Fun Fitness: Rock Climbing!!!

Sometimes, when you think exercise, it's with a sort of excited dread where the results are definitely what you want, but the means may not be all that exciting. I've gone through that time and time again.

Now I want to redefine my fitness regiment. It's SUPPOSED to be fun, exciting and addictive. It should be thought of as a time in your day where you get all worked up to face an awesome challenge where pushing yourself to new levels is accomplishing goals and getting you to be proud of yourself.

For some people, going to the gym does that. I've been that person once or twice. 

For many others, that just doesn't cut it.

Well let's change our attitudes and find something that gets your heart pumping and makes you happy AND fit!

I have a few activities that do this for me, one of the newest is....

ROCK CLIMBING!!!

I am seriously addicted.

The pics are actually from my first time at a rock gym, in Toronto. I absolutely love going there and have yet to find an equivalent here in Ottawa, but I am definitely working on it. 

I have this tendency to prefer activities that use my lower body strength  and even though legs are definitely used in rock climbing (apparently I don't use them enough, working on it!), it does require quite a bit of upper body strength. The soreness the next day is quite satisfying!

I've been top roping mostly, which does require a partner. But even if you don't have someone to go with you can go bouldering. Bouldering, which I've only really tried once, is just as awesome and in my opinion more difficult than top roping. It's a killer workout and has you concentrating much more on technique from the get go. 

I seriously recommend going to try it out, who knows, you might get as addicted as I am!!

80/10/10: The Raw Food "Bible"

My first introduction to the raw food lifestyle was from the well=known and popular 30bananasaday.com crew. AS much as they're forum is absolutely amazing for newbies and veterans of the lifestyle alike, I found that it really was essential for me to read the book that cemented it all. Besides being a wealth of information on why choosing this way of eating is the best, it's a great guide on how to transition, what to eat and how to succeed long term.

I call it the "Bible" of raw foods beause it really breaks down the lifestyle to the basics and explains in easy to understand terms how our bodies work and why a carbohydrate based diets works best for the human body.

As much as it advocates being a raw food fruit based vegan is the ultimate way to fuel our bodies and minds, it isn't strictly advocating it. The secret lies in the ratios of macro nutrients over time of 80% or more carbohydrates, 10% or less protein and fats.

After having experimented with this lifestyle for the past 2 and a half years, I can definitely say that I feel the best I ever have following that macro nutrient intake, even better when it's high or completely raw foods based.

The book comes with a high recommendation not only from me and the 30bananasaday.com crew, but from most of the raw community as well as the author of "The China Study" (another recommended read of mine of which I'll talk about in another post). It has basically everything you need to get started on thsi path to amazing health, along with the many online resources that are growing every day written by advocates of the lifestyle. 

I volunteer my personal copy to anyone who wants to check it out!

Walking the Talk: Day 10

I almost can't believe it's already been 10 days since the beginning of my summer challenges! Things have settled in and routine has taken over at this point. Eating fruit makes me feels absolutely amazing. Eating tons of it, even more so!!

Taste the rainbow :P

It seems that the more often I go 100%, the easier it gets. I had some detox symptoms that we're annoying at first, like the headaches. But now the detox has become more of a background noise, drowned out by the awesomeness that is being a high carb raw vegan. 

I'm not sure about weight loss, I weighed myself on day 2, but wont be doing it again until after day 30. I'm much more focused on inches and feel. That being said, I've already lost 1.5 inches off my waist! I feel stronger from training consistently, but I still feel like I can do more fitness wise. My goal for the next 10 days is to really push it on the training, running 3x a week and strength 5-6x a week. 

The best thing of it all? The clearness of mind. Brain fog isn't only annoying, it really prevents you of being the best you can be. My candida definitely didn't help with that either! I barely feel my usual symptoms of that as well, basically it's under control. 

Just like DR always says: take care of the essentials: Sleep, Sugar, Water. With those in sufficient quantity, you can take on anything.

Fruit on!