Vegan/Raw Rock Climbing
hey Steph,
Greetings and salutations from a fellow vegan rock climber. I am happy to see a sponsored climber in the spotlight advocating a vegan lifestyle. As a male rock climber, it amazes me how many of my fellow climbers believe a high-protein diet of eggs, meat, and whey shakes are critical to building muscle mass needed for the sport. The amount of nutritional misinformation floating around is truly mind-boggling.
I’ve spent many years studying nutrition and supplementation, and thought I would share a few dietary tips with you, to perhaps inspire you to even greater heights …
DINNER (I eat this every day, no exceptions):
Quinoa Bowl:
boiled quinoa
steamed vegetables – broccoli, asparagus, brussel sprouts, spinach, red pepper, leeks (as many good organic veggies as I can find)
olive oil
garlic
himalayan sea salt
BREAKFAST
raw cereal from organiclives.org (I import this from organic lives wherever I am living. It is the best raw cereal in the world, no buckwheat)
vega protein shake (vega powder, maca, hemp, half a banana, nutmeg, cinnamon)
LUNCH
some sort of organic green leafy salad .. hopefully from a nice raw restaurant if I’m near a city
DESSERT
If possible, I import raw coconut pies from organic lives .. the only raw dessert I’ve found that is actually edible, with no added junk (no buckwheat, no sugars, no dates, no agave, etc. .. just organic young thai coconut)
CLIMBING FOOD
Forget power bars and junkfood. I bring only a big bag of quinoa, with olive oil and spices, usually not even any veggies (too much added weight). Quinoa provides incredible energy and most importantly digests fast, so it allows you to climb and eat. This was a huge breakthrough as I used to bring all sorts of junkfood like vega bars, which weighed me down and played havoc with my digestion while climbing
I NEVER EAT:
animal products
maple syrup
wheat/gluten
honey
dates/high glycemic fruits
agave
buckwheat
cooked food other than boiled quinoa or boiled lentils
soy
Watch out for soy, buckwheat, agave and excessive consumption of nuts .. raw/vegan restaurants love to use these ingredients because they are cheap
SUPPLEMENTATION
Check out ‘Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever’ by Ray Kurzweil
As a female, your body declines faster with age than a male, but aging can be halted and even gradually reversed with proper nutrition.
My prescription for anti-aging:
1. First, do no harm (don’t eat toxins like gluten, animal products, agave, high glycemic foods, etc.)
2. Second, aggressively supplement what your body lacks
Supplements can be expensive, the most important ones are:
co-enzyme Q10
Alpha-lipoic acid
resveratrol
DHA algae-oil
b-12 methocobalamin
silica
I take over 200 different supplements, each with a specific biological function.
Aging is a disease (Medawar Theory of Aging) which can be slowed-down, reversed, and overcome.
Good luck, climb hard, climb strong, climb high
MB
Thank you very much Michael, for this thorough and interesting information!
🙂 Steph
“I take over 200 different supplements, each with a specific biological function.”
200! take a long look at that number.
“I NEVER EAT:
animal products
maple syrup
wheat/gluten
honey
dates/high glycemic fruits
agave
buckwheat
cooked food other than boiled quinoa or boiled lentils
soy”
maple syrup? agave? dates? buckwheat? not even sprouted? while I agree on the others are great to avoid, you should read The Thrive Diet.
This is coming form a vegan who climbs, runs, and rides mountain bikes and is healthy.
1. First, do no harm (don’t eat toxins like gluten, animal products, agave, high glycemic foods, etc.)
Come on, there are just as much – or even more toxins in “organic” food that you eat as in the ones you listed above. There are many molds and bacteria in vegetables and fruit which produce lots of toxins. Even in the ones that are grovn organicaly. Don’t be fooled by “organic”, “bio” and such labels. It doesn’t necesarily make it better than other types of food.
What is wrong with Buckwheat?
i’m not sure: i quite like it myself 🙂
Hmmm.. so taking 200 Supplements are fine but soy, seitan (Wheat gluten) and buckwheat is not…..
Very interesting piece. I like that you actually did research on the topic before presenting your ideas. I’m definitely going to try that meal plan and let you know how it goes.
Enjoy!