Hello, and welcome to Eight Years In! And if you’re returning, welcome back! Today, we’re exploring the story of how I tried to be a high carb raw vegan, and what I learned. It’s bound to be a juicy one!
Well, nice to meet you to all of you who are new here. My name is Rebekah and back when I was a teenager, I tried to go high carb, raw vegan. And I say “tried” because, well, I failed. But I don’t feel too bad about it because I learned quite a bit from the experience. And you can too. But you don’t have to go high carb raw vegan to learn the lessons that came with this experience. Just read on and you will see!
What happened?
So we’re traveling back in time to early 2013. And one day, I was online surfing YouTube, as I did on a semi regular basis. A video popped up in my recommended videos about how to get a flat stomach, and embarrassingly enough, I felt quite compelled to look at it. I was very insecure about my body back then, as many young ladies are. What I saw astounded me. There was a woman onscreen. She was quite thin. And she claimed to be eating thousands of calories a day from raw fruit and vegetables and not gain weight from it. I was intrigued.
Learning about veganism
And I find it silly to say this was my introduction to veganism, but it’s the truth. It’s odd to look back at nowadays considering the kind of diet I tend to eat and encourage others to eat currently. (Let’s just say I’m a big fan of cooked food.) But the raw food movement was quite strong then, and it was inextricably linked with veganism somehow. I began researching veganism, once I heard this woman talk about it. She said she was vegan, and I had never head that term before. I looked at other sources that talked about veganism. They explained about animal rights and the environmental benefits of veganism and that’s when I knew: this is what I was going to do. No, more like this was what I had to do if I was going to be able to look at myself in the mirror and get to sleep at night. I couldn’t justify being part and parcel to this system of animal agriculture anymore. And so, I went vegan.
This story could easily stop there. In fact, often enough when I tell it, I do let it stop there because that’s sufficient to explain both my ideology and habits of today. But there was a significant offshoot that I don’t often talk about. The High Carb Raw Vegan days, or HCRV for short.
HCRV
I wanted to be “HCRV” so badly! I consumed all of the high carb raw vegan content that I could find online, ravenously. While I would have conceded at the time that this was not the only way to be vegan, I found many people in the community that I looked up to as role models of healthy, beautiful people. It also seemed like such a glamorous life. Eating mangoes on the beach or blending up a smoothie before your morning bike ride. In some ways, I bought into the marketing of the lifestyle just as much as the lifestyle itself. I was assured that raw fruits specifically would bring me health and joy and freedom. That I could eat as much as I could ever want without gaining weight and that all of my problems would be distant memories. (Except perhaps, living in a world that didn’t eat and live the same way.) And on the other hand, the same people that I looked up to were all convinced that cooked food was toxic and that all of the health problems in society were entirely the fault of the people. (Or in some cases, the evil pharmaceutical and food companies that kept the people in the dark.)
I think it’s worth saying that I do still believe it is probably possible to be a healthy raw vegan, and possibly a high carb low fat one at that. I’m not a dietician, and I’m not willing to make that assessment. But looking back on it, the communities I found myself attracted to back then were rife with unhealthy food attitudes, including considering some foods good and bad (to the point of being toxic, in the case of cooked foods), being very preoccupied with being thin and judging others on their food choices and body types. I remember someone posting that they wouldn’t eat a piece of steamed broccoli for 1 million dollars, in a boastful way, speaking about their principles. Looking back on it now, I find that very concerning.
My lifestyle
At any rate, I was enamored with the promise of vibrant health and being able to eat as much as you wanted while staying thin. And while my family could not and would not sustain my HCRV interest, I was determined to follow the lifestyle that was indicated by the likes of Freelee and Durianrider on 30bananasaday. I ate all of the fruits and vegetables I could get my hands on, and when they were not available (which was often since my family didn’t have the money at the time), I ate loads of carbohydrates in the form of potatoes, rice, and cereals. I did my best to follow what was said about “carbing up” and “giving myself time to get out of starvation mode” and other platitudes. And you know what, I never was able to finally go high carb low fat raw vegan. The truth is, by the time I was making my own money and living on my own, the novelty of raw food had died down for even Freelee and Durianrider, who were then promoting Dr. McDougall’s Starch Solution over Doug Graham’s 80-10-10 and had coined their own term, “Raw til 4”. Even they admitted that cooked food wasn’t toxic (although they never made it sound like they were wrong for saying so in the first place), and ate it regularly as their “one cooked meal at dinnertime”.
But while I was trying to be “as raw as possible” (another phrase often uttered by those in the community who were unable to be raw vegan for various reasons) and listening to the sage advice of the community in as many other avenues as possible, I did learn quite a few things. Some were positives and others were negative, but all were lessons that I remember and still follow to this day. So here’s what these couple years taught me!
Eating fruits and vegetables is amazing!
You feel so much more energetic when you’re getting your vitamins and minerals. I began with fruit, but soon learned that eating vegetables makes me feel even better. Like I have been given a burst of energy and mental clarity. I’ve come to believe that this is how we’re supposed to feel all the time. It’s just that when we don’t get the micronutrients we need, we feel lackluster. And many of us have gotten used to that feeling so that we don’t even realize we’re operating on a half tank of gas.
Once I switched to eating fresh produce regularly, I felt this profound change in me, and for that reason, I recommend it to everyone who has the ability to start buying more produce. If you have the privilege of being able regularly eat produce, you definitely should do it! And if it’s a choice between a little bit of fruit or a lot of vegetables, I’d recommend the veggies.
