Raw vegan diets

[pink_sugar]

I've been hearing a lot about raw diets and not just clean eating, but entirely raw vegan. I hear that a lot of people lose weight on them, but it's just not realistic to sustain long term since you are eliminating quite a bit from your diet. Thoughts? I think it's just another fad IMO.

[Tayla]

Some items are meant to be raw- Nuts/ berries, Vine/ Roots/some vegetables.

Retains the nutrients.

 

Where the cautionary line is drawn is foods that spoil quick or are left contaminated---Meats/fishes/dairy foods.

 

Proper cleansing of foods , boiling, heating seem to be what has kept mankind from being further down on the food chain.

 

My Gastro Doc refrains from promoting such diets. Rather He has the dietician list which are safe in raw form.

[Michelle ma Belle]

I have recently transitioned into being a vegan. Before deciding this I did dabble with raw eating a time or two before but it really is VERY extreme and an all consuming lifestyle choice.

 

As it is, choosing to be a vegan (especially when you're Italian and LOVE cheese!) is difficult particularly when you go out to eat at a restaurant, event or even family dinners. There is a lot more thought that goes into eating as well as preparation when you move away from ALL animal products.

 

Personally, I've been sitting on the fence about going vegetarian for years and it wasn't until I met my boyfriend (who is a long time vegetarian moving to vegan and animal activist) who helped me finally make the commitment.

 

Going vegan or raw has gotten a lot of publicity in the last few years but I think the reasons for doing so has more to do with it being seen as a diet quick fix rather than a core belief. One is a fad and often very temporary while the other is a lifelong lifestyle choice which extends beyond just what you put in your mouth.

[pink_sugar]

I have recently transitioned into being a vegan. Before deciding this I did dabble with raw eating a time or two before but it really is VERY extreme and an all consuming lifestyle choice.

 

As it is, choosing to be a vegan (especially when you're Italian and LOVE cheese!) is difficult particularly when you go out to eat at a restaurant, event or even family dinners. There is a lot more thought that goes into eating as well as preparation when you move away from ALL animal products.

 

Personally, I've been sitting on the fence about going vegetarian for years and it wasn't until I met my boyfriend (who is a long time vegetarian moving to vegan and animal activist) who helped me finally make the commitment.

 

Going vegan or raw has gotten a lot of publicity in the last few years but I think the reasons for doing so has more to do with it being seen as a diet quick fix rather than a core belief. One is a fad and often very temporary while the other is a lifelong lifestyle choice which extends beyond just what you put in your mouth.

 

Exactly. Transitioning to Vegan can be very difficult for a lot of people, let alone Raw vegan. I can imagine it would be extremely difficult to be Raw Vegan when eating out or during social occasions. A lot of time and effort has to be put in in order to maintain this sort of diet. There are a lot of meat alternatives for vegans and vegetarians, but if you're raw vegan, you cannot have any of these since they are considered processed.

[Moonlitgirl]

I've done it before and lost weight, yes. But, I didn't go completely raw. Maybe 75%.

 

Try to eat one raw meal a day (large salad), and make your snacks raw (nuts, fruit), and see how you like it.

 

It IS very time consuming with all the washing, chopping, slicing, etc., and can make you feel deprived if you're going all raw. Plus, you won't get complete proteins, so keep that in mind.

 

I used whey shakes and still do. I love them.

[Priv]

I can't imagine it being healthy. We invented fire for a reason . Besides that, noone is questioning we are omnivorous. You can already pick the vegetarians out of a crowd, let alone the raw only crowd. It sounds quite extreme to me. Though I don't think its a fad like paleo or something. It has been around for a long while.

 

 

But if you want to lose weight, just cut down the sugar and increase the pink

[jay1983]

My cousin has transitioned to a raw vegan diet. She's lost a lot of weight, only problem is she has bowel movements 3 to 4 times a day. She claims that it goes right through her because the food is so natural. I think it's a lack of protein, so I suggested she eat more nuts and beans. She says no no it's not that......

