Over the weekend I decided to sprout my own wild rice and adapt one of Julie Mitsios’ recipes. While this recipe is not completely raw it is bursting with plant nutrients, high in fibre and protein. Why sprout the rice you ask? Well… by allowing the rice to begin the germination process the amount of vitamins, nutrients and amino acids in the rice kernel increases.

A couple of snaps from Priscilla Soligo and Julie Mitsios’s Raw Food Workshop: Zucchini Linguini with Creamy Dill Sauce on Braised Spinach and Pizza Italia Vegetariana. 

(Surprisingly to many, a vegan diet, is common among ultra athletes. For info on some of the world’s best plant powered athletes check out Brendan Brazier or Scott Jurek. A plant based diet offers far quicker recovery times for athletes due to their bodies maintaining much better levels of alkalinity.)

What is the name of the race you recently completed in NZ and what was the distance?

I ran the Tarawera Ultramarathon in Rotorua, NZ. There were three different distances (60k, 89k and 100k). I ran the ‘short’ course 60km in 10 hours 40 mins.

Why and when did you decide to train for an Ultra-marathon?

In primary school I first heard about ultra marathon running because the mother of one of my fellow students was Sandy Barwick, a legendary NZ ultramarathon record holder. I was fascinated that a woman could beat all the men in a running race! I NEVER thought I’d be able to run 6k, let alone 60k. It wasn’t till I took up running in 2004 and met a lot of people who ran ultra-distance events that I started to think I’d like to run an ultra. I ran the Six Foot Track Marathon in 2010 and at 45km this was my first ultra (any running race over 42.195km is technically an ultra). I NEVER thought I’d run anything longer but secretly dreamed of running 100k. This year I chose Tarawera 60km as my target event because it is off-road, it’s in NZ (where I’m originally from), there’s no qualifying times, and it’s got a great reputation for beautiful scenery and fantastic support. It’s also a step closer to my goal of running in a 100km event.

Can you describe your training regime? What distances were you running in the lead up and what other x-training do you do?

David Criniti, a very experienced and accomplished Australian marathon and ultra marathon runner, writes my program for me and I just do what he says… mostly! I run 5 days per week; 1 short easy pace run, 1 longer faster run (tempo run), 1 interval or hill sessions with a group called Freespirit Fitness Run Club and finally, on the weekends I do 2 long, slow runs, mostly on bush trails around Sydney where I live.

In terms of cross training, I do Pilates and Yoga to improve my core stability and flexibility, and a bit of fast bush-walking (particularly hills or stairs) to improve my strength on hills. I was doing Crossfit style training which improved my strength and particularly my mental toughness but chose to stop doing this in the lead up to the race as my body was getting a bit over-trained!

How would you describe your diet in general? How did your diet change as your training “amped” up?

I’ve been vegetarian since I was 16 and vegan since 2007. I try not to be a ‘junk food vegan’! My diet didn’t change remarkably. My appetite increased so the amount of food I ate increased also. I eat a lot of vegetables and fruit, legumes, nuts and seeds, quinoa and buckwheat. I’m a sushi addict and have veggie filled nori rolls several times a week! Unfortunately I have a sweet tooth and love dark chocolate otherwise I’m sure I’d have the figure of a supermodel!

Can you share with us what a typical day’s meals are made up of on a training day?

Breakfast is usually a green smoothie or ‘bircher muesli’ made from rolled oats, dried fruit, seeds and nuts soaked overnight in fruit juice topped with fresh fruit.

Lunch is most often a massive salad (and I mean MASSIVE) with whatever leafy greens I have, avocado, seeds, grated raw veggies (like beetroot, carrot, cucumber) and char grilled veggies (I cook them in the sandwich press at work while I prepare the rest of my salad veggies) and tinned legumes (lentils, chickpeas, beans). I usually dress the salad with balsamic vinegar or fresh lemon juice or a bit of hummus.

Dinner is often a veggie stir fry or steamed veggies. I eat out a lot and there are so many great vegetarian restaurants in Sydney. I love Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese food

What kept you motivated through your training?

