There is a sizeable community of people who practice raw veganism near where I live and these folks are hard core. Needless to say, these folks love the green smoothies diet.
This is easy to understand as those who embark on raw veganism typically feel fantastic for quite some time while eating this way. Raw veggies are extremely detoxifying! For several months or even a year or two, increased energy, clear skin and resistance to infection may be observed.
Is this because raw veganism is the right way to eat long term? Is the vegan Netflix film What The Health really on to something big?
Far from it.
Raw Veganism is for Cleansing the Body, Not Nourishing It!
Raw veganism is really a cleansing diet which helps to detoxify the body. It does not optimally nourish the body long term, however.
The raw, whole foods that vegans consume are certainly a huge leap forward from conventional processed foods and anyone would initially feel better eating raw vegan if he/she had been eating the Standard American Diet previously.
Over time, as the body becomes depleted of minerals, serious health issues start to emerge if raw veganism is continued.
This is because the fat soluble activators A, D, and K2 – only found in animal foods – supercharge mineral absorption and without these critical nutrients in the diet, mineral depletion and ill health is the inevitable result.
The bottom line? You can eat loads of mineral rich foods as a raw vegan and still be mineral starved.
Nutritional Deficiencies Rapidly Occur on a Raw Vegan Diet
Watch this 3 minute video below where Maria, a former fan of raw veganism and the creator of the Green Smoothie Challenge discusses her abrupt conversion to nutrient dense animal foods due to the health and tooth challenges she experienced after two years as a raw vegan. Her vegan catharsis came after reading Rami Nagel’s book Cure Tooth Decay.
You will be shocked how rapidly her health challenges resolved after she began to consume nutrient dense animal foods such as cod liver oil, raw butter, and organ meats.
If you know any folks that practice raw veganism, please forward this video. Folks who follow veganism are in serious denial about how this way of eating is going to eventually destroy their health if it hasn’t already and a testimonial from a former hard core vegan may be just what they need to realize that humans are not designed to subsist purely on plant foods.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
More Information
Angelina Jolie says veganism nearly killed her
12 Year old vegan has bones of an 80 year old
After watching the video I’m guessing that she made a very common raw food mistake of consuming the majority of her calories from fat. If you are raw foodist there are only 2 major sources of calories – fruit or fat. So if you are thinking you’re eating a lot of greens and not a lot of fruit – then you’re most definitely eating a lot of fat even if it’s hidden in dressings, or the added nuts, seeds, pates etc. Add your calories up in Nutridiary or DailyBurn.com and you’ll see. When you consume the majority of your calories from fat you’ll crash and burn on the raw food diet. Goto 30Bananasaday.com to learn how to do rawfood the right way!
Good luck.
-Robert
yes my fat intake went way up when I started eating 85% or so produce mainly veggies due to diabetes. It is hard to make it all palatable without dressing, raw nuts and so forth
well i went to that website u recommended, where is the info, just people asking questions and getting short answers.
I totally agree! I’ve been saying this for years. GREAT article! 🙂
Thank you for this post. My new moto:
Stop the Wheat, Eat your Meat!
or eat “wheat meat”:)
Plants are passive organisms without the ability to move, think, and react (for the most part). They must employ different tactics to ensure propagation, and they generally have to rely on outside forces to spread their seed. And so various methods are “devised” to dissuade consumption long enough for the seed to get to where it’s going. Nuts have those tough shells, and grains have the toxic anti-nutrients, lectins, gluten, and phytates. They are not healthy for humans! Do your research!
Dr. Atkins died from a traumatic brain injury when he slipped and fell on ice, not from heart disease. You might try fact checking before you pass around another urban legend (and use it as the crux of your argument).
Dr. Atkins did not die of heart disease. I get so sick of seeing this statement from people who don’t bother to find out the truth.
Preach whatever way of eating you want, but I’m thinking that limiting ourselves to just one way of eating is not going to stand us in good stead at some point.
If you people who lean to veganism or vegetarianism think you can get by without animal fats and such, do so. But stop acting like it’s the only way to eat a “clean” diet. I also hate that term because to the veggie people it means only to eat veggies is a clean diet and to eat animal sourced foods are not clean. That’s a load of hooey.
I choose to eat a varied diet because I think it’s much more healthy for my body. Also, my DH and I eat seasonally, too. That includes meats as well as veggies and fruits. I don’t can much food anymore because our kids are gone and it’s just DH and me, but I freeze quite a bit of food (prepared) because of our weird schedules.
