Anyone Here a Raw Vegan?

[EquALLity]

Well?
If yes, were you raw ever since you became vegan? If not, what health benefits did you see after/while transitioning from regular vegan to raw?

[brimstoneSalad]

No, and I don't recommend it. It becomes a dogma for a lot of people- all of that stuff about "enzymes" is mostly absurd, and not substantiated by science.

However, there are merits to eating a lot of raw foods in addition to a few cooked staples, and there are also some merits to only cooking things at lower temperatures, and avoiding grilling and frying.
Steaming and boiling are probably the best ways to cook things, and avoid formation of carcinogens that higher temperature cooking can produce (although this is less of a problem in vegetables). Although personally I'm fond of baking, but if you dehydrate you can get some crispiness in low temperature cooking too.

I've done raw before, I didn't notice any health benefits- but what I noticed or not is irrelevant and could just as easily have been a matter of placebo.
The more important matter is that there's no real clinical evidence of health benefits, or even any theoretical reason there would be, and strict raw foodists suffer from myriad documented health problems, from B-12 deficiency (many of them avoid vitamins, and try to get B-12 from algae and other unsubstantiated sources) to general malnutrition because they tend to be overly focused on fruits which are high in sugar and low in much else (it's hard to eat enough veggies raw, because they're hard to digest and chew, and beans and whole grains are even more difficult to eat and digest raw).

With a powerful blender and dehydrator, and with careful sprouting and fermenting, it is in theory not impossible to be a healthy raw foodist (provided you still supplement B-12), but it is a very major undertaking. It means becoming very professional at and cautious with food preparation, and devoting a significant amount of time and resources to the task.

[miniboes]

It's a pretty easy choice if you ask me: even if you get more vitamins and minerals from your veggies if you eat them raw you will also eat less because they're harder to digest. More slightly less nutritious vegetables seems better than less more nutritious vegetables.

[PrincessPeach]

I like to eat a predominantly raw diet but my main staple isn't just raw fruits and vegetables I eat raw nuts and seeds, make raw flax seed milk and raw cashew butter, I sprout my peas, beans, legumes and lentils. I like to juice my fruits and vegetables and then eat a salad, I don't juice my greens I eat them. I make salads with olive oil, red balsamic vinaigrette, raw nuts and raw beans with raw onions can't forget those! It is very expensive and time consuming to eat a raw food diet correctly. If one wanted to eat just fruits and vegetables they'd have to eat I'd say around 25-50 pounds of fruit and vegetables in a day. It's just not feasible.

My 19month old vegan son does not like to eat cooked or seasoned food, this is what lead me to sprouting everything it's quick, easy and it's ALIVE! He will eat a cup of sprouted mung, chickpea and adzuki beans ~ I make a soup and he turns his head away! He wont eat cooked beans he has to have it raw.

Cooking fruits and vegetables can actually cause nutrients to be released that otherwise wouldn't be. The main nutrient that get's lost is VITAMIN C, which is a pretty common nutrient so I wouldn't be worried about losing that one. Also did you know that the digestive enzyme's in your stomach will also destroy those nutrients that you are worried about losing?!
Foods to steam/boil: Any greens, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers. potatoes, squash's
Foods to leave raw: Onions

I like to use this analogy when describing someone the difference between raw and cooked plants;
Marijuana is a plant, we all know that we have to add heat to marijuana for the effects of the plant to be released, this is the same with other plants as well, yes you could eat them raw but adding heat to the plant will cause nutrients to be released that otherwise would not.

[EquALLity]

No, and I don't recommend it. It becomes a dogma for a lot of people- all of that stuff about "enzymes" is mostly absurd, and not substantiated by science.

I don't know what the stuff about enzymes is, but okay.

However, there are merits to eating a lot of raw foods in addition to a few cooked staples, and there are also some merits to only cooking things at lower temperatures, and avoiding grilling and frying.
Steaming and boiling are probably the best ways to cook things, and avoid formation of carcinogens that higher temperature cooking can produce (although this is less of a problem in vegetables). Although personally I'm fond of baking, but if you dehydrate you can get some crispiness in low temperature cooking too.

I've done raw before, I didn't notice any health benefits- but what I noticed or not is irrelevant and could just as easily have been a matter of placebo.
The more important matter is that there's no real clinical evidence of health benefits, or even any theoretical reason there would be, and strict raw foodists suffer from myriad documented health problems, from B-12 deficiency (many of them avoid vitamins, and try to get B-12 from algae and other unsubstantiated sources) to general malnutrition because they tend to be overly focused on fruits which are high in sugar and low in much else (it's hard to eat enough veggies raw, because they're hard to digest and chew, and beans and whole grains are even more difficult to eat and digest raw).

With a powerful blender and dehydrator, and with careful sprouting and fermenting, it is in theory not impossible to be a healthy raw foodist (provided you still supplement B-12), but it is a very major undertaking. It means becoming very professional at and cautious with food preparation, and devoting a significant amount of time and resources to the task.

I see.

It's a pretty easy choice if you ask me: even if you get more vitamins and minerals from your veggies if you eat them raw you will also eat less because they're harder to digest. More slightly less nutritious vegetables seems better than less more nutritious vegetables.

Ah.

I like to eat a predominantly raw diet but my main staple isn't just raw fruits and vegetables I eat raw nuts and seeds, make raw flax seed milk and raw cashew butter, I sprout my peas, beans, legumes and lentils. I like to juice my fruits and vegetables and then eat a salad, I don't juice my greens I eat them. I make salads with olive oil, red balsamic vinaigrette, raw nuts and raw beans with raw onions can't forget those! It is very expensive and time consuming to eat a raw food diet correctly. If one wanted to eat just fruits and vegetables they'd have to eat I'd say around 25-50 pounds of fruit and vegetables in a day. It's just not feasible.

My 19month old vegan son does not like to eat cooked or seasoned food, this is what lead me to sprouting everything it's quick, easy and it's ALIVE! He will eat a cup of sprouted mung, chickpea and adzuki beans ~ I make a soup and he turns his head away! He wont eat cooked beans he has to have it raw.

Cooking fruits and vegetables can actually cause nutrients to be released that otherwise wouldn't be. The main nutrient that get's lost is VITAMIN C, which is a pretty common nutrient so I wouldn't be worried about losing that one. Also did you know that the digestive enzyme's in your stomach will also destroy those nutrients that you are worried about losing?!
Foods to steam/boil: Any greens, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers. potatoes, squash's
Foods to leave raw: Onions

I like to use this analogy when describing someone the difference between raw and cooked plants;
Marijuana is a plant, we all know that we have to add heat to marijuana for the effects of the plant to be released, this is the same with other plants as well, yes you could eat them raw but adding heat to the plant will cause nutrients to be released that otherwise would not.

Raw onions only? I don't know, LOL.
Thanks for all of the info.
This post has me hungry for vegetables.

[miniboes]

This post has me hungry for vegetables.

No better feeling that being totally filled with vegetables.

[brimstoneSalad]

I don't know what the stuff about enzymes is, but okay.

Raw foodists (the dogmatic ones) tend to claim that once food is heated above a certain magical point (I don't remember which random point, like 80 degrees C or something?) all of the 'enzymes' are destroyed, and it's dead and basically indigestible and there are no nutrients left, and some other stuff.

It has little to no basis in reality, particularly their cutoff, which is absurdly low. Yes, if you turn food into ash, the nutritional content is lost. Cooking at low temperatures, however, makes food more nutritious. Heat deactivates certain enzymes (not all), this is also true... but you HAVE those enzymes in your saliva and digestive system (and the microbes later in your digestive system do a lot of work too).