Marissa Wins Fitness Competition On a Plant Based Diet

Marissa’s story of how she changed her animal protein diet to a completely RAW plant based diet is inspiring!!!  I met Marissa in Fort Bragg, California when we were both attending the RAW nutrition certification classes.   She was 4 months pregnant, radiant and very passionate about the lifestyle which had brought her incredible success.  She agreed to share her story with me and I think you’ll agree – the question of “Where do you get your protein?” is answered by her!

Marissa had been into fitness since she was a young teenager.  The posters on her walls were of fitness models and lady body builders.  She knew she wanted to be part of their world and became a fitness trainer.  Once she made the commitment to begin competing as a Figure Body Builder she followed all of the “typical” diet recommendations which included egg whites, fish and tons of chicken!     She did see body modification, but she also had headaches, severe joint pain and woke up feeling lethargic every day.

One of her close friends introduced her to the idea of being a Vegan and eating food which was uncooked.  She would try her green smoothies and admittedly was curious.  An opportunity presented itself for Marissa to attend a RAW Certification Course.  While she was absorbing the knowledge of how healthy this way of preparing food was for the body, she also decided to eat ONLY what they served her- even though she had packed her whey protein shakes and tuna packets in her suitcase.  After just a few days of RAW food, the change in her body was astonishing!  She responded immediately to a life without animal products as her headaches and joint pain disappeared!

When she returned home, she stayed on her RAW plant based diet and using only her intuition about RAW food and body building she came in fourth in her first competition.  She took advice from the judges on what she could do to improve her body and focused on those areas in the gym.  She never wavered on her belief her new RAW food diet was giving her the definition in her body and energy she needed in the gym.  Instead of relying on a chicken breast and sweet potato for lunch she would have a salad with sprouted lentils and sweet potato chips from the dehydrator.    Her next competition came just 6 months later and she won the Amateur Natural Northern Figure/Body Building Competition!!!

Ready to take her body building career to the next level, within a few months Marissa discovered she was expecting their first child and the competitions were put on the back burner.  She’s still on her RAW plant based diet throughout her pregnancy and comments that her energy levels are still  high!

Before competition there’s about a 2-3 week period of time when you are feeding your body, but also leaning yourself out.  Marissa relied on Green Smoothies made with lots of greens and berries(a low glycemic fruit) for her energy and recovery.  She also shared one of her power packed smoothie recipes with me!

Marissa’s POWER Smoothie

1 1/2 cup almond milk

2 T RAW Cacao

1 heaping tablespoon hemp protein

1 heaping tablespoon maca

2 banana’s – frozen

2 large handfuls of spinach or swiss chard or kale

Mix in a high speed blender, Vita Mix.  Add water to thin if desired.
Marissa shares her recipes and tips on www.rawtrainer.com