Top 10 mistakes raw fooders make...

10 biggest mistakes raw fooders do that destroy their health longterm?

1. They think sweet fruit is the enemy! "Dont eat fruit! It will make you fat! It will give you diabeties! It will rot your teeth! It will make you insane!" All of which are total BS. We run the most popular raw foods website and have never seen a single case of tooth decay, diabeties, insanity or severe body blubber from fruit eating. Yes we have seen people shooting up meth/being bulimic/anorexic whilst being a 'fruitarian' and loosing their teeth, we have seen people eating high fat raw diets and getting diabetic symptoms, we have seen people get depression from just trying to eat 10 oranges a day. Sweet fruit is the ultimate food for humans. Fruit is your friend. Every cell in the human body runs on glucose and or fructose. To starve the cells of natural glucose/fructose from sweet fruit is a health crime.

2. They think they need to 'calorie restrict'. "Dont eat more than a handful of food at a meal! Eat light! Remember that humans are designed to be breatharians!!" Well Ive met a few breatharians in my world travels and Ive not met more confused people. A mosquito has a very small stomach but watch how much it expands after meal. Adult male orangutans weighs around 90kg and eats up to 8500calories a day.  Calorie restriction does not work in nature as the animal that eats the least gets eaten first as it doesnt have enough energy to mate, forage or avoid being hunted. One raw food lady in Australia committed suicide 2 years ago after trying to calorie restrict her way to 'health'. Ive had friends end up in mental wards. Ive seen models just lose it big time from calorie restriction and end up becoming severely overweight. We need a lot of sweet fruit calories every day. Sweet fruit is the best caloric source for humans. NOBODY gets overweight from eating copious amounts of sweet fruit, EVER! 

3. They think they can fast their way to health. So many people undereat on sweet fruits and then go and load up on greasy, oily, salty high fat versions of low fat cooked carb foods and wonder they they feel sick. They get told they need to fast/cleanse to aid the 'detox' when actually its a case of 'tox' from too much fat, dehydrated foods, lack of carbs and or too much salt. If you want to cleanse/fast, try living the 80/10/10 lifestyle for a few months and then see how you much you want to fast then! You simply wont as its such a clean way to live/eat.

4. They think they dont need to drink water? Water comes from pipes and plastic and that aint natural so Im not going to drink water and just dehydrate myself instead.. Well my ex housemate had the same belief and drank little water as a result. She got sick after eating raw animal products and did a fast and stopped drinking water. She ended up in hospital and died from renal failure. Drink at least 3 litres of water per day. More if you wear lots of clothing, live in a dry environment, eat salt and or are overweight as fat holds little water compared to muscle. Your body will love you for it and youll have better digestion, mental clarity, skin and physical performance. Drink 1 litre upon rising and 1 litre 30 mins before meals.

5. They think they need to sleep less as a raw fooder. Well Dr such and such says they only sleep 3 hours per night cos they eat raw..Hey! Do you want to end up in a mental ward like my friend that tried to do that? The body needs tonnes of sleep per night! We evolved in the equatorial regions where there is 12hour of dark per night. If you cant sleep proper its most likely you are under consuming carbohydrates and now your body cant produce enough serotonin so your sleep gets effected. Eat over 3000calories a day from a carb rich, low fat raw vegan diet and watch your sleep quality improve out of site. Have a big breakfast and lunch and a lighter dinner and go to bed early.

6. They think that are 'emotional eaters'.  You ever seen a spider emotionally eat? Look at cows and horse in nature, they eat all day! When humans are starved of simple sugars from fruit, they will keep eating and eating until they get simple sugars. We can just sit down and eat a meal of mangoes or make a big banana/date smoothie or we can just fight our 'sweet tooth' and then get real emotional and 'emotionally eat on candy, burgers, fries etc. So how to we end emotional eating? Eat sufficient calories from sweet fruit daily. Its that simple. Eat over 3000cals a day from sweet fruits and you will never emotionally eat again in your life. Note that those who dont believe this fact struggle all their life to control their eating habits. Starve, binge, starve, binge, starve..

