Whilst in Malaysia I met a good sub 2.30 marathon runner who takes a largely raw food diet. At meal times he would eat about 3-4 plates full of fruit. He says at home he eats 10 bananas a day. He is not completely rigid and does supplement his diet with a little rice e.t.c. but, he really eats huge quantities of fruit and vegetables. The calories and protein seem to be gained by eating a huge quantity of food. He says there is protein in green leaves, but, it requires a large amount of eating.
One thing I noticed about his diet was it took him a long time to eat. It is fine with a hotel providing lots of fruit, but, it must be hard work buying and preparing that quantity of food.
He says that 2 weeks after starting the raw food diet he felt much better, less heavy and able to set new personal bests for certain training targets. Carl Lewis said he had a vegan diet when preparing for competition.
On holiday he was running about 1-2 hours a day and is now off to Peru for some altitude training.
Some people really rave about a raw food diet, but, for an athlete it seems a much less than obvious diet. I like the idea of eating less processed carbohydrates and eating more raw fruit but, I think I would struggle to switch to a completely raw food diet. Not for me. My New Year’s Resolution is just to eat a piece of fruit every day.
The other thing about people who switch to extreme diets like this is that it becomes an important part of their life / conversation. The more restrictive your diet, the more you think about food.
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