Why a Raw Food Diet is NOT Natural

I know what you’re thinking. But Swayze, a raw food diet is the most natural diet there is! I mean, it consists of nothing but fresh, raw ingredients, just like all wild creatures consume!

You’re right. No animals (unless domesticated or fed by us) consume cooked foods. And humans have spent the vast majority of our time here on earth eating only raw foods as well.

But that doesn’t mean that the way you and I eat raw today really reflects the natural diet of our hunter-gatherer ancestors? No and I’ll show you why.

The High-Fat Raw Way is Not Natural

Anyone who thinks that eating a diet comprised of lots of fat, dehydrated foods, and complicated recipes is in any way natural are just fooling themselves.

Our hunter-gatherer ancestors never lived on a diet high in fatty foods. They couldn’t have even if they wanted to! Avocados, nuts, and seeds would not have been available year-round to people without greenhouses and grocery stores.

And oils? Not even an option.

Recipes, complicated or otherwise, weren’t an option either. Our ancestors ate whatever they could find whenever they could find it. They didn’t have access to blenders, juicers, or dehydrators and couldn’t be concerned with special tastes, textures, or flavor combos.

But Neither is the Low-Fat Way

Take a look at a wild great ape’s diet (e.g. bonobos, chimpanzees, orangutans, or gorillas) and you’ll notice that it contains a huge variety of food, mostly fruits and greens but also bark, insects, and small animals (typically 1-5% of the diet, depending upon the species and location).

Why? Because like most wild animals, non-human primates are opportunists. They eat only for survival, which means consuming whatever is available at any given moment.

Our ancestors were the same. They ate whatever they could gather, scavenge, steal, or kill. While they would likely have preferred munching on fruit and veggies exclusively (it’s definitely a whole heck of a lot easier to hunt a mango than it is to chase down a deer), the harshness of their circumstance did not allow this luxury.

But you and I DO have this luxury. It’s the luxury of choice. Every single day, for every single meal, we get to choose what we want to eat. And both the choices AND the amount are almost endless!

But it gets better. Never before in history has there been the array of produce that we have today.

Walk into any grocery store and head on over to the produce section. What do you see? Bananas, apples, pears, oranges, kiwi, pineapples, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, melons, avocados, tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, romaine, iceberg, mint, basil, oregano, bok choy, jicama, endive, on and on and on.

All at one time and in one place!

Just in the past few years alone I’ve seen new products added to this list in stores near me. Mangoes, starfruit, Florida avocados, and Thai coconuts regularly make an appearance in my markets. I even saw white sapote and sapodilla in a couple of stores last winter!

And the amount, holy goodness! Just the fact that I fill up on 2500+ calories of fruit and vegetables everyday without completely tapping out my local grocer’s merchandise is mind-boggling.

It’s clear that you and I have the ability to live on nothing but produce for as long as we wish, without ever having to sow a seed or water a plant. Our ancestors never, ever had that luxury.

So no, eating a low fat raw vegan diet is certainly not a return to the primitive diet of our foraging ancestors. Quite the opposite, actually.

The low fat, high fruit raw vegan diet is really a completely modern diet. The MOST modern diet, in fact! It is the only diet that fully takes advantage of the bounty of produce that we have available to us today.

It is the only way of eating that recognizes that there is no longer the necessity to consume meat, eggs, dairy, grains, or any processed foods whatsoever. It is now possible for almost anyone living in an industrialized nation to get all the calories they need from fresh produce.

Natural is Not Always Best

I don’t know about you, but I’m not really interested in being truly “natural”. I’m not interested in eating what my ancestors ate (or what we think they ate). I’m not interested in eating merely to survive.

I want to thrive. I want to feel the absolute best I possibly can and a big part of that is consuming a diet that aligns with the various structures and functions of the human body.

That’s why I eat a raw vegan diet comprised of lots of fruit, greens, and little fat. These are the foods that fuel my body efficiently, effectively, and enjoyable and have me feeling in tip top shape day in and day out.

No bugs, bark, or cute critters required.

Go raw, be fit, and get with it,

Swayze

P.S. If you’d like to experience the best health and vitality of your entire life, then check out my cravings-crushing program below. Not only will you learn exactly how to adopt a healthy raw food diet, you’ll also learn how to completely abolish all your cravings for cooked foods:

“How to Conquer Your Cooked Food Cravings Once and for All”

A Guide for Destroying Cravings on a Raw Food Diet

www.CookedFoodCravings.com