What a Raw Vegan Can Eat?
Obviously, this diet excludes all animal products. But this diet also uses foods in their raw state and that have not been heated above 118 degrees. A raw vegan diet consists mainly of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouted grains, and legumes.Is a Raw Vegan Diet Healthy?
A raw vegan diet can definitely have its benefits! A raw vegan diet can help with heart health, lowering cholesterol, and can help lower the risk of stroke. This diet can also be beneficial to those with diabetes and aid with weight loss. However, it is important that you discuss any dietary changes with your doctor before beginning.How Do I Start a Raw Vegan Diet?
You’re going to need to plan this out. First, you’re going to want to plan your meals out and then make sure your pantry and refrigerator are stocked with all the necessities! The best way to make sure this reset is successful is to make sure you have everything available.Can Raw Vegans Eat Rice?
You can! But not in the way we’re most used to. Because a raw diet requires nothing being heated over 118 degrees, you can’t boil rice. So in order to eat rice, you need to sprout medium grain brown rice. There are many different ways to sprout rice, so find the method that works the best for you!Do Raw Vegas Cook Anything?
Like we said above, nothing can be heated above 118 degrees. So nothing is cooked like you are used to. Raw vegan food is eaten in it’s fresh state, fermented or dehydrated with low heat.How Do Raw Vegans Get Protein?
Nuts and seeds are an amazing source of protein, along with leafy green vegetables. So many foods have protein! It’s important to ensure that you get enough protein in your diet, but this reset will help you figure that all out.
Our human consciousness is awakening and evolving. We are becoming increasingly aware of the unnecessary and unjust suffering that is caused to the animals due to our food choices. We are learning about the unspeakable inhumane and torturous acts that are taking place every single day impacting the lives of hundreds of billions of animals. And when we learn that not only is there no need for us as humans to consume any animal products (dairy, eggs, or meat), but that we are actually better—physically, mentally, emotionally—for it, the choice becomes obvious.
So what about raw veganism? The reasons for choosing this path share a common foundation, as all that I have shared above. However, with raw veganism, participants take it a step further by not heat-treating (beyond the point of life) any of their food. This means that foods are eaten fully raw, soaked, sprouted, dehydrated (at low temperatures), or gently warmed up.
Whether for a temporary, long-term, or lifetime period, raw veganism is appealing to an increasing number of people as it really brings us to our most natural roots: to eat living, unadulterated plant foods. And in a world where most food is not worthy of having the word food associated with it, and where corporate interests and diet fads reign more supreme than the health of people and the Earth, it is not hard to see why some wish to strip it all away and connect with something of the most integral purity.
Ginger
My journey to vibrant health starts back in late 2008 after I was diagnosed and hospitalized with clinical depression. Since I was living an unhealthy lifestyle and didn't understand my true life purpose yet, I wanted to give up on life. Not once did the medical doctors "treating" me question the current diet I was on (based on animal products) or my past use of Accutane (which has serious life threatening side effects). They only prescribed more and more pharmaceutical treatments to mask my symptoms.
Just to get through the day I took anti-depressants to boost my mood, anti-anxiety drugs to calm my racing thoughts and nerves, sleeping pills to get adequate rest, antibiotics to clear up my skin conditions from the rebound of Accutane, and laxatives so I could eliminate waste that continued to build up from being constipated for many years. On top of that, I was also dealing with debilitating, painful periods each month and multiple ovarian cysts brought on by my use of birth control for over 7 years. Not to mention, I was 25 pounds over a healthy BMI and felt extremely uncomfortable in my own skin. I reached a breaking point in my life and was left with two options: give up on life or push forward and find a way. Fortunately, I attracted and found my way towards healing all by simply changing what I was eating and the rest is history.
Joanne
My mother was suffering from stage 3 triple negative breast cancer. We began with a 7 day juice cleanse and moved on to an organic vegan high raw food diet. Although her oncologist and nearly everyone she spoke to, (including the 85 breast cancer survivors she interviewed) were encouraging her to go through with the chemotherapy, I was advising her against it. My mum is very open-minded and believes in the healing powers of food, so she decided to refuse the oncologist’s recommendations of chemotherapy. The oncologist told her that she was “crazy” and has since apologized and inquired about her alternative choices. Instead of the chemotherapy, in addition to the plant centric organic living food diet, we did daily guided healing meditations. The power of meditation and prayer are so profound. After having the breast removed and maintaining her high raw foods diet my mum is cancer free 7 years later. At 72, she has the health of a fit 50 year old woman, her vision has improved, her memory is focused, and she is thriving.