Hydration is awesome!
I didn’t grow up drinking water very often. But once I tried to be a high carb low fat raw vegan, I was introduced to the idea of drinking water and staying hydrated. At first, it was hard to get used to, because I had to use the bathroom throughout the day. But the time that I lost was well worthwhile.
Once I began hydrating I found that I felt a lot more physically comfortable in my body. My skin was less dry and as weird as it sounds, I felt more physically capable. Since then I have read up on hydration and found that it is very good for your overall health. Staying hydrated can help both your mind and body perform better. Which makes sense, because we’re mostly made of water. I always heard that but I never really thought about what it might mean until I started prioritizing my hydration. And once I did, wow. It was like I was a different person, mentally and physically. I had better energy and focus. And this weird sense of discontent I thought was normal was just gone. It’s a very odd thing to try to explain. More than anything, I would invite you to try it yourself.
Protein and fat are important
Now, there are a lot of different programs that have different ideas of an ideal macronutrient balance, but I tried to follow a very low fat and low protein diet. I was convinced it would be the healthy thing to do. (A la 80/10/10, as before mentioned. The 30BAD clan was known to champion even higher carbohydrate levels at the time.)
And I did it; it was fine more or less. Well, I didn’t perish obviously. But I found myself far less satiated when I had meals low in fat and protein. I needed to eat much more to feel full. Which wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but I found I much prefer having moderate fat and protein intake so that I feel more satiated.
Your body does need fat and protein. And don’t worry, you can get it from plant based sources. But that’s not what I did. Once I got back into having a more balanced diet, I found that not only was I able to be satiated on smaller quantities of food, but I stayed satiated for longer. My hair grew out stronger and my nails did the same. As much as someone might tell you that low fat and low protein diets are great because you get to eat more food, your body needs all the macronutrients to function well.
I like cooked food!
I remember reading all sorts of rhetoric against cooked food and how it was inherently dead and toxic. (Except for like, cooked tomatoes which have been shown to increase in certain nutrients from raw ones.) And you know what? It’s true that cooking food does take away some of the nutritional value in some cases, especially when you cook it for long periods of time. But cooked food is not toxic. It still brings you nutrients. And frankly, I like it.
I’m sure that if I lived in a place where winters aren’t harsh and there’s no snow, then I may find eating raw easier and more pleasurable as a lifestyle. But I’m just not interested in trying to choke down a smoothie when it’s -10F outside. Nope. Give me some soup or a vegetable curry with rice. Also, I’ve learned to enjoy cooking the food itself. Now, I know you can get creative preparing raw meals too. But there’s something about stirring spices in a pan with some oil and onions and garlic that I wouldn’t want to give up now.
You’ve got to think for yourself
I often feel good that I made the decision to go vegan. It wasn’t easy to leave behind what I knew and what everyone had always told me was okay. Instead, I had to think for myself and stick to my decision. And it was tested, that choice. But I’m proud to say I stuck with it.
That being said, going vegan didn’t automatically make me the pinnacle of independent thought. That’s something you have to keep maintaining and seeking, no matter where you go. And I didn’t. I let one group of people tell me how my veganism should look. And they certainly didn’t have all the answers. The truth is, other than the higher price tag of eating a raw diet, HCRV just wasn’t sustainable for me.
When it comes to thinking for yourself, it’s good to take into account the stories and advice of others. But it’s also important to weigh the usefulness of that advice. If the person isn’t an expert and on top of that, their advice doesn’t work for your life, well, maybe it’s time to let that one go. I thought that because I looked up to these people they must know best, but they didn’t. Not for me. And that’s okay.
You can take the good and leave the bad
This last point is really an offshoot of the previous one, but I feel it really encapsulates my whole experience with high carb raw veganism. In all of our life experiences, it really is up to us to get what we can out of them and leave the rest. From trying to go raw vegan I learned that fruits and vegetables are super good for you, and not just in that nebulous “you’ll be healthier” way. I actually felt the difference in my body. Same with hydration. I learned that being vegan can be cheap or expensive. And I will always be grateful for this past I have because it exposed me to veganism in the first place.
As the years go by, I’ve definitely left behind the idea that an all-raw diet is the goal. I’ve left behind any ideas of the practically supernatural glowing health and perfection of body and mind that I was assured of. The fact is, being vegan isn’t a superpower, and being high carb raw vegan isn’t either. I’m thankful for the ways in which the high carb raw vegan community of old made me rethink my health, and I’m okay with letting some of the more dubious ideas stay in my past.
I was convinced, back then, that my veganism wasn’t going to be a phase. And now, looking back on it nine years later, I can say that I was certainly right. And that fills me with joy. If you’re looking to be vegan, I really suggest that you find a way that works for you. (Instead of championing some half-baked idea of what the perfect vegan should look like.) The fact is, there are all different kinds of veganism and some are going to be more doable for certain lifestyles than others. This is a double edged sword that we can use to feel hopeless about our ability to change or instead, use to make our veganism sustainable for us. And I hope you do the latter.
Thank you for reading my thoughts! If you’re interested in more content about veganism, subscribe to the blog to get email updates when a new post goes live. And share this post with others who may be interested in my story about raw vegan failure. And whoever you are, wherever you live and whatever you’re up to, I hope you have a wonderful day!