The holidays seem to be the busiest time of year for me! I need all the energy I can get, and all the extra holiday sweets and food doesn't seem to give that! So between those days of indulgence and food enjoyment, I would recommend starting your new year's dieting early with the addition of more raw foods (sprouts etc..) to your diet.

In our August 2010 Newsletter, we reprinted an article about Bruce McVay, ultra distance runner. Bruce’s diet was already raw food. By adding wheatgrass juice to his diet he enhanced his running ability and especially his winning ability.

We were interested when we received the following email from a reader:

Was very impressed with your running. Thought you might be interested in this. Dharbasana Lynn, 31, Auckland, New Zealand, completed the Sri Chinmoy 3,100 mile race on a mostly raw food diet. Nearly 60 miles a day for 52 days. He has run 14 ultras and three multidays in 12 years of running. Bests include 347 miles for six days and 442 for 10 days.

The Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race is the longest footrace in the world. As of 2010, less than 30 runners have completed the race since it was founded by Sri Chinmoy in 1997. Runners have to finish approximately two marathons a day from 6 AM to midnight for 50 continuous days in order to complete the distance in the allotted time. That translates into almost 100 laps a day around the half mile city block in Queens where the race takes place during the heat of the summer.

All the best

Abakash

Edward Howell, one of the greatest proponents of raw foods said that the cookstove was our greatest enemy. He believed that the enzymes in foods (life force) transfers to the life force of the body. He said any heat applied to foods over 108 degrees essentially kills the enzyme or the life force of the food. (Enzyme Nutrition, Edward Howell)

Bruce McVay and Dharbasana Lynn have certainly proven that a raw food diet CAN sustain an athlete.

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