The Endurance Benefits Of A Raw Food Diet

by Andy
(New Zealand)

Andy's Question: Hi Andrew

I have read a post in the past by Tim Van Orden of Running Raw, where he states that becoming raw vegan gave him unprecedented, almost magical levels of endurance, that he had never experienced before.

Have you seen similar improvements in your own endurance, that might be attributed more to your diet, than your training?

I am currently eating a recently popular high fat, and medium protein meat-based diet, and I find my strength is great, but my endurance sucks big time.

I am really interested in trying out this style of eating, as it makes sense to me, and I am wondering about the endurance benefits, and possibly how long such benefits take to manifest?

Andrew's Answer:

Hi Andy.

Yes, I've noticed large-scale gains in endurance over both the SAD and low fat cooked vegan diets I tried before going raw. Eating a healthy low fat raw food diet definitely does wonders for your athletic potential.

I don't consider myself to be a particularly competitive athlete, but I do love to run, and have done a lot of distance running as well as other cardio-intensive exercise like biking.

I find I generally am capable of beating out athletes who put in far more time training than I do. Is it magical? Compared to what I experienced eating cooked food, it certainly seems that way.

I've recently been doing a lot of CrossFitting, and find I generally win just about every distance running event we do as a group, and am capable of holding my own in strength events as well.

The Nutritional Benefits:

From a nutritional perspective, we've got two main factors benefiting us when we're eating a low fat raw vegan diet.

First, our main source of calories are the carbohydrates in the form of the simple sugars glucose and fructose, which are found abundantly in the fruit which is our mainstay.

These sugars are the preferred fuel for every cell in our bodies, from our muscles to our brains. When we feed ourselves a diet dominated by complex carbohydrates, fats, or proteins, the body must go through the laborious process of converting these into simple sugars before they can be used.

When the muscles which propel us during runs are fed by simple sugars, you're going to notice the difference.

Second, the high-fat diet you're currently eating means that your body has a very tough time getting sugars from the blood stream into your cells.

When you eat low fat, those sugars move through the blood a lot easier. This is the same problem that causes diabetes in many people.

Read more about this here.

How Long To See The Benefits:

I'd estimate that if you adopt the diet I lay out on this site, making certain that you keep your fat intake below 10 percent of calories consumed while also eating a sufficient number of calories (most new raw foodists don't eat nearly enough) to fuel your runs, then you'll see significant improvements inside two weeks.

Following Up:

Learn how to eat a healthy raw food diet.

Learn what foods to eat, and what you should avoid consuming.

Shed weight, run faster.