Yay, fun quiz time!

1. On your kitchen counter sits one large musk melon, a pound of tomatoes, one red bell pepper, two heads of romaine lettuce, and 3 avocados.  What’s for dinner?

• A) First, you dig into the musk melon, all 60 ounces of it.  Oooh, so sweet.  Next, the tomatoes, bell pepper, and avocado make the perfect dressing for your tender greens.  Of course, only 1/2 of the avocado is used.  No candida overgrowth or indigestion for you!
• B) You start with the musk melon, being sure to chew very slowly.  You get through the first half an hour later, stopping there.  Don’t wanna get fat on fruit!  Then it’s on to a nice healthy salad of greens, tomatoes, bell pepper, and half an avocado.  All gone, but you’re still hungry.  Just look at all those avocados, *gobble, gobble, gobble* Gotta stop buying fatty foods, you reason.
• C) Sounds delicious, but that’s way too much fruit.  You just take the greens and make a dressing of the 3 avocados, 3 tablespoons of oil, a few handfuls of nuts and seeds, and lots of Himalayan pink sea salt.  Keepin’ it lite and healthy.
• D) Musk melon?

2. Your favorite raw food gurus are:

• A) Frederic Patenaude.  Roger Haeske, the 42-year-old Teenager.  Douglas Graham, duh!  Really anyone who promotes a high fruit, low fat raw vegan diet.
• B) Douglas Graham is great.  But what about DHAs and vitamin B12 and calcium and…oh geez, so confusing…
• C) Anyone who pushes expensive supplements and superfoods.  Need to stock up on raw water and royal bee vomit (for the protein and vibrational energy, of course).
• D) Raw food…is that like lettuce or something?

3. You have 10 bucks to feed yourself for 2 days.  What do you buy?

• A) $5 for a 20lb box of discounted bananas at $.25 per pound.  One “overrripe” cantaloupe for $1.50.  $2 for a package of romaine, $0 for homegrown tomatoes and cucumber from your garden.  $1.50 left?  Splurge on a couple pounds of picked-by-you peaches!!!  Life is good.
• B) $10?!  What about organic?!  Okay, okay.  You can still get a few pounds of bananas, some greens…looks like you’ll be skipping dinner tonight. *sigh*
• C) Please, that’s not even enough to make one super fatty, grassy glass of green juice.  Plus, it’s already been a week since your last 2-day intermediate fast and 3 days since the master cleanse so no food for you.  Gotta clear out those toxins!
• D) $10?!  McD’s $1 menu, here I come!  I’m lovin’ it!

4. Your favorite food is:

• A) Mangoes!  So delicious, so calorie-packed, so available.  Living in the tropics rocks!
• B) Bananas, but can’t eat to much.  Bananas are just too dense and lead to weight gain. *sigh*
• C) Bana…*ahem* Definitely not bananas.  They’re high-glycemic.  Dried Goji berries at $20 a pound, that’s more like it. Got money to burn!
• D) Bagel Bites!  When pizza’s on a bagel, you can eat pizza anytime!

5. Your definition of healthy food is:

• A) Whole, fresh, ripe, raw, organic plant foods.
• B) Whole, fresh, ripe, raw, organic plant foods.  But what about vitamin D3?  And can we really get enough protein on fruit and veggies alone? Oh goodness, not again…
• C) Anything that’s raw vegan.  And occasionally raw eggs and milk because the raw gurus said so.  Oh, and bee pollen!  Okay, new rule: anything that’s RAW…and costs a lot.
• D) Edible

Answer Key

If you answered mostly A’s, you should start your own low fat raw vegan fitness blog and be my best friend.  You eat lots of fruit so you never have cravings and have lots of energy to be as active as you like.  You’ve likely been living this lifestyle for quite a while now and can’t imagine any other way of eating.  You know all the ins and outs of a low fat, raw vegan diet and you enjoy helping others with their raw food related questions.

