a blog about personal development and the skills needed to lead a successful and happy life

Vision boards are simple and powerful.

What makes them powerful is that they help you marshall all the strength and power that you have locked away in your mind. This is a strength that is not born from conscious thought necessarily. It is the strength that is present in your other than conscious mind.

You see, your brain is a deletion machine. That is, you encounter so many images, sounds, smells, feelings and experiences in your life that your brain has no choice but to focus on the few things that it feels are most important to your own existence.

What are those things?

You probably know all about Maslow’s hierarchy. That’s a starting point. Self-survival and basic human needs are a priority for everyone, and your brain is hard-wired to make sure it is capturing things that help in this regard.

What about goals and dreams? Will my brain support my pursuit of those things?

This depends. Do you believe that you can really achieve the goals that you hold so dear? Do you have a clear image in your mind of what success looks like? Do you even have goals to begin with?

As Tony Robbins is fond of saying, “without a vision people perish.”

As far of your brain is concerned, until you get clear about what you are after, your brain will have a tough time marshalling it’s other-than-conscious resources to help you out.

Take the classic example of buying a new car. When I purchased my Silver 2001 Honda Accord Coupe several years ago, I hadn’t seen a single one on the road. Definitely not in that color at least!

Now, hardly a day goes by that I don’t run into my exact same car model, being driven by someone else. Did the car just get that much more popular or did my brain actually start to notice it more because it was not top of mind for me?

Anyway, this is a long winded way of saying that one of wonderful things about vision boards is that they help you to get clear and STAY CLEAR about what some of your big goals are in life.

By using fun visuals and powerful slogans on your vision board, you make it interesting and inspirational, and just looking at it for a few minutes (or even seconds!) each day will be enough to remind your brain (at a conscious and other-than-conscious level) what is really important for you.

Here’s an example of my first vision board. I started out by scribbling this down in a notebook at Date With Destiny back in December 2006. I then used Microsoft Office PowerPoint and Clip Art to trick it out! It is now printed on 4 foot wide poster board, and is hanging on my living room wall. Not a day goes by that I don’t see this thing.

December 2006 Vision Board

Next up, I created this Vision Board in May 2007 with more of a creative and visual feel. It was produced as part of a Goal Setting Workshop that I led for the Seattle PowerGroup. We had about 20 people all setting goals and building vision boards together. Wow, what power there is in doing this type of activity with other motivated people!

May 2007 Vision Board

Lastly, this vision board I created about eight months ago, again, as part of another Seattle PowerGroup vision board workshop. This time, I took a few of the key themes from my previous vision board (fitness, health, yoga) and expanded on them.

November 2007 Vision Board

How To Create an Outstanding Vision Board

There is really no right or wrong way to create a vision board. The most important thing is to be in a positive and upbeat mindset. Below are a few general guidelines that I follow:

• I generally like to start by thinking about goals. I will take out a sheet of paper and think about all the things I want to see, have or experience in my life. I put on some good music and write for 10 minutes nonstop!

For those who have never written for 10 minutes nonstop…this is a big challenge. I’ll usually get a list many pages long. Be sure to think about things relating to yourself, your family, your career, education, health, wealth, relationships, etc.

• I then look at the list, and write a 1, 3, 5, 10 next to each item, based on the number of years that I wish it to take to manifest each thing in my life.
• I then review the list, and circle the top 3 goals for 1 and 3 years. These are things that I will focus on right now. I write a paragraph for each of these 6 items, focusing on how my life will be different once I have achieved the goals. I also like to focus on how other people’s lives will be better as a result of my progress as well!
• Now the fun begins…I get as many magazines as I can find. If you can do this friends….even better…since they may have magazines that would be useful for finding great quotes and visuals.
• I then just start ripping out photos that resonate with me. Don’t worry about arranging things or cutting them out nicely. Just pull things out that FEEL GOOD.

TIP: For financial goals, I like to just make out a check to myself for the monthly income I expect to make at some point in the future!

• Now, I sit back, and start arranging the images and quotes on my vision board. I’ll usually use a piece of poster board that you can pick up from any drug store for less than $1.
• Once I have an arrangement, I use a glue-stick to make it permanent and use colored markets to draw or write in more quotes.
• Lastly, I put the board in a place where I will see it daily…right now, I have 1 vision board on the wall right behind my computer (which I use daily) and two others sitting on my living room table. Not a day goes by that I don’t see them!

