what most would consider obvious signs (such as sneezing, snotty noses etc), to goto work and quite clearly spread the germs.

I remember reading some study that said a significant portion of people who get ill at work have gotten ill due to colleagues who refused to stay home when they clearly should have. Unfortunately I don’t have the figures to substantiate the statement, but I bet a rather significant amount of money is spent on sick leave due to irresponsible co-workers.

Anyway, enough whining.

For quite some time I’ve been having  some most awesome smoothies each morning, smoothies which I’m quite happy to continue having for this challenge. They aren’t particularly complex or anything, but filling and well, tasty. They consist of blueberries, mango, bananas, walnuts, soaked oats and water. The oats are technically not raw, but I love having them because they really make the smoothie very filling and keeps me going for quite a while (good few hours).

For lunch Johanna made a big nice light salad topped with sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds. I decided to add a drizzle of olive oil for extra moisture. Lunch was complemented with the most awesome raw balls ever… think Johanna will share the recipe on her blog.

On a fairly related topic I’ve also decided to create a fairly well and researched resource of information about the effects of eating raw vegan. While I’m pretty convinced myself about the benefits of a vegan raw diet I would like for it to be substantiated with solid research and studies confirming the alleged benefits. I think my first mission will be to research all the vitamins and minerals and get those out of the way. I’ll try and find studies supporting various claims.

A reason for doing this is that I find both sides of the argument (for and against a vegan diet) often very uninformed, and arguing mostly from either a politically or emotionally point of view. Personally I can also get caught up in the same drama, but I try and remain as informed as I possibly can. A huge problem is that most people arguing against a vegan diet are not really interested in hearing any arguments at all, but rather verifying and justifying their already made up mind.

Vegans do tend to be more informed, but also here a clear bias is to be expected as with anything else. I mean, I clearly am biased as well, but aren’t we all somehow? This is also why I think science is perfect as it has no side. No, it doesn’t. Science really doesn’t have a side, the people behind might, but science itself doesn’t. Science is simply about establishing a “… systematic knowledge-base or prescriptive practice that is capable of resulting in a correct prediction, or reliably-predictable type of outcome…”

I think that’s a very good definition (fetched from wikipedia). Science really is all about repeating something so as to prove it’s predictability.

I intend on trying to show various health benefits such as reduced incidents of various forms of cancer, reversal of diabetes and so forth. There are some very intriguing studies that I intend to grapple with such as EPIC which is intended to display link between cancer, environment and diet, VERY interesting. Already the study have shown what can only be considered very convincing arguments for not eating such massive amounts of animal products as the west is currently doing.

Anyways, this post is already getting quite long, but I invite anyone to comment and explore this with me. I do beg that any emotionally and politically motivated agendas be kept away from the discussion. Science shall rule here.

Regards,

Christoffer

Oh, hello there. It’s been a while since my last update and well quite a few things have happened since. After my last post I unfortunately had a somewhat bad accident rendering me unable to move and hence unable to workout. This gave me an involuntary break of about a week. After this break I couldn’t do the full workout because any pressure on the left foot (the one which was injured) would ensure a constant stream of blood…

Either way, I did continue with upper body and when possible legs through squats (which actually seemed fine!). When I started this challenge I was obviously hoping that there would be a noticable difference and I must say I believe this goal was realized, you be the judge.

Before - 30 day workout	Before - 30 day workout
Before - 30 day workout	After - 30 day workout
After 02 - 30 day workout	After - 30 day workout
After 04 - 30 day workout	After 05 - 30 day workout

Yupp, so there you have it. 30 days of fairly intense workout. I’m pleased with the results and will definitely continue in some sort of fashion, only have to find a new exercise program to keep myself interested. Granted the results are not perhaps the amazing, get fit in 30 second type stories you can find on the internetz, but they are real and most of all, it only took 30 days to create (what I consider) a visual difference. Inching ever closer to my goal of a “toned” body.

If anything this has made me more confident and given me a sense of well-being. Another thing I’m really happy about is my consistency and persistence in doing the workout even though I’m on some days have wanted to do anything but workout!

Well, for now, peace!

Had a fairly long rest between todays and the last workout due to not having felt 100% in my right shoulder. While I still don’t feel awesome and amazing, it’s somewhat better compared to before. What I noticed today was how much the day before will affect performance. Yesterday was not an entirely great day and lacked healthy and energy giving foods, and it really showed this morning. Even when I got out of bed I felt something wasn’t right but I refuse to skip a workout.

Had my banana, spinache smoothie and went for a 20 minute walk with our dog Pixie. Came back and was determined to do the full program… that didn’t happen. Towards the end having only got the crunches left I had to stop. The nausea had become overwhelming and I even had to lie down for an hour and a half, feeling anything but smashing. I attribute this terrible condition to yesterdays lack of proper nutrition. Meh, annoying.

Feeling better now (11:15 am) and looking forward to some nice lunch outside in the beautiful weather. Hope you have an energized and awesome day!

/ Christoffer

Had a naughty weekend with foods that, well, perhaps aren’t the most supportive when doing heavy workouts. Waffles on Saturday morning (heavenly waffles from miss-best eBook), then … I don’t really remember any other foods from Saturday. Sunday was somewhat better for breakfast as I had a big portion of porridge with banana, great! Lunch/dinner fries, veggie burgers and a luxurious salad (guess that balances it out, right?) and finished off the day with a massive bowl of popcorn… ahh, bliss.

No bliss today. Slow, sluggish and tired. Morning walk was nice and refreshing but the workout was tough but certainly didn’t feel 100%, more like 70%. While I still did the workout, I decided to reduce the amount of repetitions to keep myself from breaking. Did expand on my standing shoulder presses and bicep curls, felt I could muster that.

I seem to be having some minor issues with my right shoulder, doesn’t feel entirely great. Might have to give it a rest for a few days to ensure I don’t actually injure myself which would be unfortunate. I’d rather take a few days off than to having to cancel the whole challenge because of simple stubbornness.

/ Christoffer

Saturday and I didn’t do my usual routine. No getting up early, walking the dog and then doing a workout. No, instead I took great pleasure of staying in bed until 7:30, oh my god *gasp*.

Did well on the legs today, but man … my motivation was completely out of wack. Only at 18:40 did I finally manage to get my gear on and commence the workout. Having finished I definitely feel good from it, but well, fuck… not fun when you’re unmotivated and tired. At least now I can look forward to a relaxed evening with perhaps a glass of wine (!).

Even though it’s only been four days of workout I believe I’m already seeing a difference. Could be my imagination, but I recon it’s not entirely unlikely. Things tend to happen fairly fast in the beginning it seems, or so I’ve heard. Perhaps it’s a visual placebo? What do I know eh?

That’s it for now, over and out!

Peace/Christoffer