What do raw vegans eat?

Question

I'm going to go all out and go raw.

As a raw vegan what can and can I not eat?

So dried fruit is okay?

I'm pretty sure that you cannot have steamed food and bread.

That is not raw

I am a vegan, obviously.

I just want to become a raw vegan, mostly for health.

I've been trying out this raw vegan thing for two days now.

I've been vegan for years now and it's easy but raw veganism is a lot tougher. I'm not sure if I'm going to bother.

Plus I love baked potatoes and peanut butter

Answer 1

Everything is subjective and everyone has their own definition of what makes a raw vegan or a raw foodist. I have read quite a few books and so I'll share with you some of what I've learned.
Hopefully Celtic Tejas will chime in. She is a mostly raw vegan. I try, but some days are better than ever!

Of course there's a whole lot of fruits and vegetables out there. Eat them raw. If you want a vegetable that doesn't really work well raw then light steaming is best. Raw foods about the enzymes and "life force" - light steaming retains more of those enzymes and the vitamins and minerals than any other cooking. If you are eating mostly raw foods and have some steamed zucchini or an artichoke a few days a week then you are getting so many enzymes and getting such benefits from your diet that I wouldnt sweat it.
Bread is another area that some raw foodists disagree. Pretty much everyone agrees that regular bread made from processed flour is crap. Some eat only bread made from sprouted whole grains because sprouting makes grains easier to digest and can boost nutritional value. Grains are a good source of protein so for some people it's an okay exception to the raw diet to eat some bread made from sprouted grains. Then others are really against any kind of stored grain at all. You have to find your own rules with that. People who are 100% raw do not eat any cooked bread, obviously. But there are some bread recipes that you can make in a dehydrator that are raw. I have made sprouted buckwheat bread, flaxseed crackers, and "croutons" all raw and "cooked" in my dehydrator. I've had some raw crackers that taste like rye bread that were sooo good. If you're 100% raw you end up having your burgers on crackers instead of regular bread.

There are really so many recipes you can make with raw food that you would never, ever get bored. There's cheese sauces made with nuts (I've even made a macadamia alfredo sauce...yum), noodles made with squash, nuggets made with lentils, and so, so many kinds of cookies and desserts made with dates and nuts and different fruits and veggies.

Sprouted grains really broaden the range of foods you can make. You know, beans and nuts are hard to digest on purpose - they have an enzyme inhibitor so they travel through an animal's system and the seed will be planted in a big pile of poop somewhere far from the plant. It's genius, really. So you have to soak them, germinate them, to break that down and make them easy on your system. Nuts you usually soak and then dehydrate again so they get crunchy or you soak them and then use them in recipes (like cheese sauces or creamy dishes) while they're still soft. Sprouting is really easy to do and sprouted beans and seeds are a great soure of protein.

What else? Dried fruit is fine, but you have to be careful because a lot of dried fruit contains sulphur and/or sugar or even oil. Speaking of oil, coconut oil and avocados are a main source of fats for a lot of raw foodists. Avocadoes are really versatile - you can even add carob and agave nectar to them and make a pudding or a pie.

Sweetners like raw agave nectar or dates or dried fruits blended with nuts make good snacks. You can make your own version of Lara bars (which are raw, by the way).

You pretty much make your own salad dressings. Or you just use oil and vinegar or just lemon if you're a real purist.

Oh, and chocolate becomes GOOD FOR YOU when you're a raw foodist. You just have to make it yourself :)

Okay, I'm about out of ideas for now. If you're seriously ready to go all out and go raw I strongly suggest you start reading some of the many raw sites out there and start educating yourself on raw nutrition. It's a real challenge to succeed. Make sure you're eating A LOT of healthy food. It's easy to lose too much weight and get into some unealthy habits if you don't educate yourself. But, if you do it right, wow, what results!

Answer 2

RAW is a diet of 75% or more Raw foods daily.
Get you some books, get on the web... this is a fun learning process that will leave you much healthier than you started.
1) Fresh Raw Juices
2) Green Smoothies http://www.emaxhealth.com/14/1182.html
3) Be bold trying new things
4) My fav Uncook Book is Raw Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet
4) If out When in doubt eat a Salad
5) If you choose to eat any Cooked Food, make is count,,NO JUNK.
Slainté(to your health)

PS Jenasaur gave you great advice to get you started!!!!

Answer 3

Hey, sweet! Congrats and good luck.

The rules:

All vegan. (Though some raw foodies do eat honey.)
Never cooked. (That means the temperature has never been raised above 120 degrees F. Keep in mind that most canned and bottled foods have been pre-cooked.)

Good ideas:

Soak beans and grains before you eat them.
Buy organic and wash it well.
Take a B12 supplement now and then.
Be sure you get nuts and nut oils so you get your omega3s.
Avoid eating toxic varieties of plants, or plants that are toxic when consumed raw.

Helpful things to have:
Good knives and cutting boards.
Blender.
Food processor.
Juicer.
Dehydrator if you want "breads" or any other emulated food that isn't wet.

Answer 4

Eat a diet that has a large variety of raw fruits and veggies. Eat nuts and seeds too. There are a lot of good raw food cookbooks out there. Go to your local library or book store.

Answer 5

They eat the same things as other vegans, but they have to use a lot of lotion on their skin.

I apologize to my vegan friends for this bad joke, but I just couldn't resist.

Answer 6

The same as regular vegan except that it isn't cooked. It maybe dehydrated but never COOKED. It is to preserve the cells and nutrients.

Answer 7

raw vegan food - lots of ummy things.
You can have lots of sprouts for extra vitamins, and things like sprouted chickpeas are more filling (nut like).

raw cakes and loaves (yummy) as treats

juices, nuts , dried fruits, and dried seed crackers - just to name a few.
pestos - raw pasta etc

Answer 8

I'm a Vegan and you're pretty much able to eat


1)Fruits(Strawberries, Bananas, Apples, Oranges)

2)Vegetables(Corn, Steamed Broccoli, Peas, Lettuce)

3)Bread(Wheat)(But read the ingredients because some are made with eggs and milk)

4)Noodles(Pasta with meat-less sauce)

5)Rice(Brown or White)
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And be sure to stay away from

1)Meat(BAD!!!)(Ham, Pork, Steak, Bacon, Hot dogs, Fish, Turkey)

2)Dairy (Milk, Ice cream, Whipped Cream, Sherbet,

3)Eggs(Scrambled, Omelet, )


Hope I Helped!!!!!



Vegan
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Answer 9

Aren't all vegans raw? :)

Answer 10

you cannot eat anything that has been processed

bread has been processed