I pay whatever it takes to get high quality organic goods whenever I can. I can’t think of a better thing to spend money on. My health and well being depends on it. Some people are terrified to spend a few bucks extra for this stuff.

Just watch people in line next time you are at the grocery store. Instead of being excited at a cart full of goodies most people have this expression of despair on their face!

I’d rather have the cart full of goodies than a bunch of paper any day.

Focus intently on what good things (or habits) you are adding and then you will find that the bad things will naturally have less room to fit in and you’ll lose appetite for them over time.

My afternoon snack a work yesterday, an MASSIVE organic nectarine from a family farm in eastern Washington. I get a weekly delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables from this farm and the quality is incredible http://tinysorganic.com/

The ingredients for the world's perfect smoothie!

I’ve been enjoying this smoothie for about 3-5 days per week for a long time. I tweak ingredients every now and then but the recipe below is a good standard approach THAT WORKS. I use it for breakfast most days. Sometimes I’ll use it as a recovery drink after a bike ride or run (as I am doing right now!).

The ingredients:

• 1 banana: very ripe and ideally frozen (peel before you freeze!)
• 3 heaping tablespoons vegan protein (I custom order from Trueprotein.com with a blend of non-GMO hemp, rice and pea proteins. You can also try Life Time’s Life Basic Blend or Vega’s Smoothie Infusion).
• 2 tablespoons Udo’s Oil
• 1 level tablespoon Garden of Life Perfect Food green powder (any brand or powdered greens will do)
• 12 ounces of water

Blend everything together and enjoy.

The final product, it tastes really good, ignore the color (unless green if your favorite!)

This recipe will yield:

• 500 calories
• ~20 grams of high quality vegan protein
• ~30 grams of high quality fats and fatty acids
• ~30+ grams of carbohydrates, with plenty of fiber
• Boatload of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in a highly digestible form

If you’re first reaction is “holy crap that’s a ton of fat…there’s no way I’m gonna drink all that fat!”…don’t worry. I challenge anyone to consume this drink on a regular basis and gain any extra fat on their gut or behind. In fact, chances are you’ll shed a bunch of pounds. High quality fats are high quality fuel. Udo’s Oil is some of the best stuff around, and they recommend taking 1 tablespoon per 50 pounds of bodyweight daily. I use just 2 tablespoons in my smoothie and try to get other good fats in through whole foods (coconut butter, avocados, etc.). If you have an especially brutal training day or work day ahead of you, add 1-2  additional bananas to give you the extra fuel to power through (make sure they are super ripe to ease digestion).

Things I bet you’ll notice after consuming this drink regularly:

• Fewer hunger cravings – especially if you drink it in the morning
• Stable energy levels and no “afternoon crash”
• Better endurance
• Better skin, hair and nails (I’ve seen a noticeable difference)

Give this smoothie a shot – try it three days in a single week at least, ideally in the morning – and drop a note in the comments to let me know how you feel.

A perfect snack while blogging!

Most restaurants are trained in the art of destroying a perfectly good salad. Case in point are Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad at a whopping 709 calories & 25 g fat and Taco Bell’s Taco Salad tipping the scale at 906 calories and 49 g fat! Can you imagine eating a salad that has more calories and fat that a Big Mac? It’s not just the chain restaurants at fault, practically all places make it easy to ruin a salad if you aren’t careful with what you order. Here are the top methods one can use to utterly destroy a salad:

• Douse it in salad dressing (a few spoons of dressing can have 10x the calories and infinitely more fat than the entire salad!)
• Cover it in cheese
• Coat it in crunchy stuff like croutons, fried onions, etc.
• Use handfuls of roasted nuts and seeds (full of fat and salt)
• Put a bunch of fried and roasted meat or other garbage on top of it

I prefer to eat my salads raw. Usually just a bunch of lettuce and some carrots or radishes I’ll munch on before eating dinner. If I am having only a salad for a meal, I’ll sometimes use plain olive oil and balsamic vinegar for a light dressing, and top it with grilled tofu or some beans, bell peppers, radishes and avocado. The amount of avocado and other “heavier” stuff I use depends on how much I’ve been training that week. I use a TON of greens (really, my salads are ginormous – usually a whole large head of organic romaine).

