I have a question about a high fat raw diet. Other than nuts being a bit difficult to digest (stay in the stomach too long) for many people, what are the harms of a high fat raw diet that also includes a lot of fruits and veggies? Would the harm show up in blood test results? If so, what kinds of things should be checked when getting bloodwork done? If not, how could one scientifically test for the harms?

My husband and I were having a similar conversation today and I was just wondering what all of you have to say about it.

Thanks!

Lots of love to all of you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

Triglycerides. They measure free floating fat in the blood stream.

gorillawar Wrote:
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> Triglycerides. They measure free floating fat in
> the blood stream.


And you have to fast for that test.

A vet tried scaring me or scamming more money out of me when my dog's test showed high trigs. He had just eaten a whole chicken thigh within the hour. I'm sure it's the same with people. You eat fat, it'll show up that fast. His fasted blood test was perfect.

So, if a raw vegan is eating lots of fruits and veggies, but also eating a lot of raw fat, there is nothing to be concerned with if the level of triglycerides is in a healthy range? Are there other things that could be going on in the body that won't show on the blood test results? If so, what are they and is there a way to test for ill health from a high raw fat intake?

I'm asking because I'm sampling 80/10/10 right now. My husband and I were talking about the different reasons people eat 80/10/10 and then I started to wonder how the raw fats would show up as bad in the body (through blood test results and possibly other ways), to prove that a raw diet isn't healthy when there is high fat intake. To be honest, I was high fat on my raw diet for over a year and a half, and my bloodwork showed healthy triglyceride levels. Is there something else that I should look for in my test results to see the ill effects of the high raw fat diet I was eating? I'd really like to see what would be considered proof of the ill effects of high raw fat, so that I can track the progress/benefits of the 80/10/10 version of raw after I've been eating this way for a while.

Thanks for taking the time to respond!

Lots of love to all of you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

Wendi,
Did you feel unhealthy on high fat? Why have you changed to 80/10/10? How long have you been doing it? Do you feel a lot healthier? I would go with how I am feeling first and foremost.

Sunflower
Raw Food Chef and Writer
Comfortably Raw
[www.comfortablyraw.com]

I also would go by how my body feels on a high fat raw diet. I always felt sluggish, low in energy and congested on a high fruit+greens+1 avocado a day (no nuts, seeds, oils).

However it was a big help for me to “know” the medical facts about the effects of high fatty fruits like avocados mainly on the blood flow to overcome my insane avo-addiciton. Over the years i have done some research and conversations. So here are some quite interesting quotes from others:

From Theresa on the vegsourceboard/mcdougalldiet:
“When I was eating raw only I also thought that vegetable fat was ok specially avocado. Then one day, I had the change to have my blood taken and shown on a TV screen. The guy immediatly asked if I was eating a fatty diet and I answered no. Then he told me that my blood profile showed my blood clumping all together....I was so surprised. We discussed what I had eating some time ago and it was an avocado.....For me enough prove that vegetable fat is also bad for keeping fat logged in the blood and depriving one of oxygen.
This is the reason I always got sooo very tired after eating any kind of vegetable fat including olive oil. I stopped and the tiredness stopped too only to return when trying to eat avocado, oil or nuts. I am a believer in a low fat since that daydiet since that time.I feel better because of it and have received many other advantages too.”

The test Theresa is referring to is done with a dark-field microscopy, i think. But it is rather expensive, if i´m right.

Besides I have come across a really awesome article from Ross Horne which explains the bad effects of high blood viscosity, which was an eye-opener to me: [www.soilandhealth.org] Ross Horne, "The health revolution", Kapitel 11: Blood viscosity as a factor in all metabolic diseases.
At least the statements about the blood sedimenatation rate (ESR) as an indicator for high blood viscoaity may be helpful: Elevation reveals a thickend blood, which equals to low oxygen (and also nutrient) supply to the cells including the brain cells (which explains brain fog after a high fat meal)... I always had a slightly elevated rate and doctors said i probably have some kind of inflammation in the body. When i went over to the no overt fats-diet i suddenly had a low, healthy sedimention rate (also after testing it 3 times a year) and the colour of my blood became lighter.
The articel also discusses the Platelet Adhesiveness Index as a factor for blood viscosity.

