Anyone ever tried a Raw Vegan diet?

I am thinking of doing a 30 trial of a Raw Vegan diet starting next week. Eating raw fruits, veggies, and nuts is apparently the whole diet. Has anyone get any experience with this? I have been to a couple of forums and poked around to get info, but this sounds like it will be easier compared with some of the detox diets I have tried.

BTW, I am not normally Vegan, but I do enjoy raw fruits and veggies as part of my everyday eating habits.

Are you a vegetarian at all? I would suggest starting with that, or with regular veganism before starting a raw diet.. that would be such a huge switch without being vegan first that I can't imagine it. I ate macrobiotic vegan for a semester once, and that was difficult enough, even after having been vegan for a year! I always found the forums at vegsource.com to be helpful when I was vegan. I know there are several current vegans here on TCS. Do you have a book or diet plan that would assist you with planning this?

Y'know, I once lived for a couple of months on almost nothing but strawberries and pecans with a little cream and sugar. I lost weight, I felt great... and sheesh, that's good stuff! Maybe I should try that again... minus the sugar.

I'd be careful, though, about getting too little fat in a totally raw vegan diet. I once found out what happens to your digestive system when you cut back too far on fat, and oh gosh... you don't want to go through that. Believe me!

I have seen various forms of it ... I highly suggest talking with a nutritionist prior to embarking

I have never done a raw diet myself but I have some freinds who do it. They are pretty strict with it. One thing they all eat on a regular basis is olives. They get the ones at Whole Foods that are still raw. The reasoning is that olives are one of the only foods that are very high in minerals and vitamins. From what i have heard they are the highest. The biggest problem I hear from my girl friends is finding food high in folic acid and iron that don't need to be cooked. Most of the things like collard greens need to be cooked to realy get the full benefits from it. I do know some that eat things like sushi grad ahi. It is ment to be eaten raw and you still get all the esential fatty acids from the fish. Its expensive but worth it once a week for your health.

I also know you need to be carfull, most nuts eaten in thier raw state can be toxic, cashews is one of them. It is possable to find raw cheese and things of that nature, I have tried some raw goats milk cheese and it was surprisingly good.

My best advice is to do alot of reaserch before starting a diet like this. It can be costly and take time to find all the right foods to make sure you are getting all the right nutrients but in the end it may be worth it.

Start here....
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/nutrition/index.php

Thay have a lot of good information.

My best sugestion is if you want to go raw don't limit yourself. Alow yourself to have raw fish and other things. Being a woman you need certain things that you can really only get from certain foods.

Please do not do this on your own. Consult with a qualified nutritionist or dietitian.

im always trying different diets and i just went from no diet to the raw diet, i dont remember how long it lasted, it went good at first but then i started feeling like i really needed something with more substance, and started stuffing my belly with normal foods again.

I went vegetarian about 2 years ago, and vegan about 1 year ago. Then, about 6 months ago I tried raw veganism because I was dating a raw vegan. I did not like it at all. It is very very hard to consume enough calories to maintain your weight. In order to do so, you must eat an insane volume of food every day, and I just didn't have time to spend all day eating. I lost 5-10 pounds, which I definitely couldn't afford to lose (I'm very petite). I went back to veganism, and recently returned to vegetarianism. I still eat mostly vegan, but I got tired of depriving myself of the foods I used to love.

I'm happy being a vegetarian! HOWEVER, if you don't mind eating all the time and are trying to perhaps lose a bit of weight, it is a very pure and simple diet.