Jason Lester and Rich Roll in their attempt to complete 5 iron-distance races in 5 days!

As if one Ironman wasn’t enough, these two ultra-endurance athletes did 5 Ironman-distance efforts over five days on five different islands in Hawaii in May 2010. Jason Lester and Richard Roll are also fueled by 100% plant-based nutrition. I like seeing people performing at a super-high level on vegetarian or even vegan diets. It just shows what is really possible if you work hard and chose not to take any short-cuts.

In this segment, we cover:

• Robert’s story of transformation from 125 pounder to 200 pound vegan bodybuilder
• How to gain weight on a plant-based diet
• The importance of a journal – keeping track of your goals and training progress
• Tips to staying motivated and achieving goals

Enjoy!

Lynnwood Artesian Well - at 164th Street

I have been reading up on water. First a great book, “Your Bodies Many Cries for Water” by Dr. B. Then a bunch of videos from Daniel Vitalis about the importance of finding good and clean sources. Our bodies are over 70% water. While many of us spend plenty of time worrying about what we eat, we are far better off first thinking about getting access to and drinking the best water ever!

I am lucky to live in Bellevue, WA (near Seattle) which is home to some of the cleanest water around. In fact, our tap water is rated to be among the best municipal water in the country. I also live in a fairly modern urban environment – so don’t worry too much about rusty and old pipes or other potential issues in getting water from source to tap.

However, the water is treated with Chlorine and other things, and there is also the potential structural impact that overt processing has on water. If you have not checked our Masaru Emoto’s work, you must. His book “Messages from Water” will transform the way you think about water – and your own way of being. Water that has been processed, stored and taken out of its natural environment is spiritually and energetically dead. If you don’t buy the whole “spiritually dead thing,” that is OK…the scientifically proven health benefits of fresh and clean water is enough of a reason to care.

Water from Fujiwara Dam before offering a prayer. From www.wellnessgoods.com

Water from Fujiwara Dam after offering a prayer!!! From www.wellnessgoods.com

There is also the reality that Chlorine and Fluoride can kill off beneficial bacteria in our body, and cause other long-term health effects. I think that in most cases clean city water is OK, but this blog is all about finding even better ways of being and improving our standards of living – so seeking out an even better water source just makes sense to me.

I also think that consuming water that is more natural and less processed just makes common sense, so I decided to seek out the best way of doing so. There are of course so many different types of water out there, which made my search more complicated than one would think for a substance as simple as water. The following are some of the types of water you can find (according to DS Waters, one of the largest home and commercial water distributors):

Artesian Water: Water from a well that taps a confined aquifer (a water-bearing underground layer of rock or sand) in which the water level stands at some height above the top of the aquifer.

Spring Water: Water derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface of the earth.

Purified Water: Water that has been produced by distillation, deionization, reverse osmosis, or other suitable processes.

Distilled Water: Water that has been vaporized into steam, then cooled to re-condense it back into water. The water’s minerals are left behind, leaving only pure tasting steam-distilled water.

Mineral Water: Water that contains no less than 250 parts per million (ppm) total dissolved solids (TDS).

Sterile Water: Water, also known as sterilized water, that meets the requirements under Sterility Tests, in the United States Pharmacopeia, 23d revision.

Carbonated water products (soda water, seltzer water, sparkling water, and tonic water) are considered soft drinks and are not regulated as bottled water.