 

"shrugs"

[Priv]

I have recently transitioned into being a vegan. Before deciding this I did dabble with raw eating a time or two before but it really is VERY extreme and an all consuming lifestyle choice.

 

As it is, choosing to be a vegan (especially when you're Italian and LOVE cheese!) is difficult particularly when you go out to eat at a restaurant, event or even family dinners. There is a lot more thought that goes into eating as well as preparation when you move away from ALL animal products.

 

Personally, I've been sitting on the fence about going vegetarian for years and it wasn't until I met my boyfriend (who is a long time vegetarian moving to vegan and animal activist) who helped me finally make the commitment.

 

Going vegan or raw has gotten a lot of publicity in the last few years but I think the reasons for doing so has more to do with it being seen as a diet quick fix rather than a core belief. One is a fad and often very temporary while the other is a lifelong lifestyle choice which extends beyond just what you put in your mouth.

 

That I can understand and respect. But that's a lifestyle choice made out of an ideal, not out of health (or unhealthy) concerns.

 

 

I knew this German girl at uni, besides being a vegan she walked an hour or more to get to a shop that sold homegrown apples instead of imported ones. The dorkiest girl I have ever met with the biggest glasses I have ever seen, but I did respect that. I have never met a more dedicated person to their own personal cause. Side note - it was an MA class in Peace Studies, so we were all activists in one way or another.

[OwMyEyeball]

If raw vegan has a self-apparent life enhancing impact beyond a placebo effect I can see it becoming a valid lifestyle option, though any popularity it has now is driven more by fad.

 

Veganism is derived more from animal rights concerns than dietary preferences. It's very difficult to get the necessary proteins from a vegan diet, especially for an active person. There are those who make it work, but it takes a concerted effort and numerous supplements.

 

A vegetarian diet with properly sourced proteins (largely dairy and eggs) can get around the animal rights issue.

 

Diets are unsustainable long-term. They need to be conscious lifestyle choices driven by a deeper meaning than simply wishing to look better. They also should be realistic to their activity level. And by all means they should never become an obsession or stress in anyone's life.

 

The Omnivore's Dilemma is a good read if you're thinking about food and your diet in general.

[Els]

The very thought of surviving solely on raw greens makes me feel like puking, so it might be useful in that regard...

 

In all seriousness, it's really just about the calories. Veggies are good for weight loss because they have high fibre (thus making you feel full), low cals, and high nutrients. But you don't need a PURE vegan diet just to lose weight, plenty of people have lost or maintained their weight on a balanced omnivorous diet.

 

Just do whatever feels best for you.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Elswyth

[MissBee]

Some items are meant to be raw- Nuts/ berries, Vine/ Roots/some vegetables.

Retains the nutrients.

 

Where the cautionary line is drawn is foods that spoil quick or are left contaminated---Meats/fishes/dairy foods.

 

Proper cleansing of foods , boiling, heating seem to be what has kept mankind from being further down on the food chain.

 

My Gastro Doc refrains from promoting such diets. Rather He has the dietician list which are safe in raw form.

 

It's a raw vegan diet, i.e. no animal products but food which is naturally meant to be consumed in a raw state.

 

I know two people who've been doing this for years and they are as healthy as ever. They aren't doing it for weight loss though, they're just doing it as a lifestyle choice they feel it's better.

 

As for me...I doubt I could do it for a long time but would try to do so for the short term. One of them actually gave me a raw foods recipe book. The stuff actually looked good and no it wasn't just salads. I've also eaten at their homes and some stuff is tasty. Here's a website with recipes...the foods look like "normal foods", they're prepared creatively and you have raw desserts, appetizers, entrees etc so it's not like you just eat grass and salad all day with no kind of variety...Day 15 at 105degrees Level 1 - Raw Cuisine | Robyn Law

 

This also debunks the myths about vegan and vegetarian diets as inadequate nutritionally:

 

http://www.pomona.edu/administration/dining/health-wellness/vegan-vegetarian.aspx

Edited September 25, 2014 by MissBee

[rester]

I agree that it's not too realistic or sustainable for most people. I've been a vegetarian for almost 20 years and go through dairy-free phases, usually when I feel that I've been eating too much bread and cheese, which is an easy habit to acquire when meat isn't an option I'm willing to choose. Putting restrictions on myself helps me to be more conscious of what I eat, but eating raw vegan 100% of the time takes massive dedication. Vegan is its own beast, and adding raw into that adds a deeper level.