7. They think calories dont matter. Ok then if calories dont matter then why eat anything with calories at all then? We dont go to the service station and not look how much gas we put in the tank so why do we ignorantly eat and expect to go the distance when we have no real objective idea how much fuel we are putting in the tank? Ive never met a successful elite athlete that didnt know how much calories they needed and what that looked like in carbs per day. Ive never met a successful raw fooder that didnt know how much calories they needed each day and what that look like in sweet fruit carbs per day. We teach our clients and forum members to learn calories from fruits. Not so they avoid getting too much but so they get enough! You gotta eat a lot of volume to get enough fruit. Thats great cos I like eating lots of sweets for breakfast, lunch and dinner! :)

8. They think they dont have to exercise. Most of the time raw fooders cant exercise cos they are so fatigued from their calorie restriction, low carb and high fat raw diets. I dont blame em, NOBODY is fit and active on a high fat diet. When we carb up for a few days, drink enough water and get enough sleep we will automatically be itching to live with more passion and a life of passion means a lot of physical movement be it dancing, sport, active labour sex and or keeping up with our children.

9. They think they need to take drugs to become enlightened. The amount of chronic drug abuse I see in the raw 'health' movement is staggering. Bongs, magic mushrooms, ayahuasca, peyote, san pedro's cactus, LSD, cacao etc. Call it natural but at the end of the day its still drugs and as a result has a negative impact on our health. I myself used and abuse a lot drugs so I can speak from both sides of the fence: clean vs drugged. Clean wins hands down. The truly natural highs one experiences from keeping their blood clean, body lean and mind sharp from following a high fruit, low fat raw vegan lifestyle with plenty of sleep, water, sun and fun make drugs look like a poor choice. Ive seen many raw food friends develop negative personality traits from using these 'healthy & natural' drugs. Its interesting to note that the promoters of low fruit diets also are the biggest promoters of the 'raw drugs' and the reason is that people are so fatigued and depressed from eating low carb diets that they need some stimulants and drugs to escape the low energy reality that low carb diets provide.

10. Raw foodies think they need animal products for health. Its no surprise that the majority of the people that promote a low fruit diet eventually go back to eating animal products in due time. Why? They simply ate such a low calorie diet that they failed to thrive and thought it was lack of protein or b12 or something. I like to ask people 'how many grams of protein did you get as a raw vegan?' They never know. Then I ask them 'how many grams of protein do you get today?' They never know. They fail to ask the raw vegan athletes what they are doing to succeed so well. They fail to learn basic human & nutritional sciences. Then they fail as a raw foodie and become outspoken about raw foods/vegan diets etc.

With b12 Ive never seen anyone raise their serum b12 and lower their homocysteine and urinary MMA from consuming raw or cooked animal products. I have seen many get food poisoning and end up in hospital as a result. We see that 39% of US citizens have low serum b12 levels. http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2000/000802.htm 

Science shows us that absorption, high stress, gastric issues and high fat diets can all create b12 deficiencies. Most people dont even know what their b12/homocysteine/urinary MMA levels were before they went raw vegan and then when they get tested and have some issues they are quick to jump to conclusion it was from being a 'vegan'. Ive trained with the fastest cyclists on earth including riders like Lance Armstrong and Cadel Evans and they ALL do b12 injections on a regular basis as do a lot of hollywood stars as do I. My blood tests always show up healthy results as I do the right things for my health and avoid the pitfalls that unfortunately are all too common in the raw foods movement today.

Thanks for reading and remember, true friends tell you what you need to hear and business people tell you what you want to hear..

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  • Years ago when I was severely depressed, I read elsewhere that eating certain fruits like bananas and oranges are great for helping relieve depression symptoms, and helping the onset of depression. It did help alleviate my depression (albeit gradually), and I have come to regard these as my happy food.

    If this is what it means to be an 'emotional eater,' and I mean becoming more emotionally stable and happy from eating good fruit instead of shelf-stable, preservative-laden, and animal-derived crap for recovery, then so be it.

    http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/eating-fruit-can-prevent-depression
  • I hate raw cacao, my body hates raw cacao. It's poison. I have a lot of neo-hippy friends who worship it and have ceremonies over it. Crackao yes. I don't need that mind-f@uck crap to feel at one with my soul, etc!!! Cacao/chocolate flares my autoimmune disease too. The alkaloids in theobromine are very bad. I really don't know why people love this crap so much. Druggy crap!
  • great post, thanks Harley! Nice to read something so information dense about such a confusing topic :)

  • I love that quote at the bottom. "true friends tell you what you need to hear and business people tell you what you want to hear.."

