Paradise no more
It starts like a good relationship.
You meet someone new. Sparks are flying. You both like Hitchcock films and that obscure reggae band from Norway; clearly, it’s meant to be. After a string of perfect dates, all-night phone calls, and butterfly-inducing smooches, you’re sure that they’re “the one.”
Then a month later, you wake up and realize the other person has some pretty freaky nose hairs. And they burp without apologizing. And they snore. Oh, do they snore!
So it is with raw. Almost without fail, the beginning of the diet yields a brilliant honeymoon phase—filled with surging energy, renewed vigor, and zest for your lively cuisine.
But somewhere down the line—months for some people, years for others—the wonder starts to wane. Maybe you start feeling like something is inexplicably missing. Maybe your energy takes a dive and noontime naps become the norm. Maybe your weight loss plateaus. Maybe your last dentist visit wasn’t so pretty. Maybe those niggly health problems you had prior to raw—aches and pains, lethargy, allergies, arthritis, skin conditions—start resurfacing out of nowhere. Whatever the reason, raw just doesn’t seem to be working as well as it did in the beginning. Your enthusiasm diminishes, and in its place comes doubt, discontentment, and a plethora of questions.
In other words, you start seeing raw foods’ freaky nose hairs and you begin to wonder: what did I get myself into?
My own raw honeymoon ended around the one-year mark. Intermittent fatigue, dental woes, hair loss, concentration problems, and some not-so-happy blood test results forced me to rethink the dietary regimen I was so tightly clutching. During this time, I started scouting out the counsel and wisdom of other disgruntled rawbies. What I discovered was this “honeymoon end” was a common phenomenon among raw foodists, and that its occurrence usually led to two things:
1. an expulsion from the raw community for being a dissenter or pot-stirrer for doubting the diet, and
2. a foray into other dietary regimens, such as paleo, low-carb, cooked vegan, macrobiotic, or ayurvedic.
Contrary to what the testimonial section in books and websites may indicate, raw doesn’t always end with Happily Ever After. What worked in the beginning may not work forever, and sometimes you need to tweak things to regain a sense of vitality and health. If you’re in the troubling situation of having been raw for a while but feeling that something’s off, don’t worry—you’re in good company.
Although a number of the people I spoke to had experimented with going back to cooked food, I found that most of them ended up gravitating back to a raw or mostly-raw diet after finding a cooked diet exacerbated their problems even more. Indeed, I don’t think dumping raw altogether is the solution when you hit a rocky patch in your journey. But waiting around and hoping it’s just detox doesn’t usually work, either.
So how do you proceed? How do you regain that wonderful raw “oomph”?
Test for deficiencies
If you haven’t done so already, this is the perfect time to get a blood test done. There’s a lot of hoo-ha out there about how healthy ranges for results are based on “cooked” standards and don’t apply to raw foodists. In my opinion, this is a dangerous and illogical myth. We claim to be eating the most nutrient-rich diet out there—so why would it be acceptable to clock in with lower levels of vitamins and minerals than cooked foodists exhibit? Baloney.
The raw honeymoon often ends right around the time deficiencies manifest. It’s not a coincidence. B-12 deficiency, iron deficiency anemia, zinc deficiency, and vitamin D deficiency are the biggies to look out for. If you’re low in any of these, you’ll be feeling it—especially with plummeting energy in the case of b-12 and iron. So get some blood work done and correct any deficiencies you find, either through supplementation or through dietary adjustments. This alone is often enough to restore tremendous vitality.
Track your food intake with a nutrient calculator
Using a nutrient tracker like Cron-O-Meter or Fitday.com can help you see trends in your diet, including areas that need improvement. Are you only averaging 1300 calories a day? Then you can bet you’re not getting enough protein or energy to thrive. Is your diet 40% fat? That’s enough to make anyone feel sluggish. Are you regularly low in certain minerals? You’re setting yourself up for a deficiency in the future. Analyzing your food intake can help you pinpoint where your raw diet has gone wrong and show you what to improve.
KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid)
Don’t worry, you’re not actually stupid; it’s just a saying. If you’re eating a “gourmet” raw diet—lots of recipes, oils, spices, condiments, and multi-ingredient dishes—it may be time to simplify your cuisine. All those recipes designed to mimic cooked food might sit fine when you first go raw, but over time, it becomes obvious that they’re dehydrating and harder to digest than simple meals with fewer ingredients. Avoid raw condiments for a while (most of which have questionable raw-ness to begin with), cut back on salt, try mono-meals made of one type of food at a time, focus on fresh and whole foods instead of dried/dehydrated fare, and go easy on the nuts. You’ll save plenty of energy usually expended on digestion, and may find the initial energy surges you had with raw start returning.
Look for intolerances or allergies
If you consistently eat the same foods day in and day out, there’s a risk of developing an intolerance to certain items. This is especially true for nightshades (such as tomatoes, bell peppers, and eggplant), which trigger arthritis-like symptoms in some people. Try rotating your diet or finding new dietary staples, and see if you feel better as a result.