 

Things do get easier when they become a lifestyle, and not a temporary choice. I have no problem at all avoiding meat, but if I go a week or two without cheese, I end up giving in, even though long time vegans could have no problems avoiding all animal products.

 

One of the reasons people lose weight eating raw vegan is because it forces one to cut out all the junk food. There's not too much raw vegan empty-calorie junk food out there, or maybe I just can't think of any.

[SerCay]

I would go for paleo...It's what the first humans used to eat like...Our body hasn't changed since then, so if you want to go back to the nature of humans, it's Paleo.

 

 

I want to get there some day, but slowly cause it's hard and I like my pasta lol

[JDPT]

Being a vegan not only applies to your eating habits but it also overlaps to what you have hanging in your closet and which animal support groups you subscribe to. I tried it once, it was a very difficult task, I don't think I prepared myself mentally for it but kudos to those who can diligently subscribe to the lifestyle.

[JDPT]

I would go for paleo...It's what the first humans used to eat like...Our body hasn't changed since then, so if you want to go back to the nature of humans, it's Paleo.

 

 

I want to get there some day, but slowly cause it's hard and I like my pasta lol

 

 

I've tried it and oh how painful it was going to the bathroom due to lack of fiber in my system. lol

But I did feel jacked without lifting any weights. I build muscle rather quickly, if you see my body now you would think I do some type of strength training exercises which I don't. It's simply my high protein intake that gets quickly absorbed by muscles in my body.

[pink_sugar]

Thanks for all of your responses. I was curious what others had to say after a friend of mine decided to do raw. Ironically, after I made this post yesterday, she decided she just couldn't do raw anymore as it was just too difficult to consume all veggies in a raw state, plus she was having all kinds of cravings. I was figuring it would be short lived. When you see all your relatives around you eating regular food while you eat raw broccoli, carrots and etc on a plate, I could imagine how difficult that would be to maintain that sort of diet, especially in a social setting.

[lollipopspot]

I understand that a raw diet is difficult as a long term sustainable diet. Most people don't use it like that - they use it short term. A regular vegan diet is sustainable.

 

It's very difficult to get the necessary proteins from a vegan diet, especially for an active person. There are those who make it work, but it takes a concerted effort and numerous supplements.

 

A vegetarian diet with properly sourced proteins (largely dairy and eggs) can get around the animal rights issue.

 

This is not true on either point. It is not difficult to "get the necessary proteins" from a vegan diet. You might be thinking of misinformation from the 70s when people were incorrectly concerned about combining foods at every meal. That has long been debunked.

 

Egg and dairy are some of the worst industries from an animal welfare perspective. They in no way "get around the animal rights issue." What do you think happens to the male chick counterparts to the hens who are used for their eggs? (They're usually ground up alive to be made into fertilizer, and that's the sourcing even for so-called humane farms). What do you think happens to spent hens? How do you think most hens are kept?

 

On every commercial dairy farm the calves are forcefully removed from their mothers on the day of or within days of birth, so that humans can take the milk. Mothers and babies may cry and look for each other for months. What do you think happens to the male calves? The dairy industry can't be called humane by any stretch.

 

Why Vegan? | Vegan Outreach

Earthlings // Feature | Earthlings

Humane Myth: Encouraging Truth, Transparency and Integrity in Animal Advocacy

 

I would go for paleo...It's what the first humans used to eat like...Our body hasn't changed since then, so if you want to go back to the nature of humans, it's Paleo.