I started going to Whole Foods and my local Co-Op and purchasing filtered (reverse osmosis) water. I figured that was a good place to start – at least the stuff is free from contaminants and Chlorine. There is some debate over distilled water. Some think it is healthy, while others think it actually strips the body of minerals…so I have decided not to consume distilled water. It is really meant for teas and other medicinal purposes (or potentially for a cleans/detox program).

What I really wanted was natural spring water…but didn’t want to pay and arm and a leg for bottled spring water (which sits around for a long time in plastic bottles on store shelves). I also wasn’t sure where to find a good local spring.

Just today, however, I discovered a fantastic site – Find a Spring.com. This site lists public springs where you can fill up on totally natural and unprocessed water, for free! There was only one spring listed near Seattle, so I headed to the store, bought a massive 5 gallon jug and headed up there. I really wanted to use some large glass jugs, but didn’t have any available (I’ll need to hit up a recycling center and find some large house wine bottles to use).

Several others had the same idea as me!

The spring was super-easy to find (in Lynwood, just 10 minutes north of the city). There were about 6 cars there when I showed up (on a sunny Saturday at noon). Looks like my secret discovery is no secret to those that live in this area outside Seattle.

At this spring, the Lynwood 164th Street Well, there are two spouts, each flowing 5 gallons per minute of crystal clear and ice cold natural artesian well water! This well is tested several times a month and is completely clean and open to the public (there is a little parking lot and a shelter over the well spouts. This particular well is 400 feet deep and tops out at 120 feet. The city drilled down to 200 feet to access the water.

I strap the jug in like a passenger to keep it from moving around. Just pull your belt so it locks into place and make a loop over the spout!

The water tastes really good and I’m so lucky to have finally stumbled upon such a find so close to the city! I highly recommend that you check out Find a Spring.com and look for a spring near you.

My spring water setup at home. I bought the ceramic base and polycarbonate 5-gallon jug from Whole Foods. Total cost was $50. Water was free though .

Wow, time really does fly by! It seems like just a few days ago I was contemplating this little experiment. It really has not been anywhere near as challenging as I thought it would be. My food cravings for cooked foods have diminished even more as I’ve gotten smarter about eating more total calories and also eating the right types of foods.

Over the past week, I’ve started to experiment with some new foods and recipes, and have started to cultivate a keen taste for my morning fruit smoothies and evening veggie soups (un – cooked of course)! I actually look forward to these!

In my last update, after 11 days on the 100% raw food diet, I lost a bit of weight – quite a bit actually. Despite going out of my way to keep my caloric intake even, I lost 6 pounds in the first 11 days, almost all of that coming off in the first week alone. Luckily, the weight loss has stopped, and actually started to reverse itself a bit. This is good since I am already lean and not looking to lose much total body-weight overall.

Some highlights I’ve experienced since my check-in on Day 11:

• This morning I weighed in at 1375lbs and 12% bodyfat, which is a gain of 1.5lbs over the past 10 days. The bodyfat %  varies a bit due to hydration levels, so I assume that is pretty constant – which is great!
• I find it a lot easier to eat large quantities of veggies, fruits and salads. Either my brain has come to recognize that meals can consist of only veggies or fruits, my stomach has become more elastic – or both!
• My skin continues to be far clearer than normal.
• My overall flexibility levels are far better than on my vegan diet. I have not practiced yoga nearly as much as normal in the past week, but I still feel very limber.
• My energy levels are quite high overall – no “crashes” in the afternoon at work or in the evenings after eating. I feel quite light and energetic all the time.
• I have lost any desire whatesoever for coffee or caffeinated products.
• I sleep very well, and wake up feeling refreshed. This hasn’t changed.
• I am getting much better vascularity over my body – I can see veins that I never knew I had! No – I won’t be entering a bodybuilding competition any time soon.
• I am realizing that it is totally possible to be a junk food raw vegan! How? Well – let’s just say I’ve discovered the world of gourmet raw food. We have a few great raw cafes around here, and the food is amazing (and far better for you than most cooked food meals) but eating heavy meals with lots of nuts, seeds and sprouted grains, oils and rich raw desserts will leave you feeling lethargic and heavy. There are also things like raw flax crackers, raw breadsticks (made from seeds) and of course…raw almond and coconut butter! Overeating these foods could spell disaster, so I am keeping myself from over-indulging on these things.