Here’s a link with some information about seasonal eating:
http://www.sustainabletable.org/shop/seasonal/
gee been veggie for 25 yrs and have yet to do as you acuse. yet I see meat eaters acuse and point figure all the time. Feel guilty about eating animals? if not then stop knocking us. that simple
Humans ARE supposed to eat meat?!
Well, imagine that! Yes, humans are omnivores. Bon appetit! 🙂
Human are NOT omnivores! Our bodies are not meant to eat meat!
Meat-eaters: have claws
Herbivores: no claws
Humans: no claws
Meat-eaters: have no skin pores and perspire through the tongue
Herbivores: perspire through skin pores
Humans: perspire through skin pores
Meat-eaters: have sharp front teeth for tearing, with no flat molar teeth for grinding
Herbivores: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding
Humans: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding
Meat-eaters: have intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly
Herbivores: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.
Humans: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.
Meat-eaters: have strong hydrochloric acid in stomach to digest meat
Herbivores: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater
Humans: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater
Meat-eaters: salivary glands in mouth not needed to pre-digest grains and fruits.
Herbivores: well-developed salivary glands which are necessary to pre-digest grains and fruits
Humans: well-developed salivary glands, which are necessary to pre-digest, grains and fruits
Meat-eaters: have acid saliva with no enzyme ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Herbivores: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Humans: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Based on a chart by A.D. Andrews, Fit Food for Men, (Chicago: American Hygiene Society, 1970)
Wow. Humans are not omnivores? Why do we have omnivore teeth then? You are denying the existence of what is right in your own mouth. Complete vegan brainwashing.
This herbivore to carnivore comparison is ridiculous. There is a reason you wrote a comment on this website. It’s because human’s have created very magnificent things through intelligence. While you’re enjoying the luxuries of the human brain, monkeys are being monkeys. This intelligence applies to food as well. We don’t need claws, or fangs, or the speed of an animal to catch other animals. We have intelligence to create weapons, or traps, or to out thing the animal. Simply saying humans are animals to so let’s apply animal logic to humans is ridiculous. Secondly. herbivores DONT produce HCL but humans do. The ph of a carnivores stomach during digestion is 1-2, the ph of a humans stomach during digestion is 1-3. Herbivores cannot extract nutrients from meat, and the meat would pass through undigested just as corn does for humans. Yet, humans can eat sushi, and completely digest it. Do sushi eaters see whole fish when using the restroom? Your arguments are ridiculous. You use the unnatural argument yet you most likely use fortified foods, and supplements such as b12 as a crutch. Get a new argument. Educated folks will never buy your vegan bs. When I thought I was gonna die, a paleo diet gave me my life back. I followed your raw vegan propaganda to a T, but only got sicker and sicker.
While I don’t think a 100% raw vegan diet is healthy, a whole foods vegan diet certainly is. Those who say otherwise don’t have all the information on the lifestyle. My sister has been a whole foods vegan for close to 15 years now, and she’s the healthiest person I know. Tons of energy, great sleep, great muscle tone, etc. etc. She doesn’t suffer from an mineral deficiencies at all. If you’re just eating greens, fruits, and veggies, well then of course you’re going to suffer nutritionally. The most important aspects of a whole foods vegan diet is the sprouting of grains, legumes, and seeds and fermenting foods. My sister always has kimchi in her fridge, along with coconut water kefir, homemade Kombucha, and Rejuvilac. These two processes ensure you get all the minerals you need and that they are in a form the body can use. She is also quite liberal in her consumption of healthy fats: virgin coconut oil, whole nuts and seeds, wholes olives, whole flaxseed, avocados, chia seeds, etc. There are 4 keys to a healthy vegan diet: 1. It must be whole foods, nothing processed; 2. Grains, seeds, legumes must be sprouted; 3. Fermented foods must be a staple, and 4: healthy fats need to be consumed in whole food form daily.
I doubt this woman really committed to those 4 tenets for any length of time. Still have doubts? Go see Robyn Openshaw at http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com who has been a 90% whole foods vegan (the only animal product she consumes is raw milk kefir) for close to 20 years.
Why not just admit that there are different ways to live an optimal healthy lifestyle? Not everyone needs animal foods to achieve ideal health and longevity.
Well, of course she’ll be healthy if she eats raw milk kefir! Raw kefir is one of the best sources fat-soluble vitamins there are!
Did I read this right? What’s the difference between ‘cocnut water kefir’ and ‘raw milk kefir’? Do they mean the same thing? Goodness knows I do not understand the fermenting process well enough.
Kefir refers to the type of culture being used, not just the end product. Kefir grains happily ferment coconut water just as well as milk. They also make a pretty decent Rejuvilac. People abstaining from dairy will substitute with coconut water.
