Pros And Cons Of Eating Raw Vegan Food

Discover the pros and cons of eating raw vegan food. Learn the health benefits of eating this way and possible downfalls. 

What Is A Raw Vegan Diet?

Raw veganism, like veganism, excludes all animal products. This eating style allows fruits and vegetables at temperatures below 104–118°F (40–48°C).

The only heating allowed is a food dehydrator. This device blows hot air through the food, concentrating flavors and making it crispy. Alternative meal preparation methods include juicing, blending, soaking, and sprouting. 

Raw vegan food contains fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouted grains, and legumes. It is also low in processed foods. 

Some proponents believe that raw vegan food provides all the nutrients humans need. It is why supplements are often discouraged.

In this blog post, I'm going to talk about the pros and cons of eating a raw vegan diet. Let's begin by looking at the pros of eating this diet.

Pros Of Eating Raw Food

There are several pros and cons of raw vegan food. One good thing is that it is less processed than the ready food we buy today. You eat the food in its original, whole food state.

There is no aspartame, msg, or other toxic food additives. You can still ingest toxins from pesticides sprayed on vegetables and fruits. You also have to watch out for GMOs.

GMOs are genetically modified Frankenstein foods. They can have a detrimental effect on our health. Glyphosate is a common herbicide that can increase your cancer risk.

The safest way to avoid all this is to buy organic food. But this will also raise your expenses. You can reduce the cost by growing your vegetables.

Raw vegan food can improve your heart and diabetes.

May Improve Heart Health And Diabetes

Raw vegan food may improve heart health by focusing on fruits and vegetables. This lowers your blood pressure and the risk of heart disease, and it also reduces strokes.

Vegan diets are effective at reducing "bad" LDL cholesterol. Raw vegan food may also reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes. This is due to its focus on fruits and vegetables.

Another good thing about this diet is weight loss.

Raw Vegan Food May Aid Weight Loss

Another pro with raw food food is that it is excellent for weight loss. It lowers the amount of body fat. In one study, people following various raw diets for over 3.5 years lost around 22–26 pounds (10–12 kg).  

Those who ate the most raw foods had the lowest body mass indexes (BMIs). Vegetables and fruits don't contain much fat or calories, so you must eat many raw foods to feel full. 

You can still gain weight if you eat too many fatty foods like avocados, nuts, and seeds. 

The raw vegan diet can also improve digestion and help with cancer.

Can Improve Digestion And Cancer

High fiber in whole plant foods may help improve your digestion. Raw vegan diets are high in both soluble and insoluble fibers.

Insoluble fibers add bulk to your stools. They help food move faster through your gut, reducing constipation. Soluble fiber is also beneficial. It helps feed the bacteria in your intestines.

Several cancer survivors ate a raw-food diet. Chris Wark healed from colon cancer by eating raw-food salad and drinking carrot juice. He is known for his blog Chrisbeatcancer. Once he healed from his condition, he started to eat cooked food to get enough calories.

Eating fruits and vegetables and ditching meat can reduce your risk of cancer. But the same effect happens when you cook vegetables.

Now that we've looked at the pros of this diet, let's explore some challenges with it.

Challenges Of A Raw Vegan Diet

No evidence shows that raw vegan food is superior to whole plant-based diets. One of the dangers of a raw vegan diet is not eating enough calories.

That is the reason why many ex-raw vegans give up. Animal products and processed junk food contain lots of calories. People who go from a meat-based diet to a vegan one believe they can eat the same volume and get enough calories. 

But that is a huge mistake. This picture demonstrates several ways to get 1200 calories from your diet. You need to eat fewer animal products to get the same calories than vegetables. The only exception is extra virgin olive oil.

Kale is one of the best foods and one of the most nutrient-dense foods. To get 2000 calories from kale alone, you must eat 60 cups(14 liters) daily! Or about 8.3 pounds (3.77 kilograms) of raw kale

I don't know about you, but eating that much kale would make me want to puke. And let's not think of the cost of buying all that leafy green.

Another problem with this diet is the cost.

The Raw Food Diet Can Be Expensive

If you consume raw vegan food, you must eat enough to meet your caloric needs. Because fruits and vegetables don't contain many calories, you need to eat more food than you believe. Therefore, eating raw can be expensive.

I started to watch a YouTube channel called Fully Raw Kristina. She shared how much raw food she ate during the week. I couldn't believe how much she consumed per week. 

But it made sense as I looked at the amount of calories in her diet. Fruits and vegetables don't have a lot of calories. So that's why she had to eat that much food.

Fully Raw Kristina made a video where she gave tips on how to eat as a raw vegan on $20 a day. That amounts to $600 per month in grocery bills. 