 

That's arbitrary and based on a fad. This biologist writes that human ancestors were nearly all vegetarians:

 

When we talk about “paleo” diets, we arbitrarily tend to start with one set of ancestors, our most recent ones. I want to eat like Homo erectus or a Neanderthal or a stone age human, my neighbors testify. But why do we choose these particular ancestors as starting points? They do seem tough and admirable in a really strong five o’ clock shadow sort of way. But if we want to return to the diet our guts and bodies “evolved to deal with” (a concept that wrongly assumes our bodies are fine tuned by engineers rather than cobbled together by natural selection), perhaps we should also be looking our earlier ancestors. In addition to understanding early humans and other hominids, we need to understand the diet of our ancestors during the times when the main features of our guts, and their magical abilities to turn food into life, evolved...

Human Ancestors Were Nearly All Vegetarians | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network

[genuinelyloverly7]

Hi OP- Raw vegan is easier for me than cooked vegan, mainly because it is mentally easier to eat only raw vegan, and not fall into a pattern of little steps towards a pizza coma. With cooked vegan, it usually starts at a friends house- "well, they don't have quinoa...", or more frequently, "I don't want to offend them by eating something different at their house..."

 

And also because I don't want to deal with soy and grains, and that is in almost all of the substitutes you can get in the packaged vegan stuff. Making stuff with black beans is good, but also too heavy for me to eat more than rarely. And many vegan food choices that I see emphasized still focus on a meat-based lifestyle- just a fake meat one! And it is all so heavy! I also have various digestive troubles and any grains, soy, dairy, and et cetera are a no-go; so it became simpler for me to eat only fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds- I came to the lifestyle from a health need, not a weight loss one.

 

Now, I still do eat fish sometimes (mostly sushi), and a lot of steamed quinoa (it's a seed, not a grain!). And I do eat some other cooked stuff. Heck, I'm not even RV all of the time right now anyway (I too am weak to the temptations of the flesh). But when I am doing it, I feel amazing. I have a goal to eat 100% raw vegan, for at least one year, just because I want to see if the reported miraculous changes (from a 100% version) are true. And it is so filling and energizing! I have experienced the change in my energy- huge gains there!

 

After all those benefits, why am I not easily living the RV life? Socially, it is HARD- people feel like it is okay to question you, judge your choices, tell you you are wrong, imply you have an eating disorder, or just plain condescendingly tolerate your choices. So it is a battle to simply eat wit other people. Also, you get bombarded by smells and sights that tie to memories and emotions. It is hard to resist that sometimes. It takes a lot of self discipline, and many people feel like it isn't worth it to fight that all the time.

 

Here is a link to a great lady who promotes what is known as a low fat raw vegan diet. It is a bit misleading in its title, but basically it means that you don't make the majority of your RV diet seed and nut 'substitutes' for SAD (Standard American Diet) food. It takes a little bio chem to understand why this is true, and really it works better after you have transitioned over to a raw vegan diet with the fatty nuts and seed version. At least for me, who needed the healthy fats to calm the fatty cravings (salty and sweet) so I didn't give in to the unhealthy fat possibilities. Here she is, full of good intentions and waaaay too much energy for a regular person. < FullyRaw: Home of the Raw Vegan Lifestyle >

 

Here is an amazing recipe book that I still refer to for my 'high fat/gourmet raw' foods... I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude: Terces Engelhart, Orchid: 9781556436475: Amazon.com: Books

I will say this about Cafe gratitude. I worked there; they lived the attitude put forth in the book. I'm not promoting all that, or dissing it. I just love the recipes. They are complicated sometimes, but worth it when you really want a 'cheeseburger' or something else like that.

 

 

Some other websites that you can find recipes on... I haven't tried them all, or even one from every website, but I thought I'd give you some that look good to the experienced eye.

 

Gone Raw - sharing raw, vegan recipes and advice

 

Seed / Nut CheesesNouveau Raw

 

Raw on $10 a Day (or Less!)

 

Have fun trying it all out, and let yourself experiment with new smells, textures, and flavors.

[blackcat777]

My experience is a cautionary tale and I mean to share this with everyone from the best place possible. I knew since I was a kid I wanted to stop eating animals, and my closest spiritual identification is animism now. Tl;dr I dove into raw veganism with guns blazing and got seriously burned.