You really should start your own raw food and health blog.  Seriously, do it.  And the “best friends with Swayze” thing, get on that pronto.

If you answered mostly B’s, you should keep reading Fit On Raw.  You are likely very new to this lifestyle.  You have an idea that low fat and fruity fare is the way to go, but your knowledge is limited and so you often doubt yourself.  You also tend to restrict your calories from sweet fruit, which leads to savory/fatty/salty cravings, and obsess over the little things like buying everything organic.  You just so want to eat the perfect, most optimal diet and have the perfect body.  Is that so much to ask?

Here are some tips: start eating more fruit, stop worrying about weight loss, read the articles on my blog, subscribe to my list (if you haven’t already), and chill out.  It’s just food and no one’s perfect, remember!

If you answered mostly C’s, you should start reading Fit On Raw.  You’re new to raw foods and have been swayed by the “more fat, more grass, more supplements, more superfoods, no fitness” raw foodists.

Don’t worry, I can help you out.  To get started, fill out the form in the top right hand corner of this page.  That will subscribe you to my list and you will receive the free report The 4 Principles of a Healthy Raw Diet as well as the 5-week mini-course The Fool-Proof Transition to Raw.  You’ll be a fruity raw vegan before ya know it!

If you answered mostly D’s, you’ve probably realized by now that you are in the wrong place.  I’m guessing you were searching for ‘Fit on Fat’ or ‘Fat on Fruit Rollups’ and stumbled upon this low fat, high fruit raw vegan site by mistake.

It’s cool, just try googling ‘carnivores r us’ or ‘meat makes me happy’ instead. No hard feelings.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

P.S. If you’re eating lots of fruit but still would like something a little different at the end of the day, you should definitely check out these delicious savory raw stews from 10 year+ raw veteran Roger Haeske:

Savory Veggie Stews

I mean LOW FAT, HIGH FRUIT raw vegans, silly!

As you may or may not know, I recently released a raw recipe book with lots of delicious recipes from several of my low fat raw vegan friends around the web.

It’s really exciting to me how much the movement has grown in the last couple of years.  It’s great that I had a whole host of people to ask for recipe donations instead of just a handful or so (as would have been the case just a couple of years ago).

It seems that many more low fat raw vegan promoters are coming out of the woodwork, in addition to more and more raw foodists turning away from mainstream raw and embracing the fruity side.

It’s awesome!

So anyway, I figured now would be a good time to let you guys see what some of these wonderfully raw people are doing to spread the fruit-filled word.

Time for some link love!

Chris Kendall

Let’s start with my buddy Chris Kendall.

Chris Kendall is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, 100% low fat raw vegan, skateboarder, and has his own raw food site at www.the-raw-advantage.com.

He’s also an official bad ass (pardon the language) in my book because he likes to run outdoors in negative degree weather…SHIRTLESS!

Here’s a recent video Chris posted on his blog and I can’t stop watching it.  I can’t decide which part I like most…the tasty banana munching or Chris’s adorable little niece!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Nice moves, Charlize!

Chris also has a totally low fat raw vegan recipe book called “101 Simply Delicious Raw Recipes” and it’s available by donation at his site www.the-raw-advantage.com.

Michele Martinez

Michele is another low fat raw vegan who is obviously passionate about helping and encouraging others transition to this “kooky of all” diets.

I always find her posts and comments at www.rawnaturalhygiene.ning.com to be so down-to-earth and comforting, yet packed with usable wisdom as well.

Plus, she’s a fellow animal lover AND fellow lover of naming her furry friends after food…I’ll bring the Bean Dip, you bring the Pepperoni!

Yes, my poor dog’s name is Bean Dip and her kitty cat is Pepperoni.

Anyway, here’s a YouTube vid from Michele about having strong teeth and bones on a raw vegan diet.  And she should know…just look at those dazzling pearly whites!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Feel free to shoot me a “what’s up?” at Michele’s low fat, high fruit friendly forum www.rawnaturalhygiene.ning.com!