Della
She is an inspirational grandmother of nine who changed her diet, healed her heart disease and arthritis, and transformed her body into a picture of youthful health. Before making the lifestyle changes that healed her body, Della suffered from multiple ailments that all had a common cause – years of eating the wrong sorts of foods. In 2002 Upshire underwent bypass surgery for her heart disease but it didn’t heal her heart. After the surgery she was still overweight and suffered high blood pressure, angina, and arthritis.
Della turned her health around and cured her ailments simply by switching to a raw vegan diet. In a 2017 interview she told the Daily Mail that she lost 42 pounds, cured her angina and arthritis, and transformed her body to feel like she was in her twenties again. She said: “Doing the raw vegan diet has made me feel alive and healthy again. I may be 61 years old but I feel like someone in their twenties.”
What are the Health Benefits of Juicing?
By drinking freshly made juices, your body can absorb the nutrients better than eating whole fruits and vegetables and it gives your digestive system a rest from working on fiber. They say that juicing can reduce your risk of cancer, boost your immune system, help remove toxins from your body, aid digestion and help you lose weight. Fresh juices can give you a burst of energy and a clear mind.
What Fruits and Vegetables to use for Juicing?
Some of the most popular vegetables are carrots, cucumber, celery, kale, spinach, beets, and romaine. The most popular fruits to use in juicing are lemons, oranges, apples, and limes. Other add-ins are fresh ginger, parsley, chlorella, and turmeric.
What are the Health Benefits of Fruits and Vegetables in a Juice Cleanse?
Kale
insanely low in calories, powerful anti-oxidant with anti-inflammatory properties, and helpful for arthritis and autoimmune diseases.Cucumber
since it’s 95% water, it’s an incredible detoxifier and helps with liver and kidney function.Lemon
one of the most important items to stock in your kitchen as it’s a highly effective cleansing agent and cuts through the bitterness of greens.Carrots
known for being a good source of beta-carotene, fiber, vitamin K, and potassium. Carrots have been linked to lower cholesterol levels and improved eye health.Celery
low in calorie since it is mostly water. It is a low-glycemic food and a good source of dietary fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Vitamin K.Beets
contain nutrients that may help lower your blood pressure, fight inflammation, and support detoxification.Apples
“an apple a day keeps the doctor away” is a famous saying for good reason. Helps to fight inflammation and heart health.Oranges
immune system booster since it is high in Vitamin C and low in calories.Turmeric
anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant propertiesGinger
aids in digestion and supports the immune system
Raw Vegan Brownies
11 Medjool dates, pitted (3/4 cup, packed)
½ cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted, natural raw creamy almond butter
½ cup unsalted, raw almonds
½ cup raw cacao powder
1 teaspoon raw organic vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or wax paper. Set aside. Clear some room in the freezer for this pan, you will need it later. Add dates and almond butter to a food processor. Blend until you get a somewhat cohesive, sticky mixture, like chunks of dough–the mixture should begin to pull away from the sides of the processor and roll into a ball. This will take about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the processor frequently, and take breaks in between to avoid overheating. Add in the almonds. Blend until almonds are nearly pulverized—about 1-2 minutes. Take breaks between blending to prevent overheating the processor. The mixture will be soft and crumbly.
It’s done when you can roll a chunk in your palm and toss the chunk up in the air a bit, and it remains cohesive. Add cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt (if using). Blend until very well incorporated, making sure to scrape down the sides of the processor regularly. Pour into prepared baking pan and loosely spread into an even layer. Once evenly distributed, use a rubber spatula to press down very firmly into an even, tightly-packed layer. Chill in the freezer for 20 mins, or until very firm. Slice into 16 brownies.
