Triathlete by day; ICU Nurse by Night---Plantpowered Always!! Official Team Green Ambassador

Official Team Green

Official Team Green
Ambassador for Officialteamgreen.com

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Wednesday Words to Live By



You are unique and magnificent human being. Of all the billions of people on the planet, there is not another You, and your very existence is vital to the functioning of our universe, because you are one part of the whole Universe. All that you see, and all that there is, could not exist without you! --Rhonda Byrne

Beatitude

The Redheaded Triathlete 


Friday, December 5, 2014

Beatitude

Giant City State Park- Southern Illinois

beatitude

 noun


"a feeling or state of well-being and contentment  <not from earthly riches but from the milk of human kindness comes true beatitude>"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/beatitude?show=0&t=1417804594


This, for now, will be my new sign-off ;-) Love it



Beatitude

The Redheaded Triathlete

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Low-Fat Raw Vegan ThanksLiving ;-)

This year I am celebrating my very first Raw Vegan Thanksgiving.  My Thanksgiving table with be full of beautiful, living plants. No dead things (hence ThanksLiving).
I have seen a lot of Raw Vegan holiday recipes, but most are extremely high fat (lots of nuts/seeds/oils). I advocate for a Low Fat/High Carbohydrate diet, so these recipes will definitely not do. Finally, I stumbled upon Double Organic's ThanksLiving recipes and I knew I had to make them! TuRAWkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, Cornbread, and Pumpkin Pie...all RAW!!! 


               This was the most food prep I have done in SO long!! But it was worth it ;-)
Complete ThanksLiving Meal
Delish!

                                                    Let's Get unCOOKIN!!
TuRAWkey "Meat"
TuRAWkey NeatBalls and Cutlets before dehydration
TuRAWkey NeatBalls
Time to take out the TuRAWkey Cutlets
Pulled the TuRAWkey Cutlets and Chunky Cornbread Out of Dehydrator
                                         For full recipes, visit Double Organic !
Raw Chunky Cornbread before dehydration
Raw Chunky Cornbread before dehydration
Raw Chunky Cornbread (a little spicy!)
Beautiful Salad 
Finished Raw Mashed "Potatoes" and Gravy
Raw Mashed "Potatoes" (cauliflower)
Raw Gravy
Raw Crust (Mulberries, Raisins)
Raw Crust (Mulberries, Raisins)
Raw Pumpkin Pies

Raw Pumpkin Pies
Raw Cranberry Sauce (Bag of Cranberries, Dates, an Orange)
If you are do not know what a Low Fat Raw Vegan Diet is, check out The Raw Advantage, Naturally Ashley, The Fruitarian, Food n Sport (801010 book), Double Organic, Fruit Powered, and the many more blissful individuals whom have incredible blogs and explain the specifics, science, fundamentals, and benefits of the Frugivore life ;-)

Monday, November 24, 2014

Carpe Diem


"Spatio brevi spem longam reseces. dum loquimur, fugerit invida aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero."

-Scale back your long hopes to a short period. While we speak, envious time will have {already} fled: seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the next day.-

We are not promised another day.  We cannot live in the past nor live in the future.  Our past and our future are our present.  Be present in mind, body, and spirit.  Be conscious of life.  Live to your fullest.  Hold absolutely nothing back.

Carpe Diem

The Redheaded Triathlete

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Official Team Green Ambassadors



Our new ambassador's page is up and running on the site. Head over to Official Team Green and look at all the incredible athletes. I am so proud to be a part of such an amazing and inspirational group of individuals. Full of paradigm busting athletes, showing the world that we can excel in our sport without the need of animal products. All vegan athletes; plant powered and proud of it! 

Go Check Us Out!!!

Friday, October 17, 2014

Losing Control Through Perfection

This one took me a long-time to post and I am still slightly afraid to reveal it.  However, this was such a monumental point in my life and I believe that without telling it, I am hiding a part of myself.  I always want to be 100% honest with everyone, so here it goes...