Mind, body, spirit
If you’re struggling after a period of eating raw, it’s also time to look at other lifestyle factors that might be mucking things up. Exercise is a huge one. If you’re not regularly moving your body on raw, you will have problems. No ifs, ands, or buts; raw food and sedentary living simply don’t mix. Make sure you’re setting aside time for exercise in your daily schedule, and that you’re doing a variety of movement types—cardiovascular exercise, stretching and flexibility exercises, and resistance training.
I’ve noticed that raw makes me more sensitive to environmental toxins (pollution, smog, and so forth), which seems to be a common experience. If you live in a big city, look for ways to minimize your exposure to pollution; if possible, consider relocating to somewhere cleaner. In some cases, switching to a higher percentage of organic foods helps as well, if it’s financially feasible.
Health is about more than just your physical body, too. Make sure you have emotional balance and stability in your life, whether it’s through meditation, engaging in a hobby you’re passionate about, volunteering, and doing whatever else it is that makes you feel good. Get your mind off of food. Spending all hours of the day thinking about your diet is enough to drive anyone crazy.
Consider adding different items to your diet
When the raw doldrums hit, some people benefit from adding items into their cuisine that they previously avoided or neglected. For instance, scout out wild greens or sea vegetables for their high mineral content.
If you feel you would benefit from reintroducing cooked items—perhaps for social reasons or to stave off constant hunger—experiment with adding one food at a time, such as steamed vegetables with your evening meal for a week, then cooked quinoa for a week, then a baked potato for a week, and so on. Closely monitor how your body reacts. Avoid adding highly spiced, sauced, or salted cooked items to your cuisine; these can trigger wild cravings based on the desire for flavor rather than nutrition.
If you aren’t vegan for ethical reasons, animal products such as raw dairy, raw or soft-boiled eggs, and raw or steamed fish are options to try. Do a little at a time, and gauge what happens in the hours and days following the consumption of these foods.
When it comes to reintroducing non-raw-vegan fare into your diet, results are highly individual and require conscious experimenting to figure out what does and does not work. There’s no single answer here. Listen to your body—and remember it sometimes whispers instead of shouts.
Denise Minger 
She’s half right, but also half running game on you.
The quality of the food is the main issue (kind of not mentioned here, sadly). Durian is a food that one can live on. It has protein, fat, and carbs plus all the bliss chemicals and no harmful components. The fat includes saturated fat as well (great for hormones) and the protein is the ideal “soft” protein — PERFECT for rebuilding hair and skin (partly due to the high sulfur content in durian). Bananas, and most “produce” in the USA is just trash, unless FULLY in season (heirloom and organic tomatoes, california organic avocados, etc). Most of the organic produce is highly mineral deficient (“highly deficient” there’s an oxymoron-ish description). Raw is correct, and will always be correct. Processed and cooked are plain foolish. Calories is the main thing, and NON-IRRADIATED, NON-MOLDY, NON-CHLORINE/FLUORIDE soaked and NON-HEAVY METAL prepared (as most cooked food is — the metal intake will prove disastrous for your cells and skin later, aging you considerably). And AGE’s in cooked food are the main reason to COMPLETELY give up cooked and enjoy HIGH-QUALITY raw organic foods in abundance. Just avoid all of the NON-‘s listed above. Denise Minger is an operative by the way. A “sweet” sounding person with a vicious side, and contempt for you — your perfection, your enlightenment, the universal “jackpot” — man and woman.
Great post! I’ve had a pretty similar experience. When I first started 80-10-10 things were going well, my eyes were bright, and this skin disorder I’ve had since a child started clearing, but it didn’t last and now I’m feeling worse than before. Food allergies, bloating, not eating enough because of bloating, etc. You mention sea vegetables for minerals, but what about contamination? And what do you think about Sunwarrior Ormus Supergreens for extra minerals? This is probably the only superfood I’d consider buying.
Yep, 8 years in and all kinds of health challenges are before me now. Both my doctors and I are ready to start reintroducing cooked vegan or even animal if necessary. I am particularly interested in hearing about how others began to reintroduce cooked foods back into the diet; their experiences and methods. ANY sharing or contact info so that we could open up a dialog would be greatly appreciated. DESPERATE for support and advice! Please reach out, I’m sure my situation could be of assistance to you as well. I live in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles and can be reached at 818-222-1957. Thanks for your time, [[[roger]]]
Hi Roger- I know this was almost 3 years ago, but I wanted to share with you what helped me. I was raw for a while, got much better, then had problems. My doctor helped me tremendously and now I can eat cooked foods (rice, vegetables, chicken) no problem.
I saw your in Woodland Hills… So am I. My doctor is in Oxnard. Well worth the drive. Her info if you like: Dr. Anna Lee (805) 487-6881. Best of luck. -Kate
I highly recommend that anyone on raw should be supplementing. Our food supply and our water supply is not giving us essential nutrients from over-farming and unpure chemical additives in the water supply. My Brita only removed 30 particles from my tap water (TDS reading of 140+).
The issue is not raw. The issue is we have food and water that is not as nutritious as it once was.