Whipped Almond Ricotta
2 cups slivered blanched almonds*
2-3 tsp nutritional yeast (plus more to taste)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 - 3/4 tsp sea salt
1 dash garlic powder
3/4 - 1 cup water
2-3 Tbsp fresh basil, oregano, or parsley
Add all ricotta ingredients (starting with the lesser amount of water (3/4 cup/180 ml and salt (1/2 tsp) as original recipe is written) to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth and creamy, scraping down sides as needed (~2 minutes). You are looking for a well-puréed mixture with only very small bits of almonds intact. Add a bit more water a little at a time if the mixture is having a hard time blending until smooth.
Taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more salt for overall flavor, nutritional yeast for cheesiness, and lemon juice for acidity. For even more flavor, you can add in some fresh basil, oregano, or parsley
At this point, the “cheese” is ready to enjoy, especially in dishes like Lasagna, Pizza, or Stuffed Shells. However, it can also be wrapped in cheesecloth, formed into a ball, and placed into a fine mesh strainer set over a mixing bowl up to 3 days. This will allow the “cheese” to firm up a bit. However, this is optional. You can also transfer straight from blender to a storage container and refrigerate.
What Is Intermittent Fasting (IF)?
Intermittent fasting (IF) is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. It doesn’t specify which foods you should eat but rather when you should eat them. In this respect, it’s not a diet in the conventional sense but more accurately described as an eating pattern. Common intermittent fasting methods involve daily 16-hour fasts or fasting for 24 hours, twice per week.
Fasting has been a practice throughout human evolution. Ancient hunter-gatherers didn’t have supermarkets, refrigerators or food available year-round. Sometimes they couldn’t find anything to eat. As a result, humans evolved to be able to function without food for extended periods of time. In fact, fasting from time to time is more natural than always eating 3–4 (or more) meals per day. Fasting is also often done for religious or spiritual reasons, including in Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism.
Intermittent Fasting Methods
There are several different ways of doing intermittent fasting — all of which involve splitting the day or week into eating and fasting periods. During the fasting periods, you eat either very little or nothing at all. These are the most popular methods:
The 16/8 method:
Also called the Leangains protocol, it involves skipping breakfast and restricting your daily eating period to 8 hours, such as 1–9 p.m. Then you fast for 16 hours in between.
Eat-Stop-Eat:
This involves fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week, for example by not eating from dinner one day until dinner the next day.
The 5:2 diet:
With this methods, you consume only 500–600 calories on two non-consecutive days of the week, but eat normally the other 5 days. By reducing your calorie intake, all of these methods should cause weight loss as long as you don’t compensate by eating much more during the eating periods.
Many studies have been done on intermittent fasting, in both animals and humans. These studies have shown that it can have powerful benefits for weight control and the health of your body and brain. It may even help you live longer. Here are the main health benefits of intermittent fasting:
Weight loss:
As mentioned above, intermittent fasting can help you lose weight and belly fat, without having to consciously restrict calories.
Insulin resistance:
Intermittent fasting can reduce insulin resistance, lowering blood sugar by 3–6% and fasting insulin levels by 20–31%, which should protect against type 2 diabetes.
Inflammation:
Some studies show reductions in markers of inflammation, a key driver of many chronic diseases.
Heart health:
Intermittent fasting may reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol, blood triglycerides, inflammatory markers, blood sugar and insulin resistance — all risk factors for heart disease.
Cancer:
Animal studies suggest that intermittent fasting may prevent cancer.
Brain health:
Intermittent fasting increases the brain hormone BDNF and may aid the growth of new nerve cells. It may also protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
Anti-aging:
Intermittent fasting can extend lifespan in rats. Studies showed that fasted rats lived 36–83% longer.
Yoga and raw food both help your body detox
How raw food does it
If you’ve been eating raw food for a while – or even if you’re just getting started – you’ll know that eating lots of fresh food can often mean an instant detox. The fiber that raw food contains is perfect for helping the body expel all of those additives and toxins that we are exposed to on a daily basis, whether through the food that we eat, the products that we put on our skin, or even the air that we breathe.
How yoga does it
Yoga has many exercises that are specifically for improving the digestive system and for cleansing the organs. And the great thing about yoga is that the cleansing process can be very gentle – provided you haven’t eaten a heavy meal of meat and potatoes the day before! The best way to get the maximum benefit from yoga’s detoxing and cleansing (as well as making your yoga practice easier and more enjoyable) is to make sure you eat lightly (for example…raw!)