Ellen Livingston

You may not have heard of Ellen, but she has been a raw vegan since 2002 and has her own website at www.livingyoganow.com.

As you know if you purchased my recipe book, Ellen’s raw recipes are awesome.  There is a video out there somewhere with Ellen preparing some tasty low fat raw recipes for a local news station, but I can’t seem to find it!

She also regularly gives recipe demonstrations where she lives in Anne Arbor, Michigan.  So if you’re ever there, definitely check it out!

And this February 19-20, Ellen is hosting a two-day raw food event with none other than Dr. Douglas Graham! Seats are still available for the Saturday lecture, but Ellen’s let me know that the event is super popular and the seats are filling up quick.

You can reserve your spot at www.livingyoganow.com.

Karmyn Malone

If you’ve checked out Roger Haeske’s blog recently, then you’re probably familiar with his partner Karmyn and her darling little one, Andrew.

Have you seen the video of Andrew making his own Savory Veggie Stew?  It’s RAW-dorable!

Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Anyway, Karmyn also has a blog of her very own at www.karmynmalone.com and regularly sends out raw food and fitness emails to her subscribers (hey, that’s me!).

And Karmyn has me totally jealous right now because she’s currently in Panama soaking up the sunshine and enjoying lots of cheap, top-quality tropical fruit.

How cheap, you ask?

Check out this recent vid:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Michael Arnstein

Michael is a low fat raw marathon runner and is a total inspiration to me.  I’m just horrible at any sort of endurance sport and so it truly amazes me that their are people out there actually capable of running nonstop for longer than 5 minutes.

Here’s a video of Michael right after an ULTRA-marathon a couple of months ago…and he WON!

Click here to view the embedded video.

I can’t believe he was given candy as a prize!

Actually, I CAN believe it…unfortunately…

You can find out more about Michael and his amazing raw fueled feats at www.thefruitarian.com.

Spreadin’ The Word

Of course, these are just a few of the low fat raw foodists out there encouraging others to give the diet a go.  There are many other newcomers like myself, including Harley Johnstone and Freelea from 30BAD, just to name a couple.  And of course, there are those who you’ve probably come across already, such as Douglas Graham, Frederic Patenaude, and Roger Haeske.

If you ever need tips for going and/or staying raw or just want some awesome inspiration, be sure to check ‘em all out!

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

P.S. If you would like a *taste* of what these great guys and gals brought to the recipe book, simply follow the link below:

www.fitonraw.com/low-fat-raw-vegan-favorites

To be honest, I didn’t know about this until yesterday, when I received an email about it from Connie at Naked Food Cafe.  I was intrigued because she mentioned that a good number of low fat raw vegans had been nominated.

I decided to check it out and to my surprise, almost every category featured at least one fruity raw foodist…except for “Favorite Raw Vegan Restaurant” and “Favorite Raw Vegan Chocolate Treat,” of course.

The “Raw Vegan Athlete” category is particularly bursting with low-fat fruit goodness, as it features Douglas Graham, Harley Johnstone (aka “Durian Rider), Ashley Hamilton, Kathlene Leonard and Michael Arnstein.

As I’ve said before, the low fat raw vegan movement is really picking up steam and this just goes to show that there really is no better time than now to join in on the fruity raw fun.

But I have to be honest, that’s not the real reason I’m writing this post.

What’s the real reason?

I made it as one of the nominees!

Well, it’s actually this website, but still…

If you check under both the “Best Raw Blog” AND “Best Raw Website” categories, you will find Fit On Raw as a nominee!

I have no idea who nominated the site, but whoever you are, leave some comments so I can thank you personally (or as “personal” as the interweb will allow)!

And to everyone else, don’t forget to visit BetofRaw.Net and cast your vote for your favorite fruit-filled raw foodists!

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

P.S. I think I maxed out on fruit, smileys, and links in this post.