All of the following people have found success on a high raw diet. Basically, most of their food is uncooked and vegan, yet they also tend to include some cooked foods. While fruit is a part of their diets, they do not eat fruit as their primary source of calories. Instead their diets tend to focus on foods like avocados, salads, vegetable juices, cooked beans, green smoothies, nuts, seeds and even some oils.
Annette Larkins, Born in 1942: "She's been a vegetarian for 54 years, but over the last 30 years she has perfected her raw vegan diet. Her plant-based diet does not include any animal products. The food she eats is unprocessed and uncooked. Her dishes include vegetarian nut loaf, zucanni chips, and savory okra crisps. Annette says it's never too late to reap the benefits of a vegan lifestyle." (Link)
Mimi Kirk, Born in 1938: “I’ve been a vegetarian or vegan for the better part of 40 years. However, when I turned 69, I became a raw vegan because my blood pressure and cholesterol were up and I was starting to feel arthritic pains in my joints. Six months later, at my doctor’s appointment, everything was normal. And the best part: I didn’t have to start taking any prescriptions drugs.” (Link)
Generally speaking, the more that a food is processed, the less the human body recognizes it as food. "Many processed foods are stripped bare, rendering them of little or no nutritional value" (Link). Raw fruits and vegetables are the least processed foods on the planet. They have not been preserved, canned, boiled, sliced, or irradiated. "Cooking for long periods of time can destroy some of the vitamin content of produce. This is well-established in the scientific community" (Link).
"Living Foods for Living Bodies"
Raw foods are also living foods. For example, if you cook a sunflower seed, that seed is now dead, and cannot grow. Literally, the life is gone from that seed. Raw food author and speaker Jay Kordich is now 90 years old (in 2013). He says that raw foods helped cure him life-threatening cancer in his 20's. He documented his experiences in an excellent book called "Living Foods for Living Bodies".
Then Why Not 100% Raw?
"Most adherents of the raw food diet strive for 75 to 95 percent compliance. For most people, this would require too much effort and too great a shift in dietary habits and desires. For this reason, dietitian and raw food coach Linda Ruff encourages people to adopt a 50 percent raw diet. This half-raw diet ensures adequate intake of enzyme-rich foods while leaving room for the cooked foods familiar to most people. A 50 percent raw diet may be your final goal, or a transitional step toward a more fully raw diet" (Link). A half raw diet also allows for very healthy cooked foods such as beans, stir fry, soup, rice, potatoes and many others.
What Else is Allowed on a "'Half Raw Diet"?
Your remaining food can include more fruits and vegetables if you want. Or it can also include healthy vegan foods such as potatoes, rice, beans, grains, nuts, seeds, soups, stir fry, healthy cereals, healthy breads, hummus, nut milks, healthy oils, etc. Non-vegans can also include organic and humanely attained eggs and dairy. Personally, I currently promote a vegetarian diet, but non-vegetarians can include wild caught fish and even organic meats if they choose. But again, on a Half Raw Diet, you want to make sure that at least half of your calories come from raw fruits and vegetables.
What are Some Great Raw Foods?
Salads
Fresh Juice (I recommend purchasing an affordable juicer at your local Wal-Mart or similar store)
Fruit Smoothies (I also recommend purchasing an affordable blender)
Green Smoothies (75% fruit, 25% green vegetables of your choice)
Fresh Fruits and vegetables
Avocados
Raw nuts and seeds
Many studies over the past 25 years have detailed the benefits of eating mostly uncooked, plant-based foods. However, some people find that 100% raw vegan foods does not work for them. But is there a more practical way to eating raw foods than "Fully Raw 100% of the time. No exceptions"? Jay Kordich - The Father Of Juicing
From the FAQ section of his website, 88 year old Jay Kordich details how he follows the high raw diet:
You speak about the 75/25 principle. What does that mean?
"It basically means that most of our foods should be living, raw, unadulterated, sunbaked foods. Then the other 25% can be in either soups, sprouted grains, legumes or steamed vegetables. In our book, "Live Foods - Live Bodies" we have an instructional diagram of these food groups that's easy to follow. Also, we eat more cooked foods in the fall and wintertime. Unless you live in a very warm area, where the temperature does not fall below 45 degrees throughout the year, you should be consuming warmer foods in the fall and winter, then more living foods in the spring and summer." LINK
Are canned foods the same as fresh foods? In the following video, Dr. Eric Bakker talks about the differences between canned and fresh foods.
