Using a raw vegan diet is difficult to do properly and for the long term and that is one of the reasons why I don’t recommend the raw vegan diet for long term use for vegans.
However, it can be a very effective dietary regimen to kickstart your vegan weight loss efforts or if you want to try and lose as much weight as quickly as possible while still doing so safely.
If you use the following tips when starting this raw vegan diet plan you will be doing so safely and healthfully. To make better use of the raw vegan diet it would be a great idea to have on hand a book full of raw vegan diet recipes.
I recommend you take a look at Going Raw as a great place to start.
One of the problems many people have when they’re going raw is that they find it hard to eat sufficient calories and they will often feel hungry.
The first part of this problem – getting enough calories – is going to be to our benefit when we’re using a raw vegan diet for weight loss. However, as hinted at before, you risk becoming too hungry when on a vegan raw program and that can undermine your efforts at losing weight.
I am of the school that believes that too many calories from fat is not a good thing for our long term health.
Unfortunately, most raw vegans in an attempt to assuage their hunger start including too many high fat foods like nuts, avocados and even cold pressed oils which I think in the long term will do them more harm than good.
I’m not a no-fat in the diet believe either. I believe some fat is important for both the enjoyment of food and for satiety, but when you’re getting up beyond 30 or so percent of calories from fat I become concerned that that is too much fat for optimum health.
That is why the 80/10/10 raw vegan diet is perhaps the healthiest raw diet to choose if you want to follow a raw food diet for any length of time and it will be especially helpful for you as you try the raw food diet for losing weight.
With that preamble behind us, I want to talk to you about some tips to make the most of the raw vegan diet for weight loss. Use these tips for a couple of weeks or even a few months if you can. But as always I still remain unconvinced of the long term benefits of the raw food diet alone.
Veggies as the foundation
Veggies of both the cruciferous kind as well as green leafy veggies should make up the bulk of your plate or serving at each meal.
Think of eating large salads with all sorts of vegetables chopped in like carrots and peppers and onions and broccoli etc.
Feasts of fruits
Another problem with many raw food vegan diets and especially the 811 diet as spoken about above is the cost. Eating a lot of fruit unless you are wealthy or living in the tropics gets very expensive. I priced it out at one time and figured that my vegan grocery bill would be tripled if not more in trying to base my diet 100% on the 811 program.
Bear that in mind as you try your vegan weight loss based on eating raw foods. It can get expensive but you’re only doing this for a short time.
When you’re not eating veggies and green leaves, you’ll be munching on fruits. Oranges, bananas, apples, mangos, papayas and others. Think of eating half a dozen or more pieces of fruit per day.
Discretion is the better part of being nutty
If you’re not careful with how much you indulge in high fat foods on a raw food diet you can quickly eat more calories then you need and stall your weight loss efforts.
I would limit your daily intake of nuts and/or avocados to 1/3 cup of raw nuts per day OR 1 average not large avocado per day.
In addition to that, I’d recommend that you don’t consume any oils if you can help it. Certainly don’t use more than 1 tablespoon per day.
Final thoughts
If you are finding it hard to keep to a raw vegan diet because you are hungry a lot or you are losing too much weight then I’d recommend you start juicing. The Vita Mix is the best of them, but any juicer will do.
When you juice fruits and veggies you’ll get a lot of them into a 16 ounce glass of juice and as such you’ll be able to “drink” more calories.
6 carrots, 3 oranges, 1 stalk celery and 2 cups of green leafy veggies makes for a very tasty drink.
Lastly, this is not an all or nothing raw food weight loss plan. If you are really struggling with it or you’re trying to lose weight in the winter you might need some hot foods for comfort and sustenance.
Enjoy a warm bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and have a huge salad for lunch and eat a few pieces of fruit throughout the day as snacks. Dinner can be another huge salad and a bowl of hearty vegetable soup.
Just keep at it and eat as much of your food as you can in a raw form. Remember, at the end of the day it’s not how fat you lose weight but how weight you are able to keep off of your frame for the long term. Keep that in mind and try not to lose weight too fast on a raw vegan diet.