My Raw Vegan Experiment

I tend to go on cleanses or eating plans where certain foods are restricted with two main goals in mind:

Give my body a break from certain foods, eating a more nourishing diet, and generally feel amazing.
Try new recipes and experiment with certain foods that I wouldn’t have had or made normally.

I’ve been eating raw vegan for the past 2 weeks (well let’s say 90% raw, and about 97% vegan), and I’ve been able to accomplish both goals.

So what exactly is a Raw Vegan diet?

Many raw foodies prefer to call their diet “living foods” instead of raw which doesn’t sound as appetizing. That’s because any food that hasn’t been heated above 46°C or 115°F still has all it’s enzymes in place. The food is “live” and if planted could grow new life. And although most of the diet consists of fresh fruits and vegetables, it’s not restricted to that. You can have nuts, seeds, sprouted grains, oils, spices and herbs, dried fruit, herbal teas, fermented foods and drinks. I’m writing this while sipping some roiboos tea and enjoying dehydrated nut and seed crackers topped with a fermented nut cheese spread and sliced cherry tomatoes on top. I’m not exaggerating when I say it tastes just as good as crispy bread with labna …if not better.

Here’s an example of one of my days of eating raw vegan:

Brunch: Raw crackers topped with sprouted sun-flower seed butter and chia jam followed by coconut milk chia pudding with fresh berries

Snack: Almond milk banana date smoothie

Dinner: Big bowl of salad with hemp and sunflower seeds and raw flaxseed wrap filled with vegetables and macadamia sauce

Dessert: Nut butter stuffed dates dipped in raw chocolate

Now what are the health benefits of a raw vegan diet? Here are just some of them…

Gives you more energy
Clears up your skin and improves skin tone
Prevents premature aging
Helps you to lose weight and maintain a healthy body weight
Reduces risk of most diseases such as cancer and heart disease
More dietary fibre means better digestion

The downsides you should be aware of…

Vitamin B12 deficiency on a vegan diet raw or otherwise (although some meat eaters can also be deficient in B12)
May be difficult to stick to long-term especially if you don’t get creative
Some foods are more digestible when cooked – so even though some nutrients are lost through cooking, it helps make others available.
May require some expensive equipment such as a high speed blender and dehydrator, especially if you plan to stick with it long-term

Why I wouldn’t go raw vegan…

Many raw foodies claim that there is no food that you can’t make a raw version of. Although in some ways I do agree especially when you’ve had a couple of scoops of raw coconut ice cream topped with raw chocolate! However, my attempts at making raw pizza were a complete fail…however, give me a baked vegan gluten-free pizza any day and I’m gonna be a happy woman! I do believe you can have the best of both worlds….reap the benefits of a raw vegan diet while still enjoying some cooked foods at times.

My biggest take-aways:

Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables! Even though I consider myself a healthy’ish person eating predominately plant-based…I realized I definitely do not eat enough fresh fruits and vegetables. I was easting less than half of what I was eating on these two weeks of going raw vegan. Even compared to times I’ve gone all vegan.
Raw veganism will be the new vegan! During my research in the past 2 weeks to learn more about the raw vegan diet and recipes it become clear that eating raw vegan is becoming more mainstream. The same way eating completely plant-based seemed rare 10 years ago but has now become popular….raw veganism is going down the same path..and soon enough a raw vegan food business will probably open not too far from where you live.

If you have any questions or helpful information to add, please share in the comments below ?

Resources:

Here’s a list of the books and websites I used for info and inspo!

The Raw Chef – so many amazing recipes especially if you have a dehydrator. I use the free recipes and I have a couple of the paid courses.

Laura Miller – many vegan and raw recipes. Love her….watch her videos and you’ll know what I mean.

FMTV – this is a membership health website, like Netflix for health. There are many videos and recipes about raw veganism.

The UnCook Book – so many yummy recipes and tips.

Choosing Raw – this book has many simple recipes without lots of useful information and meal plan.