I hope this is helpful.
Greetings, Ani.

A really high fat diet can affect other thing than blood. You can get fatty liver. It can also cause gall bladder issues. Bile from the gall bladder emulsifies fats to better aid in their digestion. I knew of a physician that ended up having his gall bladder taken out because of eating tons of avo every day.

RawSun,

No I didn't feel unhealthy on high raw fat. I was almost morbidly obese and high fat raw helped me regain my health. However, as time went by the nuts stopped feeling so good in my stomach--they just kind of sat there, taking forever to digest. I like to follow my instincts on how I eat, and also listen to my body. So, I decided to sample 80/10/10. I haven't been doing it very long, but I want to be able to document any health changes. I like to experiment and show through test results that something either is or isn't working. My test results showed that raw does, indeed, help the body get healthier. Now I am experimenting to see if low fat raw can help the body even more. I want to see if there's a test that can show the health changes from high fat raw to low fat raw.

Ani,

Thanks so much for sharing that information. I have the page saved to read. It's interesting that you mention the blood getting lighter. I had bloodwork done a few weeks ago and that's what I noticed--my blood was lighter. I took it as a sign that I must be even healthier than when the last test was done. My blood was always kind of dark and thick, this time it was lighter and came out so fast that the nine vials were filled in about half the time as the last time I had blood drawn! I wasn't sure if it was becuase I'm now raw for two years, or because I had incorporated more fruits and less fat into my diet over the past few months. There were no significant changes in the blood test results from high fat raw to lower fat raw. However, I'm not 80/10/10 for a long time, yet, and I'm not perfect with it yet, either. I'd love to get the dark-field blood testing done sometime in the future. It sounds so interesting.

So, I'm back to asking the same question: What kinds of tests (other than triglycerides) can help me show the differences in my body from high fat to low fat? Are there any easy/common ones?

Thanks for all the responses.

Lots of love to all of you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

There are these home blood glucose meters for diabetics. You ought to be able to compare your blood glucose levels at different times after eating on high fat versus low fat diets to see what your glucose levels are after eating some sweet foods (say like fresh squeezed orange juice).

You ought to be able to find tables on the internet for how a healthy person versus a diabetic removes sugar from their blood after a meal of carbohydrates.

I agree with Ani that going by how it feels is the best.

Bryan, what specifically would you be looking for in such a comparative test in re to fat? I'd assume the fat would slow down the uptake of the carbs and the blood sugar level would spike slower. What would it tell you about health?

cocoa_nibs,

According to 80/10/10 it's actually fat in the bloodstream that causes the problem with high sugar, not the sugar itself. So, I think Bryan was saying to test that theory by sampling my blood when I've been eating fats and sweet fruits, versus when I have been low fat and eating sweet fruits.

Thanks for the suggestion, Bryan. I'll let you know if I pick up one of those devices. I'm a bit leary of doing it, however, because I'm a baby when it comes to needles and even tiny bits of pain. :-P

I completely agree with going what feels right for my body. Right now nuts don't feel good, so I'm trying 80/10/10 to see how it feels. I can't know how it truly feels, however, until I've given it adequate time following it at 100%. So, that's what I'm doing. I'd just like to have some difinitive ways to show the effects of the 80/10/10 diet on my body (like I have showing what my blood was like before raw and after raw--the results are dramatic and show obvious health benefits to the raw diet).

Thanks, everyone, for your comments.

Lots of love to you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

Right. You can also get a liver function test...as perhaps mentioned. It would demonstrate if the fats were causing impaired liver functionality...which (I imagine) could be quite normal on a long-term high-fat diet.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com