 

I was veg for a decade, five of which were spent raw vegan. I felt awesome awesome awesome, looked great, had tons of energy, got involved with opening a raw restaurant, was so involved with "the scene," felt like it was the best thing in the world to do and would solve all the planet's problems, had kale chips stuck in my teeth 24/7, my roommate even scored a gig for Tim Van Orden and he spent a night or two at our house...

 

And during the last year (first four were GREAT!), inexplicably, despite my adherence to probiotics, loads of greens, sprouting, etc., etc., etc... my body CRASHED. BADLY. Big time.

 

I think I dodged a bullet and I'm glad I got out when I did....

 

I developed all kinds of weird nervous/anxiety issues, would have panic attacks and shakes out of nowhere, pain in my chest, and my periods went out of control. This was all of a sudden, out of nowhere. How could something that did me so much good suddenly fail without warning?

 

I saw a respectable naturopath and he convinced me just to experiment with ethically sourced eggs. This was a huuuuge dilemma for me because I had been so ideologically invested in veganism.

 

I researched and found the best eggs I could get. Ate two of them. Have not had a panic attack, not ONE, since. I felt an INSTANT change in my body. Before, my panic attacks were getting so bad that I was apprehensive about driving a car to work.

 

I'm now including humanely sourced animal products a la Weston A. Price's philosophy (indigenous eating)--not rigidly, but more or less. Lots of fish, more dairy and fish than meats for me (just can't psychologically deal with eating organs).

 

I bought into a cow share and did get incredibly sick from raw milk, for whatever that's worth. I am awesome with cheese, butter, yogurt, cream, so it might be a lactose thing, I always had problems.

 

All the initial cleansing I got from switching to raw vegan the first year--great skin, clear eyes, good sleep, I still have all of that on a healthy, whole foods diet that includes cleanly sourced animal products. Back in the day when I just ate greasy pizzas and orange chicken for takeout, my skin was bad--so I think quality of food is a factor.

 

I still won't touch anything factory farmed with a ten foot pole. I love local farmers' markets because I can meet my meat without being traumatized, so to speak. I am still taking lives, but with as much respect as possible--kind of put me face to face with accepting the circle of life. Had I not instantly felt so much better as soon as I ate eggs that first day, I wouldn't be certain that this is right for me. (YMMV!)

 

I completely empathize with anyone who wants to get into raw for any reason, but I do feel compelled to pipe up and warn people to monitor their progression honestly if they are in it for the long term. Lots of long term raw vegans who formerly spearheaded the movement dropped out due to health problems that don't manifest until years later, after the sparkle of initial detox wears off. Some of the extreme cases do include crumbling teeth and neuropathy.

 

Much respect to wherever you are in your journey and I wish everyone peace, health, and happiness.

[lollipopspot]

five of which were spent raw vegan.

 

I haven't understood that it's wise for anyone to do raw vegan it as anything but a short term diet. Five years is a very long time!

 

Ate two of them. Have not had a panic attack, not ONE, since. I felt an INSTANT change in my body.

 

I mean this respectfully, but nutrition just doesn't work like that.

 

And then there is the kind of instantaneous healing that occurs with the first bites of animal food. In The Vegetarian Myth, Lierre says “I could feel every cell in my body—literally every cell—pulsing. And finally, finally being fed.” Tasha says “I had only eaten a small piece of cow flesh, and yet I felt totally full, but light and refreshed all at once.” Eating meat also instantly improved her heart rate!

 

I don’t doubt for one second that Tasha experienced these feelings when she ate meat; I just know that it had nothing to do with what she had eaten and everything to do with her expectations about what the food would do for her. As I said in my review of The Vegetarian Myth, you have to actually digest and absorb the nutrients in food before you’ll feel any of its effects. And if you are consuming nutrients to reverse a deficiency, it will take weeks to feel the benefits.

- See more at: Do Ex-Vegans? Stories Make the Case Against Vegan Diets? | The Vegan RD

 

You had a very restrictive diet - raw veganism. And then you replaced it with another fairly odd diet. Weston Price's theories as advocated by the group with his name, has some rather odd science behind it.

