Crudavore. Have You Heard?

Somebody twittered me the term "Crudavore" today.  Interesting word.  A lengthy description can be found here, but the term generally describes somebody that doesn't eat processed foods.  It's essentially the same thing as a "raw foodist".

I definitely fall in this camp.  I grew up being told by my parents that processed foods were crap, but I wasn't aware that there is a sliding scale as far as what's processed.

You might think that only "junk food" like Fritos is processed.  True, but paleo diet fans believe that even bread is processed food.  You can't find bread growing on a bush and it only comes after the ingredients are processed by man with crushing, grinding, soaking, mixing, baking, and more, making it one of the first processed foods on Earth.  

The end result is bread, which does have lots of calories and helped man get to where he is today, but is also a chief source of wonky nutrition that is giving us excess calories and loads of health problems.  

Some people are having a lot of success with their nutrition by going back to more primal diets which are a better fit for our digestive systems.  Raw foods have the most nutritional potential before they are "processed" away, but the trick is switching over your taste buds to enjoy them.  You also have to change your shopping and cooking habits  (or lack thereof).  

I am enjoying the challenge.  On one hand, it is different, which is fun.  On the other, it's surprising how the mind clings to one pattern, then adopts it, then decides that the new is better than the old when the old was previously judged as the best way just a short while ago.

The most amusing part is that eating like a crudavore feels like a lost art.  It wasn't that long ago that we all ate that way most of the time, but ask a modern American to do it and they wouldn't be able to assemble an entire meal of raw foods before heading to Stop N Go for a mini-pizza.  Just like swimming and running is rarely done by us out of necessity nowdays, eating "old school" style might be a behavior that makes us feel more alive, healthy, and purposeful on this planet.

"Eating slowly fills you up faster" finally proven

This article was recently published proving what your mom always said: "Eat more slowly and you'll fill up."  The scientists gave the subjects either 5 minutes or much longer to eat a serving of ice cream.  The ones that didn't have to gulp it down in 5 minutes had measurably higher hormones that signal the brain that you are full.  They also had more full scores on some other tests.

An interesting thing to observe is if you actually have an empty mouth before you take your next bite.  Many of us still have half a bite left in there while we are cramming in a whole new one, myself included.

In the quest for a better power to weight ratio for triathlon, it seems there's an unending array of ways we can eat and treat ourselves better.  Most interesting is that they are almost all common sense; you just have to apply yourself and break bad habits.

Just like you can go overboard with overeating, you can also get too thin and that compromises your performance as well.  For example, Chrissie Wellington has commented that she makes sure she doesn't go below a certain weight because a lack of body fat will sink you in the swim.  This couldn't be more true. The "owner's manual" for greyhound dogs says to never let them swim in deep water because they will sink like a stone.  They don't have enough body fat to keep afloat!

Spirulina is some wicked sh*t

Maybe it's because it has more protein than meat. Maybe because it has more "veggie" than veggies. Maybe because it turns your poop green (not saying I know that).

I noticed spirulina on the ingredients label of nearly every superfood concoction around. I googled it and figured out this is some great stuff, then wondered why you never hear about it.

Well, I ordered some of it in bulk powder and quickly found out why it's not so popular. First, it doesn't taste great. It's not bad, kinda like how mullets aren't bad (just not good), but you wonder if maybe there's a dead shrimp somewhere in the container.

Second, the powder is super fine, like chalk dust, and gets everywhere. Turning over the tablespoon to dump some in a smoothie is like creating your own green Arizona sand storm.

Lastly, your lips and teeth will be bright green until you rinse your mouth out. If you're still in fourth grade or work in IT, it's a great way to show off to or freak out friends.

The upside is that it has so much nutrition, there's a warning label on the side saying taking too much will kill you. That's the kind of razor's edge I like to ride!

Spirulina - Pond scum that may be just too awesome for mankind.

A Double 6-er. Ouch!

