We have been vegan for over a year now and up until January 2019, we weren’t too familiar with a raw vegan diet or what it even consisted of. In our minds, we were eating pretty healthy by consuming a whole foods/plant-based diet with a bit of vegan junk food thrown into the mix. Little did we know that there was an even better way to eat that had various studies to back it up.
A raw vegan diet consists of food found in its rawest form and not cooked above 118 degrees fahrenheit. This includes fruit, uncooked vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouted grains, raw nut butters, dried fruit, and sprouted legumes. It is noted that any food cooked above that specific temperature loses a significant percentage of its nutritional value and natural enzymes, thus making it not as healthy as you may think. Some raw vegans opt for cold-pressed olive oil while others stick to oil-free. The tool used to get food heated to this small of a degree is a dehydrator. Other staple tools that we found helpful was a blender and small food processor for smoothies and sauces.
Our guidelines for the month of January included an ALL raw food (everything listed above minus the oil) | No coffee, alcohol, pop, or sparkling water | No cooked food or heated above 118 degrees.
Sharon Cryan, founder and CEO of Food Nerd, challenged us to a 31 day raw diet for the entire month of January. See day one introduction here. This challenge required us to get two sets of blood work-ups, gut biome tests and the dreaded before and after pictures.
Food Nerd supplied us with breakfast, lunch and dinner and we were super impressed and surprised by how delicious raw food could taste. We were eating meals such as sprouted buckwheat cinnamon cereal with cashew, coconut, date milk for breakfast and zucchini lasagna with layers of sprouted walnut ricotta for dinner. We also used this month to experiment with raw recipes ourselves and created everything bagel flaxseed crackers and brownie truffles (The raw brownie truffle recipe can be found here). This way of eating can be as simple as a bowl of fruit for breakfast or more complex like strawberry shortcake pancakes with a coconut icing. If you’re interested in dabbling into a plant-based diet for 2019, we highly recommend Food Nerd (https://www.foodnerdmeals.com). The meal prep company’s multi-platform business model and dietary prepared packages are 100% plant-based and range from 51% to 100% raw.
Click here to view our menu’s provided by Food Nerd
Claimed benefits of a raw vegan diet include improved digestion, clear skin, boosted immunity, high energy levels, weight loss and reversal of chronic illnesses. Since becoming raw vegans for the month of January, we have become living proof to attest that these benefits are the real thing. This has surpassed our general expectations and lead us to think about food within another spectrum.
Many of our social media followers on Instagram and Facebook have posed the question if we will continue this way of eating once the challenge is over. Our answer is… ‘partially’. Throughout this process, we have learned a lot about ourselves, what food really does for the body and how food truly can be an addiction. Our goal is to use what we have learned, educate others and have a balanced diet of raw and cooked vegan food. Remember, just because one is vegan does not mean they are eating healthy. For example, french fries and Oreos are deemed “vegan” but not considered to be “plant-based”, as neither product resembles that of their original form.
Click here to read about our detailed weekly updates and pictures of what we exactly ate for the month!