What have I been eating?

I am still eating fruit smoothies in the morning and veggie soups in the evening. This hasn’t changed. I’ve been branching out and eating other fruits like honeydews, watermelon, strawberries as well since they are in season. I also buy papayas every now and then. However, I’ve been cutting back on the raw cacao consumption a bit. I like the stuff, but notice that overdoing it will give me a mild headache.

Here are a few random food pics:

(Romaine lettuce, tomato, sprouts and a home-made avocado and pineeapple dressing!)

(Papaya is great for breakfast! I’ll eat a large one before work.)

(Who says you need Gatorade? Watermelon is the among the world’s best post-workout foods. I ate this small watermelon after cycling 30 miles in the sunny Seattle roads around Lake Washington!)

Today is Day 11 of my Raw Food 30 Day Challenge. I really didn’t expect it to be this easy. I feel absolutely fantastic and have absolutely no detox symptoms to speak of. In fact, this transition from my vegan diet to a 100% raw food diet is easier than my transition from lacto-ovo vegetarian to vegan.

I think difference is that I am both far more educated and also have connected into a support system of people that I have learned a ton from – from various raw food online forums like Give It To Me Raw and 30 Bananas A Day, and through a few friends (like Darrick) who have been walking down this path for a while. I’ve also been reading a ton of books and online resources (including Dr. Doug Graham’s 80-10-10 and David Wolfe’s Sunfood Diet).

When making any life shift, it helps not to go it alone!

What has shifted for me in the past 11 days? A lot! Here is a run down on what I am currently experiencing.

• I weight myself at the same time every day. I started this experiment at 142.0 lbs and 12% bodyfat. This morning, after 11 days I weighed 136.5 lbs and 11% bodyfat. So I have lost almost 6 pounds in 11 days. In fact, I lost the entire weight in the first 6 days, since then my weight has stabalized. I am not trying to lose weight, but it is happening.
• My strength levels feel the same on an absolute sense, but I feel a lot stronger relative  to my own body weight. This becomes obvious to me during my yoga practice.
• My cravings for coffee, hot teas or any other cooked food has diminished. At some points I do crave some crunchy snacks or vegan pizza/pastas, but these pass by quickly and are no more pronounced than when I was eating my standard vegan diet.
• I think far more clearly! Really it is hard to explain, but I can think a lot better and focus on a single topic without distraction even easier than before.
• I am less attached to others people’s comment and feedback: be it praise or criticism.
• My yoga practice feels incredible, my flexibility is improving on an almost daily basis. In fact, certain parts of my body (like my hamstrings) that have been tight for a decade (despite 8 years of yoga practice) are starting to loosen up in pretty deep ways.
• Perhaps most noticeably, my skin is super clear. My face especially, no blemishes at all. The rest of my body also looks far more clear. Even my hair seems to be thicker and my nails are stronger.
• I do not smell! At all…in fact, even before on my vegan diet, I never had any issues with body odor. However, now on a 100% raw food diet, I have no odor whatsoever. I don’t wear deodorant (actually haven’t for the past year or so) and have no need to! If you don’t like the way you smell – change your diet!
• I sleep incredibly well. I’ve still been sleeping the same amount, though I do notice that I can wake up earlier if I need to (to teach a yoga class for example) and feel wide awake. No groggy feeling in the morning.

So what does my diet consist of? Keep in mind that I both have a very active lifestyle (I teach and practice yoga every day) and also a very busy lifestyle (I have a career in high technology/software). So my diet focuses on getting enough total calories while also fitting into my work and yoga schedule. Here is what I do on a typical day. It goes without saying that everything is always organic!