Yoga and raw food both help improve your health
How raw food does it
Raw food helps alkalize the body, which basically means that viruses and other nasties find it more difficult to survive. Raw food has more nutrients. The nutrients that you get from raw food are more easily absorbed, because they haven’t been tampered with.
How yoga does it
Yoga has a wealth of physical benefits, some of which are: improved flexibility, increased muscle, tone and strength better posture, increased blood flow. All of which are fantastically good for you regardless of your age or size. Win!
Yoga and raw food both help you look younger
How raw food does it
When we increase the amount of raw food that we eat, we find ourselves not only slimming down (yay!), but also enjoying softer skin and looking younger. Raw food is high in water content, which means that toxins are flushed out more easily, leading to clearer skin. Raw food has a high level of easily assimilated vitamins and minerals, as well as healthy amounts of fiber, which means that we don’t need to eat as much to feel satisfied.
How yoga does it
Increased blood flow and release of toxins through yoga can help improve skin tone. Improved muscle strength and flexibility means a more toned overall body shape. And of course, clearer, softer skin and a more toned body means…looking younger, no matter what your age!
Yoga and raw food can heighten your intuition and help with mental clarity
How raw food does it
A less talked-about aspect of raw food is its ability to help us think more clearly. Here’s why it works: Toxins not only clog our digestive tract, but they clog our thought processes. So by eating food that is free from additives and is brimming with nutrients, we clear our bodies and minds. This means that we find it easier to ‘think straight’, or we feel more ‘in tune’ with who we want to be or what we want to be doing. This might sound a bit ‘out there’, but ask anyone who is a long-term raw food eater, and they’ll tell you the same thing.
How yoga does it
Yoga’s meditative aspect encourages us to listen not just to our minds, but to our bodies as well. Yoga has the same detoxing effect on our bodies – and therefore on our minds – as raw food does (see above).
Breakfast: Banana Berry Smoothie Bowl
Smoothie
1 cup frozen banana
1 cup mixed frozen berries of choice
4-6 tablespoons almond milk
1-2 tablespoons nut butter
Topping:
Shredded coconut
Walnuts
Hemp seeds
Fresh banana slices
Strawberries and blueberries
Dried mulberries
Place berries and bananas into blender. Pulse until chopped in small pieces. Add the milk and nut butter. Blend on low until thick and smooth, stop to scrape down sides along the way.Lunch: Loaded Avocado
1/2 avocado
1/2 tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons thinly sliced red onion
lemon juice, to taste
pinch sea salt
pinch ground black pepper
crushed red pepper
Using a spoon, carefully remove the 1/2 avocado from it’s skin. Fill the area where the seed was with the chopped tomatoes. Top with the onion, lemon juice, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper.Snack: Banana Nut Sammies
1 medium banana
1 1/2 teaspoons raw almond butter
1 1/2 teaspoons date paste
pinch sea salt
Slice the banana into 6 equal rounded pieces. Spread the almond butter over half of the slices, then spread the date paste over the other half of the slices. Sprinkle a touch of sea salt over the almond butter. Put pieces together to make sammies, one almond butter piece will be matched with one date paste piece. Stuff into your mouth promptly.Dinner: Raw Zucchini Noodles and Veggies
2 cups mushrooms
1 cup broccoli
1 cup carrots
1 cup spinach
½ cup chives
5 medium zucchini
½ cup hemp seeds
Raw Tomato Marinara
Wash and chop all veggies and chives except zucchini. I used a food processor to coarsely chop my mushrooms, broccoli, carrots and spinach and used a knife to chop the chives. Using a spiralizer, spiralize the zucchini. Combine the chopped veggies with the zucchini, top with raw tomato marinara and hemp seeds. Enjoy!Dessert: Caramel Peanut Protein Truffles
20 medjool dates
¾ cup peanuts raw for raw version
¼ cup raw pecans
2 tablespoons oats gluten free if needed
2 tablespoons coconut sugar see note
1 teaspoon vanilla extract see note
¾ teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
¾ cup dark chocolate chips see note
Put dates in a bowl of warm water to soften. Put pecans, oats and coconut sugar into a food processor. Blend until you get a crumbly texture. Add in dates, vanilla and salt. Blend until smooth. Add in peanuts and pulse mixture so that they are chopped but still in crunchy pieces. Scoop out spoonfuls and using hands, roll into 1 inch balls. Melt chocolate in microwave (or double boiler), 30 seconds at a time so you don’t burn it (mine took 1 minute, but all microwaves vary). Dip balls into chocolate and place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Put in refrigerator to harden chocolate. Try not to eat them all!