 

Your story about cleansing and detox makes me think of this -

Some ex-vegans are clearly obsessed with “clean eating” (an unfortunate term that has orthorexia written all over it). Or with cleanses and detoxes. Or they are devotees of a health guru who tells people EXACTLY which foods they should and shouldn’t eat in order to experience optimal health. And when someone believes that there are foods that are so “toxic” that they should never EVER be consumed, it’s not surprising that they might be open to all kinds of unfounded ideas about diet. Nor is it surprising that some ex-vegans gravitate toward a Paleo-type diet which has its own set of rules and restrictions.

 

So, while I’m certainly sympathetic to anyone who is struggling to regain their health, I’m still skeptical about whether this ever translates to a need for animal foods.

- See more at: Disordered Eating, Restrictive Eating, and Ex-Vegans | The Vegan RD

 

I'm glad that you found something that works for you now. I'm not sure that animals have to be part of it though.

[Imported]

Since I got my mandolin slicer and spiral vege thing

 

http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-V-Blade-Mandoline-Slicer/dp/B001THGPDO/ref=pd_sbs_k_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=04Z809H0S0BFEP0EJE67

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Spiralizer-Bundle-Vegetable-Perfect/dp/B00KIVD1PC/ref=sr_1_2?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1415141297&sr=1-2&keywords=vegetable+slicer

 

I have been eating a lot more vegetables. Totally not in danger of becoming a dreaded vegan. I like rice and pasta, but wanted to cut back on carbs more, so have substituted vegetables that can be spiral cut and use it like pasta. And I like salads, but I swear the shelf life on lettuce is just too short and usually spoils before I can get through half of what I get and it's not like I get too much. Now I just spiral or mandolin cut the hell out of carrots, cabbage, zucchini and mix it up with some grilled chicken. It's pretty good. Usually I do chicken and rice like.....everyday. Now it's chicken and vegetables.

[spanz1]

you have to be a little extreme to go completely vegan. If you have the stamina to do it, more power to you.

 

 

But it is relatively easy for you to slip in a vegan meal every day, or maybe even a full vegan-only day. You will not have meat cravings after just one day, AND mixing up the diet will have a good benefit.

[pink_sugar]

you have to be a little extreme to go completely vegan. If you have the stamina to do it, more power to you.

 

 

But it is relatively easy for you to slip in a vegan meal every day, or maybe even a full vegan-only day. You will not have meat cravings after just one day, AND mixing up the diet will have a good benefit.

 

I hardly consume dairy and rarely eat meat except for fish and chicken here and there. I think with persistence, people who really want to go vegan can do it. I do like honey though. However, raw vegan is a lot more extreme and can be pretty unrealistic.

[lollipopspot]

I hardly consume dairy and rarely eat meat except for fish and chicken here and there. I think with persistence, people who really want to go vegan can do it. I do like honey though. However, raw vegan is a lot more extreme and can be pretty unrealistic.

 

I don't consume honey, but that's one place where many vegans ("bee-gans") are more relaxed, especially if it's local honey by more careful beekeepers and not mass produced. Agave nectar is similar tasting to honey too. In real life it's often more about the intention than perfection - no one can be a perfect vegan in this world - just do your best if you want to do it )

Edited November 5, 2014 by lollipopspot

[austyre]

yep tried raw and yes it works for weight loss but I believe it is more about lifestyle especially vegans are more into the ethical side of things I myself eat what they call a plant based diet but I follow a rawtil4 diet also gave fruitarian a go

plenty of rawfoodist I know eat or drink smoothies , juices and salads and lots of it even people eating 30 bananas a day crowd with Harley(Durianrider) and Freelea his partner or you could go DTM Dan the Man Mcdonald or TVO 811 with Doug Graham and all the raw crew plenty of info out there

 

but with a warning get the diet that suits the journey I have found rawtil4 quite easy and manageable > Rawtil4 is where you consume fruits and veggies during day light hours and evening you eat cooked foods like rice potatoes quinoa pumpkin steamed veggies plenty of ideas;)