Getting Started as a Raw Vegan

Has a raw vegan diet and lifestyle peaked your curiosity? I hope so. This is the way I live and I recommend it to every person on earth regardless of age, current health, or history of excuses.

That’s right, this diet can work for YOU in more amazing ways than you have every imagined.

Photo Credit: Pink Sherbet Photography

Getting Started as a Raw Vegan

All it takes is a little curiosity to get started with a raw vegan diet. It’s a journey that begins by asking some basic questions:

1. Why do I eat the way I do?
2. Is there a better way to live?
3. Are the stories I’ve heard about vegetarians and vegans actually true?
4. Can I cut meat and actually improve my health?
5. If I want to achieve a big goal in the future, like a marathon, will this diet help me?
6. Aren’t all vegans crazy hippies that live impractical lives?
7. Is it really possible for ME to do this?

This is where it starts, asking questions. Where it ends, if ever, is your choice. The benefits of a low-fat raw vegan diet are mind-blowing. Beyond massive weight loss, you are likely to achieve amazing mental clarity, abundant energy, and fewer illnesses over time.

Though there are many strategies to begin a raw vegan diet, the basics are outlined below. These methods will allow you to feast on mother nature’s best beginning today.

I encourage you to experiment as often as possible and find what makes you thrive. Start small with one of these suggestions:

Raw Veganism: The Basics

1. Eat Whole Fruit + Salads ::: you can start this today. The true fruitarian (low-fat raw vegan) way to live is to simply eat whole fruits and vegetables all day, every day. This is what I do for the majority of my diet. The picture above symbolizes where most of my calories come from, ripe bananas. All you have to do is buy a lot of fruit, and I mean A LOT, and then eat it for every snack and meal. You can learn more about a fruitarian diet with the book that I recommend more than any other for a raw vegan lifestyle: Dr. Douglas N. Graham’s The 80/10/10 Diet.
2. Blend Fruit & Goodies ::: you can start this soon. Though I recommend you eventually buy a BlendTec or Vitamix blender, I use a Cuisinart PowerBlend Duet now and it works beautifully for a lot less money. The goal here is to blend raw fruit with other non-traditional (and more expensive) ingredients like maca powder, chia seeds, acai berries, almond milk, and other supplements you find in most natural health food stores. Make a full blender of fruity goodness once a day and drink it for any meal or snack throughout the day. You can find an infinite number of recipes online, but I think the best method is to experiment until you find what you like. Read Rich Roll’s book, Finding Ultra, to see what a diet of mostly blending can do for your health. Absolutely incredible!
3. Juice Vegetables ::: you can start this a little later, unless you have the cash now to buy a high-end juicer. I would highly recommend you do NOT buy a cheap juicer. Stick with the more expensive models like the Hurom Slow Juice or Breville. The high-end juicers make very high-quality juice, which means you can use fewer ingredients from the store and get more nutrients from what you do buy. Start your juicing experience with Jay Kordich’s great book, The Juiceman’s Power of Juicing.

Raw Veganism: Advanced

1. Home Brewed Kombucha ::: most people have never heard of kombucha (a raw Chinese tea), so to learn what it is and why you should care about it, read this. I also wrote a post on how you can brew your own kombucha at home. I challenged myself to drink one kombucha a day for a year. It’s possible to brew a lot for very little money and effort, so this challenge has been quite easy. Kombucha is full of probiotics, which helps immensely with digestion.
2. Coffee Enemas ::: unless you have had cancer or are married to a naturopathic physician, you may have never heard of coffee enemas either. Boy are you in for a treat! Coffee enemas are just about the most powerful detoxing method on the planet. You will initially want to experience these during a full detox and then maintain just one a week thereafter. Learn more about coffee enemas.
3. Sprouting ::: hardcore health nuts love sprouting and you should too. You could easily buy sprouts at a natural health food store or even some national chain supermarkets as well; however, sprouting little seeds yourself is way more fun. Learn more about sprouting.

If you have any questions about getting started with a raw vegan diet, just ask. I’m all ears.