I Like it Raw

Posted on by Dale Philip

Related Post

“Oooh baby I like it raw. Yeah baby I like it rawwwww. Oooh baby I like it raw. Yeah baby I like it rawwwwww.”

The words of the late, great Ol’ Dirty Bastard who was no doubt using the medium of rap to tell the world how much he enjoys raw food. Shimmy, shimmy ya!

I’ve been eating a raw, vegan, whole, living food diet now for 40 days. Do I enjoy it? Meh, it’s alright. I’m used to it. What I’m really enjoying are the health benefits.


In addition to feeling more energetic I’ve continued to lose weight (fat) and I’m now down to 78kg, losing 5kg total since I started eating raw. I’ve also gained a fair amount of muscle in that time, so the amount of fat weight I’ve lost is even more. At least I think I’ve gained muscle. Perhaps it’s been there all along hiding behind layers of fat.

The major downside for me is that with all the food buying/prep/eating and the daily exercise I’ve been doing, my quest to get fit and healthy has become a full time job.

In the past I would have started my day by microwaving a couple of Hot Pockets then sat at my desk grinding poker for hours while snacking on Snickers, Twixes, Mars Bars, Bounties and Maltesers.

Now I spend at least the first hour of every day eating fresh fruit and vegetables - massive salads take forever to eat through. Then I go running, swimming, some light resistance weights and a sauna. Then I’m back out again buying fresh food from the market. Then I’m back home doing some hardcore juicing. By that time the best part of a day has passed and going for a long massage seems much more appealing than sitting at my desk playing poker. I barely played a hand of poker in October!
Going forward I need to find a balance between getting healthier and making money. If I was wealthy I would just continue with what I’ve been doing this past month, putting the poker grind on hold and focusing 100% on my health for at least 2 more months. But that’s not an option. Grinders gotta grind.
It’s extremely easy, standard even, to live a really unhealthy lifestyle when you play poker for a living. But with some effort I’m sure it doesn’t have to be that way. Plenty of my peers have found ways to balance their poker with a healthy lifestyle so there’s no reason that I can’t either.
Travel
I haven’t done as much travelling this year as I would have liked but the trips I’ve taken over the last few months have been great fun (trip reports: Tokyo, Singapore, Cambodia).
My plan for my next adventure is to go jungle trekking in Laos.  (out of Luang Prabang and then Luang Namtha). It’s been one of my main motivators to getting fit. Trekking can involve up to 6 hours per day of walking so it’s not something I would have previously thought about doing.
I’m now reaching the stage where such an activity seems like less of an impossibility and more like something I can easily work towards.

I’m planning on going before the end of the year if I can get fit enough.

Team Online

I have three new PokerStars Team Online team mates. They are:

Naoya ‘nkeyno’ Kihara - the first WSOP bracelet winner from Japan.

Caio ‘pessagno’ Pessagno - a well known and successful online tournament player from Brazil.

And the third person….. well it was a mystery for quite a while but now you can see for yourself….


Full House

A demo for a poker related reality TV show emerged on YouTube recently. The idea of the Full House is that a bunch of unlikeable poker pros live with Johnny Chan and act all obnoxious on camera for our [  ] enjoyment.


I don’t even know where to start. Splashing pots, berating opponents, cringe-worthy table talk, Johnny Chan  struggling to read his lines from the autocue. Best of all is that the producer, Jay Ishimaru, cast himself as one of the contestants in the show, as “The Genius” no less.

You’d be mistaken for thinking this was all a huge level. It truly would be “genius” if it was. But sadly, no. They disabled ratings and comments on YouTube after receiving unanimous negative feedback, so it looks like they really are trying to make this into a show. Can’t wait to watch, I love a good train wreck.