That’s it! I hope this was helpful for you and motivated you to make your own vision board. They are a ton of fun, and a great little project to do with your family or friends on a lazy weekend.

If you have a vision board already and would like to share it, please leave a comment to this post with a link to it! I get motivated by seeing what other people are dreaming about…so please do share!

In a recent Today Show interview, Tony Robbins speaks about fear, how society is facing situations (war, economic turmoil) that many people have never had to deal with in this generation, and the need to condition our emotions to deal with such situations effectively.

[Note: if you subscribe to my blog via e-mail, you may not see the embeded video. Just visit my website to check it out.]

Those who don’t believe that you can be strong and healthy on a plant-based diet need to take a look at Robert Cheeke. Robert’s a good friend of mine, and is living proof that you can really achieve outstanding physical health as a Vegan.

Mainstream media is finally starting to take notice. The notion that you need to eat meat to be healthy and strong is completely bogus. In fact, Robert was featured in a recent cover story in Williamette Week, one of the larger alternative newspapers in Oregan.

Robert’s an inspirational motivational speaker, National Events Coordinator for a multi-national nutritional  company and founder of www.veganbodybuilding.com.

Those who are looking to improve their health, fitness and outlook on life should definitely check out the Vegan Bodybuilding website. This site also has further information about Robert’s amazing transformation from a 120 pound under-nourished teen to a 190+ lb rock solid vegan athlete (all-natural of course).

His personal site has further information on speaking engagements, articles and interviews he has done with local and national media.

Whether you are Vegan or not….its worth a look.

Entitlement is a joke.

What you, I, or anyone has accomplished over the past minute, hour, day, month, year or lifetime may have been incredibly profound and impact-full. However, that really doesn’t have a thing to do with the present moment and the reality that is unfolding in front of you.

You may have been the star Quarterback in high school, the champion Swimmer, the National Merit Scholar or the Class President; but it is what you are now that matters, not what you were.

Just because you use to be able to run a fast mile when you were a kid doesn’t mean you will also be fit and in shape, immune from any physical malady for the rest of your life.

Just because you were voted “The Most Likely To Succeed,” doesn’t mean that you will never have to worry about finances for the rest of your life.

Life unfolds moment by moment.

Life does not happen in the past, or the future.

Life happens in the NOW.

In the NOW, there is no sense of entitlement. That is, there is no concept that life actually owes you something or anything.

In this realization there is a tremendous sense of freedom. In the NOW, you can be and do anything….really.

You can a champion, be wealthy, be a victor, be an example for others to look up to. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t think of yourself as these things in the past.

This is the beauty of the present moment.

Throw out any thoughts about deserving things because of something you were….and realize that you can really be anything you want to be in the NOW, that is, in the present moment.

Today has been a great day for getting work done, exercising hard and eating well.

I had a lot of writing to do, and was amazingly able to clear my schedule and work from home today. When I have a lot of creative work to do, I do my best from home.

Especially now that I have no TV to distract me, it is quite easy to focus.

I started out my day with a Raw Power Smoothie. Every time it varies a little, depending on my mood and how much activity I’ve been doing.

Today’s recipe called for 2 tbsp Raw Hemp Seeds, 1 tsp Ground Flax Seeds, 1 tsp Maca Root Powder, 1 large handful Goji Berries, 1 tbsp Raw Cacao Beans (ground). Sometimes I’ll add an apple or banana, but skipped it today.

I worked for about 3 hours (8:30-11:30am or so), and got some good editing done on a paper I’m putting together.

I snacked on a few large and fresh organic black mission figs (I love summer!) before heading to a 60minute power yoga class (another benefit of working from home, yoga is right across the street).

After yoga, I had a nice falafel sandwich with some French Fries at a local place, sitting outside in the sunshine.

I went back home, put another solid 4 hours of work in, wrapped up a good draft of the paper and a bunch of e-mails, and then headed out for a 35 minute run around Meydenbaeur Bay in Bellevue.

Right now I’m sipping on a smoothie made from blended over-ripe pineapple and frozen raspberries (I buy the fresh fruit and blend it at home). Interestingly, tastes like liquid cotton candy! Incredibly good.

I’ll probably get another hour of work in, and then put together dinner. That will probably be a few Teff Wraps (a gluten free grain, high in protein) with rice, beans, peppers, avacado, tomatoes and whatever else I can find.

