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. Â 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.Â
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
Some long term raw vegans such as Dr. Virginia Vetrano do not take B-12 supplements and still have sufficient levels of it. The B-12 produced by bacteria in the intestines should not be absorbed because the intrinsic factor secreted in the stomach and needed for absorption cannot reach the B-12. Yet a few long term raw vegans seem to do well with endogenously produced B-12. Why is that? We don’t know. It’s better to be safe than sorry and supplement. Many omnivores need B-12 supplements as well.
I have read that the vegan diet is ecologically unsustainable and can’t feed as many people as a meat based diet. Raising meat requires far more water than raising plants. Methane gas discharged by animals adds to global warming. Animal wastes foul streams and rivers. One acre of land growing plants can sustain 10 times more people than same area raising animals. If you add fruit orchards you can feed even more people.
Seeing as there are about 7 billion people on the planet and organic grass fed animals can feed maybe 2 billion people, what are we going to do with the 5 billion “surplus” people? Kill them off? They won’t die quietly. I don’t mean that everyone will become vegans. That’s unrealistic. But anything reducing meat consumption will help those less fortunate.
And I do understand that those living in marginal land have no choice but to eat meat.
I appreciate that Sarah, inspite of her fear of vegan diets (justified in some such diets) still tolerates dissenting views. Most paleo sites do not.
Human canine teeth are certainly very puny compared to bonobos who eat very little flesh food, probably less than 2 percent. True, it would be prudent to supplement with B-12 and D, the latter if you don’t enough sun. But have you seen the long list of supplements required by those who advocate the high meat high fat diet?
“Vegans are weak.” Vegan athletes: Carl Lewis, decathlon champion; Pat Reeves, British women’s powerlifting champion and holder of world record in the deadlift and bench press;
George Hackenscmidt, old time strongman and champion Wrestler. .
“Vegans don’t have energy.” Raw vegan ultra endurance athletes: Michael Arnstein, Dr. Stefania Licari
“Vegans die young.” Scott Nearing lived to 100. Others who lived to 90 and beyond: William Esser (92), Sophie Holzgreen (98), Hilton Hotema (90+), Tyyne Myettinen (94), Bronson Alcott (early vegan pioneer and contemporary of Thoreau lived to 90), George Hackenscmidt (90)..
“You need meat for brain function.” Some vegan/vegetarian intellects: Pythagoras, Buddha,
Ovid, St. Francis, Albert Einstein. In the classical Greek period, the time of many great thinkers the diet was plant based though inclusive of small amounts of meat. Great thought and scientific discovery also occurred in ancient China and India on similar diets.
Yes, you can also find examples to the contrary and I don’t doubt the sincerity of those who tried the vegan diet and found it wanting.. Everything depends on context.
So she felt great on a plant-based diet at first, and now she feels great on a meat-based diet at first. Let’s see how the meat-based will make her feel in two years, this being the length of time that the plant-based diet worked for her. I guarantee she’ll be diet-searching again in two years, searching for perfection, or the next new fad. Many diets make us feel awesome at first., the change can be a stimulation to our bodies, often it’s due to mentally getting excited. This doesn’t mean that they are good for the long-term. I seriously doubt that an animal food -based diet will be good for the long term. Humans were made to eat predominantly plants with small amounts of animal protein, not the other way around. Almost every long term paleo I have seen looks horrible. Have you seen Sally Fallon lately? (http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=517&tbm=isch&tbnid=xhyz_kVJOVII-M:&imgrefurl=http://durianrider.org/2012/02/03/sally-fallon-weston-a-price-grass-fed-animal-products-for-peak-weight-loss-health/&docid=AnUQU3M1I5dDhM&imgurl=http://durianrider.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/sallyfallon.jpg&w=442&h=550&ei=854nULKEC8nZ0QGA5oHoBA&zoom=1) She has gained a massive amount of weight. If I saw her in real life, I’d think she was just another overweight, unhealthy American and would not stop and think, “I want to look like her, she’s the picture of health!” Not even close!
