Here is something I read and this is the type of thing that makes me scared of the raw food world:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/raw-food-diet?page=2

Don’t be scared, Anne! The claims in the link you provided—It’s a WebMd article titled “Is the Raw Food Diet Healthy?”—are easily debunked.

Here, I’ll show you…

Vitamin B12 Deficiency

Researchers who studied the impact of a raw food diet found that participants had low cholesterol and triglycerides. They also had a vitamin B12 deficiency. This finding is consistent with another study of raw foodists in Finland.

B12 is found naturally only in animal products. It is critical to nerve and red blood cell development. Deficiencies can lead to anemia and neurological impairment.

Obviously low cholesterol and triglycerides is a good thing. But low B12? Not so good.

The thing is, vitamin B12 isn’t just associated with raw food vegans.

In one study analyzing the blood tests of 3,000 men and women, it was found that 39% of participants had low B12. And according to the researchers, most of these participants were meat-eaters.

For more vitamin B12 myths, click here.

Low Lycopene Levels

A German study of long-term raw foodists showed that they had healthy levels of vitamin A and dietary carotenoids, which comes from vegetables, fruits and nuts and protect against chronic disease. Yet the study participants had lower than average plasma lycopene levels, which are thought to play a role in disease prevention.

They are found in deep-red fruits like tomatoes. Lycopene content is highest, however, when tomatoes are cooked.

Healthy levels of vitamin A and dietary carotenoids, another great thing. But what about low plasma lycopene levels?

From the American Cancer Society:

Since tomatoes also contain vitamins, potassium, and other carotenoids and antioxidants, it may be that other compounds in tomatoes may account for some of the protective effects first thought to be due to lycopene.

These compounds may act alone or along with lycopene. When researchers look at large population groups with different lifestyles and habits, it is also possible that their findings can be explained by other factors that were not examined.

And despite what you hear on the news, science does not point conclusively to lycopene alone as a cancer-fighting substance. Several studies have been done on lycopene and cancer with mixed results.

If you’re worried about your lycopene levels, stop worrying. Eating fresh fruits and veggies as your mainstay will provide plenty of lycopene, along with all the other cancer-fighting phytonutrients your body needs.

If you’re still worried, eat some tomatoes. Watermelon, pink guava, grapefruit and gac (if you can get it) are also good sources.

Low Bone Mass

Low bone mass in the lumbar spine and hip may be another risk for raw foodists, who tend to be slim. Researchers concluded, however, that the raw foodists studied had “good bone quality.”

That’s because rapid weight loss at the beginning of the diet may have caused the decrease in bone mass.

As with many things in life, less (or lower) is more. We want lower cholesterol, lower triglycerides, lower blood pressure, lower body fat. All of these have been associated with vegan and raw vegan diets.

It seems that low bone mass is no exception. It’s all about quality, not quantity.

Menstruation

Finally, another study showed that a raw food diet can interrupt the menstrual cycle, again because of drastic weight loss.

Female menstruation is a touchy subject within the raw vegan movement. Some believe that blood loss is unnatural, while others believe that bleeding is natural.

What is unanimous, though, is that periods should not be painful, should not be heavy, and should not last for more than a few days.

If you’ve lost your period on a raw vegan diet and it’s keeping you up at nights, visit your doctor and get some blood work done.

Deficiencies

The raw food diet is rich in nutrients. It’s full of fiber and it’s low in fat and sugars.

But raw foodists, along with vegans, need to make sure they’re getting enough vitamin B12, calcium, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids, most of which are found naturally in animal products.

Everyone needs to make sure they’re getting enough B12, calcium, iron, and omega 3s. Not just raw vegans.

And the truth is, it’s very easy to meet your nutritional needs on raw foods. As long as you eat a healthy raw food diet based on fresh fruits and greens, you will receive plenty of nutrients, including calcium, iron, and omega 3s.

Vitamin B12 is another story, but it is still very easy to obtain enough on a vegan diet.

Protein

Raw foodists typically get the same amount of protein as nonvegetarians through plant foods eaten throughout the day. But because plant protein is less digestible, the ADA also recommends eating plenty of soy and bean products.

Ah, the dreaded protein issue.

The funny thing is, protein really isn’t an issue at all. As I show here, it’s so incredibly easy to get plenty of protein (and even EXCEED the RDA) on a raw vegan diet.

Calcium

Nutritionists at the ADA also recommend that raw foods and vegans increase their calcium intake. That’s because their diets are high in sulfur-containing amino acids – nuts and grains, for example — which can increase bone calcium loss.