My goal, my program, the accountability of knowing that if I didn’t do a session Dave would see and I’d have to explain why I didn’t do it! Running with friends is a big motivation for me. Many of my friends are runners and if I want to see them it’s usually on a run or at a race! Picking shorter races leading up to the event to run as a measure of my improvement and so I could talk with other runners after the race. People asked “how’s the training for Tarawera going?” so that kept me focused and accountable. It’s so helpful to have people to mentor you and for healthy peer pressure!!

Why do you choose to be plant powered? And how has this decision changed your life?

I chose to be plant powered as a small child as soon as I found out where meat came from. I was horrified when I was told that the cute cuddly lambs were the same lambs we ate. My parents said that while I was living with them I’d have to eat meat but as soon as I got a job and was paying for my own food I became vegetarian.

Then when I moved to Sydney, I started to learn about Veganism from a colleague who was vegan and a number of running friends who were vegan. I realised that everything I’d thought about vegans was wrong! They weren’t weirdos or anaemic or sandal wearing weaklings! They were intelligent, compassionate, strong, healthy and informed. I read The Ethics of What We Eat by Singer and Mason and finally I couldn’t justify eating eggs, dairy, honey or sea creatures (I’d been a fish and chipocrate, occasionally eating fish ‘for my health’). I realised that I did not need to eat animal products and I couldn’t stomach the environmental degradation, the cruelty or the cost to the most vulnerable people in this world who were truly paying the price for Westerners dietary choices.

At this point I still thought I might be sacrificing my health but it was for the greater good. Then I met Robyn Chuter, a vegan Naturopath who opened my eyes to the health benefits of a plant-based diet. I realised that not only was eating animal products dangerous for our planet and harmful to animals, it is harmful to humans as well. So now I say I’m a vegan for all reasons!

Can you share one of your favourite plant power recipes?

I used to love macaroni cheese as a kid… so my favourite recipe is my healthy vegan version…it’s my favourite comfort food! I’ve even got one of my meat-eating colleagues onto this and she makes it almost once a week! It’s super quick which is great as I don’t have much time between work, training and catching up with friends.

The morning proved to be a great opportunity to catch up with my fellow Sydney bloggers, swoon over some tasty delights, sample a range of beautiful teas and listen in on some very informative presentations from Media Personality and Blogger Sarah Wilson, TV Presenter and cancer sufferer Barry Du Bois and The Cancer Council’s Gill Batt. I previously had not researched where the millions of fundraised dollars, donated to the Cancer Council, were allocated and was delighted to hear about their many support programs providing financial and emotional support to Cancer sufferers and their struggling families. This fine work should make the employees and volunteers of the Cancer Council very proud.

Nutrition and excess sugar in the diet and it’s effect on cancer cells was a major topic of the presentation. Nutritionist Kate Callaghan explained the process on a simple level describing how dietary sugar feeds cancer cells. Other topics discussed included cancer’s ability to thrive in an acidic environment and the importance of maintaining general good health and a healthy body weight for protecting against cancer.

I would like to add a few points to the discussion and share with you some of the research I have been presented with by T Colin Campbell, Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, and Joel Fuhrman, MD, two of my heroes in the nutrition field.

I have recently completed a certificate in Plant Based Nutrition from the T Colin Campbell Foundation and Cornell Uni and have no doubt in my mind that the best way to protect yourself from Cancer and to greatly reduce the risk of ever being effected by cancer is to eat a diet made up of majority unrefined fruits and vegetables with an emphasis on raw leafy greens.

(Media Personality and Blogger Sarah Wilson)

T Colin Campbell was a researcher involved in the now famous China Project described by Joel Fuhrman, in his book Eat to Live, as the most comprehensive study on the connection between diet and disease in medical history. The New York Times called this exemplary research the “Grand Prix of all epidemiological studies” and “the most comprehensive large study ever undertaken on the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease.” Dean Ornish, MD, says of the China Project “Everyone in the field of nutrition science stands on the shoulders of Dr. Campbell, who is one of the giants in the field. This is one of the most important books about nutrition ever written – reading it may save your life.”