Arnold Ehret (July 29, 1866-October 10, 1922) was a German naturopath and alternative health educator, best known for developing the Mucusless Diet Healing System. Ehret authored books and articles on dieting, detoxification, fruitarianism, fasting, food combining, health, longevity, naturopathy, physical culture and vitalism.
In opposition to medical science that asserts white blood cells are important components of the immune system, Ehret believed that white blood cells were caused by consuming mucus-forming foods, and as waste materials, poison the blood. His ideas about diet and disease have no scientific basis and have been criticized by medical experts as dangerous.
Disease
Ehret claimed that pus and mucus-forming foods were the cause of human disease, schleimlose (slime-free) foods were the key to human health and fasting (simply eating less) is Nature’s omnipotent method of cleansing the body from the effects of wrong and too much eating.
Fasting
In 1907, Ehret who was based in Freiburg, visited Monte Verità, a nature life colony in Ascona, near Lake Maggiore, whose visitors included Lenin and Trotsky. After collaborating with Henri Oedenkoven who owned a sanitarium at Monte Verità, Ehret opened one sanitarium in Ascona, Switzerland and another in nearby Lugano (Massagno), writing one of his books in Locarno. Around 1909, Ehret engaged in a series of public lectures and fasts monitored by German and Swiss officials. In 1909, he claimed he fasted for 105 days in total. In 1910, he wrote an article for a German vegetarian magazine about his 49-day fasting experience, which gained the public’s interest, and which later appeared in his book Lebensfragen (Life Questions).
For 65 years, Fred and Lucille Hirsch published Ehret’s literature and the torch symbol found on Ehret’s books became the logo of the Ehret Health Club. In 1979, the Ehret Literature Publishing Company Inc, in New York, inherited Ehret’s publications and archive of unpublished German manuscripts.[citation needed]
Vitalism
Having denounced the nitrogenous-albumin metabolic theory in 1909, Ehret learned of a contemporary, Thomas Powell M.D., in 1912, who concurred with his belief that grape sugar (simple sugars in fruits and vegetables) was the optimum fuel source, body building material and agent of vital energy, for humans, not protein rich foods. Powell had set out his beliefs in the book Fundamentals and Requirements of Health and Disease, published in 1909. Ehret claimed alkaline foods, which were also mucusless, formed the natural diet of humans.
Ehret asserted that the body was an air-gas engine, not dependent on food for energy, and that the body was not designed to utilize mucus-forming foods, offering the equation Vitality = Power − Obstruction (V = P − O) to demonstrate this. Ehret also claimed the lungs were the pump in the body while the heart acted as a valve, with the blood controlling the heart. Ehret further believed that white blood cells were the result of ingesting mucus-forming foods.
Metabolism myth
Ehret maintained new tissue was built primarily from simple sugars in fruits, not metabolised from protein and fat-rich foods. Ehret only favored nuts and seeds during transition to the ideal fruit diet, and even then, only sparingly, condemning high-protein and fat-rich foods, as unnatural; further writing that no animals eat fats and all fats are acid forming, even those of vegetable origin, and are not used by the body Later editions of his Mucusless Diet Healing System published by Fred S. Hirsch, claimed nuts were mucus-free. Ehret specifically renounced meat, eggs, milk, fats, cereals, legumes, potatoes and rice, whilst recognizing the transitional value in some of these.Ehret, citing Ragnar Berg, stated that fats and proteins were acid-forming and were to be consumed in moderation, as did Ehret’s contemporary Otto Carque.
Books
Ehret's Mucusless Diet-Arnold Ehret
Rational Fasting-Arnold Ehret
The cause and cure of human illness-Arnold Ehret
The Fully Raw Diet-Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram
Raw Vegan, Not Gross-Laura Miller
Instagram accounts
@shanu_naturtarian
@prof_spira
@rawveganginger
@rawforhealth
@Klodya_prentice