Vegan update, acne, soy and bench pressing.

I have officially been a Vegan now for almost three weeks. I feel great. Full of energy and very alert, something I've really been needing with my busy schedule lately. It has also been "fun" to play around with the new diet to see what works for me and what does not. I think I'm already beginning to get a better grip on the best way for me to be Vegan.

Diet Update:

Originally I had been eating fruit smoothies for breakfast, and huge salads for lunch. Two nearly completely raw meals everyday making me probably around 50% raw. I have since moved away from that a little. While I am still eating a lot of fruit in the morning and a big salad for lunch, I realized I had been neglecting to incorporate a lot of grains into my diet. Grains for any diet are extremely important (that is why they are the biggest part of the food pyramid)! To make up for this, I have started to eat more oatmeal for breakfast, and more whole wheat bread for lunch. Doing so has definitely increased my energy levels throughout the day. Plus it fills me up better than fruit and vegetables alone could.

I still want to stay as raw as possible though. Fresh, raw fruits and vegetables are still a huge part of my diet.

I had mentioned in a previous post that I was going to reincorporate a little bit of soy into my diet everyday. I figured that about 10g or less a day could not hurt. I have since cut it back out of my diet. I'm not sure I believe all the critics of soy who say that it increases your estrogen levels though. I have talked to other people who have been vegans for years who say they have experienced no negative results from eating soy. I, on the other hand, have noticed some other negative results.

Before I decided to become Vegan I was, of course, a vegetarian. I also suffered from, at times, severe acne. It had died down as time went on (mostly with the help of strong medicines) but it was still persistently there. About a month or two ago I was driving back to school and was thinking about acne and food. From talking to other people, they have told me their acne had actually decreased once they became a vegetarian. In a way though, it seemed that the opposite was almost true for me. Around the time I became a vegetarian was when my acne got really bad.

I decided to look back at old photos and realized that my acne actually got bad right before I became a vegetarian. I tried to remember if I had made any major changes to my diet around that time and I realized I had. That was around the time that I first began to drink Soymilk. As an experiment, I decided to cut Soymilk out of my diet to see if I noticed any changes. While I did not conduct any form of formal experiment, I did notice an improvement in my skin overall. When I reincorporated soymilk a few weeks ago I figured that one glass a day would not have a huge impact on my skin. For a few days I was fine, but then I noticed that I was breaking out. So I again cut soymilk from my diet and my skin is already looking better.

Like I said, I am no scientist, but my observations have shown me that soymilk makes me break out. And if something has the ability to cause acne, does that mean it is somehow affecting my hormones? I can't say for sure but I don't want to take that risk. Plus I want clear skin :-) Therefore, no more soymilk for me.

I still want to experiment with tempeh to see if it has the same effect on me. I have heard that it goes through a different process than soymilk and tofu does. I would also like to see if unprocessed soybeans themselves have the same effect. It could just be the process that soymilk goes through that causes my skin to break out.

I have decided to enter a bench press comepetition next month (May 7th). At 130lbs, I am in a weight class with very few people so I think I stand a good chance of doing well. Even if I don't place, I'll be happy knowing that I pushed myself to a personal best. Right now I am benching 130lbs on what is known as a Smith Press. The Smith Press is used when you don't have a spotter. It is on a tract and has stoppers so you essentially can't hurt yourself. It does limit your range of motion though and I heard that one can actually lift more on a regular bench press. Additionally I have not yet figured out my one rep max (the most weight I can lift only once). With all that said, I think I should be able to lift 150lbs once on a regular bench press with no problem.

Goal: My ideal goal is to be able to bench 205 lbs. Why 205? Currently my school's bench press record for the 133 lbs and under weight class is only 200 lbs. It would be awesome if I (a vegan) could break that record. Again though, setting a personal best would be awesome as well. (But I'm totally going to reach 205 lbs ;-P )

"Training" for this competition has also caused me to make some alterations to my diet. I've found this awesome website : www.veganbodybuilding.com They have an amazing forum where vegan bodybuilders from around the world compare workouts, pictures and diets. They have already helped me tremedously in just getting me motivated for this competition. It has also been an invaluable wealth of knowledge about veganism and weight training for me. One of the things that was really stressed to me was to workout hard and eat... a lot. Since a vegan diet is largly plant based it means that we get very few calories in the day. In order to gain muscle a vegan has to eat a lot of food. Since I love food, it works great for me!

I am hoping to have another blog soon about the evils of processed foods. I have to do some further research on them though. Ironically I have a good friend who recently decided to eliminate processed foods from his diet as well so I'm sure he can provide me with some new insight.

Have a good week everyone.

Detox Done

My 7 day detox is over. In complete honesty, I don't think it actually did anything. While I did have some moments of "clarity" like I mentioned before, I can't say for sure if they were related to the program I was on. I do not feel more energized or more tired than I did before I began. I feel pretty much the same.

In some ways it is a shame. I was hoping for results that I did not get. In other ways, it is not such a huge shame. It showed me that if I'm interested in doing a detox I have to go big or not go at all. If I really want to detox my system I think I'm going to need something more "intense." The problem is figuring out which program is going to work for me and be safe to use. It is also a matter of figuring out when would be the best time to do the detox. All things I have to consider before I start anything.

