Hello.

Raw Vegan person speaking.

I have been a raw vegan now for 10 days. I thought I would share with you what it is like if any of you have ever considered giving it a shot.

First of all, raw vegan means you don’t eat anything that is cooked, or heated over 118 degrees, or at all, and vegan meaning no animal products.

Basically that leaves you with fruits and vegetables and nuts.

There are two kinds of raw vegans: High Fat Raw Vegans, otherwise known as “gourmet raw” vegans who make a lot of delicious fancy raw foods like burgers and pizzas made from nuts and Low Fat Raw Vegans who basically only eat fruits and salads and barely any nuts and avocados.

(Low Fat Raw Vegan is definitely the way to go.)

A few months ago when I was first learning about raw foods I did a one week high fat raw vegan trial with my then b/f. It was very diificult! We were quite hungry, but we made it. I kind of liked it–I lost weight and my skin looked great, but I was definitely glad to be eating cooked food again when the week was over.

I continued reading about raw foods though, until one day BAM.

I cam across the blog of this guy Jeff Sanders who was a raw vegan. He recommended this book 80/10/10 saying it was basically the be all and end all book on health.

Being the amazon addict I am, I immediately ordered it with one click.

The book was fascinating. It explained that humans are not omnivores as we all think and are taught in school.

In fact, we are frugivores.

The author does this really cool thought experiment…imagine a landscape…There are wheat fields waving in the breeze, cows grazing in the distance, fruit trees with ripe fruit in the forest, fish in the ocean, seaweed washed up on shore, potatoes and other roots in the ground, vegetables in the undergrowth.

What do you naturally gravitate towards?

Do you start salivating when you look at the animals…no. What about the hard tasteless grains of wheat, or the slimy chewy seaweed. What about the raw potatoes covered in dirt. NO. It is the fruit trees that we naturally gravitate towards. Fruit is THE food for humans. Squirrels have nuts. Birds have beaks for grains. We are designed for fruits and tender leafy greens.

He goes into far more detail and explains the science behind the diet.

Basically I came away from the book thinking…Wow! Duh! Why didn’t I ever think of this before. It makes so much sense that the highest quality vitamins and nutrients aren’t found in a dried up powdered vitamin pill, but fresh fruit and vegetables.

I started researching and watching youtube videos of  the devotees of this so called 80/10/10 diet (stands for 80 percent carbs, 10% fat and protein).

They all literally RADIATIED health. They all had stories of how raw foods had cured their horrible diseases, increased their fitness to olympian levels, how they had lost 40 pounds of weight, and achieved pre-adolescent energy levels, mental focus, and extreme joy at being alive.

Basically it was like the fountain of youth, the magic pill all the ads on tv are selling.

Except there was one catch. It wasn’t a magic pill. You had to basically give up all the foods you know and love.

And instead eat….FRUITS?? VEGETABLES??? SALADS WITH NO DRESSING???

I decided to give it a one week shot. Just to see if these people were on to something. What was the harm.

I was excited about it because I had been eating fruit for breakfast and lunch for a week or so, and it had made my skin look great and basically cured my horrible cramps. So I was like, OK…I wonder what would happen if I went all the way! If it did this much good in so short a time…let me give this a shot.

Well!

It is now Day 10. No longer a one week trial.

Days 1-7 were a whirlwind of learning and researching and buying these fruit lovers e-books. I was feeling good, and intrigued, and happy…but I couldn’t tell if it was due to what I was doing or the diet.

Suddenly on Day 8 something amazing started happening.

I was walking to the subway and I felt this surge of energy. I was speedwalking and all of a sudden I felt so good I felt like running!

I was running and it felt effortless, like I was floating on air, I wasn’t breathing heavily, I could just run.

It was like those scenes in movies where a person is swimming underwater and they can just breathe!

I got on the subway to my dance class, filled with this secret glee. Could I have found it? Could this be working? Could this be as good as they say it is?

It was like in a movie where everyone thinks this person is crazy, but it turns out they’re not.

Oh yes! You will have your fair share of detractors. FAR MORE than you have being a vegan or vegetarian. People can’t fathom the idea of raw foods.

In my dance class, I felt soooooo good. Like I just wanted to roll around on the ground. I noticed I was a lot stronger too. It was a miracle. I could do the whole ab work out when before I definitely could not.

The next day I went to dance class and I felt even stronger! I could do this move that is super hard that I had never come close to before!

Even thinking about it now fills me with disbelief. I could also do 10 pushups when I couldn’t do 1 before.

It fills me with a feeling of …..HOPE. honestly, hope and optimism and happiness.

I’m continuing!! I can’t wait to see what else happens.

I highly recommend anyone interested just GOES FOR IT and gives it a shot. HOWEVER. This is almost like a skill that needs to be learned. There is a LOT to know and learn before you can do this succesfully. Here are some basic tips.

1. Most importantly, buy the book 80/10/10 by Dr. Doug Graham and read about the rationale behind this way of eating. It will open your eyes. OK. It will probably seem really extreme to you at first like it did to me. He recommends eating all raw fruits and vegetables….I was like HE’s INSANE!! But it takes a while to get used to the idea.

2. Ok, next, you got to get a vitamix! They are the best and you will use it all the time I assure you.

3. Watch youtube videos of Low Fat Raw Vegans like Freelee and Durianrider and Melissa and Tinyfruitlover and fullyrawkristina –some of my faves. Watch the stories of their transformations and have someone tell you to your face how it changed their lives. This is what really motivated me.

4. Next try eating only fruit for breakfast or just adding in a ton more fruit to your diet. That’s how I started. When that becomes normal, do a 1 week trial of fruit for breakfast and lunch. I did this and my cramps were gone. It’s awesome!!

5. If you are ready to do it….join the Banana Girl Diet Challenge on facebook where they explain how to do a 30 day trial of this way of eating with a meal plan—the meal plan consists of breakfast and lunch of fruit and a fruit meal for dinner followed by a large salad with a fruit based dressing. You can post your diary there and get support. It’s a great resource.

6. If you are really ready to go for it, buy Roger Haeske’s recipe for savory veggie stews. They will save your life! Instead of eating extremely bland salads…he has a secret recipe for a blended salad that is actually REALLY good and you will look forward to eating. It will get in a ton of veggies and greens for you!

7. Finally, very important, download the cronometer app and log all your calories. Make sure you are at very minimum getting 2000 calories a day. This is a lot more difficult than it seems. The more calories you can get in from fruits and vegetables the better you’ll feel. It’s really fun to use this app which tells you all the vitamins and minerals and percentages of fat, protein and carbs you are getting. I love using it!!

If you do this—-I think like me…good things will happen.

I have gotten rid of my cramps, achieved the look of an inner glow, and best of all, drastically increased my fitness in the first 10 days.

Let me know if you guys have any questions–or if you try it, let me know how it goes. I would LOVE to hear about it.

Have you ever considered going raw? Does this sound insane to you?