Diets 

Standard American Diet
Low-Fat, Low-Carb, High-Protein
Flexitarian
Vegan
Raw Till 4
Low-Fat Raw Vegan

      There are so many "diets" in our society it is baffling.  I have to admit, I went through them all in my life.  Coming out of high-school, I was over-weight (230lbs) as a result of my habits.  I was the friend who would finish off the rest of those fries and drink the rest of your shake (I took pride in not wasting food).  I was also the friend that could drink you under the table.  A case of beer every other night (sometimes each night) was pretty much standard for me.  We would get together, drink a ton, and then go and eat a horseshoe at Kitten's (kitten's was the 24hr diner we went to; horseshoes were a huge, greasy beef patty on-top of a thick slice of butter-toasted white bread with a huge pile of french fries, slathered in cheese-sauce and then drizzled with ketchup).  As you can see, I had NO problem consuming mass quantities of calories (or so I thought).  I came to realize the problem when I tried running with my mom one evening.  I couldn't make it 3 blocks without feeling like I would pass out.  Shamefully, I walked back home and took a look in the mirror.  I finally realized what I had done to myself.  
(Senior Year Basketball)
       During my high-school years, I was always extremely active.  Though still eating the Standard American Diet, I stayed pretty fit (hovering around 190-200lbs).  Hours doing sprints down the court followed by hours in the weigh-room had kept me from showing the detrimental effects of my dietary habits.  We always told ourselves that we needed to eat a ton to keep up with our sports.  Shortly after high-school the over-eating and drinking finally started to creep up on me.  I quickly went from 190 to 230lbs :-(
(Summer after Senior Year)

      Once I finally realized this terrible change, I knew that I needed to do something about it.  What do young guys do to get "in-shape"?  We look towards lifting of course.  I started going to the gym each day with a couple of my buddies.  After several weeks I only saw a very small change.  Hitting the weights hard, I expected to see big muscles gains and also fat loss.  This, unfortunately, was not the case.  Any muscle gains I got were hidden under my layers of fat.  Numbers on the scale did not change.  Needless to say, I was not happy.  I failed to look at my diet until this point.  Maybe I should cut calories?  That way I could lose fat, right?  I decided then to cut out cheeseburgers for good.  
(Autumn after Senior Year)

Apparently this was not enough, though.  Then I stopped fast-food/fried-foods all together.  I slowly started to see weight-loss, which made me so happy! Finally I was doing something that is showing results.  I continued to lift weights, and started to incorporate some cardio work.  Treadmills and spinning were not the most fun thing in the world (to say the least) but if you want to lose weight, you have to torture yourself with tons of cardio, right?  
       I hit a plateau while doing this and was consistently weighing around 190 again.  This was great progress, but I wanted more.  I continued my workout plan, but stayed at 190lbs.  I needed to do something.  What worked in the past?  Cutting out more calories seemed to work, so lets try that out again.  I stopped eating excess carbs, cut out meat except for poultry, and focused on getting mostly protein.  "This is how those ripped body-builders eat"  I then also cut back on my drinking.  It was at this point that I made a huge dive in my weight.  "Great, I am finally getting skinny!"  With a surge of happiness, I looked at what else I could do to make progress.  How about cutting out all animal products and stopping drinking all together.  This seemed like a great idea.  All the information I read stated that a vegan diet is the healthiest way to eat.  I made the final decision after a vacation to New Orleans.  My final non-vegan meal was a dozen raw oysters on July 23, 2013.  

(Before I realized the issue-skinny/orange lips)

