How to Indulge in High Fat Raw Recipes
One of the most important aspects of eating a low fat, high fruit raw vegan diet is (you guessed it) eating low amounts of fat.
As I discuss in The Truth About a High Fat Raw Diet and has been covered extensively by low-fat promoters like Douglas Graham, John McDougall, Jeff Novick, and Joel Fuhrman, an *optimal* human diet consists of no more than 10% of calories from fat.
On a 2,000 calorie diet, this works out to around 3 oz ( or 1/3 to 1/2) of an avocado or 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) of nuts/seeds.
However, I recognize that sometimes you may wish to have a little bit of extra fat. Maybe you are attending a raw food potluck and want to try some of the dishes offered, but many of them are nut-based and you’re worried that they will push your fat intake over the top for the day.
Or perhaps it’s a particularly cold and rainy day outside (like it is today for me, actually) and you just really want a big, hearty salad with a nice diced avocado (or two) on top.
I’m sure we’ve all been in these situations (I know I have), given in to the extra fat and possibly (okay, most definitely) felt guilty as a result.
But is this guilt really necessary? Can’t we indulge in high fat raw recipes from time to time?
Yes, We Can!
I just cut right to the chase on this one, huh? 
An important concept to understand is that the 10% or below fat ratio – as mentioned above – does not have to be followed every second of every minute of everyday. Making sure that every meal you eat falls within these low fat guidelines is not necessary for optimal health.
What IS necessary for optimal health is that you follow a low fat raw vegan diet *overtime.*
Overtime, Not Everyday
You can indulge in high fat raw recipes as long as you remain within the healthy fat range overtime (say, over the entire month) and you will still be maintaining a healthy low fat raw vegan diet.
But how do you accomplish this?
Easy! Here’s an example:
Say you eat a 2000-calorie diet. For five days, you choose not to consume any overt fats and so your fat intake stays around 5% of total calories. On day six, you decide to eat one avocado for the day, shooting your fat intake up to around 20%.
No big deal. If you average out the entire six days, you’ll notice that you have only consumed about 7.5% of your total calories from fat!
One Word of Caution
After a while you may experience some negative consequences from eating fatty recipes, even if it’s an infrequent event for you.
I know that in my early raw days, I could eat 2 avocados in one sitting on occasion without any ill effects. Today, I can’t eat more than about three-fourths of one at a time without feeling a bit queasy afterwards and headachy the next morning.
And I have to be careful to eat overt fats later in the day, as any morning or afternoon fatty snacking leaves me slightly groggy and *ahem* a bit clogged… 
Easy, Right?
Hopefully I’ve shown how easy and guilt-free it is to indulge in high fat, gourmet raw recipes from time to time. As long as you remain mindful of the fat you are consuming and average out your fat intake overtime, you can easily make sure that you remain well within a healthy range.
Go raw and be fit,
Swayze
11 comments
Swayze,
I too have found that the longer I eat basically a low fat raw diet the more sensitive I am to fatty foods, even “healthy” ones. There are days when my body desires some fatty food and days where my system rejects it.
I think the longer a person eats a plant-based diet the more sensitive we become to what is healthy for our body and what is detrimental to our body.
Dr. Debra
Swayze Reply:
February 19th, 2010 at 8:03 PM
That’s very true. Even 1/2 an avocado can be a bit too much for me some days.
I actually attended a raw food class last night and they served up a yummy salad with a raw dressing. Then, it was a strawberry tart with nuts for the crust and raw sugars in the form of dates, agave and maple sugar. Well, not long after that I picked up my daughter, who was skating, then came home and got so sick!! I could not figure out why. It did not sit well in my stomach. After I did get sick, I felt great and continued to feel great all today. I thought maybe it was too alkaline for the acids that were in my stomach from eating trail mix earlier in the day. It’s back to light raw foods for me!
Hi Swayze
I was always under the impression you had your fats towards the end of the day, I am sure I have seen a couple of prominent low fat raw food authors say as such.
Regards Russell
Swayze Reply:
February 19th, 2010 at 8:01 PM
Yes, when I eat overt fats, it is in the evening after I’ve eaten all my fruit for the day.
Hi Swazye
First of all, I found your website from viewing Taylor’s Tropical website and found him from Roger Haeske’s website. I saw Taylor while I am visiting my parents near West Palm Beach and I went to the farmers market on Sunday and bought some amazing fruit that I never tried before. For your readers who live in Florida or not, google Taylor’s Tropicals as he will ship to you. I had canistel, which is like pumkin cheesecake and chocolate sapote. Yum!Yum! Yum!
Thanks for the info on eat high fat, as what I do, is only eat it once a week, usually on Friday night for my Sabbath and have a whole avocado with my salad. I stick to it and do very well the rest of the week.
Also, visit my blog http://www.rawsomegal.wordpress.com and read about my 42 day cleanse using coconut water and stevia in my water, and finished mid-January. I have also written about my transition back to food. I continue to write about health related topics and post daily (off on weekends). To read about my cleanse from day 1, click on December 2009. Share this with others who may be interested and I love to receive comments. You can also subscribe so you will always receive the latest posts in you email inbox.
Namaste!
Chef Mindy aka Ageless Raw Beauty
Swayze Reply:
February 19th, 2010 at 8:00 PM
Actually, I just ordered some canistel from Taylor! It should be here any day now I can’t wait!
Great advice Swayze! For a long time I was really happy eating about 5% of my calories in fat, but this winter I have been craving more fat. It’s still challenging for me to trust my body and eat according to my hunger signals, but the more I do it, the better I feel.
I notice that when I do eat a high fat meal I feel really satisfied from it, but also a little sluggish and like I’m not through digesting the next morning. So I try and wait until I feel lighter before I eat my first fruit meal. So far so good.
Also, I think that 1 oz. of nuts and seeds works out to 2 Tablespoons, right?
Swayze Reply:
February 19th, 2010 at 8:03 PM
Whoops, I did mean 2 tbsp. I’ll go change that now…
Your blog and site are great! I’m trying to implement the raw diet and it has been going well. I live in Mexico and there are an abundance of great coconuts available. It seems like a coconut, including the meat inside would be a high fat. Is this true? Can I have as much coconut water and the inside meat, just like I would fill up on fruit? Thank you! Again, your info and inspiration converted me to raw!
Swayze Reply:
March 5th, 2010 at 1:12 PM
Coconut has about 80% of its calories from fat so you definitely want to limit it as you would avocado or nuts. That said, it certainly won’t kill you to increase your fat intake while it’s good and in season. Remember, it’s 10% maximum overnight, not everyday.