First, this article is assuming that all raw vegans consume lots of nuts and grains.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Those consuming a HEALTHY raw food diet actually consume little to no grains at all and very small amounts (like 1 ounce a day) of nuts.

Second, vegans do not need more calcium.

As I spoke about here, healthy vegans actually need LESS. And it’s possible that raw vegans who consume little to no grains and legumes and small amounts of nuts and seeds need even less than that.

Zinc

Zinc is better absorbed by the body through meat. The ADA recommends soaking and sprouting beans, grains, and seeds. Doing this may help the body better absorb the nutrients from these foods.

According to the World Health Organization, the average adult male needs between 4-14 mg of zinc everyday, while the average adult female needs 3-10 mg/day (depending upon the bioavailability of the zinc being consumed).

It is very easy to meet this requirement on a diet of fruits, veggies, and limited amounts of nuts and seeds, as I show below…

• Breakfast: 5 medium bananas
• Lunch: 4 mangoes
• Mid-Afternoon: 8 peaches
• Dinner: Salad of 1 bunch spinach, 1 cucumber, 4 med. tomatoes, and 1 ounce brazil nuts

This made-up meal plan contains only 1995 calories, yet provides 8.2 mg of zinc. For someone eating a healthy raw vegan diet devoid of high-phytate foods like grains, this is plenty.

As far as soaking is concerned, read my article here.

Vitamin D

Finally, people who do not eat meat or dairy products should be vigilant about their vitamin D intake — especially for people who live in northern climates. Low levels of vitamin D can lead to weaker bones.

The ADA recommends vitamin-D fortified foods, including some brands of soy milk and rice milk, some breakfast cereals and margarines. You also may want to take a vitamin D supplement.

It’s estimated that 40-60% of the entire United States population is deficient in vitamin D. Is 40-60% of the US population vegan or even vegetarian? Of course not!

My point is that vitamin D deficiency is not just a vegan or vegetarian issue. Unless you live close to the equator and get plenty of sunshine, you’re at risk no matter what you eat.

Don’t Fear the Raw!

There’s no need to fear adopting a raw vegan diet. You just need to be smart about it.

Contrary to what most raw gurus will tell you, you can’t just eat whatever you want that’s raw and expect to meet all your nutritional needs, lose all your excess weight, have tons of energy, and be perfectly healthy.

There is a right way to go raw and a wrong way to go raw. Luckily the right way is pretty simple: eat fresh fruit, get in your greens, and limit your fat intake.

What Do You Think?

What do you think about a raw vegan diet? Think it’s the bee’s knees? Worried that it’s nutritionally lacking, unsustainable, or even dangerous?

Leave your comment below!

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

P.S. Want to go raw, but have no idea how to do the diet correctly? Know how to do it, but can’t stick with it because of crazy cravings?

That’s why I created this:

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

A Guide for Destroying Cravings on a Raw Food Diet

www.CookedFoodCravings.com

In this newly expanded edition of How to Conquer Your Cooked Food Cravings, you’ll learn exactly how to do the raw diet right AND be completely cravings free!

To learn more about everything that’s included and order your copy today, click on the link below:

==> www.CookedFoodCravings.com

But as I’m sure you know, health isn’t just about diet. Check out these 3 non-dietary mistakes made by raw foodists:

Mistake #1: Getting Far Too Little Sleep

So you’ve heard the news. Raw foodists eat such a clean diet that they only need to sleep 5-6 hours each night!

Don’t believe this nonsense. You will not shave off hours from your sleep schedule just by going raw. Sure, you may need a little less sleep, given the fact that your body no longer has to fight its way through all the fatty cooked sludge, but it won’t make that much of a difference.

And actually, since a healthy raw food diet will lessen your body’s digestive and toxic load, you’ll have more energy than ever to exercise. Increasing your activity level means that you will need MORE sleep, not less!

Remedy: Sleep as much as you need to every single night. This generally means 8-10 hours, but will vary from individual to individual. If you feel ready to wake up each morning, than you got enough sleep.

Mistake #2: Getting Far Too Little Exercise

The reason that some raw foodists do in fact sleep less is because they don’t get any exercise! This is HUGE a mistake. You need to exercise if you want to be healthy. You can not be fit if you do not move your body.

And this means VIGOROUS activity! You know, where your heart beats fast, you breath hard, and your whole body leaks buckets of sweat.

So to answer your question…no, bringing in the groceries does not count as exercise.

Remedy: Start a simple exercise regimen you can stick with. It can be as simple as a walk around your neighborhood 3 times per week. What’s important is that you a) start with something you enjoy and b) start slowly. Otherwise, you’ll be a couch potato again before ya know it.

