10 biggest mistakes raw fooders do that destroy their health longterm?

1. They think sweet fruit is the enemy! "Dont eat fruit! It will make you fat! It will give you diabeties! It will rot your teeth! It will make you insane!" All of which are total BS. We run the most popular raw foods website and have never seen a single case of tooth decay, diabeties, insanity or severe body blubber from fruit eating. Yes we have seen people shooting up meth/being bulimic/anorexic whilst being a 'fruitarian' and loosing their teeth, we have seen people eating high fat raw diets and getting diabetic symptoms, we have seen people get depression from just trying to eat 10 oranges a day. Sweet fruit is the ultimate food for humans. Fruit is your friend. Every cell in the human body runs on glucose and or fructose. To starve the cells of natural glucose/fructose from sweet fruit is a health crime.

2. They think they need to 'calorie restrict'. "Dont eat more than a handful of food at a meal! Eat light! Remember that humans are designed to be breatharians!!" Well Ive met a few breatharians in my world travels and Ive not met more confused people. A mosquito has a very small stomach but watch how much it expands after meal. Adult male orangutans weighs around 90kg and eats up to 8500calories a day. Calorie restriction does not work in nature as the animal that eats the least gets eaten first as it doesnt have enough energy to mate, forage or avoid being hunted. One raw food lady in Australia committed suicide 2 years ago after trying to calorie restrict her way to 'health'. Ive had friends end up in mental wards. Ive seen models just lose it big time from calorie restriction and end up becoming severely overweight. We need a lot of sweet fruit calories every day. Sweet fruit is the best caloric source for humans. NOBODY gets overweight from eating copious amounts of sweet fruit, EVER!

3. They think they can fast their way to health. So many people undereat on sweet fruits and then go and load up on greasy, oily, salty high fat versions of low fat cooked carb foods and wonder they they feel sick. They get told they need to fast/cleanse to aid the 'detox' when actually its a case of 'tox' from too much fat, dehydrated foods, lack of carbs and or too much salt. If you want to cleanse/fast, try living the 80/10/10 lifestyle for a few months and then see how you much you want to fast then! You simply wont as its such a clean way to live/eat.

4. They think they dont need to drink water? Water comes from pipes and plastic and that aint natural so Im not going to drink water and just dehydrate myself instead.. Well my ex housemate had the same belief and drank little water as a result. She got sick after eating raw animal products and did a fast and stopped drinking water. She ended up in hospital and died from renal failure. Drink at least 3 litres of water per day. More if you wear lots of clothing, live in a dry environment, eat salt and or are overweight as fat holds little water compared to muscle. Your body will love you for it and youll have better digestion, mental clarity, skin and physical performance. Drink 1 litre upon rising and 1 litre 30 mins before meals.

5. They think they need to sleep less as a raw fooder. Well Dr such and such says they only sleep 3 hours per night cos they eat raw..Hey! Do you want to end up in a mental ward like my friend that tried to do that? The body needs tonnes of sleep per night! We evolved in the equatorial regions where there is 12hour of dark per night. If you cant sleep proper its most likely you are under consuming carbohydrates and now your body cant produce enough serotonin so your sleep gets effected. Eat over 3000calories a day from a carb rich, low fat raw vegan diet and watch your sleep quality improve out of site. Have a big breakfast and lunch and a lighter dinner and go to bed early.

6. They think that are 'emotional eaters'. You ever seen a spider emotionally eat? Look at cows and horse in nature, they eat all day! When humans are starved of simple sugars from fruit, they will keep eating and eating until they get simple sugars. We can just sit down and eat a meal of mangoes or make a big banana/date smoothie or we can just fight our 'sweet tooth' and then get real emotional and 'emotionally eat on candy, burgers, fries etc. So how to we end emotional eating? Eat sufficient calories from sweet fruit daily. Its that simple. Eat over 3000cals a day from sweet fruits and you will never emotionally eat again in your life. Note that those who dont believe this fact struggle all their life to control their eating habits. Starve, binge, starve, binge, starve..