     "Now I will be super healthy!"  I made one HUGE mistake, though, that took me a very long time to realize.  I was eating a ton of vegetables, which was awesome, but had already stopped eating most carbohydrates.  Now that I took out meat and alcohol, my calorie count tanked.  I dropped down to a tiny 130lbs... I was pale, irritable, and had lost all of my muscle.  My hands, lips, and armpits were bright-orange.  My breath smelled like acetone.  I was becoming a social recluse.  Worst of all, I thought that I was healthy.  I looked at old photos and thought, "look how much weight I have lost.  I did great"  
      I thought that I was much healthier that before, and was in complete denial of my problem.  Thankfully, I have extremely loving people in my life that forced me to recognize my problem.  I had gotten so obsessed with the scale that I blocked out all other health indicators.  I was fixated on being skinny and having the absolute perfect diet.  I would only eat organic raw vegetables.  The rare occasions that I would go out with my family, it would be a huge ordeal ordering food.  I would get super-stressed out at the restaurants and even chose against eating many of the times because "this place doesn't have anything for me to eat".  I was extremely stressed when going out and was causing my family unneeded stress so I usually chose not to go out with them.  My loving mother sat me down one evening and finally got me to realize and admit my problem.  I was anorexic/orthorexic. 
 
(I still thought I looked "healthy"---I was wrong)

I was such a perfectionist/control-freak that it was hard to change my ways.  It is hard for me to understand how a person that needs to have control over everything allowed themselves to lose absolute control.  I was in such control over my diet that I lost complete control over my health.
       I made strives for the better, but easily fell back into the orthorexic mindset.  I began to add in some more carbohydrates.  Eating beans and rice became a staple.  I was still fixated on sugars and fat though.  It took me a very long time to start eating some fats, but eventually started to eat nuts, seeds, and avocados.  Changing my eating from all vegetables to a whole-food/plant-based vegan diet helped me out tremendously.  I began to gain more energy and finally started looking healthier.  Athletics became a part of my life again, and I was finally finding joy in something.  Joy... I hadn't felt joy in such a long time.  Thanks to my mom I am finally feeling joy :-)
      
     It has been many months since my realization and I continue to make changes in my life for the better.  I am now a much more loving and compassionate individual than ever before.  

     Unfortunately anorexia/orthorexia dominated my life for so long that the habits are engrained deeply into my brain.  I believe I will deal with this disorder for the rest of my life.  
                                                                Forever in recovery


The Redheaded Triathlete



#diet #weightloss #orthorexia #anorexia #recovery 

Sunday, September 28, 2014

80/10/10? Low-Fat Raw Vegan? Raw Till 4?

Recently I have been testing out a new way of eating.  I have switched from a higher fat vegan diet with multiple cooked foods, to a low fat/high carbohydrate vegan diet with mostly raw meals.  I stay completely raw throughout the day until later in the evening.  In the evening I may stay completely raw, eating a huge salad with maybe a half an avocado, sprouted nuts/seeds, or a nut/seed based dressing.  Other times I may eat a cooked meal like a veggie-burger, hummus, potatoes, soup, or rice and beans.  I still try to stay around the 80/10/10 macronutrient ratio, but will up my protein percentage with training (triathlon).  On a hard workout day I will continue to use my favorite supplements from Vega.  At the time being, I cannot call myself a "Low Fat Raw Vegan", however I think Tracy Russel from incrediblesmoothies.com says it best---

"I know what you’re thinking – “That’s not raw!”, and you’re correct. I’m only eating about 80% raw, but I still follow the low fat vegan diet. I would rather eat a cooked, vegan meal made mostly of vegetables and a wheat bun then indulge in a high fat raw meal that is going to make me feel tired and mess up my digestion"


I still plan on aiming for the same macronutrient count, but will still incorporate some non-raw foods into my diet.  Its all about what makes me, and my body, feel good.  

The Redheaded Triathlete

Friday, September 26, 2014

HCLF



If you follow me on my other Social Networks, you would have seen that I am taking a trip this coming Spring.....to.....HAWAII!!!!!  I am beyond excited to be attending the Woodstock Fruit Festival Hawaii 2015 ;-)

I first learned about the Woodstock Fruit Festival through Matt Frazier's blog No Meat Athelete. I had been following this blog for a while and purchased his Half Marathon Roadmap (which was awesome by the way!). In his blog he talked all about different vegan lifestyles, including 80/10/10. 80/10/10?!? What is that???  Dr. Doug Graham, author of 80/10/10, describes this diet as the optimal way of eating for our bodies.  80/10/10 stands for the macronutrient percentage of 80% carbohydrate, 10% protein, and 10% fat.  This is the approximate proportion of macros if you eat mostly raw fruit, greens, and a very small amount of avocado/nuts/seeds.   I, like most people, found it hard to believe someone could eat only raw fruits and vegetables and survive. That is before I listened to Matt's interview with Michael Arnstein. 