Kevin Gianni - High Raw Diet
In his book titled, "High Raw", nutrition specialist Kevin Gianni defines a high raw diet:
"The concept of High Raw is hardly new. A High Raw food diet includes 75%–95% raw foods.
(1) Eat 75%–95% whole, raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
(2) Eat 0–20% cooked vegetables, steamed vegetables, cooked legumes and cooked grains.
(3) Use the remaining 5% for FUN! You decide what fun means to you. Whether it means more raw food, animal protein or dessert, this is your time to play and enjoy yourself."
Gianni continues: "Here’s the simplest approach: in order to eliminate a lot of confusion around nutrition and science, the basis of your entire diet should be whole foods. Not super foods, not supplements, not anything else but whole foods — ripe, raw, uncooked, whole foods."
Paul Nison discusses the High-Raw Diet
Philip McCluskey - From 100% Raw to High Raw
Philip McCluskey lost over 200 lbs. on a raw food vegan diet. Yet after living for over 4 years as a raw food vegan, McCluskey added some cooked foods back into his diet. Why? To gain muscle mass. Basically he encourages personal experimentation with possibly adding healthy, unprocessed cooked foods to an already high raw diet: LINK
"Raw Til' Dinner"
If you are looking for a practical way to begin a "High Raw Diet" or even just add more raw foods to your diet, I think you will find great advice in my other post, "Raw Til Dinner". 100% Raw Diet = High Failure Rate
Author Tom Billings from "Beyond Veg" details some common issues that many of these people run into. "Readers should be aware that 100% raw vegan diets have a dismal record of failure in the long-term. Surprisingly, mixed diets (i.e., raw plus cooked) have a better record of success, in the long-term, than do 100% raw diets." He then encourages "a DIVERSE diet that includes raw vegetables, fruits, sprouts, nuts, avocados, seeds, and if you are open to the possibility, other foods as well (e.g., cooked foods, raw dairy, raw honey, and even animal foods if you have no objections)...Diversity in diet is an important part of the solution to the calorie paradox, and food phobias or food obsessions (common problems in raw) are to be avoided." LINK
Whenever possible or practical, I like to follow a 95% raw until dinner diet. This means that 95% of the foods I eat until dinner are raw and vegetarian. It also allows for some flexibility with non-raw things like organic vegan salad dressings, nuts, seeds and even multi-vitamins. Heck, I'm even open to the possibility of green tea or organic black coffee in the morning. However, the point is to eat vegetarian, 95% raw (uncooked) foods until dinner. I'm a firm believer that this will boost the joy of most people who try it.
For those who can't eat raw foods for whatever reason, a whole foods vegan diet is another great option. However, remember that we as humans are the only animal that regularly cooks its food. For most animals, there is only raw food. We as modern humans have been a bit spoiled with the convenience of portable fire and fuel. But, just because it's convenient doesn't mean it's optimal.
One example of a raw until dinner approach is eating fresh fruit, a fruit smoothie and/or raw oatmeal for breakfast and a salad, raw lettuce wrap or raw soup for lunch while enjoying whole foods - raw and/or cooked - for dinner.
In her book titled the Raw Food Detox Diet, nutritionist Natalia Rose talks about the "raw til dinner" diet. "Some of my more advanced clients find that eating only uncooked plant foods until their dinner meal works very well for them. They segregate their day into two parts and know they can have a broad range of choices for a cooked dinner every night after eating a storehouse of enzymes all day. I call this 'raw til dinner'" (p. 45, The Raw Food Detox Diet).
Rose emphasizes the value of eating fresh fruit for breakfast: "Eating only fruit in the morning is the best breakfast for a number of reasons. First, it enables you to eat one purely raw food meal in the day, which means that without much effort you could reach a minimum of 30 percent raw foods... Second, with only twenty to thirty minutes transit time in the stomach, fresh fruit delivers energy to the body without wasting digestive energy" (p. 47, The Raw Food Detox Diet).
Another author named Nathalie Lussier also discusses the "raw til dinner" plan on her website: "One of the simplest ways to add more raw foods into your diet, is to go raw until dinner. The idea is that you eat raw meals for breakfast, and lunch, and your snacks are raw. Then dinner is up to you, you can choose to eat the foods that you always eat, but you’ll notice that soon enough you’ll be attracted to eating more healthful foods even in the evening" (link).
Success Story
Lastly, check out this amazing video of a woman who helped heal her eczema, psoriasis and allergies by eating a "raw til dinner" plant-based diet:
