Why Did Matt Monarch Fail on a Raw Vegan Diet?

Long Term Raw Vegan Drops to 96 lbs. 

Heals with Eggs and Dairy

After almost dying as a long-term raw food vegan, Matt Monarch added eggs and dairy back into his diet. As a raw vegan doing daily colonics for several years, Monarch dropped to 96 pounds and almost died from a problem with colitis. Check out his story below!

In November of 2019, one of the most popular and influential raw food icons, Matt Monarch, released a video of how he recently weighed 98 pounds and developed colitis on a raw vegan diet. He was on his death bed and was rushed to an emergency room, where they helped nurse him back to health.

This was personally quite heart-breaking, since I've been following Monarch's videos for about a decade now. He's one the raw food pioneers that transformed his health and helped many others along the way over the past 15 years or so. So to see him in such a debilitating condition - not looking like his old self at all - is really quite hard to come to grips with.

My personal theory about Matt Monarch has 2 points. First, he admits that he was doing coffee colonics on a daily basis for several years. While I do believe enemas and colonics have their place, I think it can be very dangerous to do them this often. Coffee enemas and colonics deplete nutrients and should be used sparingly, if at all. Monarch points to his overuse of colonics as the main reason why he lost his health, and I definitely agree.

Secondly, Monarch's extreme brand of raw veganism is more difficult to achieve than a normal, whole foods vegan diet. Monarch was following a fully raw diet, which avoids healthy vegan foods like beans, tofu, brown rice, quinoa, olives, legumes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, Ezekiel bread, healthy oils and many nuts and seeds. It must be said that some people do thrive on a 100%  raw vegan diet, yet I think more people are successful following a diet that incorporates some cooked foods as well.

While I do feel that a half raw or a high raw diet can be very healthy, I also think that intuitive eating is important. For this reason, I try not to judge people if they incorporate free range eggs, grass fed dairy or even other animal products into their diet (though I currently try not to). That being said, I do feel like a supplemented and balanced vegan diet can be very healthy for many people, especially if the focus is not on being 100% raw.