7. They think calories dont matter. Ok then if calories dont matter then why eat anything with calories at all then? We dont go to the service station and not look how much gas we put in the tank so why do we ignorantly eat and expect to go the distance when we have no real objective idea how much fuel we are putting in the tank? Ive never met a successful elite athlete that didnt know how much calories they needed and what that looked like in carbs per day. Ive never met a successful raw fooder that didnt know how much calories they needed each day and what that look like in sweet fruit carbs per day. We teach our clients and forum members to learn calories from fruits. Not so they avoid getting too much but so they get enough! You gotta eat a lot of volume to get enough fruit. Thats great cos I like eating lots of sweets for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

8. They think they dont have to exercise. Most of the time raw fooders cant exercise cos they are so fatigued from their calorie restriction, low carb and high fat raw diets. I dont blame em, NOBODY is fit and active on a high fat diet. When we carb up for a few days, drink enough water and get enough sleep we will automatically be itching to live with more passion and a life of passion means a lot of physical movement be it dancing, sport, active labour sex and or keeping up with our children.

9. They think they need to take drugs to become enlightened. The amount of chronic drug abuse I see in the raw 'health' movement is staggering. Bongs, magic mushrooms, ayahuasca, peyote, san pedro's cactus, LSD, cacao etc. Call it natural but at the end of the day its still drugs and as a result has a negative impact on our health. I myself used and abuse a lot drugs so I can speak from both sides of the fence: clean vs drugged. Clean wins hands down. The truly natural highs one experiences from keeping their blood clean, body lean and mind sharp from following a high fruit, low fat raw vegan lifestyle with plenty of sleep, water, sun and fun make drugs look like a poor choice. Ive seen many raw food friends develop negative personality traits from using these 'healthy & natural' drugs. Its interesting to note that the promoters of low fruit diets also are the biggest promoters of the 'raw drugs' and the reason is that people are so fatigued and depressed from eating low carb diets that they need some stimulants and drugs to escape the low energy reality that low carb diets provide.

10. Raw foodies think they need animal products for health. Its no surprise that the majority of the people that promote a low fruit diet eventually go back to eating animal products in due time. Why? They simply ate such a low calorie diet that they failed to thrive and thought it was lack of protein or b12 or something. I like to ask people 'how many grams of protein did you get as a raw vegan?' They never know. Then I ask them 'how many grams of protein do you get today?' They never know. They fail to ask the raw vegan athletes what they are doing to succeed so well. They fail to learn basic human & nutritional sciences. Then they fail as a raw foodie and become outspoken about raw foods/vegan diets etc.

With b12 Ive never seen anyone raise their serum b12 and lower their homocysteine and urinary MMA from consuming raw or cooked animal products. I have seen many get food poisoning and end up in hospital as a result. We see that 39% of US citizens have low serum b12 levels. [www.ars.usda.gov]

Science shows us that absorption, high stress, gastric issues and high fat diets can all create b12 deficiencies. Most people dont even know what their b12/homocysteine/urinary MMA levels were before they went raw vegan and then when they get tested and have some issues they are quick to jump to conclusion it was from being a 'vegan'. Ive trained with the fastest cyclists on earth including riders like Lance Armstrong and Cadel Evans and they ALL do b12 injections on a regular basis as do a lot of hollywood stars as do I. My blood tests always show up healthy results as I do the right things for my health and avoid the pitfalls that unfortunately are all too common in the raw foods movement today.

Thanks for reading and remember, true friends tell you what you need to hear and business people tell you what you want to hear..





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2010 10:53PM by durianrider.

Quote

Drink 1 litre upon rising and 1 litre 30 mins before meals

I've actually never heard anyone advise drinking lots of H2O before a meal. I've always heard the opposite, "don't strain your kidneys by drinking more water than you need, and don't dilute your digestive juices before you eat.

What's the scoop?