With the weather as beautiful as can be right now, I really can’t ask for anything more. Here is the view looking out over the trees, from my deck:

Yesterday was my second 5K running race in the past month, following up on the Furry 5K.

I’m slowly gaining fitness, with 3-4 runs per week, each roughly 30 minutes in length or so. I’m also practicing yoga 3-4 days per week, lifting weights at least twice a week and assisting at my yoga studio another two times per week.

The Run of The Mill 5K, in Mill Creek, WA was a great event. The course was mostly flat and on paved roads and walking paths. The event is becoming popular with the attendance of around 1400 runners almost doubling the turnout from last year’s event.

There were also some stellar runners in the field, attracted by prize money for the top 3 overall male and female finishers. In fact, seven runners who competed in the Olympic Trials showed up!

My time of 21:50 was a full 2 minutes faster than my race three weeks ago, but still well off my PR of 18-flat. I am happy to see the big progress in a short period of time.

Overall, my fitness is great, but the cardiovascular strength will take more time to come along. I also had this weird cramping/tightening feeling in my back that slowed me a bit. I am pretty sure it was from a vigorous yoga workout (with lots of handstands) the day before.

I might race another 5K next weekend just for the heck of it.

Below are a few videos taken from the race, including interviews with the winners.

Vanessa Hunter - Women’s Winner (Ran Olympic Trials in the Marathon)

Mike Sayenko - Men’s Winner (Ran Olympic Trials in the Marathon)

I can’t tell you how many times this cartoon has played out in real life for me.

You’ve really got to try hard, even as a Vegan, to become protein deficient.

Thanks to my friend Darrick for pointing this one out!

I just finished reading a short book, The Invasion That Never Was, by Michel Danino and Sujata Nahar.

The book calls into question (OK, outright refutes!) the invasionist history that most of us were taught in school. That is, that an “Aryan” people invaded India from the Northwest corridor (through present day Pakistan and Afghanistan) and conquered native tribes in the Indian Subcontinent.

That whole theory never made sense to me anyway. If this was really the case, why is the culture of South India (a seat of Hindu culture) so unique from that of other parts of central Asia and even North India?

The makes the case that this invasion theory was concocted by philologists with a weak understanding of Indian culture (and Sanskrit) but a strong desire to device India people so as to make it easier to profit through trade and spread alternative religious beliefs.

Any Indian who is curious as to the real history of the region should take a look at this book.

On May 3rd I put myself up to a little challenge. Forget about my TV. My beautiful TV…..a 42-inch Pioneer Plasma.

I covered it up with a shawl and decided I wouldn’t turn it on for 30 days.

On June 13th, it struck me that I hadn’t even thought about turning the thing one….and that my 30 days had long since past.

Shortly after moving to a new home a few later, it still sat unused in the middle of my living room floor. It was time to give it the boot.

I have nothing against TV as a technology. I think there are a lot of great things you can watch on TV. Unforuntately, I also have a ton of great things I can do, learn and experience in the real world.

I still might watch a few programs on iTunes or rent a DVD (though I haven’t done so in months). I’ll rely on my laptop for those things.

I really haven’t missed my TV. At first the urge to pop in a DVD was there, but after  a week I totally forgot about it.

I put it on Craigslist and a few days later, someone paid cash for it.

During my TV-free weeks, I’ve spent more time reading, cleaning up (and downsizing my condo), taking care of lose ends around the house and more importantly…..sleeping more.

I think like anything we think we really need….if you distance yourself from the object (both in practice and state of mind)…its hold on you weakens and eventually disolves completely.

It’s rarely the smartest person that gets the highest grades, the most physically gifted that wins the race or the  most capable person that gets a promotion.

What you have done has little impact on your outcome unless you are able to manage your state effectively.

By “state” I am referring to your ability to control your emotions, physiology, language and focus in positive manner. The most highly training swimmer, without proper emotional control, could false-start or go out too fast, and lose a race.

The most capable employee could get locked into a “why me” attitude where they blame others for their lack of progress, instead of focusing on their strengths and delivering great work…thereby damaging their reputation and losing any chance for promotion.

The most gifted student could get super nervous before the SAT’s and not come away with a great score.

In many cases, once you have a minimum level of competence in a subject, it is your state, that is…your ability to control your inner environment, that is the true determination of success.

I know sounds like an oxymoron but yes it is possible to get injured doing yoga. Especially the kind you find being practiced at most gyms and advanced yoga studios in the US.

