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

Seriously, why have I not done this sooner? I have to admit that I can now understand why people get somewhat obsessed about working out. I will attribute it to all those natural stimulants being produced when working out, but it sure feels great.

Up at 5:00, a nice banana, blueberry and soymilk smoothie before heading out for the morning walk at 5:10. Approximately 30 minutes later, arriving back home with a freshly pooped dog and I was ready to get myself sweaty. Yesterday I decided to add some more weight (progressive overloading) for today’s workout. It was definitely tougher but felt good to be pushing myself a little bit more than usual.

It’s now 9:28 and I’m at work feeling stunning and fresh (could be due to the recently consumed raw bar of chocolate and orange). While I would prefer to not sit inside a cubicle doing something that is rather uninspiring (at least at the moment), it could be a hell of a lot worse.

Guess that’s enough for today. / Christoffer

Right okay, I’ve got to admit, I may have been somewhat overoptimistic about my challenge. Apparently you have to allow muscles to rest and recover, yeah yeah, I know this may seem fairly obvious. I did actually, honestly, think that 24 hours of rest should do the trick, but apparently you need to give it more. Exactly how long each major muscle group should be allowed to rest remains a heavily debated topic, but there seem to be some sort of theory about 24-48 hours.

Even though I certainly had ambition it might work against me in this case and, well, I’d rather try and do it somewhat properly. With this in mind I shall reduce the exercise to Monday, Wednesday and Friday leaving the remaining days as rest days. I’ll continue with the full body workout program, but after this challenge I may try something different such as exercising each major muscle group once per week instead. Will have to think about that and see what conclusion I come to. Either way, I better heed the advice I’ve been given and refrain from exercising every day.

/ Christoffer