Raw Food for Athletes

If you join a raw food forum or chat via email or in person to a raw foodist, you will learn of their increased energy levels. You will probably hear of the channeling of these energy levels into beneficial exercise like yoga, jogging, bike-riding or hiking. Raw foodists, generally speaking, spread their healthfulness to all areas of their life, and so they should. Diet is just one factor, albeit a very important one, in the equation of super health.

Really, if you move your body as often as possible during the day, you will do great. After all, we are by nature hunter-gatherers. We have not evolved to sit on the bus, sit watching the TV or in front of a desk. These are just habits that we slip into. So, move, people! Move the body which you have been fortunate enough to have been granted. With raw food eating, you will find it all the more pleasurable to do so.

Moving up a couple of notches, however, we find the raw foodists who are not happy to fit into the middle range. Though the mid-range of a raw food lifestyle is also incredibly healthy, some people just don't want to belong there. They prefer to be at the edge, pushing the boundaries and making waves. We are talking, at this moment in time, of the raw food athletes.

A few names spring to mind, and I shall name drop in a few moments, but first, let's set the scene for a moment. The raw food diet is so vitalizing and so energizing, we all can't help but to move more when living our lives in this way. Why, though, aren't there more famous raw food athletes? Professional athletes, those that compete, actually depend on their physical performance to make a living. Surely their coaches and the entire industry would have discovered the golden nugget that is raw food a long time ago?

Alas no, evidently not. The raw food movement is growing at a rapid pace, but to get more celebrities and athletes on our side would really spread the word. Hopefully within a few short years it will be this way. For now though, the general feeling which I get is that many people are of the opinion that raw foodism is for the mellow at heart. To a lot of people, raw foodism equals hippy, equals weed smoking lay-abouts.

This stereotype is exactly what raw food athlete, Tim VanOrden has set out to dispel. At 37, after many years of inactivity, Tim took his first steps on his path as a raw food athlete. Within a short amount of time, as a raw vegan, he realized that he was truly onto something. It took a mere three months of training to become one of the top mountain runners in California, where he resides. Astoundingly, he states on his website http://www.runningraw.com/, "Moving to a raw vegan diet was the best choice I've ever made as an athlete. My endurance has dramatically improved, and I recover from hard training and races in less than half the time. I've had to stop doing upper body workouts at the gym, because I now build muscle too quickly, which slows me down as a runner. My asthma is gone and I'm no longer troubled by joint pain."

We salute you, Tim, for leading the way for wannabe raw food athletes, myself included. Tim's site is certainly worth a visit and for any raw foodist supporting his cause will help us all spread the word about the power of raw foodism. We may not hear of too many other raw sportsmen or sports women, but they are out there. With a touch of raw digging, I uprooted quite a handful of impressive pioneers.

Bob Mionske is a former national champion cyclist. He took to excluding meat from his diet in his teens. Chicken fell out of his lifestyle in his twenties and fish in his thirties. He describes raw foodism as a natural progression on the ladder of healthy eating. In 1988 Mionske finished fourth in the Seoul Olympics at the Olympic trials in Spokane, WA. He won the

Suzanna Strachan, in an interview on OrganicAthlete.com is described as a fitness goddess. This is precisely what she is. She has competed twice in Ms. Fitness competitions, for which just to qualify, one must demonstrate an extremely high level of strength, flexibility and energy. Suzanna leads a vegan lifestyle of 75-90% raw.

James Southwood is no less than an expert in a French style of kickboxing, called Salvate. Since 2004, James has practiced 100% raw foodism. His biography needs to flamboyance in wording nor impressive adjectives, as his track record speaks for itself. In 2006, he won his first international bout in the World Savate Assault Championship. In the British Championships of 2006 he remained unbeaten the entire year. In his own words, "Being raw is a light, clean and pure way to live. Exercising and competing in this physical state is the only way I would choose to do it."

Celebrity raw foodist and ex-model, Carol Alt has reportedly converted her professional sportsman of a husband, Alexei Yashin to the raw food lifestyle. Yashin, who plays hockey for the Russian Super League is a 1.91m giant of a man apparently incorporated more and more raw foods into his diet due to the quality increase in his performance, due to raw foods.

Bringing up the end of this impressive list, we have Brendan Brazier. From Vancouver, Canada, Brendan was the 2003 Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon Champion. He repeatedly smashes his competition by placing near the top at international Ironman triathlon events. Author of "Thrive: A guide to optimal health and performance through plant-based whole foods", Brazier to took to raw food to solve his problems of lethargy and chronic muscle soreness. "I haven't used my stove in over a year," says Brazier. "In fact, I'm thinking of selling it."