Staying "High Carb Vegan" While Travelling

As I mentioned in my previous post, I travelled around Europe last month.

I took a total of 7 flights (counting layovers), a few intercountry buses, and a train.
Some of the flights were very long and with long layovers.

So, how did I do to keep my diet on plan and not slip up?

...The answer is in that sentence. PLANNING.

I knew I was going to get hungry during the trips, and I knew I couldn't trust the airlines for getting enough (good) food.

So what I did was to ALWAYS bring fruit (dried and fresh) with me in my carry-on bag.

The specific choices were: apples, dates and fresh figs.
All these options travel well, don't spoil easily, and are quick and easy to grab and eat.

I would bring up to 1 kg of dates/dried figs and a bag of apples for a long trip or if I knew I wouldn't be able to stop somewhere to buy something or to cook.

I have to say that that worked pretty good.

In those long flights where they served food, I asked if they had any fresh fruit to give me instead of the meals. As it was expected, they didn't give me more than a big apple and a mandarin (but that's better than nothing, lol).

During my staying in Europe, I stayed either with friends or in hostels. Since I wouldn't spend too much time inside (I would walk around during the entire day), I ate mostly fresh fruit for breakfast and lunch, and cook some rice with vegetables at night. Some days I would eat nothing but fruit for the whole day.

Fruit is easy to get in ANY city of the world. Sometimes it is better quality, sometimes it is cheaper, but you can always get it. You just have to look for it.

I don't think there is anything better than fruit to eat on the go. A bunch (or two!) of bananas, a box of persimmons, a bag of clementines. There are many options and it's QUICK and EASY!

In supermarkets or in health food stores you can also get a wide variety of dried fruit or 100% whole grain rice cakes, which can be another good option..


So, that's my experience travelling while keeping the diet in check. PLANNING and DETERMINATION is what it takes. Anyone can do it!

I'm Back!

Hey guys! I'm back!

I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep this active during the last month, but I have been through a lot of stuff!

I had to leave Israel temporarily, so I decided to take a trip to Europe as a backpacker for a couple of weeks (it was my first time there, and it was pretty exciting!), and then come back to Argentina, to stay here for a few months before returning to Israel again.

I had the chance to visit a few cities: Amsterdam (Holland), Lille (France), Dublin (Ireland) and Barcelona (Spain).

As I said, I had a great time in each place, and even had the opportunity to run a half marathon in Marcq En Baroeul (France), where I got a new PR (1:31:07), and a 5k parkrun in Dublin, where I got also a PR (19:47).

I kept up with my running during my whole journey, which allowed me to traverse many places that I wouldn't have seen if I didn't spend so much time on my feet.
I also walked quite a lot everyday (probably about 3-5+ hours!)

Back in Buenos Aires, after 3 days of arriving, I ran the Buenos Aires Marathon, where I got a new PR as well (03:20:55). It seems that all that training during the hot summer in Israel really paid off!


Anyway, just wanted to say that I'm having more time again to keep the Blog active, so stay tuned for new posts coming soon!

Crushing it at the Buenos Aires 42K

 

Cooked Food Is Poison... REALLY?

If you are into the "raw vegan world" you might have heard or read that claim.

What do those people base their claims on, though?

Well, they mostly base it on their beliefs, and that has nothing to do with science.

Is a baked potato really poison to us? What about steamed rice? And boiled broccoli? You may be laughing, but some people are really militant about this subject, and they totally believe what they're saying.

They basically claim that cooked food is poison because foods like grains contain phytic acid (which is NOTHING like a poison, some scientific studies even say it may be an anti-carcinogen), opioid peptides (but wait, even spinach contain those substances!), oxalates (again, many fruits and vegetables contain also oxalates) or solanine (which could only be a problem if you ate GREEN potatoes, who does that?) to name a few.

They also argue that when you cook food you're essentially eating "dead food", that is devoid of nutritional value.
Yes, when we cook food we lose some nutrients (especially vitamins, since minerals are more heat stable than the former ones), but we don't lose them COMPLETELY. There may be a ~10%-~50+% loss, depending on the method used for cooking. We could still get, potentially, all our vitamins and minerals by eating only a good variety of cooked foods (although I don't recommend doing that!).

Finally, many people who ate only raw foods for a certain period of time and then went back to eating cooked food, say that they experienced heavy symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, dizziness, bloating and even vomiting. But does this prove that cooked food is the culprit? NO, it doesn't.

I've been there, done that, and yes, I got bad symptoms from eating BOILED POTATOES after eating only raw fruits and vegetables for weeks on end.

This is actually due to a simple explanation. When you eat only raw fruits and vegetables, your digestive system gets used to dealing only with those foods, that are actually very easy to digest. Thus, your digestive system gets WEAK, and when you decide to eat grains or even tubers, like potatoes, you experience some degree of discomfort.
Keep eating those same cooked starches that "made you sick" for a couple of days or weeks, and your digestive tract will get strong again and more efficient at digesting them.

I must emphasize that THERE IS NO SCIENCE behind the "cooked food is poison" claim.
Even ALL the HIGH CARB VEGAN doctors promoting that kind of diet agree that eating both raw and cooked foods is best for health and that there is no advantage in eating a fully raw food diet.

Diets Always Fail

The word "diet" tends to have a negative connotation in our society.
People go on a diet in order to lose weight, gain weight, "detox", etc.

