MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE RAW FOOD DIET

This is my response to a question Marina posed in her blog in regards to raw food and its abilty to reverse diabetes natturally, and whether it was sustainable. As well as some of my own experiences being on a raw food diet.

I believe it is sustainable, if you just keep up the eating habit. Of course in this video, these individuals were at a facility/house where they were provided their meals everyday. Their environment made the process a little easier, since they had no other options to eat.

But talking from experience, being on a raw food diet can be difficult to maintain for many reasons, for example, temptation, financial, access, or lack of creativity. Even to begin the diet and make it a habit is difficult as we saw in the video.

But once someone makes a committment to change, this type of diet can do wonders. I currently have 4 friends that have been on a raw food diet for about 2 years now. They are extremely healthy and active people.

I believe one can definitely reverse diseases such as diabetes, but it will definitely come back if you revert back to the same eating patterns as before. So it is temporary if you choose to do the diet on a temporary basis. If you really want to make lifetime changes, I believe you have to make it a lifetime decision.

I was actually on an 80% raw food diet myself, and during that time it was the best that I have ever felt. My reasons for not sticking to the diet anymore is simply because I started to hang out with more people that weren't raw, therefore it was hard for me to maintain my raw food eating habits. It was my own weakness and addictions to cooked food. But for 1 year I maintained the raw food diet. I constantly tell myself that I want to go back and move more towards that kind of diet, because I know the positive effects it had on my body. I felt I had a lot more energy, and I hardly got sick. And since I was also working out, my body had never looked so great. It was actually during this time that I also lost a lot of weight. (I was a size 14 at one point, but as soon as I stopped drinking soda, I started loosing a lot of weight. Then i stopped eating red meat, and again the same affects. But the raw food diet really made me get down to my ideal weight. Size 7.) It is definitely possible to go back to those eating habits, but I just have to be diciplined about it. I think mostly during the time I was on the diet, it was because I had a strong support network. During that time most of my friends were either on that diet or were striving towards it.

Those that recommend the raw food diet, advocate that fresh vegetables and fruits, along with raw nuts, sprouted beans, or anything that hasn't been cooked (but vegetarian foods) have "live" enzymes that help your body process the food better, and maximizes your uptake of the nutritious contents of the foods.

But I do agree with Marina about having more investigations on this topic. I remember wanting to learn more, and I would enter raw food in OVID a few years back and I couldn't find much. Today, there were a few articles that I found. Here are some of them.

Some supportive evidence of positive health affects of eating raw food vegetables:
Salad and Raw Vegetable Consumption and Nutritional Status in the Adult US Population: Results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Volume 106, Issue 9, Pages 1394-1404
L. Su, L. Arab

Hobbs SH. Attitudes, practices, and beliefs of individuals consuming a raw foods diet. [Journal Article] Explore-The Journal of Science & Healing. 1(4):272-7, 2005 Jul.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Describe dietary practices of U.S. raw foods leaders, examine diet rationale, attitudes and health practices of raw foodists. DESIGN: Nonexperimental, descriptive, using semistructured qualitative interview data. PARTICIPANTS: Purposeful (nonrandom) sample of 17 U.S. raw foods leaders, including 11 males and 6 females. Leaders were targeted to provide insights into practices modeled for larger community. PHENOMENA OF INTEREST: Attitudes, practices, and beliefs of individuals consuming a raw foods diet. ANALYSIS: Text analysis and simple descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Subjects averaged 13 years on the diet (range: 3-32 years). Twelve subjects reported a diet at least 85% raw. All diets were primarily vegan. Primary constituents included fruits and juices, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and vegetable fats. Subjects consumed no dairy, eggs, meat, fish, poultry, commercial sweets or alcohol in a typical week. Only one subject used a commercial, nonfood-based supplement weekly (vitamin B12). Six subjects consumed food-based supplements, and remainder used no supplements at all. On average, subjects met or exceeded recommended intakes of vegetables, fruits, and fats and did not meet recommendations for calcium-rich foods, protein-rich foods, and grains. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Those counseling raw foodists must understand the rationale and practices that characterize this eating style. Further research is needed on larger populations to validate findings and determine the extent to which reported health benefits may compare to those from other vegetarian diets. Further studies should examine food-handling and preparation practices in relation to food safety and raw produce