The detox was also helpful because it jump started me into veganism. For the past week I have been nearly 100% vegan. Nearly because I have still be eating honey. It is just one of those things I am not willing to give up. I love it in my tea and I don't see how it would be better for my health if I gave it up. In fact I've heard it is actually very good for your health. Dairy and eggs, though, have been completely out. In reviewing my life style I am thinking that I may still choose to consume products made with eggs. I don't think it will have a terribly negative impact on my health. No where near the negative impact dairy would. That is why I am trying my best to leave dairy out of my diet from now on.

If you think about it, humans are not meant to consume dairy past the time of infancy. Naturally, babies drink their mother's milk and then they stop at a certain age. Our civilization, on the other hand, continues to consume dairy throughout our lives. The only reason this is possible is because we pasteurize the milk which can cause some ill effects on our health. Lactose intolerance exists when people can no longer metabolize lactose. It happens because humans are not supposed to be drinking milk. A lactose intolerance is actually natural!

The next step in my journey into personal development is further exploration of being vegan. I'm learning that I really love big salads full of vegetables and leafy greens. I'm interested to see what new foods this diet will open up for me. For instance I tried a plantain and figs for the first time this past week. The figs were so delicious and I've been craving them ever since I finished the last one. The plantain i sliced up and fried with a friend. It was really delicious fried, but tasted like an under ripe banana when eaten raw. I want to try eating a new fruit or vegetable every week.

That is it for today. Have a good day. :-)

It's the fourth day of my detox and I feel great. I am not sure if it is due to the detox itself or the new diet I have incorporated. I think it is a combination of everything. One thing I have noticed is the level of consciousness I've reached these past few days. I know it has only been four days, but I already feel that everything seems almost brighter and clearer. It is a pretty neat feeling and I hope it lasts.

I also feel more energized. Part of Tuesday and part of Wednesday I felt a little bit sluggish and off. The rest of the time though I have felt great and haven't felt sluggish today at all. I don't exactly know how to describe it but I just feel more alive. This could be attributed to the nice weather we have been having so I can't say for sure how effective my diet has been until the end of the detox I think.

I have encountered some problems this week with my detox and being a college student. For starters, fruit is expensive. I spent what felt like a lot money on fruit on Sunday and I felt like I really had to ration what I had in order to make it last throughout the week. What I have begun to do is supplement the fruit I bought at the supermarket with fruit I can buy on campus. I've used part of my meal plan to buy fruit from the dining hall and brought it back to my house. The dining halls here only have bananas, apples and pears (sometimes) but it is better than nothing. Bananas are one of my favorite fruits anyway.

I have also encountered some problems with using my blender. After using it Tuesday morning one of my housemates came downstairs and mentioned to me that I woke her up. She was not upset but asked that I just keep it down. This means I can't make smoothies in the morning any more. Wednesday and today I made myself fruit salads instead and mixed the protein into orange juice. This, however, did not taste as good as a smoothie. :-P I am going to try making my smoothie the night before and keep it in the fridge until the morning.

A little bit about my blender. I looked into blenders for a while before I made a purchase of one. There are a lot of options out there and many of them are very expensive. I finally settled on a cheap $20 one sold at the local pharmacy (Walgreens). It is extremely effective and works very fast. How awesome is that? I got a great blender at a great price!

One of the things I have been trying to do with this detox is to eat more food that is "living." I have been enjoying lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. On the other side I have been cutting out lots of cooked foods, pasteurized drinks, and foods with preservatives. I'm not 100% raw but I would say I'm 70%-80% there. I am still eating breads, pasteurized orange juice, soy milk and some cooked beans. I'm completely avoiding anything that has a shelf life of longer than a month or two.

I'm also looking into natural sources of iron, calcium and B12. While I am still taking supplements for all of these, I wanted to also eat foods that had these nutrients naturally.

Iron- Fortunately there are lots of vegan foods that contain iron. They include spinach, chickpeas, green leaf vegetables, beans, peas, raisins, almonds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, kale, and broccoli. Dairy products contain low amounts of iron and can actually inhibit the absorption of iron.

Calcium- Natural sources of calcium includes collard greens, soybeans, tahini, almonds, almond butter, okra, and hummus. If I eat my greens and almonds it seems like I should be able to get some calcium naturally. I think for the most part though I am going to have to rely on fortified sources such as orange juice and soymilk.

B12- Unfortunately there are no natural usable vegan sources of B12. Vegans have to relay on fortified sources of B12 such as soymilk, energy bars or vitamins. This is why B12 has been my largest concern since trying to be Vegan. As I said before, I would like to get my nutrients as naturally as possible. It somewhat scares me that there are no vegan sources of it.

My protein intake seems to be going very smoothly. I think I am getting enough everyday to remain healthy. I am thinking of trying to add a little more protein into my diet just because I am trying to gain some muscle. I work out nearly every morning and think I'd benefit from an increase in protein. I'll have to see where else I can incorporate some protein into my diet.