Steve Pavlina's RAW diet

[vegetableman]

Hey guys,

A few points came up while I was reading about steve's raw diet..I'd love to get your opinion of it.
as a relatively new vegan - 1 year now I
was very interested in the results of his raw diet..

I eat mostly raw (I'd say at least 75%) without even trying too
hard..I sprout stuff at home and use a juicing machine (a manual one, the brand name is "healthy juicer")

1. I've read elsewhere that you should avoid mixing fruits and vegetables together (with the exception of apples). Have you felt any side effects from mixing them together? (ie. Bananas + Lettuce green smoothy).

2. Speaking of smoothies isn't it healthier to juice veggies/fruits
instead? No oxidation from the rotating razors, and no heat build up?
On the other hand, for better or worse, juicing removes the fiber from the food and hence, suppose to make it more digestible. What do you think?

3. eating the same food everyday and all day long doesn't look very healthy to me..(ie: 15 bananas per day)

4. How's your protein / carbohydrates / fat percentage?

5. Did you guys had similar dry skin problems?

6. Did you lose too much weight? I've seen some VERY thin raw vegans..it can look scary sometimes..(I have a very low fat percentage as is,
and I don't want to lose the little that I have).

Thanks in advance for the info!

Yair

[Joeschmoe]

1) Food combining is complicated and i don't understand it. I tend to eat one type of food at a time. You feel out what works and what doesn't, at most you might have some gas.

2)Yes it's healthier to eat them whole, but it takes longer. It's an acceptable comprise

3)Most people on regular diets only eat 5 or 6 different foods anyway. It's fine.

4)Most who eat like steve end up between 80/10/10 and 90/5/5.

5)Most people get over the dry skin, especially if they stop using excessive soap etc. Those things take oil out of your skin.

6)Most people end up at under 10% body fat which is fine. The problem is that most people, even raw vegans aren't active enough. So they don't have a lot of muscle mass and look too thin. single digit fat percentages are healthy, and people who do enough exercise don't end up looking under thin.

[escapee]

5. Did you guys had similar dry skin problems?

6. Did you lose too much weight? I've seen some VERY thin raw vegans..it can look scary sometimes..(I have a very low fat percentage as is,
and I don't want to lose the little that I have).

You may need more fats ( saturated, mono and especially polyunsaturated fats ) and protein.

essential fatty acids dry skin - Google Search

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

Originally Posted by Joeschmoe

6)Most people end up at under 10% body fat which is fine. The problem is that most people, even raw vegans aren't active enough. So they don't have a lot of muscle mass and look too thin. single digit fat percentages are healthy, and people who do enough exercise don't end up looking under thin.

Can you point me to your source on this. I was under the impression that it is not healthy for women to have such a low body fat percentage and can disrupt cycle/pregnancy/etc.

[Joeschmoe]

Well considering his name is Vegetableman. I was speaking for males of the species.

[Joeschmoe]

Originally Posted by escapee

You may need more fats ( saturated, mono and especially polyunsaturated fats ) and protein.

essential fatty acids dry skin - Google Search

Some of disagree on this point. There is no conclusive evidence either way. So it's up to you to figure it out for yourself. There are examples of healthy people who do it both ways.

BTW, the only essential fats are omega 3 and omega 6 poly and mono unsaturated fats are not necessary and especially not saturated fats.

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

Originally Posted by Joeschmoe

Well considering his name is Vegetableman. I was speaking for males of the species.

Ok, point taken. You said "most people" though and I was honestly interested in knowledge to that effect.

[escapee]

BTW, the only essential fats are omega 3 and omega 6 poly and mono unsaturated fats are not necessary and especially not saturated fats.

Yes, Both mono and saturated fats ( and of course carbohydrate ) are not essential, but that does not mean we do not need them.

saturated fats are those that remain solid at room temperature (like animal fats). They are also a major component of healthy cells, the preferred fuel for the heart and muscles, powerful antiviral and antifungal agents, and serve as cancer-fighting genetic "regulators" in the body. Why didn't you already know these things (if you haven't been with me for a while)? Because our fat-phobic, animal- rights obsessed mainstream media wouldn't report on it if it were the cure for cancer…

Saturated Fat To The Rescue - Share The Wealth

Amazon.com: The Coconut Oil Miracle (Previously published as The Healing Miracle of Coconut Oil): Bruce Fife, Jon J. Kabara: Books

Amazon.com: Saturated Fat May Save Your Life: Bruce Fife: Books

FYI, Coconut contains 90% of saturated fats so i guess you wouldn't regard it unnecessary part of healthy diet since it's a vegetarian food.

