As a vegan for 8 years, I have predominantly eaten what’s called a whole food plant based diet with an emphasis on raw foods and fruit for over 6 1/2 years (as of 2020). My current diet is based off of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouted legumes, and sea vegetables (like nori and dulse). Certain times out of the year I even break my raw food diet with steamed squashes, potatoes, and vegetable curries. I never really ate what’s called vegan junk food. I felt too good eating nothing but whole fruits & vegetables to eat processed convenience foods. We all may walk a different path when it comes to the foods we choose to eat but there’s one thing I’m sure we can all agree on, whole fruits and vegetables are the healthiest foods on the planet!
water is life
Before breaking my 8-10 hour dry fast, also known as sleeping or resting, I like to start my day with a minimum of one liter of pure water. I drink either filtered, reverse osmosis, or spring water stored in colored glass, never plastic bottles since they can leech chemicals into the water you drink. Distilled water is also a good option to drink in the morning, but I do not recommend having it be your only source of your water due to the lack of dissolved minerals such as magnesium and calcium. Fancy waters such as Alkaline and Kangen water are both unnecessary to drink in my opinion. It’s just another way for people to make money trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to water.
The water that we were always meant to drink is fresh from the mountain spring full of minerals and nutrients of the Earth. Unfortunately, humans have gotten far away from nature since we live in big cities so we have to transport our water through pipes which is heavily treated with chemicals or we ship water stored in plastic. Even in the wake of the Flint water crisis, which exposed around 10,000 residents in Michigan to lead-contaminated drinking water, an estimated tens of millions of Americans are still exposed to unsafe drinking water each year.
Since 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated, my best piece of advice to stay hydrated is to drink is the cleanest water that is available to you. Do not go thirsty because you are a perfectionist when it comes to water, not drinking enough water is dangerous (no matter if those detox gurus tell you that you can get your hydration through juicy fruit). So how much water should you drink? This greatly depends on your body mass index but adults should drink about 2-3 liters of water and active adults should drink 3-4 liters or more if you are an athlete and are sweating a lot. Rarely do we see people over do it when it comes to water but more often we see people who are severely dehydrated, even on a cellular level.
my breakfast
After hydrating and brushing my teeth, I like to start off the day with either a large watermelon (if available) or freshly pressed orange juice blended with whole fruit such as pineapple. I’ve started my day with freshly pressed orange juice for over 6 years and I can’t get enough of it. I love fresh pineapple in the morning because acid fruits like citrus and pineapple are astringent which helps us to expel mucus from the body. Think of how many times you clear your throat in the morning or after a heavy or high fat meal the night before. Drinking this smoothie first thing in the morning clears out mucus and gives you a boost of energy as well.
Pineapple OJ Smoothie:
5 cups of orange juice: 558 calories
5 cups of fresh/frozen pineapple: 412 calories
1 knob of ginger or turmeric: 5 calories
Total calories for Breakfast: 975
During melon season in the summertime, I actually prefer to start my day with watermelon or ripe melons such as honeydew or cantaloupe. Organic seeded watermelon is always the best choice, but if you do not have access to seeded watermelons then it’s still ok. Always do your very best with the resources you have in the environment you’re in.
Lunch
For over 6 years I’ve eaten nothing but fruit for breakfast and lunch so my lunch is usually another big smoothie or a large plate of ripe fruit that is in season. A simple and filling smoothie that I enjoy is my vanilla cake batter smoothie. My lunch is always be preceded by another liter of water as well.
Vanilla Cake Batter Smoothie:
5 bananas: 525 calories
5 Medjool dates: 332 calories
3 cups of coconut water: 137 calories
1 tbsp chia seeds: 49 calories
1/2 tbsp vanilla bean powder: 10 calories
Total calories for lunch: 1,053
snacks
If my two big smoothies don’t fill me up and I need more fuel (especially if I am working out or running), I will grab any ripe fruit that is available and ready to be eaten. Mangoes are my all time favorite fruit and snack! They are packed with fiber and are a great source of Vitamins A and C. They also contain folate, B6, iron and a little bit of calcium, zinc and Vitamin E.
Mango ‘pick me up’ Snack
1 large Keitt mango: 202 calories
Total calories for snack: 202
Dinner
I always like to get my exercise in at the beginning of the day or right before dinner and I make sure I’ve finished my water intake before eating my last meal of the day which is around 7 or 8pm depending on my work schedule. I don’t like to eat anything past 8 or 9pm to complete the digestion process for the day and prepare my body for rest. No, I do not intermittent fast. I usually eat within 1 hour upon rising. The earlier you eat your breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the better, which has even been backed by science here. If I eat salad for a meal, it’s not some small side salad with only 3 ingredients. My salads are quite large, filling, crunchy, salty, and of course, savory. I use about 8 to 10 ingredients and they are always full of vitamins and minerals to keep me healthy and energized.
