I remember being 15 years old and beginning to delve into the interest that would eventually become my career; nutrition. I would read any books I could get my hands on, watch any food documentary that came on the telly, and I eventually discovered the delights (and horrors) of the YouTube nutrition community.
Now, I was 15 back in 2013, and some of you who were around on nutrition YouTube have probably realised which area of nutrition YouTube I was sucked into at that time. Vegan videos were at the peak of their popularity on the platform, and the more you delved into them, the more militant and extreme they became. Freelee the Banana Girl, FullyRaw Kristina, Raw Alignment, Nicocado Avocado (yes, even him!), they all had one thing in common; raw veganism.
What is raw veganism?
Raw veganism is a vegan diet which rejects all cooking and heating methods of any food. The idea behind it is that if you eat your food raw, or uncooked, you preserve the “life force” of the food; the enzymes and nutrients are in their proper and natural state, and so you’ll be healthier.
There were loads of different types of raw veganism: FullyRaw, Raw till 4, 30 bananas a day, frugivore; either way, they all provided the majority of daily calories and nutrition from fruits and vegetables, with the occasional nut, seed, sprouted bean or cooked meal depending on the type of raw veganism.
Whats the problem with raw veganism?
There were many reasons why people were drawn to this diet; firstly, the people who undertook this kind of diet tended to be very slim, toned and tanned, yet constantly said there was no such thing as calorie restriction on this diet and you can eat as much as you like. In fact, if you break down the calorie consumption of many of their What I Eat in a Days, they were often hitting well over 3,500kcals per day. Freelee was one of the major culprits in this; her 20 banana smoothies, orange juice with coconut sugar added and monomeals of 10 potatoes or an entire bag of pasta often had upwards of 5,000kcals per day. This sounded great for those of us growing up in a time where restriction to get the desirable body was mainstream, especially for those who had struggled with their weight for a long time. I mean, who wouldn’t want to eat as much as you want and not gain weight? The reality was though, almost all of these influencers either exercised to oblivion (an easy bike ride was 40km according to Freelee), didn’t eat as much as they said they did (because my god eating 5lbs of kale salad is hard work) or were naturally slim anyway and did not have an issue with their weight in the first place. The reality is, when people tried this diet themselves, many reported gaining lbs and lbs of weight despite following the diet to a T. Of course, Freelee would often say this is because of metabolic damage and the weight would fall off eventually, but that wasn’t the case. Reddit, YouTube, Tumblr and Twitter all have comments and posts from people who began this diet and began to gain weight steadily overtime. Funnily enough, just because calories are coming from fruits and vegetables doesn’t mean they deny the laws of thermodynamics. If you eat too many calories, you will gain weight.
It wasn’t just the questionable claims about weight gain and calorie intake which gets this diet into hot water with dietitians’ however; the primary reason I have a huge issue with raw veganism is because it is horrifically nutritionally deficient, completely unnecessary and is often a segway into an eating disorder (or used as a way to maintain an eating disorder).
The nutritional deficiencies
Funnily enough, cutting out entire food groups is a sure fire way to ensure nutritional deficiencies which can lead to serious complications long term if not addressed. Whilst the diet is understandably high in fibre, potassium, vitamin C and vitamin K, it is distinctly lacking in vitamin B12, selenium, iron, and sodium (which, yes whilst bad for the majority of people as they eat too much, chronic sodium deficiency can cause fainting and issues with blood pressure). Not to mention that the only reason why minerals such as calcium and zinc, and vitamins such as many of the B vitamins and vitamin E are considered sufficient is because you’re eating 4000-5000kcals per day. If you are unable to fit that in (which is likely as this WIEIAD that I used as an example, which was a Freelee video, had over 10lbs of food), you will not be getting sufficient amounts of these either. The other thing to consider is that the vast majority of the minerals eaten on that day are from the kale salad in the evening. This is a massive kale salad- 2lbs in one bowl, something that most people will not be able to eat even half of. Therefore, you don’t eat all of that kale salad, the minerals you are eating will drop significantly.
The nutritional excess
Of course, the sugar intake is also scarily high. For the example I used, 819g of sugars were consumed. This is insane. Not only is this awful for your teeth, but this constant influx of sugars is going to be causing major energy crashes throughout the day, which is one of the reasons why frugivores like this need to have a constant influx of food. This level of sugar may also be one of the reasons that many raw vegans have borderline or high blood triglycerides when they show their blood tests, despite consuming an incredibly small amount of saturated fat and no trans fats. Too much carbohydrate, particularly sugar in drinks (such as litres of orange juice with added coconut sugar), essentially will go straight into the blood stream upon consumption and get a one way ticket straight to the liver. This can be too much for the liver to handle, and may be stored as fat within the liver itself or can be used to create triglycerides. Either way, this amount of sugar is not good for you.
The amount of fibre consumed on this diet may also be a problem for many people who just jump straight into it. Essentially, eating 100+g of fibre in one day for most people will cause significant gastrointestinal distress, especially if a lot of that fibre is coming from a raw kale salad and bananas. Gas, bloating, stomach cramps, constipation or diarrhoea are all common side effects of eating this way.
And of course, the calories are just absurd for a 110lb woman, even if they are exercising like a maniac.
The eating disorder problem that no-one wants to talk about
Let’s just say it how it is; people who are eating this way are experiencing disordered eating, whichever way you look at it. It is not normal, nor is it healthy, to be afraid of eating cooked food. It is not normal, nor is it healthy, to cut out entire food groups. It is not normal, nor is it healthy, to subside only on raw fruits and vegetables, to the point that you need to wear gloves in summer because you’re so cold.
This way of eating is an eating disorder disguised as “healthy eating” and “caring about what you put into your body”. This is not a healthy way of eating. This is a way for people to maintain their eating disorders, or is a clear path into developing an unhealthy relationship with food.
Many YouTubers were honest about their “recovery” from their anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa by eating raw vegan, only to come out years later and say their raw veganism was just an extension of their ED.
Conclusion
Raw veganism is a diet which is toxic at its core. Eliminating entire food groups from your diet, whilst eating pretty much only raw fruits and vegetables is unnecessary, can lead to nutritional deficiencies and will ruin your relationship with food.
Please, if you’re thinking of doing this diet; don’t.
Diets Debunked 