A vegan DIET AND FATIGUE Q & A

Q: Hi Ali, could you write out a typical days worth of food that you eat? Meals and snacks, etc. You seem so strong and have so much endurance. I have been working out (running 23 miles per week and doing a yoga class every night) but I am only getting more fatigued. I'm thinking it might be my diet. I eat mainly fruits and vegetables and I'm losing weight (mainly muscle).

A: It's very hard for me to know for sure what the cause of your muscle loss and fatigue is but there are a few things you can address and see if that helps. First of all consult with your doctor, do a blood test, make sure theres no iron or other deficiencies. Second I would suggest that you are possibly over-training which can be quite damaging to your health. Overtraining can lead to fatigue and a whole host of other problems. Running in the morning and yoga at night might be way more than you need. Check out my post on weekly schedule for further details on that. And third but not last make sure you are getting enough calories. When starting a new diet sometimes it can feel very confusing. I suggest going on Cron-O-Meter or other sites like that and punching in your daily food intake and activity level. Make sure you are meeting your daily requirements for calories and nutrients. A quick tip - always have ripe bananas and other higher calorie fruits such as persimmons, dates, mangos, etc on hand. And have them as snacks or meals. Hope that helps. Switching your diet to a plant based diet is a step in the right direction. Just try to read and educate yourself  so that you can be successful at it. Once you get the basics down then it becomes pretty intuitive! <3

Also the Beautiful Laura - yogini and a vegan of 20 years added this: When I went vegan (70%) raw, I had some of the same difficulties. My skin was bruising badly and I started  feeling tired a lot. A homeopathic practitioner recommended Vitamin C with bioflavanoids and Vitamin B 12. It was also recommended that I add small portions of higher calorie foods to my diet until achieving positive results. Some of the suggested foods were avocado, raw almonds, walnuts, figs, dates, ripe bananas. I don't like the texture of avocado or banana so they go into a smoothie. I sometimes add 1 teaspoon of coconut oil to my oatmeal. You should add these higher calories gradually and keep portion sizes small. This way you can learn what your body needs and how it will respond. Large servings of these foods can cause weight gain.