My suggestion is eat a wide variety of natural food in moderation and get over the fat phobia..

[lasti]

There are some figures (also for women): Body fat percentage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A figure under 10% doesn't seem to be okay for women. But let's hear your opinion.

[Joeschmoe]

Originally Posted by escapee

Yes, Both mono and saturated fats ( and of course carbohydrate ) are not essential, but that does not mean we do not need them.



Saturated Fat To The Rescue - Share The Wealth

Amazon.com: The Coconut Oil Miracle (Previously published as The Healing Miracle of Coconut Oil): Bruce Fife, Jon J. Kabara: Books

Amazon.com: Saturated Fat May Save Your Life: Bruce Fife: Books

FYI, Coconut contains 90% of saturated fats so i guess you wouldn't regard it unnecessary part of healthy diet since it's a vegetarian food.

My suggestion is eat a wide variety of natural food in moderation and get over the fat phobia..

I don't have fat phobia, but i do regard oils in the same category as refined sugar. Oil is an isolated macro nutrient, that is everywhere in large quantities. It is pure calories with little to no nutritional value, same as sugar or protien powder. I dig fat, even saturated fat (which i had made no mention of), just in whole natural sources.

This is a good article, backed with real research(published in peer reviewed scientific journal), about coconut oil.

Jeff Novick - Marketing Junk Food: Don't Go Cuckoo Over Coconut Oil

I will repeat what i said in the first place.

Some of disagree on this point. There is no conclusive evidence either way.

I don't know how that somehow sparked an argument.

[vegetableman]

Thanks guys for all your replys!
(I didn't receive any email notifications hence my late reply)

A few comments:

1. quoting Joeschmoe:
"
This is a good article, backed with real research(published in peer reviewed scientific journal), about coconut oil.

Jeff Novick - Marketing Junk Food: Don't Go Cuckoo Over Coconut Oil

I will repeat what i said in the first place.
"
Indeed an interesting read, but as said, there's no conclusion here - I think if you get a bit of high quality coconut oil it can promote your health. Moderation is the key. The saturated fat (and the MCTs) that are in it maybe "not essential" but it doesn't mean they don't promote your health. I think the comparison to sugar is very wrong - and that it is obvious that the fat doesn't have much minerals/vitamins in it. The fat itself is a nutrient.
I think bad mouthing saturated fat started back at the times when we confused it with TRANS fats. Now we know better but the bad reputation of Saturated fat remains..

Another issue – Saturated fat can increase cholesterol levels. cholesterol is produced naturally by the body but not always on a high enough levels. For example you need it to produce testosterone. My cholesterol levels are low so I can afford it:
Cholesterol 146.1 mg/dl
HDL 56
LDL 77.7
so for me, I think some coconut oil can do good.. (what do you guys think?)

2. Lasti, I agree I think below 10% body fat for women is unhealthy, and not sexy(:

3. Regarding fruit combined with food – I know it suppose to be unhealthy because fruit digests very quickly and if mixed with slower digested foods (especially oil) it can ferment in your stomach( but I don’t know how bad THAT is..)

4. Regarding my juicing question, I was comparing juicing VS making smoothies. It's a different thing all together (no heat built up, no razors, and suppose to break the cell walls of the veggies/fruit to make the nutrients more available..
(Burning a lot of your time in the process..)
does any here use a juicer?

Cheers!

Yair

[Joeschmoe]

Sugar is also a nutrient, a macro nutrient called carbohydrate. How is one isolated nutrient better than another? I say better to get them all in whole food. Oil is by definition a processed food.

Why not just eat coconut if you think the oil would be good for you? The oil is in there, along with all the other micro nutrients.

[vegetableman]

Originally Posted by Joeschmoe

Sugar is also a nutrient, a macro nutrient called carbohydrate. How is one isolated nutrient better than another? I say better to get them all in whole food. Oil is by definition a processed food.

Why not just eat coconut if you think the oil would be good for you? The oil is in there, along with all the other micro nutrients.

I do eat it whole when I get it, but one of the reasons I mix a bit of coconut oil in some food (like spouted lentils/beans/grains)is because I think some of vitamins are oil soluble and therefore need to be eaten with some oil to be absorbed properly.. (do you think that's true?)

also, according to "The Thrive Diet" by Brenton Braizer coconut oil actually improves the untilitation of oils by getting you body used to burning oils as a source of alternative energy instead of relaying only on carbohydrates (that energy source can deflated pretty quickly)..