Its easy to achieve optimal body composition on a fruit based raw vegan diet. But first we must differentiate between cleansing and building. If you’re new to a raw vegan diet then your body has some very important adjustments to make and we don’t want to get impatient with the process. Detoxification requires waste-loss and often times that can mean weight loss as well, however this is just a preliminary phase, not to be confused with the building and maintenance phase of a raw vegan diet and lifestyle.
Building the body on any diet, including raw foods, requires building strength. First you must consume an abundance of calories from dense whole raw foods like nuts, seeds, dried fruits, whole fruits, big salads and smoothies, but you must also put your muscles under load! The body requires muscles to get stronger in order to get bigger and that goes for any diet. So its very important to USE your muscles! I recommend you go to the gym a minimum of 3 days a week and use the free weights like barbels and dumbbells. Doing long sessions of cardio on the treadmill will not build muscle and can often times decrease muscle mass. The nautilus machines also diminish muscle building potential and are often ineffective for a beginner.
The 5 key compound movements for men and women alike are squats, deadlifts, bench press, bent over rows, and overhead press. Do those 5 movements along with increased calorie intake an you will put on muscle mass regardless of what diet you’re eating, including a fruitarian diet.
I hate to see skinny, malnourished looking vegans and raw vegans who scare people away from the healthiest diet on the planet. We all have to take responsibility for our health and wellbeing and that includes feeling and looking healthy!
