Day 24 of My Top 30 for 30:
In addition to being high in water, fiber, vitamins, phytonutrients, and antioxidants, vegetables such as leafy greens are generally rich in many key minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium, and many others. Many people in certain camps of raw food end up eating less than optimal quantities of vegetables. In the high fruit low fat community, it happens often because on a raw food diet containing 10% of the calories from fat, it can be challenging to eat a large enough quantity of food throughout the day to obtain an adequate number of calories. Depending on the mix of fruits you consume, you may need to eat 5 to 10 pounds (roughly 2 to 5 kg) or more of fruit to meet your daily calorie requirements. That is challenging but can be accomplished if you are dedicated to the cause!
To get an adequate number of calories from vegetables and green sprouts exclusively, you would need to eat more like 20 pounds (9 kg) of these foods per day! This is just not feasible, no matter how dedicated you are. Because fresh fruit is generally 3-4 times more calorie dense than raw vegetables and most sprouts, it becomes even more difficult to consume enough calories if you add a significant amount of vegetables to your diet when the fat content is very low. So, based upon the physical room it takes to get enough calories, people tend to skimp on the veggies and go for the fruit.
Many low fruit, higher fat raw foodists skimp on the vegetables as well, but for different reasons, like not wanting to eat many carbohydrates. Instead they tend to focus their diet on fat sources like oils that can be high in calories and lower in important nutrients. For example, coconut oil provides very little amounts of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, antioxidants, fiber, or protein.
We will continue this conversation in upcoming posts.
What are your favorite vegetables and leafy greens?
You can read the full article in our free eBook Our Top 12 Strategies for Long Term Success on a Raw Plant-Based Diet which you can receive by signing up for our email list using the sign-up form in the right margin.