Category Archives: books

Winter photo recap update

Posted by on February 15, 2012 2 comments

It’s time to give an update. A lot of small tweaks have been made to my lifestyle in the last two months. On the end of last year I found 30bananasaday.com together with it a lot of fellows that where having the same goals and methods as I was leaning towards.

I became a member and started sharing and receiving information, and so far I am really enjoying it. I also bought the The 80/10/10 Diet book and read it in a few days. It was a nice addition to my other books that all recommend a high carb low fat raw vegan diet with exercise and sleep.

My knee’s are also slowly getting better, I really pushed my body over the edge last year and am now feeling the consequences. I hope to start my trainings again on the first of March, I still haven’ t given up on the marathon on April 15 and 1/2 marathon in March, but I just have to feel how it will go and if my legs will carry me with the same strength and speed as last year.

The P90X workout program is really good, I have gained some nice muscles and strength. I am also staring phase two, and there are a lot of nasty difficult exercises in them. I am not doing the full program due two my knee’s, but I am a adjusting the program and it’s all good. I have stopped eating the raw protein powder for now, since I noticed negative changes to my body when using it. I now believe the body needs very little protein less then 9% of total calories and I seem to be doing fine without it.

I am also using this rule now: If I can’ t make a meal out of it.. it is probably not food, and if it ain’t food for my body, it is probably toxic, so don’t eat it!

I am just going to dump a lot of photo’s again to show my eating changes. One of my bigger changes last month are the use of only leafy greens and not steaming vegetables any-more, and so far it is all great!

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Book review raw secrets and personal notes

Posted by on August 31, 2011 2 comments

So last week I received some raw books and DVD’s I ordered online. One of these books is The Raw Secrets by Frederic Patennaude.

So last Sunday I lay down on the couch and started reading and finished the book in one time cover to cover (213 pages). The book was very informative, practical, easy to read and well written. I highly recommend this book!

The book answered a lot of question I had after reading about food combining, natural hygiene (see this post and the brochure link on the end) and my raw food diet experiences.

I have been trying to follow a low fat, high fruit raw diet with about 80/10/10 (carbs/protein/fat). However after some examples in this book I calculated I have been eating way to much fatty products. I estimate I was getting about 25% of my calories from fat instead <10%. The book gives good examples, and explains the fat and protein contents of fruits and vegetables.

One of the major issues is that most raw dinner recipes replace the carbohydrates from grains with nuts and seeds, creating very fatty dishes that are not that healthy at all (maybe occasionally, but definitely not daily).

I always try eating vegetables for dinner and ended up adding them with nuts and seeds (too fatty) or alternative I made blended salads or vegetables juices. However I think I am now going to experiment with mixtures of leafy greens and fruits (for the calories) but without nuts, seeds or avocados (fruits and fats don’t combine). I am also going to allow myself to eat fruits after dinner, to get rid of graving for nuts and seeds in the evening.

The books describes bad habits and I wrote my own down for personal reflection:

  • frozen food (page 99) (damages intestinal flora)
  • raw cacao (toxic theobromine) (my precious cacao… interesting..)
  • eating too many fatty foods (nuts, seeds and avoid oils)
  • salt, pepper, spices (page 67) (capsaicin)
  • overeating (probably, but I am unsure how to recognize overeating)
  • lack of real sleep (cycles)
  • household chemicals personal care products
  • organic fruits (I buy mainly fresh products, but I can definitely use more fresh organic fruits)
  • over-training (I most times train as if my life depends on it, but I am still getting rid of old toxics)
  • lack of iron assimilation (page 72) (working on improving my intestinal tract and digestion)

The part about using condiments, spices, salt, etc., which hinder digestion and lead to overeating is really interesting. I am getting a lot of mixed signals from the healthy living movements about this, see this article for example for lots of benefits! However I think I am convinced about the negative effects of salt, even when using the Himalayan salt I have bought. (The book doesn’t condemn all herbs and spices)

I also bought a vitamin D supplement, just to be sure (living in the Netherlands and all). This makes my second supplement together with B12.

I am also relaxed about mixing steamed vegetables with my dinners, especially if this will increase my vegetables intake. The books gives some great practical information about this.

I am going to gradually work my bad habits for a more healthier diet without cacao, salt and species…wish me luck :)

Well that’s it, the book contains too much good info, it will definitely give you some practical guidelines. So I highly recommend reading this book when following a raw/natural diet.

My next book is the Raw Food Controversies from the same author and I will probably write something about it afterwards.

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