It's something temporary, that comes to an end as soon as the initial goals are achieved.

We don't want to go on a diet. What we want to do is to make a lifestyle change. We want to change our dietary habits and replace them with healthier choices.

When you see your diet as your dietary habits or lifestyle, you are acknowledging that it's something for life and not something transitory.

When we are on a diet, that is restricted in certain standards, we are setting ourselves to failure. As soon as we eat THAT food that is prohibited in our diet, we lost the battle. And then it may happen (and I'm sure many of you can relate to this, lol!) that since we already failed, we can allow ourselves to eat whatever we want again, until "next Monday", when we will start the diet over again!

On the other hand, if we don't follow a "diet", there are no breakdowns or defeats. WE DECIDE OURSELVES what is the best for us to eat, health-wise, and if on occasion we opt to eat something that is not that healthy, it's nothing more than our free will. No regrets and no guilt.

In short, what we want to do is to CREATE HEALTHY DIETARY AND LIFESTYLE CHOICES that will, over time, become simply our habits and part of our daily routine.

Why Dried Fruit Is Not A Good Staple

Dried fruit is a very dense and concentrated food. It provides a lot of nutrition, as well as energy.

Many people, especially those who are into the raw food diets, use dried fruits (mostly dates) as a staple food. 

I think that's a terrible mistake and probably why many start to develop health problems which eventually lead them to abandon the high carb vegan diet.

DRIED FRUIT IS BAD FOR YOUR TEETH

Dates and other dried fruits have a very low water content, which make their sugars stick to our teeth, feeding the bacteria present in our mouths and thus causing dental decay.

DRIED FRUIT MAY CAUSE DIGESTIVE ISSUES

They are very high in fructose and that, together with being devoid of water, makes them harder to digest. Eating dried fruits in big quantities may cause gas, bloating and indigestion, in particular to those with fructose malabsorption.

DRIED FRUIT DEHYDRATES YOU

Have you ever tried to eat a relatively big amount of dried fruits in one sitting? Unless you are properly hydrated prior and also drink a lot of water during and after eating them, they will dehydrate you, making you feel tired and sluggish

DRIED FRUIT IS ADDICTIVE

Their high sugar concentration makes dried fruit to be addictive and difficult to stop eating for many people, which might lead to overeating and a consequent weight gain.

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Soaking the dried fruit for a couple of hours before eating would decrease the negative impacts to a certain degree, as well as rinsing our mouths with water and/or brushing our teeth right afterwards.

Eating dried fruit as a staple just for the sake of "staying raw" is risky and silly. 

Let alone that there are no proven benefits of eating a 100% raw diet in contrast to a cooked plant based diet, but whatever benefits there might be, I highly doubt could be achieved by eating a sub-optimal choice such as dried fruit in big amounts.

Having said that, I'm not totally against dried fruit, and I think it has their place. There are certain moments where dried fruit can be a good option.

For example, dates are my first choice for fueling long runs or hikes. They serve great for that purpose, when you need a quick burst of energy and need something calorie dense and easy to carry.

They're also good as a small snack or when you crave something dense and sweet (like a dessert) and want to choose a healthy alternative rather than eating some kind of junk food like candy.

You Don't Need A Gym To Get Fit

There are infinite options on how to exercise and get fit without a gym membership.

Depending on your current fitness level you can determine what method/s to use.

For someone who is overweight and hasn't done any kind of exercise in years, a good kick start would be to incorporate a brisk walk into your daily routine as well as some easy body weight exercises such as jumping jacks, modified push ups (using your knees for assistance), crunches, hyperextensions and half squats in order to start strengthening the muscles.

On the other hand, for those who already have some kind of fitness, you can perform more challenging exercises such as burpees, full (deep) squats, regular push ups, walking lunges, chin ups and pull ups.

When people get to the point where all those exercises are no longer very hard to perform, I advice resorting to the cheap yet wonderful resistance bands.
You can get a good set of bands (each color has a different tension) for less than u$s 20 on eBay, and with some creativity you'll be able to work out every single muscle of your body.

I'm a big fan of resistance bands for when you can't have access to a gym. They're travel-friendly and you can get a really tough workout anywhere and achieve a lean and fit looking body with their help.

The exercises that you can execute with them are literally ENDLESS and as wide as your own imagination.

Of course, for those who are interested in bodybuilding it would be better and more fruitful to get a gym membership, but if your goal is to get in shape and attain a respectable level of fitness, know that these are some of the multiple options that you have.

Be Thankful For What You Have

Things have not been easy for me during the last couple of weeks.

As you know, I live in Israel. In southern Israel to be more precise.

The rockets attacks from Gaza have been continuous and, to be honest, I've been quite paranoid about it.

The Code Red siren warning about an imminent rocket attack can sound at any moment, and where I live we only have about 15 seconds to find a safe place to hide.
Since I don't have a shelter (bullet/bomb proof room) at home, I've been going somewhere else to sleep at night, where I can feel more secure.

Living in a situation like this would surely be hard for anyone, but it makes you feel thankful for what you have.
Many people take for granted having a shelter, food, health, etc., and focus on superfluous material things that are totally expendable.

Don't go blind. Don't be greedy. Focus on the basic things you have and be thankful for them. Many people would die for having just half of what you've got.