I completed a mega-workout-weekend on a totally vegetarian diet and it was amazing.  Two days of 6-hour workouts, back-to-back, and that's after doing a 5,000 meter swim and 6 mile run the day before (Friday).

I had to stop halfway through Saturday and pile on lots more calories than normal.  There's day-to-day caloric intake and then there's caloric intake for crazy workout mode.  I get grumpy and sleepy when I'm not taking in enough.  I ate a pile of starchy salty goodies and took a short nap, then felt amazing and was back out the door.

Having stacked 6 hour days, I'm now in complete awe of how people like John Hirsch and Chrissie Wellington can do so ad nausem.  The strategy is to stay in Zone 2 as much as possible, not overexerting, but you certainly feel it by the end of day two.

I thought for sure that I'd have plenty of time to do other stuff, but the time it takes to support a 6 hour workout day is far more than you'd think.  There's the food, fixing flats, changing clothes, wretching...  

On the leanness front, eating super healthy foods instead of bad ones continues to pay off.  There's not much more fat to lose around here.  I need to dig up a picture of me quite a few years ago where I look like the Pillsbury Dough Boy on roller blades and compare that to one I took this weekend.  I weighed around 48 more lbs. then.  

If you asked me to strap on a 40+ lb. weight belt and do this weekend's workouts, I'd have said no thanks.  I'd have done it anyway, but I'd still be cursing no thanks as I went thudding down the street.

Eating healthy and not overeating is a habit that takes time.  You see a little bit of payoff and that motivates you.  You also begin to find and crave decent replacements for bad food splurges.  Eventually, those become the norm and you lose the interest in the bad stuff.  It's a great day worth celebrating when you actually prefer a salad over a milk shake.  

2 Weeks Vegan Diet = 5000 Meter Swim

I felt a little like our good friend Rich Roll this morning while cranking out a 5,000 meter swim.  But then I had to come back to reality when I remember that the Ultraman swim is double that at 10,000 meters. Nonetheless, I had my green smoothie (green = fruit and veggie blend) in a sports bottle on the deck and felt like I could keep going and going.  I only stopped because I had to go to work.

Vegans skip a few more items than vegetarians - no animal products whatsoever, including dairy and eggs.  I've been eating vegan for two weeks and haven't noticed any problems.  If anything, I'm more healthy and energetic because I eat more of the stuff that's really good for you - fruits, veggies, and nuts.

I wouldn't classify myself as a vegan per se.  I'm more of a paleo diet guy without the meat part. I'm a little apprehensive of taking a stand on this position because being for something puts you against everything else.  I don't mind if you eat meat and I don't have much interest in arguing with people about it.  I'd have to eat vegan for more than two weeks to identify myself with it strongly!

Back to performance.  Two weeks of veganism is definitely enough time to see if it has an impact on performance.  Yep, no problems.  In fact, I'm learning some interesting tools to pass on to you guys:

• Protein is built from amino acids.  Your body assembles them as needed from a collective "pool".  Non-meat items have all the amino acids that you need and your body puts them in the pool to be used when needed.  Where this pool is actually located and how much chlorine is in it, I still don't know. Maybe somebody can fill us in with some comments below.
• Nuts and healthy oils provide a huge amount of workout punch.  There's twice the ATP (energy) in these guys (fats) than in straight carbs, but it takes a few weeks of eating them for your body to start using them as a serious energy source instead of preferring carbs.
• Nuts taste like meat and cheese after a while.  Meat and dairy craving problem solved.
• Just when you think you know what healthy is, you discover a whole next level, like this guy.  At some point you have to take a mix of ideas from all levels and formulate what works best for you.

It helps me to not avoid certain foods as much as to look for really healthy ones.  I go as much raw fruit and veggies as possible, then fill in the blank spots as needed.  

I have to say, I feel great.  I've carried around an extra 20 lbs. for many years and it's melting away.  Eating a truly "clean" and healthy diet eliminates one more mystery variable from the triathlon success formula.  If you can change your bad habits to good and get lean, your workouts, races, self image, and much more clean up and become more effective.  It's nice!