I have been competing in competitive combat sports and coaching already for 4+ years and I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs, all mostly related to injuries. After closely following hundreds of clients at OMG MMA, and through private health coaching sessions, I realized that all of our injuries stemmed from improper nutrition.
During the time I was getting a plethora of injuries, I was eating a Carnivore type diet. With a lot of red meat, chicken, and seafood being my staples. I was totally stumped and couldn’t understand why my recovery was so poor. All the literature I was reading for my college nutrition courses pointed to a protein rich diet for recovery, and protein was one thing I was getting truck loads of!
My typical day’s meal plan looked like this
Breakfast- 2 eggs scrambled with salami and some peppers.
Snack- Whey protein shake
Lunch- Brown rice with chicken and very limited veggies(cucumbers, tomatoes)
Snack- Apple and some almonds
Dinner- Steak and Yam
Snack- Nuts, apple, maybe chocolate bar
Eventually on this predominantly carnivore type diet I had gotten a few pretty serious injuries and I had to stop training for a while so I started coaching. During this time that I wasn’t training competitively, I started reading a lot of material on raw vegan diets and their benefits to an athletes recovery. I read all the resources I can find.
Even though at first I wasn’t fully sold on a Organic raw vegan diet. My evolution had begun!Step by step this was my progression to the raw vegan diet that I eat today. According to a food diary that I kept almost daily, it took me about a year to go from Carnivore to Organic raw Vegan!
Month 1. CARNIVORE
Started consuming red meat 2x a week as apposed to 5x.
Month 2. Switched to vegan protein powder.
Month 3. Started eating avocados at least once a week.
Month 4. Stopped eating chicken and red meat completely. Relying on Wild salmon, and wild cod as my main sources of protein.
Month 5: Started eating more fruits and veggies.
Month 6: Added greens like Kale, Spinach, collard greens, broccoli, and lettuce. Eating about 6 oz per week.
Month 7: Started buying only organic foods.
Month 8: 3 avocados a week and an apple a day.
Month 9: SUPER GREEN SMOOTHIE! This month I felt that my life changed!
Month 10: FULL ORGANIC RAW VEGAN
Stopped eating fish. Started using sprouted seeds and soaked nuts as my main sources of protein.
Month 11: Started consuming about 2lbs of berries a week.
Month 12: Stopped consuming nightshade vegetables and stated eating 16+oz of green leafy vegetables a week and all of my inflammation started going away in a week or so.
After 3 months of being Organic raw vegan I started to feel the biggest spikes in energy I have felt in over a decade if not more. Some of the other benefits I noticed were reduced inflammation, better sleep, clearer thinking, and faster recovery time. Overall my quality of life increased drastically ever since I made these incredible changes!
Rome Za
head instructor and owner of On My Grind Mixed Martial Arts. Martial arts
is my first major vehicle that I'm using on my quest to change the world
and the way people take care of themselves. I'm furthering my health
coaching studies at Integrative Institute of Nutrition, where I am
studying to become a full fledged health and lifestyle coach. Hope you
guys enjoy reading my posts. I also hope the posts assist you in your
journey of making your life and this world incredible!
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Latest posts by Rome Za (see all)
- Top 5 Reasons Every Athlete Should Go Organic Raw Vegan! - Jul 28, 2012
- An MMA Trainers Journey From Carnivore to Raw Vegan in 10 Steps - Jun 20, 2012
