Originally published May 29 2008
Striving for Excellence - Information From Athlete Richard Blackman
by Kevin Gianni
(NaturalNews) This is Kevin Gianni and I'd like to welcome you to another very special Raw Summit Teleseminar, which can be found online at (http://www.rawsummitarchives.com) . The purpose of the Raw Summit is to pass along cutting edge information about health and living food technologies for you to reach optimal health, wellness, and success. Today, I have a very awesome guest on the line. He is a fruitarian and a fitness expert, and today, we're going to talk to former professional rugby player, Richard Blackman about striving for excellence.
Kevin: You said that you have a pretty strong mindset when it comes to fitness, how can someone else work on developing that, someone who is embarrassed to work out in front of people. What can they do to feel like "Hey I can do this on my own and I can really get the result I want."
Richard: There's a big gap. There is no education on that. When you're getting fit, getting in shape is everything, when you add transition into a raw food diet, on top of that, they can be quite traumatic. You've got various emotions flying around by transitioning to the raw food lifestyle.
I always say that you have to look at changing your whole lifestyle not just your fitness, so you take care of the emotional side for one, fitness side for two, and you take care of your transition into a fruitarian lifestyle, three. Okay. If you neglect any of those it is going to have an impact on the other, like a chain reaction.
I'm trying to really focus on those three points because a lot people don't know what's happening. They get their butts whooped by detoxing cravings and emotional attachment to food. They'll believe in every negative thought that comes into their head by way of toxins in their bloodstream. I am a big believer in doing cleanses if you have to.
Kevin: Yes.
Richard: Some people are in such a state that their organs cannot cleanse by themselves properly as they could and the whole thing about fruits being cleansing �- but they're not designed to deal with the debris and the toxic waste from years of cooked food.
Fruits were meant to be eaten. Bang! That's it. So if you need the help to cleanse, do it; because that toxic stuff will come out that our body cannot keep up with and that's why people walk around depressed and angry. Their whole facial expression changes. It is like they're somebody else, because they're so toxic.
Time and time again, I've taken these people out from intense workouts and you know what? They come back. I can recognize them as the person they once were and their whole attitude changes. So, in terms of that person who is shy, who is reluctant to get out, who is not confident, who lacks knowledge or fitness; what I'm trying to do is take that person down and find out as much I can. And if they make the big mistake of telling me what they want, then we're going to go through it. But we're going to approach it in a way that is best to them, okay?
Kevin: It is kind of like paying the price, right?
Richard: Very much so, yes.
Kevin: You know your goals and then you pay the price.
Richard: Then you strive for excellence. That's one thing that I found that I say a lot and that I've taken from my own experiences, is to strive for excellence. You cannot, cannot be successful on the raw vegan/fruitarian lifestyle just by being a regular person, using regular efforts.
Kevin: Right.
Richard: You have to be an exceptional person. Period. And that's why a lot of people are not successful at the raw vegan/fruitarian lifestyle.
Kevin: And what is excellence to you?
Richard: Excellence is living and learning and each time you learn, you implement what you've learned regardless of what price you're going to pay. You strive for progress. Yes, you're going to slip but you get up, and you stick to your initial goals that you laid out because while you're transitioning, your mind is going to change according to the amount of toxicity in your system. That stuff will make your mind negative in a heartbeat. Now, if you live and learn and you keep slipping back, and not implementing what you've learned, then you're not striving for excellence. Striving for excellence isn't being superman. It's not mister perfect. It's that person that gets back on that horse every time they slip. It's that person that lives and learns.
Forget about what I can do. Too many people look at what I do and then they cancel themselves out instantly. They say, "Well I can't do that, so I won't go." But, it is not about me. Do what you can do!
And that's the gist of my fitness as a whole -- is to get more people active and understanding of what it takes to strive for excellence. What it takes to be competitive. What it takes to be an athlete.
And what it takes just to maintain physical fitness. I Help you transition to your lifestyle, fruitarianism.
Kevin: Who are some of your best and most treasured teachers?
Richard: To tell you the truth, myself.
Kevin: Okay.
Richard: Because the whole story of me is that when I first became fruitarian, I was so happy and so relieved. Every cell in my body screamed out, "Hooray! We found the solution", and I want to tell the world because who knows, it might help them. As soon as I opened my mouth, people looked at me like I was crazy. People looked at me like I was a bulimic, like I was borderline anorexic and that upsets me so much. So, I ended up keeping my mouth shut and at the same time, detox would set in, I was going through withdrawal symptoms. I didn't know about cleansing at that time. I didn't even know what to expect. What I would do was that I stopped talking to friends about it and I started spending more time on the internet and I discovered that there was such a thing called fruitarianism. Because my first question was, "I wonder if I could live off fruit permanently?"
Kevin: Okay.