This is an extremely misleading article. Very little of it is true. See Forks Over Knives and read the China study. Veganism is the healthiest diet in the world, if done right. And it is more environmentally sound than other diet, and cruelty-free. ALL the minerals we need to be healthy are in plants, including iron and B12. All of them. We simply have to eat the right plants. Whoever wrote this article above is seriously deluded.
Paige,
Sigh… B-12 is not a bacteria. B-12 is a water-soluble vitamin necessary for healthy functioning of the brain and nervous system, and for the formation of blood. It is one of the eight B vitamins. Animals must obtain vitamin B12 directly or indirectly from bacteria.
ugh, dumb article, sorry i don’t have a more polite way of saying it.
brush up on your facts. veganism is a HORRIBLE diet if you DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING. there are certain things you need to supplement and you need to be eating certain things. other than that, it’s the best thing you could do for your health.
and you know, “humans aren’t meant to be living on just plant foods” then they aren’t supposed to be eating the way we do now. anyone with a brain could see what is obviously the better choice here. i know plenty of raw vegans that have been vegans for a while and are healthier than anyone i know. you just gotta do better with your facts.
This article is stupid! I know people that are from this religion called seventh day Adventist reform movement and they are all vegetarians and vegans. My friend introduced me to his grandpa whose parents were vegan and raised him vegan. The man is 80! He is strong, walking, has no health issues, and he is fit. I have been a vegan for 6 years and I feel healthy. I know lots of people that are vegan and they have cured certain diseases by using plants and eating healthy. People need to educate themselves before making the change because everything can be supplemented. Nuts are a great way to get your dose of protein and people don’t know that. And finally Jesus did not eat meat, the fish verse does not say he ate meat. It says he was offered him a fish and a honey comb or something loke that and that he took it. It doesn’t say he took both it just says he took one.. Also in the old testament when god takes the Israelites out of Egypt he tried turning them vegetarians. That’s why when they asked for meat he sent them quails and they died by eating it. The only reason why people were allowed to eat meat after the flood was because of the lack of vegetation and to kill the longevity of the lives of men. Why would someone that knows this want to eat any meat? It kills you. There is no need of meat in our diets. Also raw veganism does not only clean your body. Vegetables And fruits have the essential nutrients and obviously our bodies absorb them. If there is something unless to eat is meat. Also honey is vegan people! If it wasn’t vegan then driving it’s not vegan.
you are mostly right. When God made man, he said he has given them all the herb bearing trees for food. It was after the flood that man began to eat flesh. Maybe because nut trees took years to develop and animals didnt. But man was never created to eat meat. I have been a vegetarian for over 25 years. I have no health problems. NONE! The only thing is, I have been trying to go all raw, but it makes me look so gaunt and starved out, I keep balking when I look at myself in the mirror. That is why I am on here. To find out how to get rid of that gaunt look. Is it to use more oil? I just studied this expert on UTUBE lecturing about the danger of oils. Said we shouldnt use oils at all. So I am using coconut cream, fresh squeezed, and unheated.
Isn’t it greens and fruit that pack on muscle for primates? Do you eat plenty of those? I read that a pound of greens is best when not eating meat or enough nuts/seeds.
I’m doing the transition to veganism from vegetarianism. All I have to say about this whole thing is that people should read and document themselves before jumping into a new diet. I’ve been a vegetarian for 2 years and it’s been great for me. I know when my body needs something and I know where to get it. With respect to some information on this post about vitamins A, D and K2 being exclusively found on animal… very very very wrong. I don’t know where the author found the information for this, but obviously was very misinform. My recommendations is that people should inform themselves about where (in a plant based diet) to find all nutrients that the body needs to be healthy, that’s what I do and I do believe that consuming meat is very unhealthy, specially here in America where companies put whatever they want on their products. If you eat meat, that’s good, but be a moderate consumer and once in a while detox yourself with a vegan diet! To all vegans and vegetarians out there: keep yourselves in health and never never take a decision on nutrition without consulting various sources (Medical doctors are not scientists nor nutritionists)