I consider myself a pretty advanced asana practioner, but for the past 4 months or so have maintained a consistent 6-7 day a week practice. Many of my classes are very physically challenging (Baptiste Power Yoga is the style).

Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue as my body would have time to heal, but I started developing a bit of aching in my wrists. Instead of doing the smart thing and modifying poses (which you are told to do in case of soreness or injury) or taking a few days off, I just decided to power through.

Using a laptop computer 12 hours a day didn’t help matters.

In the end, one class was especially challenging, and I my right wrist was super-sore afterwards.

I continued to going to class for a week or so, modifying poses whenever arm balances were in order. The pain was not and is not that bad, in fact, I could practice through it without a problem, but I fear it getting worse.

Therefore, I took 3 days totally off, and did an Iyengar practice that  was much easier on my wrists. Iyengar practices focus on alignment, and I figure it would be a good thing for me to really delve deeply into to prevent any further injuries.

I figured out that my injury was caused by improper hand position and pressure. My position was just a few degrees off, but after hundreds of Sun A and B’s. this eventually wears you down.

Moral of this story is to never stop focusing on the basics, even if you are advanced. Really nail technique and you’ll go much farther over the long run and be more likely to avoid any injuries.

I’m now enjoying the Green Smoothie you’ll see in these pictures.

It never occurred to me to throw cucumbers or celery in the Vita-Mix, but after reading Anthony’s blog for a while and his comments about cucumbers being good for skin, I figured I would try it out. Celery is also a fantastic source for electrolytes, which is perfect for active folks like me. Especially with all the yoga I do (the room is heated to 95 degrees), I lose a lot of fluid through sweat every day.

This smoothie has a very neutral taste.I just finished a 7.5 mile run, and ate half a pineapple when I got home. After doing some things around the house, I was a little hungry and decided this would be a good way to get some of the micronutrients back into my body that I lost through sweat on the run.

As a bonus…I was dropping off a few things at the goodwill 1 mile down the road, and discovered a little farmers market tucked into a small park there! It has a whole bunch of local produce, including the pint of strawberries I had for breakfast, and the 1 medium sized cucumber and three celery stalks used in this smoothie.

I cut the ends off the cucumbers and the bottoms off of the celery, but that is it. I don’t peel anything. Especially not the cucs, you want all that green stuff in you!

A little longer than I planned. I really like exploring new areas, and now that I’ve moved to Downtown Bellevue, there are plenty of new areas to explore. Today I ran through Clyde Hill and Medina, past Bill Gates house and back along Lake Washington Blvd to Bellevue.

Details about the route here.

Just got back from seeing Bigger, Stronger, Faster. The movie is OK.

It’s a documentary about steroid abuse, and how people will really do anything to get ahead, even if it could cost them their lives in the long-run.

I’ll cut straight to the punch. 1. Quality 2. Timing

I should know a thing or two about this. I spend the first half of my life as a massively overweight kid. I tried all sorts of tricks and different diets. It took me a long time to realize that are just two simple things you need to get a handle on to get complete control of your diet.

Understanding these two simple concepts gives you the intellectual ammo you need to start being aware of the quality of your food choices and the timing around when you eat them.

It’s heck of a lot easier to just focus on these simple guidelines than some other elaborate diet. In fact, if you are following any other diet, just add in these concepts and you’ll be sure to get better results.

1. Quality is all about the nutrient quality of the food you eat. Is it unprocessed? Is it organic? Is it fresh? Is it ripe? There is a lot to be said for quality. You can consume an apple as a mashed up apple that has been sitting in a del monte can on a shelf for years in some warehouse until it makes it to your supermarket and finally to your mouth…..or you can enjoy a fresh, ripe and crisp apple plucked straight from a tree.

There is a difference in the quality of nutrition you get from different food choices. Eating 500 calories worth of pizza is not the same as eating 500 calories worth of fresh greens, avacado and tofu or beans. Even if the “labels” look the same, use your common sense and think about what your body will have to do to digest that food.

In accounting, you look at assets and liabilities, revenue and expenses to measure the health of a business. When you look at food, just don’t think about what it puts into you, think about what your body will have to do (”spend”) to make those nutrients available to every cell in your being.

Focus on quality nutrition. There is no price too high to pay to feed yourself the highest quality food. I hear lots of people complain that organic food costs too much, and in the next breath blow $50 on an overpriced bottle of wine with a dinner. You body deserves the best and most high quality food around.