Mike "the Fruitarian" Arnstein is an incredibly successful ultra endurance athlete, winning numerous events on a raw food diet. However, Mike does not follow the high-fat raw vegan diet that many have probably heard about. He follows a very high carbohydrate-low fat/protein diet.  Raw fruit during the day, raw vegetables in the evening, and little to no overt fats.  A typical day of food for Mike:

"If I am doing a morning workout, my daily diet goes like this: Upon waking, I immediately drink 2 liters of distilled water. Then I juice two large glasses worth of fresh organic oranges. I start my workout. After my workout, I usually eat one type of fresh, ripe, in-season fruit for the rest of the day, until dinner time. Common ones include oranges, bananas, melons, or apples. For dinner I usually have a large salad of romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, maybe some avocado on occasion. If I have a dressing it is usually just some blended orange. A late-night snack might be grapes, mango, or some other more exotic/seasonal fruit. " Mike Arnstein  

This way of eating seems extremely intimidating, but something I want to try.  I already eat a high-raw diet; tons of raw vegetables and a good amount of raw fruits.  However, this is nothing compared to the amount of fruit in this diet.  Could I really do this?  Well, I am going to try and start out small.  I plan to first start out with huge amounts of raw organic fruits throughout the day and some raw organic vegetables in the evening.  I will, however, allow myself a cooked meal in the evening if I really want it (coined the "Raw Till 4" diet).  I believe this will give me the best chance of transitioning to this new way of eating/living. 


Wish me luck everyone

I will be keeping you all posted ;-)

The Redheaded Triathlete

Friday, September 5, 2014

Featured on The Seasonal Diet Blog

I have some awesome news.  I have been given the honor of being featured on The Seasonal Diet Blog!  The incredible people of The Seasonal Diet (Sarah and Peter) have chosen to interview me as a "Tastemaker".  How cool is that?  It is such an honor, and I feel so blessed for this opportunity. 
I have been following this blog for a while now and it is definitely one of my favorites. Written by one of my favorite couples, The Seasonal Diet is full of great information about healthy eating and living--vegan style! They create various challenges throughout the year with totally rockin prize packs for the winners of the challenges.  I love how interactive Peter and Sarah have made their blog. These two have influenced me in many ways, and have caused change in my life for the better. New foods and habits have now entered my life and I am so thankful ;-) 

If you haven't already done so, go to theseasonaldiet.com and check out this awesome blog. If you like what you see, make sure you join the Tastemaker community and get yourself the cookbook!  You will not be disappointed!!! 

And don't forget to check out my interview with Peter on their blog 

Thanks Sarah and Peter 
You guys rock! 

Dipping My Toes into Juice...Cleansing That Is




Juice cleansing has become a topic talked about more frequently in our society. A day of only juice has always mystified me. I could not imagine consuming only juice for an whole day.  Although, it would be kind of cool to try it, right?  Maybe a sort of challenge. See if I can put mind over matter, or fiber in this case hehe

I made my first green juice while doing The Seasonal Diet's Weekend Cleanse. My SD Weekend Cleanse started off with warm lemon water and then a green juice. Being a complete coffee addict....not having a piping hot pour-over to begin my day kind of scared me. Luckily, the green juice pulled through! Power to the Plants :-) Sarah and Peter made a how-to video about using a blender and nutmylk bag to make a juice. I loaded up my Vitamix and blended all that plant goodness! Next was to Cleanse started off with warm lemon water and then the green juice. Being a complete coffee addict....not having a piping hot pour-over to begin my day kind of scared me. Luckily, the green juice pulled through! Power to the Plants :-) 



The SD Weekend Cleanse went great.  Sarah and Peter did an excellent job setting up the meal-plans (amazing recipes!), had great advice, and introduced a few new things into my life.  Such as Aloe Juice, facial masks, and even oil-pulling.  This weekend challenge was a great introduction to cleansing and a great way to ease into it. Check out this weekend cleanse if you are new and want to start out easy with good direction ;-)
The two homemade juices were super-tasty, and they seemed to give me an immediate energy that I did not expect. Maybe I could do a day of juices!