1. Yes
2. Ok
3. Jury's Out
4. I drink when I'm thirsty, distilled water from my own distiller caught in a glass container. Distilled water is "thirsty" water and absorbs more toxins. I agree with drinking before meals, the water should be absorbed by the time food is eaten.
5. Sleep is good.
6. The author has never suffered from emotional eating, like other mental suffering, you must have to experience to understand it.
7. I've never counted calories in my life.
8. Exercise is good.
9. Drugs are bad.
10. I'm a herbivore.

Good post, durian. Better post, tropical

durianrider (I finally spelled that right, I hope), that is a great text. I love fruit, and I absolutely agree that it is the best food for us.

(now comes a "but" - I just don't agree with one thing: I DO NOT ADMIRE professional sportsmen - it is NOT healthy to be always exhausted (professional atheltes are in the constant state of exhaustion, medically) and should not be a model for anyone.

I do eat fruit until my stomach hurts, and I hope that God will give enough fruit as it is the foundation of my diet now, and forever.

I guess you are young and easily impressed by someones physical abilities, but that is nothing but another addiction (adrenalin etc.).

Other than that, great work, I love your stories and your honest and entertaining approach.

...I don't count calories, I don't need to. When I start gaining weight from the fruit and salads, I will start counting calories. As that is not going to happen, I can't be bothered.

1. Agree

2. We should all simply eat the amount we feel like eating. I've found after four years of raw I eat less than when I started.

3. Agree, if old habits are resumed after fasting.

4. I drink when thirsty. As a raw fooder of nearly four years, on a virtually 100% high fruit raw food diet, I am not dehydrated.

5. I need less sleep on a raw food diet than I used to on a cooked diet. Average six hours. If I ate huge amounts each day and did marathons and the like, I expect I would sleep more.

6. Probably agree.

7. I never count calories. Calories were part of my cooked life. There is no magic figure of 'calories I need' each day. I simply eat what I feel like, in the amounts I feel like. That's worked for four years,and continues to work. It's also very easy. Harley, you say you've never met a successful raw fooder who didn't know how many calories they needed each day. You met me!

8. Exercise is good.

9. Agree

10. Agree. I've experimented with adding back dairy a couple of times (as an alternative to the B12 shots I know you favour), and the results weren't good.

I think there's a lot of good advice here, Harley. Your lifestyle works for you, and you are a shining example of health. However, I do wish you could realise that pairing the eating of huge amounts with huge amounts of physical activity (the result being of course that the body will need huge amounts of rest to recuperate) isn't the ONLY way to be successfully raw.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2010 06:28AM by debbietook.

drugs are bad yes.

entheogens however.. are not.

its imporant to differenciate between healing plants and man made chemicals.

noone gets addicted to mushrooms.

hallucinagenic plants can be powerful healers providing you dont just wanna get wasted on them.

I use Kratom twice a year, on my own, for healing sessions. They give me insight into my body/mind no amount of raw/vegan/clean living will.

for me, raw "clean" living and entheogen sessions are not mutually exclusive. They are one and the same, they add to the lifestyle as long as they dont become a crutch.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2010 08:19AM by WanderRA.

My questions to Durianrider are.

1. Have you ever been overweight or obese?
2. Have you ever fasted?
3. Have you ever seen a dog eat when stressed?
4. Ever experienced restless leg syndrome?
5. Ever been addicted to sugar?

I'm pretty much right there with Debbietook on this one. I'll add though that on #10, I'm assuming different people would have different reasons for going back to eating meat. I think it's very possible, and maybe even common, that a person could get plenty of calories and plenty of fruit, and still not thrive if they didn't get enough essential nutrients from other raw vegan foods as well.

I'm not talking about only the macro-nutrients: carbs, proteins, fats. I'm talking about the micro-nutrients: our vitamins and especially our minerals. If we don't pay enough attention to getting those other nutrients, we might have a very hard time with a raw vegan diet, and we might fail to thrive. We might then blame our lack of success on a lack of protein, which would most likely be a mistake.