• Breakfast: almost always my breakfast is a large fruit smoothie. Typically this would include 2-4 large bananas with some maca root powder, hemp seed protein and perhaps some cacao powder. Sometimes I will just stick with the fruits (usually bananas) and sometimes add some greens in (like kale).

• Snacks: I’ll usually eat 2-4 pieces of fruit during the day, usually a couple things in mid-morning and a few more in the afternoon.  On a weekend, I will eat even more. For example, below are 4 navels I ate before a two hour walk this afternoon.

• Lunch: A large bowl of field greens – a really massive bowl! This could be equal to half a large head of romaine; an avocado, a carrot and some nuts or seed either in raw form or in a raw food seed bar. I have a bag of goji berries and cacao seed next to my desk at work. I’ll usually have a small handful of goji and about 10-15 cacao seed during the day.

• Dinner: I’ll usually make a large vegetable soup smoothie, and eat this with some flax crackers or some other raw food cracker made from seeds. For my veggie soup, I’ll really throw the kitchen sink in the Vita-Mix! This includes typically a hot pepper, some green onions, broccoli, carrot, ginger and some avocado. Blended together it makes the most incredible creamy veggie soup ever! Just add some chunky salsa for some texture. In addition, I might eat some other fruits or greens (I love eating bok choy) later in the evening if I am still hungry.

In total, I shoot for 2500 calories per day. At first I was struggling to get enough, but now I am pretty happy with my overall caloric intake. I am never hungry!

I’ll post another update next week. In the meantime, if you have any tips for recipes I should try. Please let me know in the comments!

People are really looking to have more energy to live their lives. I’m not just talking about being able to keep your eyes open during a boring meeting at work. I’m talking about having the energy to perform at a high level both in mental pursuits (working on a hard problem at work or in school) and physical pursuits (like a power yoga class!).

I thought it would be good to share my top 5 tips for energizing your life. These are things that I do on a regular basis – and they work. I think experience is the best teacher – and I have learned well

1. Avoid Caffeine. I know I know – sacrilege! Despite the supposed health benefits of drinking coffee (and even tea), the reality is that when you borrow energy you need to pay it back. This might not be what you want to hear, but it is the truth. If you are serious about energizing your body – cut the caffeine. Or (as I do right now), limit it to 1 serving in the morning.
2. Hydrate. Your body is 75% water. Your body also has 2-3x as much lymph fluid in your body as it does blood. Lymph is the watery substance in between your cells that allows nutrients to flow in and toxins to flow out of your cells. Staying well-hydrated is critical to proper energy transfer into and out of the cells. A great way to stay hydrate is not just to drink water, but to avoid dehydrating your body with caffeine, refined sugars and other highly processed (and dehydrated) foods.
3. Eat Nutrient Dense Foods. I’ve written a great post about this. In summary, you should focus on eating plenty of fresh fruits and green/bright colored veggies that have high water content and high nutrient contents on a per-calorie basis. Did you know that broccoli has more protein than steak on a per-calorie basis? The truth is sometimes surprising but it is the truth nonetheless.
4. Eliminate Refined Sugars. If it says “cane sugar,” “brown rice syrup,” “corn syrup,” or any other kind of processed sugar on the package, don’t eat it. This includes most energy bars! Your body will just experience a sugar rush and crash cycle when you consume these things. Instead, eat fresh fruits. The sugar in the fruits is processed differently by the body and they won’t cause the same spike in blood sugar. You’ll also help your body to stay hydrated.
5. Breath Properly! This is perhaps the single most effective thing you can do. I wrote a long post about the importance of proper breath work. If you are at all committed to having more energy in your days – you should read this post. Essentially, cultivate a practice of consistent and deep nasal breathing – especially under times of stress and while sleeping. It may take some practice but the benefits are well worth it.

Have any other tips to share? Please let me know in the comments!