Most people eating the average Western diet are getting way too many calories. But strict raw-foodists may not get enough. Women may lose their period by being underweight or lacking nutrition. It can also contribute to weak bones(osteoporosis). 

Those eating 100% raw can become too skinny. And as many as half of women may stop having their period. Raw foodists had a lot lower bone mineral density throughout their entire skeleton. To eat 100% raw, you must take a B12 supplement to avoid other nutrient deficiencies.

Another problem with the raw vegan diet is the lack of starchy vegetables.

The Challenge Of Not Eating Starchy Vegetables

Raw-food eaters don't eat eat starchy vegetables. Therefore, they can't sustain themselves on a low volume of food. Thus, they have to eat tons of fruits and vegetables.

Starch is a complex carbohydrate made up of long chains of sugar molecules. Green and yellow vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, and asparagus, contain little starch. Their primary role is to add extra nutrients to starch-based meals.

Starchy vegetables like rice, corn, potatoes, and lentils contain more calories than other vegetables. Eating non-starchy vegetables will make you hungry within hours.

It takes longer for your body to break down starches into glucose. Because of the slow release of sugars, you won't feel hungry right away.

Starchy vegetables contain enough calories to meet the energy requirements of an active person. You can also store it for a long time. They are also affordable for everyone.

Cooked starches are cheap and the main caloric staple for the world. The longest living populations in the world eat a starch-based diet. 

Different kinds of animals need different types of diets. We, humans, thrive on starch. The more rice, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and beans we eat, the healthier we become.

Humans Are Starch Eaters

Humans thrive best on starch. The DNA of humans and chimpanzees is roughly identical. One of the minor differences is that our genes help us to digest more starch. Our saliva produces six to eight times more of the starch-digesting enzyme amylase.

Starches contain minerals, vitamins, and a lot of calories. Because of its high fiber content, it makes you feel full and lets you form healthy stool.

Starch should be the basis of your diet, and vegetables a complement. Eating this way gives you all the necessary calories, vitamins, and minerals.

Not eating enough starches is the biggest mistake most vegans make. That is the reason new vegans become tired or weak.

Another problem with raw food vegan food is that it can make it harder to absorb nutrients.

The Raw Vegan Diet Can Make It Harder To Absorb Nutrients

Many raw-foodists claim that we lose nutrients as we cook food. But that is not true. Some nutrients, like vitamin C, get destroyed by cooking. However, some nutrients, like lycopene in tomatoes, become more absorbable when cooked. 

Cooking food can make it more digestible and easier to absorb nutrients. In one study, they measured the beta-carotene intake of three groups. The first group ate an average Western diet, with four servings of fruits and vegetables daily.

The second group ate seven servings of raw and cooked fruits and vegetables. And the last group ate 17 servings of raw fruits and vegetables. 

The wholesome nutrition group ate both raw and cooked foods. It absorbed more nutrients than the other groups. The raw-foodists had about the same beta-carotene intake as those with the standard diet. Remember that the standard diet group ate fewer vegetables than the raw group. 

A study surveyed 141 Hallelujah vegetarians. They followed a raw, pure vegetarian diet. Their diets were low in energy, protein, vitamins B12 and D, calcium, selenium, and zinc.

Humans also don't need to consume live plant enzymes from raw fruits and vegetables.

We Don't Need To Consume Plant Enzymes

We don't need to consume live plant enzymes from raw foods like raw-foodists believe. Our body makes all the enzymes we need to function from the protein we eat.

The method you use to prepare your food can influence your nutrient absorption. Fried broccoli in oil is a lot worse than raw broccoli. But you can absorb more nutrients from broccoli if you steam it rather than eat it raw.

The nutrients in boiled vegetables don't disappear. Instead, they transfer to the cooking water. So, if we make a soup of it or use little water, we won't lose the nutrients. Just don't boil, then throw away the liquid.

You can buy waterless cookware to prepare vegetables in their liquid. In this way, you don't need to throw away any nutrients down the drain.

You don't need to eat raw vegan food to be healthy.

There Is No Need To Eat A Raw Vegan Diet

A raw vegan diet is restrictive, and many people can have difficulty giving up their comfort foods. You can be healthy on a raw-food diet, but it will take extra work and cost more than cooked food. 

It's easier to absorb nutrients on a cooked diet, and you can be as healthy. There's no good evidence that raw vegan diets are superior to other whole food, plant-based diets.

You don't need to eat raw vegan food to start fighting cancer. If a raw vegan diet is too hard to follow, you might return to eating animal products and worsen your condition. 

Raw vegan diets can be better than junk vegan diets. They're free of processed foods like potato chips and sugary drinks.

For most people, eating a combination of cooked and raw vegan food is the best solution. We should all be eating salads every day, together with cooked food.