For the record, I'm another successful raw food vegan who never counts calories. It might be helpful for some people though.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2010 10:21PM by suncloud.

Sound advice, except for the water. I don't think I could enjoy that much. I'd have to sweat an awful lot before I was that dehydrated, and even then I'd rather have watermelon than water.

Perhaps it's all those bananas you're eating. Banana supplies only about 2/3 of the RDA of water, so if you're not balancing it with juicy fruit (like watermelon, which supplies 240%) then I guess you'd need to top it up.

What do you do with all your uneaten bananas, by the way? Looks to me like most of those will be overripe in a couple of days...

Another thought: I don't think our equatorial ancestors would have slept 12 hours a night. People do other things at night besides sleep...

Actually, huge amt of water would go hand in hand with huge amount of exercise, as lots of sweating therefore need to replenish water.

SO...

Raw lifestyle no 1:

High quantity of food = High physical activity needed to burn it off = High amount of water needed to replace water lost through high physical activity = high amount of rest/sleep needed to recuperate from eating high amount of food and high physical activity.

Raw lifestyle no 2:

Relatively low quantity of food = relatively low amount of physical activity needed = relatively low amount of water (eg water in food often sufficient) = relatively low amount of rest/sleep needed.


I think there is a risk that Raw Lifestyle no 1 could be quite demanding for the body. However, IF the amount of sleep is sufficient, and Harley is getting lots, then it should be equivalent to Raw Lifestyle no 2.

Raw lifestyle no 2 would be suited to those who prefer eg writing, art, desk-bound activities, (most) yoga to more strenous physical activity.

debbie, raw style 1. does not have to be demanding - we need to be on the move for most of the day, keep active, but not necessarily be pro athletes or such. I am convinced that daily work in the garden plus some bike riding or similar is enough. Definitely not good to be like me on some busy days when I spend 14 hours at the computer desk, and do little exercise.

So, I am working on that, but no plans to be super fit, run marathons etc. No need at all, as my model, chimps, hardly ever do any marathons or endurance testing.

I am not going to tell people who go heavy on raw fruit that they are not healthy if they think that they are. If you say you are healthy, I will take you at your word. But I don't think any of us were designed to eat high-fruit for an extended period of time no-matter-what. Raw-fruiters doing well? Great. Report back in 10 or so years and let's see how it's going.

As to drinking all that water, if we are consuming plenty of raw fruits & vegetables, that is a source of pure water. Way better than anything coming out of a tap. Debbie's right; it's all about the overall lifestyle.

Horsea, I've been eating high fruit for over eight years, and my health is quite excellent and improving. I doubt there will be any downward movement in my health in the next 2 years.

I hope that you prana will be healthy forever. In my own case I can't do all that fruit. I even need some raw eggs sometimes, but I know we aren't even supposed to say that on this forum, because it is a vegan forum. Also, where I live, it is cold for 5 months of the year. I dare anyone to do lots of raw fruit during our kind of winter, and feel good. I think it would have a positive effect only if you are coming off of 30 or 40 years of heavy meet, cheese, etc.

Horsea,

Do you take a B12 supplement?

Hi durianrider
love your work and keep it up. I love how you describe your world so passionately. The only caution I would add to your point is that you got to deal with a person where they are, I am glad to hear that you suggest eating cooked food, as this can help someone like me, who was not in or near the top physical condition that you were in when you started.
I live in the tropics with access to plentiful seasonal ripe fruits (whilst I had the money). I was eating lots of fruit (still eat a fair amount, just can't do it all day) feeling really good and high raw, low fat and protein for about 2 months and then I started to feel bad, really bad and couldn't sleep. My liver and other organs just couldn't handle the onslaught of all that cleansing as Ehret explains.
So I had to cut back off the sweet fruits and increase my healthy fat and cooked carbs to be more balanced and get sufficient calories. One size doesn't fit all. Healing a body i so unique, cause each one has a history.
Once I reach a place where I have released all my excess fat, slowly, so I can function in the world, I can become 80 10 10 and thrive on it.
Bless you and yours

I take B12 supplement sporadically. Also, I am middleaged and most of us are not as capable of a near monodiet that I sometimes see recommended, ie, lots of fruit, or 100% raw.

