I went on an all raw
vegan diet because I was having digestive problems that weren't being solved by anything else and I was desperate for something that would work. I did it for 30 days...then wound up in the hospital to have my gall bladder removed. That was the reason for the digestive problems!
I really loved the food on the
diet. I mostly made stuff from Raw Food Raw World. But I hate the fact that it's so much coconut and other exotic stuff (I'm a local food nut). I also realized that it is impossible to eat with your friends and family ever again. It was very limiting.
I think a 50%-75% raw food
diet is great, but 100% is crazy in my opinion. But there are plenty of people that do it. It's just not for me at all. Besides, I love cheese and eggs. I could never be a
vegan!
Ok, green smoothies. I did these a lot while raw. I read Victoria Boutenko's book
Green for Life. It contains some pretty severe truth stretching, but it was the best introduction to the concept that I could find. It also contains
recipes. Basically, you just blend up an entire bunch of dark leafy greens with some fruit and possibly juice (or water). I ended up rather liking kale smoothies with apples and grapes. Bok choy made me gag. I made some pretty retched concoctions along the way.
You have to have a vitamix or similar blender for green smoothies (or so it is claimed). You have to completely pulverize the plant cells to release all the goodness and a regular blender won't do it. Hype aside, a regular blender leaves a plenty lumpy stringy mess and it's rather undrinkable.
As far as "results"? Well, winding up the hospital doesn't lend much credibility to the
diet, but I had been having the severe digestive issue for almost 2 years. I lost 10
pounds while eating raw (for a month) even though I wasn't counting
calories. It's hard to say if this was all water weight or real
fat loss. I gained it all back in the next few months but I had a terrible recovery from surgery that included no movement and lots of weird fatty food cravings (since I hadn't been able to eat fatty foods in a few months!).
The green smoothies are supposed to really aid in digestion. According to Boutenko's book, they will basically
cure heartburn. I never have had a problem with that, so I didn't really see any results. They were quite filling and really low in
calories because of all the fiber as well as being packed with other nutrients.
Well, I could probably go on, but I'm not sure I'm even answering what you are asking! Do you have any other specific questions?
