A Raw Vegan Diet

According to about.com, a raw vegan diet includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. The simple, golden rule is that raw foodists don't cook their food. Food can be heated or "dehydrated" to temperatures no more than 15 degrees farenheit. For a raw foodist, the microwave, the stove, and the backyard barbeque are all obsolete. Raw foodists believe that the integrity of the food we eat is compromised when exposed to high temperatures, and that altering the food in this way can deplete most of the foods nutrition at best, and at worst can in fact be harmful to the body. Wikipedia puts it thusly: "Raw foodist believe that digestive enzymes aid digestion. Heating food above 104-120 degrees Fahrenheit degrades or destroys these enzymes in food." (See source here.) Finally, they believe that cooked and processed food contain something called "excite o toxins" which, despite the enticing name, are apparently very bad. These are the facts.

So, class. It's worth noting that it was very difficult for me to find straight up information on this phenomenon on the Internet that didn't seem to have some sort of "economic bias." By that I mean that most websites that provide information on raw food are also trying to sell something. Raw food cookbooks, videos, bulk nuts and seeds, etc. It's not to say that their information is incorrect, but still, we have to be skeptical.

I've been dabbling with raw food for a little over a year now. There are a lot of benefits to eating this way, but it's also an extremely difficult lifestyle to maintain long term. (Say goodbye to eating in restaurants. Say goodbye to alcohol...eek!) But the one time I did maintain a 100% raw lifestyle (lasted two weeks) I must say, it was amazing. After the first couple of days of gross detoxicity (headaches, nausea, depression, etc.) I reached a sweet spot. By the end of the two weeks I felt euphoric. I lost 10 pounds, my nails got stronger, I could pick up cars with one hand... then I went to a wedding, ate cake, drank liquor, and that was the end of that.

I may or may not attempt to go raw for the entire month of March. I'm drinking a spinach, banana, hemp seed, orange juice, wheatgrass smoothie this morning, so we're off to a good start. Also, I'm hungry.

(The picture is of a "raw vegan taco wrap" I made last week. The "meat" consists of almonds, chili powder, olive oil, etc. crushed in a food processor. The "cheese" is cashews, cilantro, lemon, etc. crushed in food processor. The wrap is a collard green and it's garnished with tomato and avocado. Surprisingly filling and delicious!)