    Wow, that's good. I have some friends who think the opposite. If somebody tells them what they need to hear they get all upset and say your not his/her friend. Then, somebody tells them what he/she wants to hear, and they are like "your a true friend." Its a little hard telling such a friend what he/she needs to hear. Any advice?

      I made the mistake of not drinking much water. I got really bad gas and belched a lot. I found drinking water again made me expel the gas. Using the motto "better out than in" I drank lots of water and the gas came out and after about a week the bad gas went away permanently. Phew, in another words drink water, even if it comes from moldy pipes.

       At the same time I had the gas I decided not to exercise much and sleep a lot. Between not drinking water and sedentary behavior I got bad gas. I simply drank lots of water and walked a lot. I mean two miles a day or so. Whenever I have gas I just drink water and walk a lot. It comes out fast. You do not want painful gas in the middle of the night.

    • I'm trying the advice of drinking a 3-4 litres of water a day. I notice I have to go to the bathroom a lot. Does this slow down after my body gets used to this amount of water. Its really inconvenient sometimes. Got any tips?

      • If you are sitting a lot then going to take a pee is a great chance to get up out of your seat.

        Yes, you will find over time that urination goes down as fitness goes up and salt retention drops.

  • Ate SAD for first 19 years of my life. I'm coming off a year of Paleo/Primal. Wasnt a very smart decision... i got severe IBS. 

    How do you guys get enough calories??!?!? I can eat 12-14 bananas for breakfast and be hungry 2 hours later... 

    i tried adding dates and now my teeth turned yellow, and hurt SOOO bad. One of my teeth actually has pieces breaking off.

    i brush, floss, oil pull everything!

    Also my muscle seems to be depleting. I used to be extremely cut, and imo im getting fatter, not gaining weight though. Just less muscle. abs less defined, look less vascular. I notice my hair is also falling our more frequently than normal.

    I really want to do this diet! for ETHICAL, satisfaction(not have to binge on unhealthy foods), and performance reasons! What am i doing wrong here? Everyone on this forum seems to have vibrant health, while mine is deteriorating. I want to be apart of this community but not at the expense of my health. If an experienced veteran could step in and give me some guidance i'd appreciate it. 

    • Most likely you are not eating enough, can you share more details?

      When asking for assistance please include the following information...

      • * How long have you been 100% low fat raw vegan or 100% raw til4? 

        1 month LFRV
        * When did you last have cooked food?

        Every now and then for convenience, if im traveling. 
        * How much water do you drink a day? Are you peeing clear 10+ times daily?

        3-5 Liters. Yes.
        * How much exercise do you get?

        1-2 hours everyday. I Play ice hockey, roller hockey, surf, yoga. 
        * When do you go to bed? How many hours do you sleep each night?

        10-11 pm 7-8 hours
        * How much sunshine do you get?

        usually a couple hours a day. 
        * What is your past health history?

        very good, ran into weight problems when i broke my ankle playing hockey. Was fixed with PD. Paleo diet gave me IBS. 

        *How many calories do you get daily? 

        I dont know, i definitely do not restrict calories. I eat more than anyone i know. 

        *Are you sure your fruit is ripe?

        I wait for brown spots on bananas, sweet smelling and soft mangos. other fruits are harder to judge

        *Are you using proper food combing?

        Yes. even when i wasnt vegan

        *How are your stress levels?

        high

        *Is your food organic?

        yes

        *What percentage of your calories come from tender leafy greens?

        I eat a large salad towards dinner time. I have to be careful with salads because of IBS. 

        • Looks pretty good!  I would track your intake for a few days to see how much you are eating calories wise.  Under eating is almost certainly the reason you are not feeling your best.  Here is an inspiring schedule you might want to check out: http://www.30bananasaday.com/profiles/blogs/80-10-10-athlete-s-dail...

          Brush and floss 3 times daily for best results imo.

          You can juice your greens and eat them with your fruit for the fiber to slow down absorption, until your gut heals fully.

          Getting extra sleep can go a long way towards healing things.

          Congrats on 1 month LFRV and welcome to 30BaD! :)

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