Example: 1 cup of spinach
1948 – 158 mg iron
1977 – 2 mg iron
1999 – 7 mg iron
Please look at whole plant-derived organic supplement lines (that you can take with or without a meal, this means they are made from real whole sources and NOT synthetic) and make sure you are adding in supplements and drinking mineral water (look for a crushed coral powder to add to your filtered water for better absorption of critical Calcium, Magnesium and other minerals that have yet to be discovered!)
See this article on the long-lived, mineral-rich Okinawans (https://livelongthrive.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/the-secret-of-the-longest-living-man/) or read up on Dr. Joel Wallachs work and Youngevity brand. I also have heard that Garden of Life and Rainbow brands are good as well. Take your plant-derived whole ingredient vitamins! Also, look into taking pre and pro biotics as we are so far removed from nature that we are not exposed to bacteria (even healthy bacteria) as we once were. This could be causing issues for digestive health and making sure our stomachs are equipped to get the most nutrients from our food.
Just want to say that I had all the deficiencies listed. It was not due to raw (I had already reintroduced steamed veggies and rice long before for other reasons), but because of a bacterial infection. It took months and many different doctors to diagnose because it can be hard to find/test for. I have something similar to Lyme (Lyme is only a very specific strain though, so those tests were negative, but the bacteria is closely related). My sister has it, too, so the thinking is that we acquired it from our mom. When something happens to counteract your immune system’s ability to keep the bacteria in check (chronic stress for example), they take over. These nutrients are the ones they favor, hence the deficiencies. So even changing your diet may not alleviate the problem entirely. If that’s the case for someone, they might want to consider getting screened to check for an infection.
Thank you for your honesty! While it can be confusing for people at times to figure out the best diet for them, it is more helpful for others to share what works for them rather than to promote their own strict view based on ideology.
Been there, done that! I was a raw vegan for four years and I felt great initially. But my hair started falling out and I did some research as to why. I found that I could have hypothyroidism and have since learned it was Hashimoto’s, auto-immune hypo. I have MS so it is likely that I would be suseptable to other auto-immune diseases. I was really into the raw food dogma. I went back to eating meat and whole foods, no Frankenfoods, and I feel better. I transitioned with the GAPS Diet and followed with some Weston Price/Sally Fallon nutritional information and Datis Kharrazian thyroid help, which I still do today, several years later.
Hi Allisson, could I call you? I am losing hair on a vegan diet…I never had these problems with meat and I had lyme, then, too. Granted, I was eating high fat when the hair loss started and have just transitioned into raw the last few months, but I think the vegan diet shocked my body.
I know you wrote this 6 years ago…but hopefully you could provide me with some insight if you are still eating the weston price way!
Go take a Swim in the big Ocean see how you feel? Salt water make you feel good.
I have always heard that you need to do Raw w/ Living foods, and that you may have to have supplementation. Lou Corona has been a healthy raw foodist for 30 years. Could someone explain that to me? Cuz he’s not the only one. Valya Boutenko and her family have been raw for over 15 years. Could it be that you may not be doing raw right?
There is evidence that some blood groups can live on a limited diet better than others. People with autoimmune diseases – which are on the rise – they will have issues on a limited diet. The conclusion is people vary in their health, hormones, nutrient levels, genes etc… And there is no one diet that suits all, we are diverse and its up to the individual to work out the best mix of foods for them.
Great Experience I heard these type of experiences from my friends also,Vegan diet is good for health but it is more difficult to become a vegan from nonvegeterian,For me it took nearly 1 year.
Reblogged this on golden Spiral Yoga and commented:
Food for thought…This is a great post to read. Many people who subscribe to being ” spiritual” are imploring people to go vegan, without any information on how to successfully live on a limited diet. Our diet is personal, listen to your own intuition, use proper logic and reasoning, this is your health and your life. And not all diets or ways of eating will suit everyone, we are all physically diverse.
Obsessions with food, diet, exercise and tying food to spirituality and identity are western obsessions. Be aware of obsessive compulsive beliefs around diet and dictating those to others or yourself. Live healthy and without judgement of the self and others. Spirituality is also personal and many paths lead to the same destination, trust your own self in that discovery and do not put your spiritual work in the hands of others. Take what makes sense and leave the rest.
Namaste
Some really great ideas there. I’ve never tried going totally raw but try to eat quite a lot of raw in my diet – I’m not sure all raw is ideal as it must surely work your digestion really hard.
Carol.
Just do Sole made with water and unrefined sea salt for the electrolytes for the cells and do raw olive oil gulps and I bet this will solve the issue. Our food is low in nutrients because of modern farming and the earth is overdue soon for cataclysmic replenishment. Just doing these two things with eating crap makes me feel the awesomeness as if I was eating raw mono. Raw mono is far superior to just raw. Mono gets more nutrients out of the food because the foods enzymes are not competing with one another and also because the enzymes chemical environment is perfect until we mix foods making the chemistry that the enzymes are made perfect to work in are not altered making them week or lethargic. Just plain common sense here. The Essenes knew this as well as the ancient Tibetan monks doing their six Tibetan rites. Raw mono they said was necessary to become super man or super woman. Enjoy the higher wisdom for free and take advantage of it. I pray. 🙂
Do you know about the problem with eating sea veges?