The RawFood 200
So how do I feel after 5 weeks as a vegan? Pretty damn good!
For those of you who haven’t been paying attention 
I’m still for the most part following paleo/primal guidelines for this experiment. No grains except for some quinoa (generally accepted as primal). The non-paleo/primal beans I’ve been eating are high AOX black & red beans. ONLY eaten after they’ve been fermented & soaked for at least several days, then boiled.
I was raw vegan all this week. I felt pretty good, but got a stomach bug Monday night, and had the scoots though Tuesday. My stomach was often upset after consuming a full meal of raw vegetables even chewing them very well and taking additional digestive enzymes. I could have probably Vita-mixed everything and been fine/better, but I didn’t want to drink all my food.
I ended up just eating lots of fruit all week. Mostly avocoados, bananas, oranges, apples, some strawberries & grapes. I think I spent like $120 on produce. I spent about the same per week in 1999 when I got on a juicing kick. Hate to see what it would cost out of season for all that stuff! I’ve also come to the conclusion that apples tie my stomach in knots every time. Too bad, considering I live in the apple state. I’m still going to eat them. Ha-ha!
This ride was entirely raw vegan. I was eating dried dates, but they were naturally processed/sun dried. Some of them were even purchased from the farmer/picker by my grandfather at the farm.
Ride Stats & Details
I carried enough food & water to sustain me for the 2 days. I did stop at the store though and bought some fruit for dinner/breakfast. Also a gallon of water to top off my bottles.
The route = Mostly Washington SR-4. You take your life into your own hands riding this road. 55mph, narrow & the lines are sometimes painted on the grass/ditch (no shoulders). I officially think RV drivers & trailer towers are idiots. Please put down your coffee & donut, turn off the DVD player, and PLEASE PAY ATTENTION! You’re driving a 5 ton missile for crying out loud!
Day 1 = 7hrs 2min, 100.17 miles, 3,192ft of climbing. Average Speed: 14.2mph. Powered mostly by nuts. Brazil nuts, almonds and some walnuts. Lunch: Bananas & avocados.
Day 2 = 7hrs 4min, 111.11 miles, 3,313ft of climbing. Average Speed: 15.7mph. Power mostly by sun dried dates & walnuts. Lunch was the same, but I added young coconut meat.
The first 100 miles of day 2 were completed 42 minutes faster than day 1. Plant Strong Recovery! I feel I could do another 100 tomorrow, but I’m already way behind on work 
Bonked at 4½ hours on both days. My back & neck poop-out! I think it might be an over-fueling issue and/or weak core. I usually break for a few minutes & eat a little more around 3-4hrs. Could this be part of the problem? Any other ideas?
Some link love for Rich Roll, who is an ass-kicking ultra-triathlete, the main reason I’ve tried going plantstrong… and overall just one of my heros! Even if he doesn’t want to associate with a meat eating caveman
An awesome walk-the-walk spokesman for the vegan community.
Few photos from the ride:
Another cool thing….
I stopped to take a leak near a cool mt. river. I was checking out some good sized salmon/stealhead or something from the bank, when a HUGE Bald Eagle jumped out of the tree kind of above me and flew away.
Sorry mister eagle, I didn’t mean to spook you during lunch.
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Bald eagles are amazing to see, I just saw my first one up close last year (we don’t have a whole bunch here in Ohio). I was amazed at its shear size. Anyway I just found your blog yesterday and am impressed. I have been paleo for almost a year and am an avid runner and biker. I was planning on doing my second century this year and was wondering how I was going to fuel, well now I know. You have given me a lot of ideas. Thanks and great blog, I plan on following.
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Very interesting! You are inspiring me to take some long bike rides. The bike I will be using till I buy my own is being fixed and will be picked up today. I may have to go for a long ride sometime this week.
But, I will be bringing beef jerkey, hard boiled eggs, and other high fat food with me
Along with avocado, nuts, coconut, dried fruit too of course.
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@Primal Toad, try like a 20 miler of so. I’ve been doing this a while. The bike your riding is likely not fit properly etc.. so don’t get too carried away! You could hurt yourself.
I’d stay away form the cooked eggs except for maybe in very small quantity. You’ll gurp green gas. I’ve had a lot of acid issues especially from hard boiled. Depending on the jerky, you may have issues also.
Make sure you chew the nuts extremely well. Many people have digestive issues with consuming nuts before physical activity.
Dried fried can have a lot of crap in it, rarely is it just dried. Generally dates & raisins are safe options. The rest are hit/miss.
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Just last week my wife and I decided to try and go vegan 2 days a week starting next Monday and Tuesday. We got a Vegan cookbook from the library and started reading up on it last night picking some things to try and eat on those days. I was also inspired by rich and if anything just want to try it out and see if its something she and I can manage. We have 3 little ones so we are bit nervous but optimistic
A couple things I worry about but heard in the video you aren’t struggling with is your protein needs.
I heard you say hemp seed. What do you find yourself eating. Would you mind doing a post of a sample eating recipe for just one day? I would just love to see what you put in the tank for a 24 hour period.
Thanks
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@Chris, I’ve found myself eating constantly because I’m hungry more often. With the big chunks of protein out of the picture, I’ve turned a lot higher carb for the energy. I am a sugar burner now. Energy is great as long as I’m eating. Skip a meal and my stomach is not a happy camper.
I just weighed myself. I’m only about 6lbs lighter than I was about 6 weeks ago. I’ve dropped a ton of fat, so I really don’t think any of that weight is muscle loss. I may have even gained some muscle. Had I not eaten as much fruit as I have been, I think might have resulted in some muscle loss. I’ve been giving the body ample energy though, so it isn’t scavenging. This is my thoughts anyway.
My menu is all over the map, and really depends on the workouts. I’ve been pretty consistent about riding morning and night, so I jam in my little bits of protein PWO with some sugar. Here is what a sample day MAY look like, but really I’m all over the map:
Ride somewhere 7-10am:
PWO 15g protein via nuts/seeds (hemp/walnuts/pumkin) and a mashed banana, or vita-mixed with berries etc… Usually sip on Kombucha, ACV, tea, or combos of those for the next few hours.
Lunch-ish 11-2pm:
Some days 2-3 oranges/bananas/avocados
Other days ½ cup cooked quinoa w/nuts & coconut oil
3-4pm lunch: See quinoa above, or cup of beans w/spirulina & olive oil, maybe some mushrooms, some carrots, piece of fruit. Shelled sunflower seeds for the next few hours.
Ride somewhere 6-8pm:
PWO same as morning and usually start prepping some sort of heavier pile of veggies for dinner.
Dinner 8-11: A lot of the time I eat for this whole window. Sometimes (like last night) I pile in several pounds of veggies, then berries, few hundred grams of nuts, whatever. How tired I am dictates how much I eat. Part of the reason I gain weight so quickly. I have a monster appetite and am tired too often from working
See my realtime photos for a sample of stuff at night. I usually eat too much to take photos of everything, but part or most of the main dish usually gets posted.
Right now I’m eating a little on the light side, but usually as a paleo… I try to keep it around 4k calories. If I go by how I feel, I usually end up around 7k-9k, and if I go unmetered (like at family events, it will be 9k-20k. This is not junk food either.
My one meal Warrior Diet style eating (that I did for about a year), usually landed me at 7k-9k for that one nightly meal.
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6lbs!!
6lb fluctuation is nothing for me really.
Update 2: Weighed today actually it was 9lbs.
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That’s good stuff man! Really appreciate your notes… The pictures are good as well.
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