Mistake #3: Getting Far Too Little Sunshine

Notice how so many raw foodists struggle with vitamin D deficiency? Ever wonder why?

No, it’s not because they gave up meat and fortified dairy. It’s because they don’t get enough sun!

I know what you’re thinking…”Telling me to get more sleep was an easy sell and I’ve known about the benefits of exercise for years, but there’s no way you can convince me to expose my delicate skin to the cancer-causing sun!”

Get over it. Sure, too much of anything is too much and not a good thing. But the right amount of sunshine can do wonders for your overall health. Remember, vitamin D comes from exposure to the sun, not from what you eat.

Remedy: Layout naked (or as close to it as you can get) in the sun for 15-30 minutes everyday. Never underestimate the power of a good sunbathing session.

That’s all for now. It’s time to break a sweat, eat a satiating fruit meal, take a nap in the sunshine, and enjoy the rest of this glorious Friday!

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

P.S. Want to learn from the person who convinced me to give raw a second chance?  Check out Frederic Patenaude’s latest tell-all book Raw Food Controversies:

Raw Food Controversies

How to Avoid Common Mistakes That May Sabotage Your Health

Click Here!

Frederic has made every mistake in the book when it comes to going raw and suffered serious health consequences because of it.

Learn exactly what he did wrong, what happened to him, and how you can avoid all of it and go raw the healthy and sustainable way:

Raw Food Controversies

Besides protein and vitamin B12, vitamin D deficiency is one of the biggest reasons people have reservations about going and/or staying raw (or vegan, for that matter).

This becomes especially true towards the end of the year, when the sun is waning and the cold temps are movin’ on in.

There’s no question that vitamin D is essential to human health.  Vitamin D is necessary for the proper absorption of both calcium and phosphorus.  I’m sure you have seen images of the disfiguring effects of rickets, a disorder caused by a lack of vitamin D in the body.

Did you know that vitamin D is also necessary to process vitamin C and deficiency is implicated in the cause of 17 varieties of cancer?

Sometimes the fact that so many people (cooked and raw foodists alike) dwell on vitamin D when it is SO easy (and so free) to obtain really boggles my mind.

Then I remember all the COMPLETELY WRONG and often COMPLETELY BIASED information that we are all indoctrinated with from a young age regarding the source of this vital vitamin.

It’s time to debunk all the bull, don’t you think?

Where Does Vitamin D Come from?

Few will argue that vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is necessary for healthy teeth and bones.

However, there has been quite some debate about how exactly to achieve proper levels of vitamin D.

According to traditional medicine, the only way we can get enough vitamin D is by consuming fortified milk, eating various species of fish, or by some form of supplementation.

Hmmm…I wonder what Dr. Colin Campbell, author of the renowned nutritional study The China Study, has to say about that?

Although some of the vitamin D present in our bodies may come from food, we can usually get all that we need from a few hours of sunshine each week.  In fact, it is our ability to make our vitamin D that leads to the idea that it is not a vitamin; it is a hormone (i.e., made in one part of our body but functioning in another part).

The sun’s UV rays make vitamin D from a precursor chemical located in our skin.  Provided we get adequate sunshine, this is all the vitamin D we need.

And John Jacob Cannell, MD from Vitamin D council, is there anything that you would like to add?

Remember, our ancestors lived naked in the sun for several million years. Then 50,000 years ago, some of us migrated north and south to places with less sun. Then we put on clothes, started working inside and living in cities where buildings blocked the sun. Then we started traveling in cars instead of walking, or riding horses, and glass blocked even more of the UVB in the sunlight. Then, only a few years ago, we started actively avoiding the sun and putting on sunblock. All this time we humans have been steadily reducing the tissue levels of the most potent steroid hormone in our bodies, one with powerful anti-cancer properties.

The really significant reductions in sunlight exposure have occurred since the industrial revolution, just the time the “diseases of civilization” like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer seem to have greatly increased. Pretty frightening when you think about it.

Even Dr. Joel Fuhrman, who advocates supplementation in his book Eat To Live, has this to say:

Most of us work indoors and avoid the sun or wear sunscreen, which lowers our vitamin D exposure.

In other words, vitamin D does not come from packaged breakfast cereals or rancid fish oils.  It comes from good ole’ Mr. Sun.

How Much Sunshine?

The US RDA for vitamin D is 400 IU (international units) for an adult.

Dr. Mercola recommends that each person should get about 5,000 units of vitamin D everyday.

Sounds like a lot, right?

Not really, especially when you consider that only 15-30 minutes of full exposure (or as close to full as you can get) produces about 10,000 IU of vitamin D!

