Q: How does exercise play into your life, and how are your strength and physical capabilities affected by raw-foodism? Can one expect the same results from weight training and cardiovascular exercise on the raw-food diet as one can from such exercise while eating cooked food?

A: I am very big into weight-training. I hit the weights about 5 days a week and walk, hike, or run every day. You have to detoxify all the toxic waste and poisons out of your body (experience the weight loss and occasional weakness) before you can build up on raw foods. You have to be willing to detoxify all the way. From my experience on a raw-food diet, it is easily possible to gain muscle and unleash strength that you never knew you had.

Q: How do recovery rates and the need for sleep and rest differ between conventional bodybuilders and all-raw bodybuilders?

A: Conventional bodybuilders eat all day (5 or 6 big meals plus shakes and snacks) and run their metabolism at an accelerated rate; thus they recover slower and need more sleep because the body is constantly expending energy digesting, assimilating, and eliminating foods. All-raw bodybuilders recover faster if they include significant amounts of green-leafy vegetable juice (16-24 ounces) into their daily diet regime.

Q: How do raw foods affect athletic performance?

A: The raw-foodist athlete has an immeasurable advantage. Building a body with cooked-food nutrition is similar to blowing up a balloon; sooner or later the balloon will deflate. Muscles "blown up" with cooked food and other unnatural substances will eventually atrophy and "deflate." Most fitness experts and bodybuilders atrophy and wear down prematurely. Muscles built on raw-food nutrition last much longer because they are built naturally. I compare building your body with cooked food to building a house without any foundation. Sooner or later, that house is going to crumble.

Q: Do you think a raw food bodybuilder could ever compete against steroid takers in the strength and girth departments?

A: Definitely so. If you think about it logically, all the largest and strongest mammals on Earth are 100% raw plant eaters. The gorilla, the elephant, the hippopotamus, the giraffe, the rhinoceros, the horse, the bull, the buffalo, and so on, are all 100% raw plant eaters! A gorilla has the strength equivalent to bench-pressing 4,000 pounds. What rule of science says that a gorilla is able to synthesize proteins from raw plant foods but we are not? There are no raw food bodybuilders competing against steroid takers in the strength and girth departments because people simply are not aware of the potential of building strength and muscle naturally on The Raw-Food Diet.

Q: Are you personally stronger now than when you were a cooked-food eater?

A: I can say that I'm at least twice as strong now as I was when I was eating a Standard American Diet. I used to benchpress 300 pounds 3 times, now I can bench that weight 20 times. That's a huge improvement in brute strength. On a burnout set, I used to benchpress 135 pounds 40 times, now I can bench that weight over 100 times. That's a huge improvement in muscular endurance. I also find that I need little or no rest between sets of exercises now.

Q: What are your current "vital statistics." Besides your height and weight, which you've already divulged, would you also reveal your body fat percentage, blood pressure, and heart rate, as well as the girth measurements of your neck, shoulders, chest, arms, forearms, wrist, waist, hips, thighs, calves, and ankles?

A: I'm not into all that; the only measurement for me is how vibrant I feel. I used to measure my arms when I was younger, but I realize now that measurements prove very little. Though its arms aren't very big, a chimpanzee can rip a car door off of its hinges. I've seen "bodybuilders" with 22-inch arms that can't benchpress 300 pounds. I'm going for chimpanzee strength, not big measurements.

Q: Where do you get enough protein for real muscle growth?

A: Where does a cow, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, or gorilla get enough protein for real muscle development and growth? Raw plant foods. Protein synthesis is protein synthesis.

Q: Would you explain why coconut and avocado are necessary for you and whether there may be another way to gain weight if one doesn't want to, or can't go, the coconut and avocado route?

A: Fat is the delivery device to the muscles and bones of minerals drawn from green-leafed vegetables. One could use coconuts, avocados, olives, or nuts. I personally enjoy all four. Olives are one of the best foods for bodybuilding.

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