If you are at all interested in nutrition and disease prevention I recommend you get your hands on a copy of the book: The China Study. This research helps to make sense of a great number of human and animal studies dealing with nutrition and disease. I wont go into the details in this blog post but it is quite simply compelling reading.

The questions of protein is a common one these days with a strong emphasis, in the media, on large amounts of meat and dairy products suggested for weight loss and muscle gain. Diets like Paleo and Atkins might allow you to loose weight, for your muscle’s to grow in size and for you to become stronger quickly but these diets can be seriously lacking in the phytochemicals, fibre and healthy fats so important in protecting our bodies from chronic disease. You might be surprised to know that “on average, 25% of calories in vegetables are from protein” (Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live). While many people in the western world are currently over fed but undernourished the chronic disease epidemic is only going to increase. To quote Dr Fuhrman again “Many large-scale epidemiological studies have shown conclusively that certain plant foods play a role in protecting the body against diseases that kill. There is no longer any question about the importance of fruit and vegetables in our diet. The greater the quantity and assortment of fruit and vegetables consumed, the lower the incidence of heart attacks, stokes and cancer.” Dr Fuhrman goes on to explain, in his book Eat To Live, that countess academic studies, published in peer reviewed journals, have time and again supported the growing evidence that the more fruit and vegetables you eat the smaller your risk of developing all sorts of Cancers, e.g. breast, colon, rectum, lung, stomach, prostate and pancreas.

(TV Presenter and cancer sufferer Barry Du Bois)

(The Cancer Council’s Gill Batt)

The sad fact about Cancer is that it is much easier to prevent than to treat or cure. The phytochemicals we receive through a diet rich in plants allows us to “detoxify and deactivate cancer-causing agents and block the initiation process leading to DNA damage” (Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live). This DNA damage is the start of cancer, when normal healthy cells are damaged and then multiply in their new damaged/altered form.

(Tea tasting)

In summary, after my own extensive reading and research, I am sure about a few facts. In order to dramatically reduce your risk of cancer:

• Get the majority of your daily food from un-refined fruits and vegetables.
• Include raw leafy greens in as many meals during the day as possible.
• Maintain an alkaline body by greatly reducing foods such as sugar, salt, caffeine, animal products and refined grains such as white flour and make sure to drink plenty of water, manage stress and eat your veggies.
• Reduce the chemicals in your household and personal care products.
• Maintain healthy gut bacteria.
• Get plenty of good quality sleep, exercise moderately and maintaining a slim body with an emphasis of keeping the fat off your middle (high levels of visceral fat are linked to many chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease).

I will leave you with a couple of my favourite inspirational quotes:
“Salad is the main meal” – Joel Fuhrman

“Here’s the good news. Your genes are not your fate” –  Dean Ornish
“Eat mostly plants, especially leafs” – Michael Pollan

The reason tempeh is so great is that is a traditionally made fermented soy product. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds whole soybeans into a cake form. The soy carbohydrates in tempeh become more digestible as a result of the fermentation process. Fermented foods are really important for maintaining optimal health as they provide good bacteria for our gut and are a great source of B12.

Raw Chocolate Brownies
500g dates
1 cup raw cocco powder
1/2 cup chopped nuts of your choice
1/4 cup decocted coconut
1/4 cup ground flaxseeds
3 tablespoons coconut oil
100g chopped raw vegan chocolate
(I used one packet of Pana Chocolate with nuts and one of orange).

Place all the ingredients, except the chocolate, into the food processor and combine thoroughly.
Spoon these combined ingredients into a large bowl with the chopped chocolate and combine with a spoon.
Lightly grease a medium baking dish with coconut oil and spread the brownie mixture evenly over the dish.
Press the mixture down with the back of a spoon and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Slice into squares when ready to serve.
Store in the fridge.