What About Sunscreen?

Ah, sunscreen.  That fruity, vanilla-y smelling goop that reminds us of beaches, bikinis, and family BBQs.

Snap out of it!

Not only are most sunscreens full of toxic ingredients, but putting them on your skin actually blocks the absorption of UVB rays, which is what we need to make vitamin D.

A healthy (and free) alternative?  Shade.

If you feel yourself becoming uncomfortably warm in the sunshine, find yourself a nice shady spot, put on some breathable fabric, wear a hat, etc.

Simple, yet solid advice.

D3?

Vitamin D (as well as vitamin D supplements) actually comes in two forms: vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol).  Although once thought to be equivalent, it is now known that vitamin D3 (manufactured from exposure to UVB rays) is not absorbed by the skin right away.  It actually takes up to 48 hours before the majority of the vitamin D you have been exposed to has entered your bloodstream.

What’s the big deal?

After a nice, sweaty day spent outside, what’s the first thing we want to do?  Take a shower.

And what do we typically do in the shower?  Lather on lots of sudsy soap.

Uh oh.  The problem here is that you are not just washing away your sweat with that soap.  If it’s been less than 48 hours, you are stripping your skin of all that precious vitamin D!

The solution?  Well, there are a couple:

#1: Wait two days to shower

I may not wear makeup or lots of fancy accessories, but I am still a lady.

I am not WAITING two days after sweaty time in the sun to rinse off!

#2: Only use water

I like to take a shower almost everyday so this is my personal preference.

I know, I know.  Only water?!

If you eat a healthy, low fat raw vegan diet—like the one I describe in my free report The 4 Principles of a Healthy Raw Diet— without added salt, spices, or condiments, you really do not need to use soap.  In fact, I rarely ever use any form of soap, natural or not, to clean my skin.

But I’ll save that for another post.

Problems with Supplementation

The research out there on problems with supplementation of any kind, including vitamin D, is rather extensive.

One particular study conducted in 2008 showed that vitamin D supplementation can actually block the Vitamin D Nuclear Receptor (VDR), which is necessary for the “repression or transcription of hundreds of genes, including genes associated with diseases ranging from cancers to multiple sclerosis.”

Here is a quote from the professor at Australia’s Murdoch University School of Biological Medicine and Biotechnology, Trevor Marshall, Ph.D., as quoted in a ScienceDaily article on the study:

Molecular biology is now forcing us to re-think the idea that a low measured value of vitamin D means we simply must add more to our diet. Supplemental vitamin D has been used for decades, and yet the epidemics of chronic disease, such as heart disease and obesity, are just getting worse.

Our disease model has shown us why low levels of vitamin D are observed in association with major and chronic illness,’ Marshall added. ‘Vitamin D is a secosteroid hormone, and the body regulates the production of all it needs. In fact, the use of supplements can be harmful, because they suppress the immune system so that the body cannot fight disease and infection effectively.

Debbie Took from RawforLife makes a very good point regarding supplementation and animals in the United Kingdom:

The animal world is full of clues as to how to live healthfully. So, as looking at domesticated mammals (ingesting various unnatural substances in their feeds) would complicate things, let’s consider wild mammals such as squirrels, deer, rabbits. They don’t supplement (and neither do they eat oily fish or vitamin D-fortified milk).

Sure, they’ll get lots more sunlight each summer than we will (which gives us a clue as to lifestyle adjustments to be made). However, the supplement manufacturers like to make us feel that no matter how much sunshine we get in the UK summer our health is going to be compromised if we don’t take D supplements in the winter. Yet these animals are doing just fine! (but note they don’t sit behind windows, soap themselves down daily, drink alcohol or overeat either…)

Well said, Debbie!

I think I’ll take a lesson from my animal friends and stick with simple (and free) sunshine.

What About Winter Weather?

Because vitamin D is fat-soluble, it can be stored by the body.  This means that you have the potential to get enough sunshine during the warm months to last you through the winter.

But don’t think you can’t get a wicked tan in the winter time.  Did you know that you can get pretty seriously burned from sunlight that is reflected off of snow?

Now, you won’t catch me sunbathing in 30 degree weather and I certainly do not recommend it.  But if you’re a fan of cold weather (or a masochist), be my guest!

My Advice to You

If you haven’t already, be sure to make the most of the last couple of weeks of mild weather before it gets too cold.

Remember, all it takes is 15-30 minutes outdoors (unless you have dark skin, in which case you will require more exposure) to receive adequate vitamin D.

You can spare a few measly minutes for your health, right?

Go raw, be fit, and get some sun,

Swayze