Ginger’s Simple Savory Salad:
2 heads of romaine lettuce: 212 calories
Pinch of fresh watercress: 6 calories
Pinch of fresh broccoli sprouts: 32 calories
2-3 sprigs of fresh dill: .3 calories
1/4 to 1/2 medium size ripe avocado (depending on your fat preference): 113 calories
1 cup of chopped celery: 14 calories
1 lemon: 11 calories
1 cup of cherry tomatoes or 2 large heirloom tomatoes: 33 calories
2 carrots: 60 calories
1 knob of ginger: 5 calories
Optional additions: raw sauerkraut and/or whole leaf dulse for extra saltiness
Total calories for dinner: 486.3
Total approximate calories for the day: 2,717
macroNUTRIENT TARGETS
Whenever people find out that I eat a raw, fruit based diet, they immediately become a detective or nutritionist fearing that I am not getting enough nutrients which couldn’t be more further from the truth. Macro and micro-nutrients are important but calories are just as important, especially if you eat a predominantly raw food diet. As you can see, it’s easy to get enough protein, carbs, and fat from this diet including vitamins and minerals, you just need to eat enough of them.
vitamins
Minerals
As you can see, getting minerals on a raw vegan diet is never an issue as long as you eat fruits and vegetables in abundance, especially large salads with a variety of sprouts and vegetables!
supplements
The vitamin and supplement market is a billion dollar industry. Although I do not consume supplements on a daily basis, I believe that there is always time and a place for them since not everyone lives in ideal climates, eats nutrient dense, home grown, soil rich foods, or ready to take on the task of full body detoxification. One of the main reasons why people are so deficient in the first place is because their body is not properly digesting all of the food they consume, absorbing the nutrients from the food they eat, utilizing what it needs for the body’s processes, and eliminating what it doesn’t need. These four basic processes are essential in getting the boy to a healthy state but unfortunately many still suffer because they have health issues, especially in the gut where most of our nutrients are absorbed.
The two vitamins that I always keep an eye out for are B12 and vitamin D. Deficiencies in these vitamins are not vegan specific since over 40% of Americans have been found to be deficient in B12 and 42% were found to be deficient in D. I get my blood tested at least once a year and check to make sure that these levels are within the healthy range and they always are. My B12 and D levels have actually continued to increase on this lifestyle mainly because I eat a healthy diet, I eat enough calories each day, I have improved my gut health through detoxification, I get plenty of exercise, as well as fresh air and sunshine as much as possible. The only supplements that I take on a consistent basis are a B12 spray and D3 + K2 drops about 3-5 times a week. I once over supplemented with B12 in the past and this made my skin break out into bumps and rashes. When I stopped the supplement, my skin cleared and over time without supplementing my levels remain normal and healthy.
Do not blindly supplement!
I will repeat, DO NOT blindly supplement! Just because your friend or Joe Schmo on Amazon is getting results with specific supplements or just because companies want to pay you to advertise their product does not mean you should supplement. Blindly supplementing with chemical isolates means that you could be excreting out the entire vitamin without absorbing anything while keeping a billion dollar industry alive. Always get your blood tested before you take supplements. Do not depend on Amazon reviews when it comes to your health. These people are not you.
Interesting how people are so concerned with the nutrient levels of vegans than they are with the rest of the unhealthy population. America is the most obese nation in the world and our #1 deficiency is not vitamin B12 or D, it is actually fiber. The fact is, less than 3% of Americans get the recommended minimum adequate intake of fiber, so instead of asking where vegans get their protein and nutrients from, first check to see if you're consuming enough fiber.
DISCLAIMER
Please do not compare yourself to me as this is not a competition, this is your life. You are not me, you have not lived my life or experienced my exact health issues. Not everyone lives the same exact lifestyle and not all vegans and raw vegans eat the same exact way which is why results always vary based on each of our individual goals. My goal is to continue to heal my health issues and become the best version of myself so I can be a support to others in their time of suffering. Just because I share what I eat does not mean that I’m saying this is exactly how everyone in the entire world should eat.
I come from a past of serious digestive issues and I cannot tell you how much eating this way has cleared all of that up for me. So do I eat exactly this way every single day? For the most part, yes, but sometimes I change it up based on the seasons or if I move to a different state. I sometimes reduce my fat intake and eat nothing but fruit for a short amount of time (100 days was my maximum). When the seasons change I will follow what I call “raw till squash” and eat raw all day with a simple cooked meal of squash or easy to digest vegetables at night. A handful of times throughout the year I may even treat myself to a vegan restaurant and have a cooked meal for dinner which is rare but I still allow myself to. This helps to give me perspective with what makes me feel good and helps me to continue to eat enough since it’s so easy to under eat on a raw vegan diet.
Does everyone eat perfectly 24/7? Absolutely not. Just do your very best to set a standard of eating for yourself and work towards that everyday. Don’t beat yourself up if you cannot follow your plan perfectly. Life always seems to gets in the way of our goals so we just need to choose the best option. I didn’t eat well for many years of my life, so please know that you can change your life over time with the choices you make every single day. You can do it! You can change your life just by changing what you eat.