I think it's a matter of considering differences. 100% raw isn't always the best choice for everyone at all times. Maybe the best choice is the informed and conscious choice that we make for ourselves, ... if we're able to attempt to live it, and if we remain open to change when our choice isn't working as well as we'd like.

I personally chose 100% raw, high fruit because it seems to work best for me. I'm somewhat past middle age. (a few days from 60)

For 24 years I've been doing very well this way, not an absolute 100% all that time, but very close, and completely 100% raw now for several years.

Before that though, starting when I was 23, I had an absolute nightmare 13 years where I was all over the place trying to be raw/fruitarian/mucusless, etc., etc. Lots of mono fruit, lots of bingeing, lots of fasting, lots of greens, lots of bingeing again. Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh

I don't know if other people would ever get so crazy over food, but I wouldn't wish that on anybody. That's why I never recommend an extremely restrictive raw food diet to anyone. Maybe some people can do it, but I think a lot of people cannot. I couldn't, and I wouldn't want to now. I'm good. That means (for me) that I don't restrict my fruit either!

It took a long time, a willingness to incorporate a more sufficient range of raw vegan nutrients into my diet, and a supportive son and spouse to get myself settled down.

It's certainly been helpful for me that I live in Hawaii, planted a bunch of fruit trees, and now have their fruits and nuts to eat (Yes, nuts, MMMMMMMM!), plus fresh greens year round. I know I'm fortunate in a lot of ways (to even be alive!). Whatever anyone else is doing, I honor you, I honor your choice. I wish you the absolute very best, and a very happy and productive life! That's what's most important.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2010 04:39AM by suncloud.

Forgot to say, nice to see you again OkunDeji!

Horsea Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I take B12 supplement sporadically. Also, I am
> middleaged and most of us are not as capable of a
> near monodiet that I sometimes see recommended,
> ie, lots of fruit, or 100% raw.

I would suggest a daily B12 supplement. That might be what you are missing which is what the egg is fulfilling. Either way, a daily B12 supplement won't hurt you, but a deficiency is very very bad.

Thanks for advice. You are probably right, Coey. Do you recommend any particular kind?

Horsea,

Here is a website that will guide you in the right direction concerning b12.

[www.veganhealth.org]

suncloud, what do you mean you were trying to be "mucusless"?

What is the objection to raw eggs based on (nutrition, morality, etc.)?

Jonathon,

Apart from the treatment of egg laying hens and the male chicks born to them, 1 large egg is over half fat and contains 70% of the maximum daily cholesterol.

A handful of nuts will give you similar nutrition with no cholesterol, and much less saturated fat.

The only thing you can't get from plant based sources that you can from eggs is B12. If we lived in natural conditions, B12 wouldn't be an issue. Our society is very clean which eliminates most of the B12 from a vegans diet.

jonathan barlow

mucusless is the term arnold ehret uses in his book entitled "mucusless diet"


the premise being that things that the body does not need or reject ( like certain foods deemed onerous) causes the body to create excess mucus in order to "transport" the toxins out of the system

so to be mucusless would be to take action on the opposite sphere
which would be to incorporate diets that benefit one's constitution so that one's body would not be taxed to react as such

Thanks la_veronique! I find I have less mucus on a raw vegan diet.

Thanks CoeyCoey, so if we are exposed to plenty of natural bacteria we get plenty of b12? Would eating wild plants without washing give us more b12?

Jonathon,

Yes, but where most of it comes from is fecal matter from humans and animals on the plants. Personally, I would rather take a supplement

No wonder my dog relishes scarfing down the droppings of other animals when he happens upon them. That's good nutrition in there!