The Number One Secret to Success on the Raw Vegan Diet.

Since I first began thinking about giving this lifestyle a try several years ago, the raw diet has exploded all over the the internet, the world and my screen.

There are new websites and blogs popping up every day from people who are extremely enthusiastic about changing their health and lives and helping others do it too. I'm grateful for every single one of you lovely people because you make me feel less alone. Because of this information explosion, the raw diet is slowly beginning to go mainstream.

However, as wonderfully common now as it is to see someone else hopping onto the bandwagon every day, it is unfortunately just as common to see someone fall off it at the same rate or higher. In fact, I think I know more people who "gave that raw thing a try, but it didn't work/was too hard" than I know of people who have thrived on it for several years or more.

I have found that there are several "secrets" to sucessfully sticking to this diet, and today I will share what I believe to be the no. 1 reason why people generally have trouble when trying out the raw vegan diet for the first time.

Disclaimer: Y'all already know I'm no expert. These are just my personal observations from my own experiences as well as reading around on different websites/books and talking to different friends. So nobody sue me, ok? :)

My Story:
When I first made an attempt to fall off the turnip truck (haha, but c'mon, admit it, there are those of you out there who think this about me) - I had very little understanding of how it all worked. I read a few of the big websites out there at the time - I was inspired by the lovely before & after mug shots of everyone, and the weird but possibly delicious recipes shared on there.

But I felt lost. I'd just abolished in my head the old SAD food pyramid where meat, dairy, grains and fats had their own personal 5 star rooms on the top floor penthouses. Being a vegan for the last few years, I'd actually kicked meat and dairy out of their rooms awhile back and done some renovating already. But that wasn't as scary, as grains simply became my new foundation, heavily supplemented by cooked fats. And now I had to construct a whole new pyramid where all of those were just...gone.

I had no clue where to begin. What was I supposed to eat at each meal? Was there a rhyme or reason to what I decided to eat each day? Should I just eat whatever I felt like, whenever I felt like? Should I just not bother to construct a new food pyramid?

I tried doing it that way for awhile, but the lack of structure really bothered me. I had no idea where I was getting the bulk of my calories from, I had no idea if it was okay to eat nuts as a meal, was I getting enough greens, and how much fruit was okay to eat anyway?

None of the books or sites that I was reading explained the basic nutrition principles that I was looking for adequately, if at all. It seemed that the no. 1 mantra going around generally was "Just eat whatever you want in any combination...as long as it is uncooked." This was fun for awhile, but soon, I became increasingly overwhelmed with a growing fear and confusion.

I knew I couldn't do this forever. My gut instincts told me that it didn't make sense to just eat whatever, whenever. There had to be some simple law of nature that was right in front of my eyes that I was missing. It had to be easier than this, you know?

And besides, I was tired of making complicated (for me) recipes all the time. And my thoughts about those ran like this: If I'm making, say, this raw lasagna that is supposed to imitate the look, feel and taste of real lasagna, but obviously it is not getting the same nutrients or ratio of nutrients as real lasagna with real meat and cheese, then how do I know if it is really nutritious for me to consume? At least with meat and cheese I had some sort of false comfort zone, knowing that most people eat meat and cheese for the "protein" and the "healthy fats".

I started to panick as serious doubts arose about whether I was getting proper nutrition. I began to read on the internet about people who had failed - and failed dangerously - on the raw food diet. There were people who lost too much weight, lost hair, and there were those who ran into serious health problems that they did not have BEFORE raw foods. I began to freak out about getting enough B12, and then, I fell off the bandwagon. Repeatedly. For almost 2 years.

What brought me back to it again? Well, I say this ad nauseum on my blog, so let me give you a moment to roll your eyes first, and okay, now I'll say it yet again - Finding Natural Hygiene and the high fruit, low fat diet.

I started reading, reading, reading. I liked what I was reading. It made sense to me, gave me some grounding, dissolved my nutrition fears. Going back to nature. Oh...diet isn't the only aspect of health. Sunshine and clean water and sleep and oh, shoot, apparently I'm gonna need to get off my big behind and start exercising too. Emotional and spiritual health? Working on it. Water fasting for healing? Hmm. HMM!!! What would I eat if I was stranded in the jungle... not raw lasagna, that's for sure. What is human anatomy closest to...oh, apes. What do apes eat? Oh...fruit. OH! And light bulbs started going off in my head. Ding ding ding.

So you see, for me - it took very firm grounding and understanding of what constituted a healthy lifestyle, to be able to let go of the nagging fears, doubts and excuses holding me back. I began building my new food pyramid, this time, with fruit as my foundation. This was the easiest, simplest food pyramid I'd ever constructed. And it wasn't just about the food this time. Plus, I noticed that the people on this path were really thriving, active and healthy looking, which was attractive to me.

Secret #1
You first need a deep understanding about building health and doing a raw diet healthfully, to get rid of any confusion or fear holding you back, and then you will be able to truly focus your efforts on succeeding long term on this diet.

I see people deciding to try the raw diet before they ever read any nutrition/health books (or at least, very few). To many it is just another weight loss diet among the thousands of weight loss diets out there. When actually, it isn't a weight loss diet at all.

Many are going straight from SAD to low fat raw and that is sort of like jumping off a diving board when you don't know how to swim yet. It sounded good, they drank a couple of green smoothies, ate 2 apples a day, and found it wasn't working for them.

It didn't work because there was no deep or real understanding about how to build health from ground zero. I say all this not to be arrogant but because I have been there myself and it wasn't a fun place to be. It is difficult to wade through all the info out there and figure out how to make this thing work. Trust me, I know.

If you are new and you decided on a whim to try raw, you'd likely give up and run away screaming bloody murder because it IS scary and overwhelming when you don't have all your questions answered yet and there isn't any kind of food pyramid in your head to work with.

Obviously this "secret" is not the only factor, but I think it is the biggest factor for people who are relatively new to learning about the raw diet. I have a few more secrets I want to write about, so stay tuned, but in the meantime I'd love to hear from you guys - long timers, please share your secrets with us, and newbies, I'd like to know your thoughts!

For those of you who are new, I recommend reading these books and websites. They helped me so much and I hope they will help you too!
The China Study
80/10/10 brief FAQ
The 80/10/10 Diet
Raw Food Explained
Natural Hygiene