Richard: So, I searched on the internet and I found fruitarianism. It was like a huge personal triumph for me. I started to talk to more people on the internet and I got the same reactions. On the raw food forums, I got blasted. People were very verbally abusive just because I typed in the word fruitarian. I just felt so alone, so helpless and I was going through detox. Every negative thing is going to my head, I believed, and I would quit. But then, something in my spirit said "No, you gave me what I want now and I want some more. Don't stop. Don't quit." So, I go back on fruits, then I go through another hard time and I quit. I was quitting every five minutes, Kevin.
Kevin: Wow.
Richard: I had to go free myself from trial and error and down right stubbornness. One of the elements that kept me going is this instinct -- the same instinct that told me to go out to the store on my bike and go get some fruits. That instinct is here to this day and I still can't tell you were it comes from, or what it is.
Kevin: It's probably not worth trying to find out, right? Just let it be. Let it be and follow it, right?
Richard: Very much so. I don't ask questions anymore. I trust myself, this instinct so much. I believe that's why I haven't suffered from the pains that other people have suffered from. You know, and I think that the timing that I implemented stuff instinctively is another reason too, like getting active, doing things.
Kevin: Um-hum. Let me ask you a question, you don't have to answer if you don't want to but what if that instinct says fruitarian is not in anymore?
Richard: Then, I'll follow it. And I follow it because I have to tell you the truth, Kevin. During detox and transitioning, I've had thoughts like that like I said, I quit every five minutes...
Kevin: Yes.
Richard: "It's causing you harm, it's causing you pain, it's causing you stress". But, those were all negative thoughts from toxins in my body from cleansing. I'm not going to stop that, okay? Now, if the instinct said to me, "You know what? stop it. It's no good." Then I would know because it such a huge distinction...
Kevin: Yes.
Richard: ...from negative thoughts to that holy grail instinct.
Kevin: Yes.
Richard: But if that instinct said, "You know what, go in this direction", then I will do
it.
Kevin: Yes.
Richard: If that instinct finally said, "Hey take supplements", then I will do it. Because I do really trust that instinct so much.
Kevin: It's an incredible distinction.
Richard: It is, very much. So, it's a definite distinction.
Kevin: I think that we sometimes get caught up in those first instincts, the ones that you're talking about every minute, you know, when you were quitting.
Richard: Yes.
Kevin: And then the actual real download, the real information...
Richard: We never catch most of the time. From what I see with people, never catch that essence of the holy grail instinct that says, "This is what you should do." They miss it completely because their mind is so focused on, "give me that fix." Most people don't question that they're
feeling like that because of toxins or emotional attachments to food. I used to eat according to my emotions. If I was stressed, I would eat for the comfort, for the escapism. If I was angry, something sweet, something junky.
Kevin: Right, right.
Richard: Like for me for instance, I'm not into the whole "tastes nice" thing anymore, I've passed that point. For me, food is replacing what I've lost. If I'm thirsty, a watermelon or orange juice that's juicy and has what I need. It's not like "Oh some real banana ice cream uhmm," and you go grab it.
Kevin: Yes.
Richard: Because when you do that, you're overloading your system with stuff that you don't need. Like, one of the things so great about the foods at the last boot camp is afterwards when everybody brought their stuff, we tore it up, okay, because we needed it.
Kevin: Right.
Richard: We didn't tear it up because it tasted like raw pasta or raw pizza, we tore it up because we needed it. Melons were like getting slaughtered. We earned that right to stuff ourselves into it and replace nutrients and it was great.
Kevin: So, Richard, it's been awesome and extremely insightful. I've enjoyed the time here. Why don't you tell us a little bit about your website and fruitarian fitness?
Richard: Basically, what you will find on the site is mostly information about the boot camp because that's the real deal I want people to focus on, see (http://www.supernaturalbootcamp.com/) . So you'll find information about signing up for the boot camps, expectations, and schedules. And you'll actually find my photo gallery and you'll be able to say "Well, look that's fruitarian," you know.
Kevin: Wow!
Richard: And look at him, look how he turns out, it's not so bad, you know? So you can use that as an example and that's the purpose of that gallery and the gallery of the boot camp pictures so you can see examples of what goes on and if that's the kind of thing you're looking at, then sign up, get involved.
Richard: Well, thank you so much, Kevin.
To read the rest of this transcript as well as access 14 different raw food experts just like Richard Blackman, please visit (http://www.RawSummitArchives.com) .
About the author
Kevin Gianni is a health advocate, author and speaker. He has helped thousands of people in over 85 countries learn how to take control of their health--and keep it. To view his popular internet TV Show "The Renegade Health Show" (and get a free gift!) with commentary on natural health issues, vegan and raw food diets, holistic nutrition and more click here.
His book, "The Busy Person's Fitness Solution," is a step-by-step guide to optimum health for the time and energy-strapped. To find out more about abundance, optimum health and self motivation click here... or you're interested in the vegan and raw food diet and cutting edge holistic nutrition click here. For access to free interviews, downloads and a complete bodyweight exercise archive visit www.LiveAwesome.com.
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