2. Timing is critical. Eating 500 calories after cycling a century is not the same as eating 500 calories when you are awake at 2am wasting time using the computing instead of going asleep. Your body has a rhythm and digestive fires need a break.

Eating a burger and fries in the middle of a sedentary workday is not the same as eating a high calorie smoothie before a big day of snowboarding.

It is time for common sense.

People get fixed into eating the same things and the same amounts (often too much) regardless of their situation or time. Feed your body what it needs, when it needs it. Don’t feed it what YOU want.

Perhaps the single biggest change people can make to their regarding timing is to limit the size of their final meal in the evening. In many cultures, the evening meal is small, consisting of a few fruits, breads, salads, etc. The midday meals were also lighter unless the daytime was busy with physical activity.

Today, we eat for convenience, which means a skipped breakfast (coffee is the most popular breakfast in the USA…how sad), a quick fast food lunch of pizza or a burger and an oversized dinner to feed a body that has been so starved of real nutrition during the day.

Today I started my day with a large glass of water mixed with dried greens. I ate 1/4 of a large pineapple midmorning and a vegan sandwich with lots of veggies for lunch. I had another 1/4 pineapple for afternoon snack.

After work I did a very intense 90 minute yoga practice, and am now enjoying a smoothie made with 3 celery stalks (great for replenishing electrolytes) and more powedered greens blended in my vita-mix. My dinner will probably be a soup of some sort. Something light. If I don’t wake up in the morning and feel a little hungry, I know I overate at dinner.  I burned a lot of calories in my yoga practice but I still am getting more than what I need because I have timed my nutrition appropriately and am getting high quality and unprocessed nutrients in my body.

This is typical of my average day. Some days I fall off the bandwagon and have a large plate of Chinese food for lunch, in general I try to keep my meals as high quality as possible, and timed appropriately.

Try focusing on quality and timing a bit more during your day and your bound to make better choices. Remember that the goal is not to get it perfect. The goal is to simply make 1-2 changes that stick and move you in a more positive direction. Even a 1% shift in course over the long term will translate to massive positive change over the long term.

Namaste.

So I’ve not been posting as much lately in part because I’ve held this idea in my mind that every post on this blog needs to be fairly well thought through, with images and stuff where possible.

The process of it all has kept me from taking action.
So now….I am writing this post in the time it takes my vegan pad thai to heat up in the microwave….I know I know….I should just be eating a raw salad, but it is 11pm, I just finished yoga and I am not in the mood for much more than just pushing a few buttons.

OK, microwave just beeped…..gotta go eat!

(me doing Natarajasana “dancer pose” at Badlands National Park in South Dakota) 

I’ve been practicing for almost 7 years. The past 6 months my practice has been very consistent, making it to a studio 6 days a week on average. For yoga, I have found that practicing more frequently really does yield superior results. I’d go so far as to say it is better to practice 20 minutes every day than for 90 minutes 2-3 times a week.

Yoga is infinitely challenging though. My studio, Shakti Vinyasa, recently switched up a few of their classes, substituting a couple of my the normally “advanced” level II/III classes with “beginner” level I/II classes.

(me doing Trigonasana “triangle pose” in the Grand Tetons)

From my perspective, the levels don’t mean much. I sweat about the same in any class. I also come out of any class feeling worked about the same amount. In a level I class I might go deeper into poses or be able to make some more advanced modifications. With a level III class I might take some modifications to make certain poses easier (e.g. dropping a knee in “twisted crescent lunge”). Either way I get the same “workout” physically, mentally (focus) and emotionally (dealing with ego and expectations).

It’s funny because on many occasions I’ve had people comment about how hard a level III class is or why I am going to a level I “intro” class (meant for people new to yoga). For me, it is all the same. Yoga is yoga. You get out what you put in.

So today I came out of retirement!

I stopped racing for a long time. My last real event being Ironman Coeur D Alene (I know I probably butchered the spelling but oh well). After I imploded during that race I decided to take a step back and stop all my competitive stuff. After over 10 years of racing and over a hundred events…it was time for a break.
Since then I have done a few half-marathons, a few shorter road races and swam across Puget Sound with my friend Kris, but in all cases I really did not race against the clock. I also didn’t train crazy hard either. I didn’t have a training plan, and just did things day by day. I ditched my heart rate monitor and my watch. I took the opportunity to travel more and deepen my yoga and mediation practice.

