The Raw Diet : Excessively Hard?

I personally think two of the hardest diets to stick to, at least for me personally, would be the vegan diet and the raw foods diet.  On the vegan diet, which many adopt for health reasons and some adopt it because of weight issues or simply because they don’t believe in eating any animal byproducts or animal meat at all.  Whatever the reason, the vegan diet has proven excessively difficult for some to stick to.  Sure, it’s a great diet to manage the weight, but is it really healthy in the long run?

For some, it can be healthy, but that’s only if they still make sure they get the right alternative sources of protein in their diet.  Also another problem may be getting the right kinds of healthy fat in their diet.  For this reason, some vegans may have excessively dry skin or problems with their hair. 

Also, some vegans may simply not get enough calories in their diet to sustain energy and brain function.  As long as you’re a vegan who knows how to properly balance your diet without animal byproducts or proteins, it can be a very healthy diet.  Oh, and you should make sure you live by a natural foods store if you’re a vegan because they offer a lot of vegan-specific foods.

The raw foods diet is another strict one that many may find excessively restrictive.  The raw food diet is exactly what it says.  You don’t eat any cooked or processed foods.  The benefit of the raw food diet is of course that you get a lot of nutrients that are otherwise boiled, steamed, baked or microwaved out of your food.  Many of the beneficial enzymes that are often also cooked out of the foods that you eat stay intact when the food is not cooked or heated in any way.

For this reason, many on the raw food diet swear that their health has vastly improved, and belive that they are also extending their life span and enhancing their health and longevity because of the minimal “bare bones” processing of their foods.  It’s also of course excellent for weight control because you get more from your food and may be more easily satisfied, whereas cooked foods don’t provide as much “bulk” and may not fill the stomach up as much as their raw counterparts. 

On the raw food diet, you eat a lot of raw, uncooked vegetables and fruits, and you can also eat a lot of nuts and seeds that are not processed.  But animal products are pretty much a no no as I understand it, so this may be the hard part for a lot of people to swallow – it’s almost like a more intense vegan regimen if you think about it, at least the non-animal raw food diet is.