As a working model and raw food enthusiast, one of the most frequent questions I receive by far is "What does your daily diet look like?"
First off—I have come to the point in my life where I will only eat living plant food. I have always been a fan of common sense, and when I stepped back and looked at the whole picture, being a raw vegan was the only option. It is ethically the cleanest diet, it has the most nutrition, and it is the diet of every other wild animal on the planet. It consumes the least energy to produce and prepare, and it's the diet that we have eaten for millions of years up until very recently. And after I actually tried it for two weeks, I felt so amazing that I could never go back again.
I have to maintain a healthy physique, so I do work out often. Despite many vegetarian viewpoints that would suggest otherwise, I feel that protein is critical for rebuilding muscle and I aim for a decent amount every day. I simply know that I don't have to eat dead animals or drink the bodily fluids of cows and goats to get it. In fact, studies have shown that when protein is cooked, it becomes denatured and can only be absorbed at half the rate as a raw protein. Remember that fellas.
Ready to see the daily diet? Here we go....
I start the day off with massive hydration. Twenty-four ounces of spring water with the juice of 2 lemons, cayenne pepper, and a wonderful food-based supplement known as MSM (Methylsufonylmenthane...big word, but trust me, its natural and organic). Usually I'll put in about 2 tablespoons of MSM in my drink, but you might prefer far less. Add in a little honey or agave nectar if you like it a bit sweeter. This is basically a spicy lemonade, similar to the "master cleanse" drink that so many have read about.
This is fast and easy, and gets my cells hydrated and ready for the day. What I also like is the feeling of being full, and not having to have a heavy breakfast that will just slow me down.
When I start to actually get hungry, I've been out of bed for usually 2-3 hours.
Enter: The Green Smoothie.
In my opinion, it is the best thing you can consume daily. For you newcomers out there, let me give you the scoop. The green smoothie is simply a blend of leafy greens and fruit. Think of the endless varieties here. A great one to start out with is Spinach (40%) and Mango-Banana (60%). I promise that you won't taste the spinach, and you would have consumed more greens than your mother could have ever hoped for. What is really ideal here is that the greens are blended, so it's as if you chewed them to a smooth, silky consistency, so the body can absorb them without much trouble.
I love salads, but you have to do a lot of chewing to get close to what a blender can do. By having a green smoothie every day, you are getting in your daily dose of leafy greens before you leave the house in the morning, and guess what—it tasted like mangoes and bananas.
Another version I like is spinach and ripe pears. Sounds easy, right? It is. And again, it's like drinking a pear puree…that just happens to be green. If you can get over that, you're golden.
I get so filled up by the green smoothie that I usually don't eat for another 4-5 hours afterwards.
When my late lunch time arrives, I'll have something savory. If I'm going to have something heavy, this is the time to eat it; that way I can digest it throughout the afternoon and evening.
Lately I've been making a wonderful zucchini pasta with a sundried tomato sauce with olives and mushrooms. I love this for lunch. It's still relatively light, but so full of flavor.
If I don't have time to make the pasta, I'll make a superfood smoothie. I try to have 3-4 of these every week. This is where I get some really extraordinary nutrition, and can keep my diet exciting by experimenting with new combinations.
What I had yesterday was a mix of 12 ounces of spring water, Cacao (raw chocolate) powder, Goji Berries (from the Tibetan Himalayas), Hemp protein, Bee Pollen, Mesquite (A desert tree) Powder, Maca (a radish from the Andes mountains in Peru) Powder, and cinnamon. The taste is amazing, and I get so much protein and all the essential amino acids in this one supercharged beverage. I like to make it thick though, so I eat it slowly with a spoon. Again, the combinations are endless. Do some superfood research and see what might work best for you.
For dinner I like to ride it light. Maybe I'll have an apple filled with almond butter with a dash of cinnamon.
Or I'll have some salad with my favorite seaweed, dulse.
I've found that my energy is far stronger when I eat light at night time. My digestion isn't drawing energy away from my brain, so I wake up more alert and ready for action. Eating a big dinner is a hard habit to break, but it is really worth it. Trust me on this one.
Sometimes I'll just have a raw vegan ice cream made of coconut butter, cashews, and agave nectar. A dash of cacao powder on top...there is simply no sacrifice here.
The key is to learn to make your vegan whole food taste good, but still get those greens in. The more active you are, the more sugar you can have. Surprisingly though, the more green smoothies I have, the less I crave much else. Get a good raw food "uncook" book and learn to make tasty treats so you won't be heading to the freezer for Ben and Jerry's.
Keep it light at night, and blend those greens. Everything else will fall into place.
This lifestyle got me lean, toned, and made my skin glow...it takes a little time, but if you make good food, you will enjoy every second.
Rawmodel.com is about personal liberation from sickness, all types of dogma, self-imposed inhibitions, and the corporate food chain. It is about living in accordance with Nature's laws and being active in physically rebuilding the Paradise that our ancestors destroyed. Besides Rawmodel.com, you can find him as a contributing writer on The Huffington Post, Gliving, and WelikeitRaw. Anthony has modeled for companies such as Hugo Boss, Target, Macy’s, Tommy Hilfiger, JcPenney, Kohls, Gillette, Acura, and Paul Mitchell.