Exactly, Ariel. We’re saying that eating a vegan (no animal products whatsoever) diet leads to poor health. A woman thriving off of raw milk kefir is not a vegan, and such an example is simply proving our point.
“coconut water kefir” is what was said, not “raw milk kefir”. obvious difference that was so easily glided over to act knowledgeable.
this claim “A, D, and K2 — only found in animal foods” needs some major backing up. just because someone makes a post and says that does not make it true, and this post is far from enlightening and informative as most comments seem to proclaim. vitamin A & D only found in animal foods??? how uninformed are the readers here?
the vibe i’m getting is one of self-justification by seeing someone else say something they want to feel good about.. just like when some new “research” comes along and says eating pizza is good for you. yay now we can all just keep eating pizza all the time… actually it’s tomatoes that are good for you, and you’re doing it wrong.
a former raw vegan’s testimony is pretty poor evidence to point at and say “veganism BAD”, especially in conjunction with simply untrue claims about sources for particular nutrients. i don’t care what you people eat but it sounds like there’s a lack of legitimate research involved.
Please name one plant food that contains vitamins A and D.
Beta carotene found in carrots is not true vitamin A by the way. The body has to convert beta carotene to vitamin A and the process is very inefficient and if someone has any gut issues whatsoever they are likely not making the conversion at all.
You do realize that there is a broad spectrum of carotenoids that work together to generate Vitamin A, not just beta carotene? Combined together, it’s a very efficient system in the body. If you consume a wide range of dark leafy green veggies, your good to go. Go ask any biochemist to explain to you how carotenoids work.
As for plant sources of vitamin D: white mushrooms. Combine them with calcium rich leafy greens for the best absorption.
Also, you can get Vitamin D from the sun. That’s a no-brainer. All you need is 15 minutes of sun exposure. Most vegans have no problem taking a D supplement if they need to. They would rather do that than contribute to the killing or exploitation of an animal.
Just wanna point that that technically speaking, mushrooms are not plants. They’re fungus.
The raw milk kefir is not consumed daily, a few times a month at most. It’s only consumed as a natural source of B12, which the body stores very well and doesn’t need everyday. When she can’t source raw milk kefir (she DOES NOT consume it unfermented), she happily goes without. She travels a lot, so she goes without quite a bit. This is hardly the same thing as consuming meat, eggs, and dairy everyday. Most of her diet is still raw vegan.
good post Ben and thank you Roxanne for your interesting post and the 4 points. I will keep that in mind,
I have a Harsch crock but do not ferment enough and need to sprout more. I got some yeast on the top an that made me quit for a while making these fermented things.
There you are. You have admitted it! THERE ARE NO PLANT SOURCES OF B12. Clean and simple. Humans need to consume B12, you can’t get it from plants, therefore, humans are meant to eat animal products! And yes, many people require less than others, but it is still required in the human body.
It’s ridiculous to say that humans don’t need to eat animal products, but then go buy some synthetic, isolated B12 capsules and iron tablets in plastic bottles that would NEVER be found in nature, or say that when someone eats fermented milk once in a while that is somehow vegan. I fail to see how eating animal products once in a while is different then eating them every day (besides the fact that you’re consuming more nutrients. I’m talking about the moral aspect). It’s like saying: “Well, So-and-so only shoplifts once and a while, and she never steals anything too valuable. It’s not like she does it every DAY.”
Hey, I’m happy for her if she can be healthy eating very little animal products! It sounds like she does a good job eating her plant foods properly; sprouting, fermenting, lots of good fats, and the like. That’s what works for her, but it’s not going to work for most people. I don’t by any means ENJOY killing things to eat, I was actually vegetarian for several years. I’m the girl who carefully catches wolf spiders and beetles and cockroaches to let them out of the house rather than squish them, and I’ll never kill things unless I have to, but eating both animal AND plant products is how my God-given body stays vibrant and healthy.
Okay, some people here need to really look at the science. Stopping people from become healthier is not the right things to do. Yes, there are no plant based sources of B12. Where do animals get their B12? Bacteria! Where should humans be getting B12? Bacteria! Humans used to have bacteria producing B12 for them but because od changes in farming practices and many other factors we must rely on other sources of B12. Do your research before you post!
Why are vegans encouraged to take vitamin B12 supplements then? If your vegan diet is so natural and complete, you should be able to subsist entirely on vegan foods for health.
do you hear yourself? most americans should be supplementing things. do you actually know what b12 is? it’s a bacteria. the reason why animal foods have it is because they eat food with the bacteria and it becomes concentrated in their meat, as does the hormones, toxins, and other disgustingness does. it doesn’t matter where you get your b12 from.
