I Ate (Mostly) Raw Vegan For A Week

Raw veganism is a diet I’ve been curious about for a while. There are numerous sources online raving about the benefits of the diet; however, there are also many that argue the dangers of the diet.

A raw vegan diet combines the concepts of veganism and raw foodism. Essentially, a raw vegan diet cannot contain any food of animal origin or foods that have been cooked at 118° F. So no microwaves, ovens, or stovetops.

After a lot of research, I decided to delve into the diet. I headed to Martin’s to buy a week’s worth of groceries. I spent a little over $100 on all sorts of fresh fruits and vegetables. Right away I knew this wouldn’t be a diet I could continue to follow because of how expensive it is to maintain. I could afford it for a week, though.

I was optimistic about the diet change. I was a vegetarian for several years and have done short stints of veganism. Both of the diets were very easy for me because I don’t really like meat or many other animals products, anyway.

The first day started out fine. I made a big smoothie for breakfast with dates, avocado, banana, coconut milk, and cacao powder. It was delicious. By lunch I was very hungry, so I made a big salad. All day I made sure to snack on fruit. The foods in a raw diet are low in calories, so I had to constantly eat. I love eating, but it got a little annoying.

For dinner I wanted another salad, but I ended up putting cooked quinoa and roasted sweet potato on it. Day one and I was already tired of feeling unsatisfied.

Day two breakfast and lunch was similar to day one. For dinner I was planning to make pasta with marinara. However, this consisted of raw zucchini noodles and cold marinara. It tasted fine, but I really just wanted macaroni and cheese. After eating a few bites of my depressing zoodles, I caved and made macaroni and cheese.

I told my friend who is very interested in nutrition about my failure. After she laughed at me, she recommended eating raw until 4pm and eating vegetarian or vegan after. That’s what I did for the rest of the week and it was much better.

Before going into the diet, I didn’t realize how difficult it would be. I felt much better when I began eating cooked food, but I was slightly disappointed in myself because I thought I would be able to do it.

Eating raw vegan requires a lot of time to prepare food because it’s not easily accessible (especially in Western Maryland). Maybe if I allotted more time to prepare my meals I would have succeeded. However, I have a very busy schedule, so I didn’t put as much time into it as I would have liked.

Overall, it was interesting experimenting with the diet, but it’s not for everyone and definitely not for me. I didn’t feel any significant differences in my body, but it would probably take longer than a week to feel the effects of a diet change.

If you’ve got a lot of time and money, maybe give the diet a try. If not, I don’t think it’s very important as long as you give your body the nutrients it needs.