Lately, Yoga has been (and is) my passion. However, yesterday I really got this feeling, actually more like a compelling urge, to go running. I hopped in my car late in the afternoon and went to the trails at Cougar Mountain, a wooded area filled with challenging trails about 30 minutes drive from my home. When I was serious about training I would do most of my long runs down here.

This time, I parked at my usual trail head and made it about 200 meters (really) before I was slowed to a walk (hey, the trail starts on a steep hill!). I did about 30 minutes in total, a mixture of slow running and fast walking. This was literally the third run I’ve done this year and I realized how despite my diligent yoga practice, my cardiovascular system was not use to dealing with stress at this level!

In yoga, you get an outstanding total body workout with a mildly elevated heart-rate. However you do not get the same prolonged intensity that you would get from a hard bike ride, swim or run.

I decided then and there that is was time to start running again. I got home and saw that a 5K was going on the following morning (today) through Seward Park on Lake Washington in Seattle, WA, so I went on down there today to see where I was at. As added motivation, the Furry 5K supports the Seattle Animal Shelter, and I love animals so if nothing else I would be supporting an outstanding cause by doing the event.

The race itself was a total blast. Having all the animals around was a huge stress reliever for everyone. It was really hard to take anything seriously when you see all these critters running and playing, their owners trying to get them to go in a straight line and sniff each other! There had to be about 1000 runners and walkers….and at least as many dogs.

Walking over to the starting line, I was pretty late and most all the runners were gathered….waiting for the gun to go off in about 5 minutes. I decided to saunter up to the front of the line, like I always do, but then remembered that I haven’t done any training and would definitely get run over! I still stayed about 10 feet from the front, off to the side (which was a good thing since some of the dogs took of in a mad dash from the start pulling their owners for the ride!!!).

Right before the gun went off there was pandemonium. I am not sure what was going on, I think it was the timing system emitting some sort of high-pitched frequency, because for the final minute before the race start, all the dogs were going nuts and barking all over the place…at each other, their owners, the air, the trees! It was absolutely hysterical.

Anyway, the gun went off and within the first 400 meters I definitely felt that I went out way to hard….and decided to back off and just have fun. I even stopped to use a porta potty, something I’ve never ever done in a 5k!

At different points during the race I was getting passed by all sorts of dogs. A Marmaduke dog, a Wiener dog (very humbling to have this happen I might add), a few Labs…no Poodles though!

In the end, I crossed the three mile point and sprinted like crazy and passed about 10 people in the last 100 meters. I finished in 23min 20sec or so.The course was pretty flat so I can’t blame that on the hills!

I think this is the slowest 5K time for me in 13 years, and well off my personal best of 18:10. Despite that, it was definitely one of the more fun races I’ve done in a long time. I had no expectations going in and the dogs made it a ton of fun.

I am going to start running regularly now, and will see how my body progresses. Would be great to set a new 5K personal best this year. We’ll see how fast my running form returns. If you know of any good 5K or 10K runs around the Seattle area, let me know!

I’ve been watching Tim VanOrden’s energetic YouTube videos for a while, but just today ventured over to his website. He’s a Raw Vegan and on a mission to show that that you can achieve world class athletic performance on that kind of a diet, and at an older age.

Tim is 40 years old, setting personal records and beating runners over a decade junior to him.Here’s a taste of his goals for 2008:

• 2008 - US Tower Racing Champion at the Empire State Building
• 2008 - US Mountain Running Team - World Championships
• 2008 - World Record - Mile on outdoor track - First 40 year old to break 4 minutes.
• 2008 - US Olympic Track & Field Team - 40 years of age
• 2010 - US Olympic Nordic Ski Team - 42 years of age

I’ve been searching for a top Raw Vegan athlete that managed to improve performance radically after embarking on a Raw Vegan diet. I know of a few Raw Vegans who were top athletes, but they were either super fast before going raw, or stopped racing seriously altogether after cutting out cooked foods.

It looks like his diet is mostly fruits and raw food bars during the day (Lara Bars is a sponsor of his), with a monster salad in the evenings. No supplements either! He’s been doing this since late 2005, after several years as a vegan.

If someone like Tim can achieve significantly improved performance at an age where most would say his career as a top runner is over, then I would have to say there is something to his dietary approach. If this diet can power him to this level, just think about what incorporating more living foods in your diet could do to your energy levels at work or school?

Skip the sandwich, go for the salad.