B12 is vegan, considering it actually comes from bacteria in the soil and not from an animal. The animal eats the bacteria when eating plants and stores the excess B12 in their muscles, this is what you access when eating meat. It doesn’t actually come from the animal per se.
B12 is not found in plant sources.. Even in meat products it’s bioavailability is low. Vegans/vegetarians are encouraged to take B12 supplements in order to avoid the side effects of deficiency, which can be lethal. I personally don’t encourage the use of supplements, but in the case of particular diets or disease states, the supplementation (in proper amounts) can be life saving.
Exactly, and it’s not the only supplement they need either.
No way in hell would this diet have worked in any other situation then in modern day society where you can go to a store and buy some pills..the same society they point fingers at.
Paige, b12 is not a bacteria. It’s produced by bacteria. Secondly, animals in their natural environment aren’t chalk full of hormones, and antibiotics. Put a cow in its natural environment, and its happy/healthy. Put a cow in a factory farm environment, and feed it grains = sick animal = antibiotics/hormones. Third, toxins? Give a scientific explanation of the exact toxin. Simply re-cycling the same pseudo scientific mumbo jumbo that these “raw vegan guru”s” spout out is not proof. Fourth, animals to not obtain their b12 from eating “eat food with the bacteria in it”. Cows, for example, natural diet is grasses. Grasses are very high in cobalt. Bacteria produce high amounts of b12 when they consume cobalt. The cow digests the grass, then the flora within their digestive tract consumes the cobalt and produces high amounts of b12. The animal then absorbs this. You’re forgetting the fact that non animal b12 sources are analogues and actually inhibit true b12 absorption, such as spirulina.
Let’s do a comparison. A 3oz serving of grass fed liver contains over 2,000 percent of the DV for b12. Healthy soil contains barely measurable levels, not even the MDR. Now, what on earth would you do before supplements if you became b12 deficient? Are you gonna eat the soil in hopes of getting enough? Oh wait, they’re analogues. Stop getting your health information from peta, and raw vegan guru’s. We’ve been eating meat since the beginning of time. There’s even cultures who eat ONLY meat, who are disease free. All the cultures Dr Weston A Price studied consumed majority NATURAL animal products, and were in pristine health. The healthyeconomist is completely correct. It’s great to see someone like her trying to educate people of the misinformation your cult is spreading.
We all need to stop being so dogmatic about the the right way to eat. There is no one right way to eat. We are all different and have different needs, beliefs, etc. When we put ourselves into these boxes of vegan, paleo, macrobiotic or whatever other label that we identify with, we are limiting ourselves and those around us.
No matter what kind of diet that someone eats, you are going to find people that it works for and people that it doesn’t work for. We need to be accepting of that and find out what works for us as individuals.
I agree, Mike. I wish someone would respond to my post earlier. Everyone keeps bashing strict veganism but are not talking nearly enough about the poisoned meat that over 90% of our population eats. Factory farming needs an overhaul! Why aren’t people screaming about that?
Veganism needs to be addressed as many of our young girls are getting sucked into it and it will negatively affect their fertility and ability to bear healthy children in the future.
This is a big deal … much more than the 2% argument you talk about which makes it seem trivial. It is far from trivial.
From what I have read, the growing infertility crisis is linked with GMO foods that are in up to 90% of the foods in the store.
I feel since far more women and girls are eating these gmos foods and in fact, unless one has eaten 100% organic food for the last 15 years, we all are eating them is far more of a big deal that needs to be addressed.
Most people on a vegan diet, including young women tend to be much more knowledgeable of nutrition than the average women in America.
As someone above discussed the big problem of factory farming and eating this horrific source of meat that many people do not even think about or realize or for those unable to afford organic animal foods which in this declining economy are many.They probably would be better off going vegan and a lot of raw than continuing to eat this dangerous food seeing the filthy slaughterhouse conditions.
I spoke with a lady who was 60 years old and she said she was never taught anything about nutrition. She was in 5th stage kidney disease and in desperation trying to avoid dialysis that the doctor pushed for months, she turned to the web and found curezone, David Wolfe Dave the raw food trucker which all inspired her and so she changed her diet.
She had very little money but did not eat any animal foods and ate a lot of fresh produce like grapes and cabbage and other cruciferous veggies everyday etc, pumpkin seeds daily ands things like this–mostly just foods and one supplement–and and she reversed her kidney disease.
