Is a Raw Vegan diet healthy? page 3

[darien]

The seeds I eat are sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, and chia seeds. I chose to eat this way because the raw vegans said it is the healthiest way to eat and they had the China Study and lots of testimonies with before and after pictures to back it up. And I find many more raw vegans saying how much better they feel and the diseases they've cured than I find saying that they lost too much weight.


Norman Wardhaugh Walker was mostly a raw vegan that lived to be 99. The only animal products he ate were egg yolks, cottage cheese, Swiss cheese, raw cream, and raw goat's milk.

[BarbeyGirl]

Raw vegan, vegan, and vegetarian diets may result in health benefits if they are "clean," that is, free of the processed foods that make up so much of the SAD.


Get rid of the frankenfoods, and yeah, you're likely to feel better than you did before. That does not mean that vegan/vegetarian diets are optimal.


I was "flegan" (mostly vegan, but flexible about occasional exceptions for practical reasons) for 3 years. Felt great until I started asking more of my body (bodybuilding) and the grains/legumes caught up with me (bloating). Went primal. Problems solved.

[NeoPaleo]

I ate vegan for almost a year, including a couple times trying out raw vegan (Doug Graham 80-10-10 style). I felt much better after switching to primal/paleo - not that I felt "bad" as a vegan, or raw vegan - it just didn't work for me on a "logical" level. It didn't feel "right".


But, like others have said, I think the main issue why raw vegan works for some people (for a time anyway) is the fact of removing everything that's not paleo (since raw vegan IS paleo - from a certain way of looking at it).


There are people that say they've been raw vegan for years. They say they feel very healthy - have good B12 tests, iron, calcium, etc. From reading so much about it, I think it could be possible, but I certainly don't think it's natural. I used to frequent the "30 bananas a day" site - so I'm quite familiar with all the arguments for and against raw vegan.


People like Doug Graham say that raw vegan is the way humans are *suppose* to eat - but he's going too far back in evolutionary history - yeah, primates are frugivores, but not humans - we started eating meat when we climbed out of the trees. And we started cooking not long after.


I haven't heard of that Norman Walker guy, but from what you just said, he's certainly NOT raw VEGAN if he also ate those other things.

[Del Mar Mel]

I think Darien is getting way too much flack here. As crazy as it sounds there are some common philosophies between this way of eating and raw vegan. Both value a very organic, pure and simple approach to eating. There are also more amino acids than you may be aware of in fruits and veggies. That is because eating them raw leaves the enzymes in tact which are destroyed in cooking.


I have been eating a lot of raw foods the last couple years and have settled on the fact that I am not likely to give up fish. I also like eggs, greek yogurt and occasionally want red meat. I had figured this might make me a flexitarian. I just found Mark's site and bought his book today. I certainly can't see myself eating meat and poultry three meals a day but I can see that I do need some traditional protein and I have always been conscious of having some at each meal.


I run a lot and end up wanting fish or eggs on a regular basis. I was thrilled to find Mark's wife, Carrie's post on how she does Primal and she does not eat red meat or chicken. Mainly fish and she does some smoothies with protein powders, I believe also some greek yogurt. Her way is most likely to be my way and I was glad for her Q&A.


Anyway, please don't ridicule this question. I am very familiar with what Darien is referring to in The China Study and it is solid research which will keep me quite committed to lots of plant food in my diet. We are all seekers of the highest health; if not we would be on the SAD (standard American diet) and happy about it. Choosing an alternative diet/ lifestyle definitely signifies a quest for health and is a journey that I respect.

[one_eye_mike]

Any way you freakin' slice it, there is no man, at 5'11", that is healthy at 124 lbs.


I have a buddy that's 5'11" and weighs about 150 lbs and he is one seriously skinny dude. I can't imagine him losing about 25lbs. That loss had to be mostly muscle and bone. I'll assume you have no musculature what so ever.


Common sense has to be screaming at you when you look in the mirror that you're not healthy, I don't give a rip what any web site claims.

[kuno1chi]

DelMarMel: A lot of us here love our Big Ass Salads (TM). But the fact is that in general, humans don't do well on a strictly vegan diet. By well, I mean strong, healthy, active, and muscular enough to save their own life if need be.


Yay for anyone who dumps the Frankenfood crap; but I can bench-press most of the vegans I know ;-)


Just sayin'...your mileage may vary.

[darien]

Another example of a healthy raw vegan was brought up in the fruitarian topic. Dr. Vivian Vetrano is 80 years old and healthy, but surprisingly doesn't recommend eating mostly fruit. Apparently she has been raw vegan for 60 years. I wonder what health she'd be in if she had been eating something like paleo for 60 years.

[62shelby]

Raw vegan dishes are great........as sides to lots of meat, lol. I dont know why anyone would bother responding to this one directly, waste of time.

[bonesheal]

I apologize for dismissing your original inquiry out of hand--I assumed you were trolling. I understand now that it was earnest, so here is my earnest reply.


I think you'll find this forum populated with people who have done a lot of sincere dietary exploration.


I used a vegan diet with what I felt like was a lot of success twice. I did it for about six months in college, and I felt fantastic. I did it again in recent years to reverse a rapid descent into middle age. To be fair, I was much more what BarbeyGirl calls a flegan. I ate what people cooked for me, but when I was in control of my meals, I ate vegan.


I felt best when I only ate veggies and potatoes (no grain or sugar), but that's a tall order. It takes many pounds of veggies in a day to keep you going. That comes with the inconvenience of a lot of big and urgent BMs the next morning. I was always eating, but I was always hungry. When my wife made a meat dish, I would often eat all of the leftover meat while I was doing the dishes. I thought it would do me harm, but I couldn't help myself. I pestered my wife with "The China Study," and I fed my baby soy formula.


I read GCBC this summer, and immediately started eating most of my calories in meat. I gave up all grain & sugar (except for occasional alcohol). I injured myself and could not continue running 55 miles/week. The end result of this is that my physique went through a rapid and astonishing "regression" to the body I lived in 20 years ago (I'm 40). I lost weight while appearing considerably more muscular. I'm never tired until bedtime. Yesterday I did over 5 hours of yardwork on the spur of the moment, because I didn't have anything better to do. I only need to eat twice a day (instead of 5-6 times), and the timing of those meals is not at all urgent.


This website is a good place for you to seek information. Probably the best source I can recommend is "The Vegetarian Myth"--I wish it had come out years ago.


Edited to add: if you must eat a vegan diet, you would benefit considerably from following the 99-year-old's example and eating lots of eggs and drinking whole milk.

[OnTheBayou]

"The only animal products he ate were egg yolks, cottage cheese, Swiss cheese, raw cream, and raw goat's milk." This is vegan???????


That's how he got his high quality nutrition.


The fact that people often wind up "curing" ailments typically has nothing to do with eating raw vegan. It has to do with the fact that the food they used to eat was shit. Read this forum, especially that current thread of great results, and you see the same "cures" taking place here. And unlike raw veganism, women on the PB often "cure" menstrual and PMS issues instead of making them worse.


Bench pressing vegans! LOL! That says it all.


62shelby, I think you are right. darien has his mind made up and is going to keep doing what he's doing, I suspect. But he DID ask what we thought, although obviously I think by now, he's trying to convert us or something.


darien, have at it. I mean nothing snarky or unkinds when I say that. But you won't find any support here.