What are the odds that a new, local juicery would be opening up at the same time that I was thinking of cleansing? Totum Juice offers fresh, unpasteurized, cold-pressed juice made daily from local produce. Now this is what I am talking about. A group of local people, using local produce, to make unbelievably good products. I had to give these guys a shot.


I hoped on their website and began browsing the offerings. Should I try the Hulk? The Rise 'n Shine? Hmm decisions decisions... They all sounded pretty good, but I was unsure of which I would like the most. What do you do when you cannot decide? You get a mixture!  I decided to order their MidTown (Intermediate) Cleanse which included 6 different juices: The Hulk, Rise 'n Shine, 7 Wonders, Jus Beet It, Sweet Greens, and Deep Greens. With my order placed, I patiently waited for my lovely package to arrive. 

I came home one evening and found a package on my porch. It was here. And it was on! Tomorrow marks the day of my very first all juice cleanse. Let's do it 


My Day Cleanse:

0730-Woke up and read
0815-Glass of water 
0845-15 minutes of yoga
09-Glass of warm lemon water
0930-10 more minutes of yoga and 10 of Jai Release Meditation
0950-Glass of water 
1000-Hulk Juice
1015-Shower-time
1045-Left for farmer's market 
1130-Bottle of water
1230-Rise 'n Shine juice 
1330- Bottle of water
1425- 7 Wonders juice at the Coop Grocery 
1530- Bottle of water 
1615- Jus Beet It juice 
1700- 1/2 Glass of water
1815- Sweet Greens juice followed by the Deep Green juice (combo'd these)
2045- 15 minutes of Jai Release Meditation
2100- Lay down for bed 

Each and every one of the Totum Juices were outstanding!  I have tried decided which one was my favorite, but cannot decide. Each time I think I come close to selecting one, I think about a different one and think "actually I think that juice was best, no wait that one".  Genius combination of ingredients. Great work Totum :)

Surprisingly, I did not feel hungry during the day of no "food". I figured I would feel hungry only drinking things throughout the day. I also thought that I would feel out of energy, but not the case at all. I raved with energy after each of the juices!!  Not only did I make it through the day, I blasted through it. This juice cleanse was a great experience and I may do another one in the future.  


I want to give a huge thank you to Totum Juice for providing me with incredible juice. You have now made me a huge juice fan, and I am a proud supporter of the company. 

Check them out at totumjuice.com and get your juice on!! 



Friday, August 22, 2014

Introduction

Hello to all of you wonderful individuals for stopping by my very first personal blog. If you are curious about what the future hold, let me give you a brief introduction to myself and the possible content of the future posts. After reading this summary and you feel as though my life resonates with you, please continue to tune into The Red Headed Triathlete for updates. I do not have a set time or amount in which I plan to post; it will be very random and progress slowly.

I guess the best place to begin is with my name: Christian.  I am an RN working in the Critical Care Unit in southern Illinois. When not working the night-shift, I am either training for triathlon or cooking up some delicious plants. That's right, plants!! I am a proud plantpowered athlete. I eat extremely clean; no animal products, non-refined, organic, and local when possible.  I will go into further details of my dietary habits in later posts with lots of pictures of my creations (not promising beauty, but I assure you that the flavor is there!)  I hope to bring you further insight to not only my life, but also add in some helpful information about the plantpowered lifestyle. 

Starting a blog has always been on my to-do list, but has been pushed off for a long time. Being a full-time nurse, student, and triathlete in training, I stay incredibly busy. That being said, I will do my absolute best to bring you as much content as possible. I aim for authenticity, and will settle for quality over quantity. 

Until Next Time 

The Red Headed Triathlete
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@cshopinski Instagram