The doctor was so stunned he said he had never had a reversal like that in 35 years of practice. I spoke to her personally on the phone in order to get diets of her diet and posted it on curezone in the 30 steps to healing kidney disease thread if people want to know what she ate.
Here is a women who is typically even the sad diet who changed and had a miracle.How many more people like this are out there. Dave the Raw food trucker also cured his kidney disease, colon cancer, his diabetes (in 4 days) and lost 225 by eating a highly nutritious whole food, vegan, 100% raw diet.
Nearly all of our greatest natural healers were very ill and cured themselves and then many others primarily with food and herbs etc Anne Wigmore ever got sick ion this diet many decades and she helped so many dying people to heal. So did Dr Richard Schulze help hundreds of thousands who advocated a raw vegan diet for the terminal ill and incurable diseases with great success. Most of these healers used juice fasting and juices. nearly vegetarian (Dr christopher a supporter of the mucusless diet allowed once a week a little clean chicken or fish and cottage cheese. Dr Bernard Jenson (live to about 100) allowed for some veal joint broth and a few things but plant foods particularly fruits and veggies were always used in these diets that cured people of diabetes, heart disease, especially cancer etc.
On hacres.com are thousands of testimonies of incredible healings. To deprive people of that potential healing by making them afraid of the non animal diet is not fair to the sick. or even those who might prevent becoming sick.
I became a vegan 50% raw 2 plus years ago due to diabetes and all of my a1c tests in the last years have been normal (6 tests) when they were as high as 600 plus and mostly in the 300-400 range prior and I was on a diet then that was 90% vegetarian and 85% vegan consisting of free range, organic meats, wild caught fish. free-range dairy and eggs (mostly) lots of produce, whole grains. legumes and not much junk.
Having been studying nutrition or 30 years, I also have been shopping out of health food stores that long so I was not eating anything close to the SAD and still got diabetes etc. I also have hope if I can not fix my other things that I might be able to do so by tightening up the diet and going a lot more raw.
Having hope is crucial to people with serious disease and this diet and the many healings from it offer that hope to people.
I do not feel fanatical but changed due to health concerns..maybe if I am on it a long long time and feel ill I know I can always back off a little. but right now I feel confident following these great healers and people who were really sick and seeing how my body does..so far nothing negative in the 28 months I have been on it.
Why aren’t you screaming about it by doing your own blog? If this is an important issue to you, and it obviously is, then why not start a blog that features this information?
Amen Shari! I am amazed at the incorrect information that is being shared here….on so many levels! In the area where I live factory farmed meat is the ONLY option. I
I couldn’t agree more on the boxes! People get so caught up in them that they won’t take the time to figure out what really works for their body. Everyone is not the same and some people are going to do better one diet while others do better on another. The most important thing is to get all the processed, industrial foods out of your diet. After that, it’s really just a matter of finding the optimum diet for you.
Also, the 2% number is actually way too high. Vegans are only about 1% of the population at most, and of those, far less than half are raw vegans.
I would guess even less were vegan raw foodists though it is gradually spreading. I do have a friend I meet years ago in health food store who insists she needs meat to feel healthy.
I think if one keeps the animal low and used very healthy sources and has the rest of the diet good, they may experience great health. Those refined foods are now up to 90% gmos.
The china study said that those keeping it at 10% had all the same benefits as the vegans. I do think raw may be the real key and when one is eating a high plant diet whether exclusively or not and interested in health food enough to use excellent sources, then they probably will be eating much more raw food than the general populace.
Also I would imagine in ?china in the china study they did not have gmo foods and far less processed foods in their diet as well.
WE cannot ignore the fact that some of these healthy people were eating 1-10% animal foods, all were probably eating far less processed foods than Americans and most all were probably eating a lot of produce which tends to be key in healing people and studies. Neither can we ignore the fact that most of the people in this study were eating a plant based diet.
Lots of plants particularly produce and especially green leafy veggies, lots of raw and little of the sad diet will be of help to most I would suspect.
The China Study was flawed. That has been demonstrated again and again. I agree with the idea that even 10% of the diet being quality meat from good sources can probably be enough, but folks like to be extreme, and when surrounded by other vegans, many who bash meat, a lot of folks will cave and go whole vegan out of peer pressure.
I have never understood why vegans cannot understand that a completely vegan diet for the entire planet is not sustainable. Where are all of those beans and veggies going to grow? Vegetable farming takes up space, and depletes our soils.
please explain, with links to proof, how the China Study is flawed. I have never heard this before, and would like to read more about what you are saying.
This is great, just shared.
Warning: Raw Veganism Will Steal Your Health – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/JMYGaJeq