crazyrawlife
life, raw: unprepared or imperfectly prepared for use… not in a polished, finished, or processed form. global adventures.nourishing practices xx
80/10/10(crazy)rv?
I’m back on the crazy train! Two weeks after my new year’s blog about seriously getting back into raw foods based on my new-found wisdom re. how be successfully achieve goals, and my second raw vegan meal plan (my attempt at being ‘organized’), I’m going after something new! Oh dear…
If you read my raw resolutions blog, you may be wondering how I managed to refocus my goal of more raw food so quickly… I know I was for quite a while but I think the answer is three-fold:
- I finished reading Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals, and covered the part where Dr. Halvorson talks about knowing which goals are realistic and which ones aren’t – one reason some aren’t realistic is that they take too much time (sound familiar my raw foodies??)
- I started reading 80/10/10, and covered the part where Dr. Graham says that food should be easy to prepare
- I realized I was a raw vegan who thought she was eating ‘healthily’, but was actually eating way too much fat as a percent of my total calories, which is just as bad for you as any other high-fat diet… eeeek!
To save you from reading (and me from writing) one long blog with all the gory details, I will provide a summary of the concept here, then drip bits and pieces of info from the book through my blogs as I experiment with it. But for those of you who have toyed with vegetarianism, veganism, raw food etc. and haven’t read The 80/10/10 Diet , read it! It’s been the most eye-opening book I have read since I first got into raw foods.
Summary
The basic premise is this: humans thrive on a diet where 80% of total daily calories are made of simple carbohydrates, 10% protein, and 10% fats, all derived from raw vegan sources (80/10/10 rv) – and ideally, the 10% protein and 10% fats could be more around the 7-8% range. Dr. Graham does a great job breaking down all the arguments for meats and milks and seeds and grains etc. if you’re still having trouble even with the vegan part of this equation.
From there, he goes on to explain how the body converts all food matter to simple carbohydrates before it can use it, and fruits (and some green vegetables) are already in that form so it is more easily assimilated by the body, freeing up energy that might otherwise be spent on digestion to do things like heal your body. I have read a lot of stuff in raw vegan books about how an ‘ordinary’ raw vegan diet will do this too, but with all the fats we eat (estimates are somewhere between 50-75% calories for a raw vegan come from fats!), I’m not sure how that’s really true… He has a whole section dedicated to breaking down the raw vegan diet which I found fascinating.
There is also a lot of info directed at the first question people ask when thinking about a ‘frutarian’ (or frugivores – people who “lives primarily on fruits, with the addition of tender greens”)…
what about the sugar??! High blood sugar? Diabetes? Candida? Chronic fatigue? Tooth decay?
The answer – it’s all about the FAT not the sugar! Fat in your blood intefers with the way in which sugar is used in the body, resulting in these types of conditions. It’s too late to get into the details right now, but I will soon, I promise.
Food diaries and random rantings begin tomorrow!
Health and fruitiness to you all,
xx
PS. I’m also inviting people who are more familiar with this than I am to add to / correct / or generally provide insights into the diet – we all love all the help we can get!!
7 Comments on “80/10/10(crazy)rv?”
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I’ll jump on the crazy with you. I just bought that book after Christmas with Amazon gift cards and haven’t dived into it yet. I always like to read new things and make subtle adjustments here and there. Cheers!
Nothing to do with 80/10/10 but today I did my first ‘no shampoo’ day and used baking soda/water rinse and then acv/water rinse. My hair is freaking brilliant today. Just thought I’d mention because people think that’s crazy too. :)
Yay! Crazy company – that’s the best news ever, thanks Michelle :) Let me know what you think after you have read it – would love to add your commentary to my nonsense!
The whole hair things does sound a little crazy… I’d heard of using baking soda but don’t know what acv is… I don’t know if I could give up shampoo but willing to give it a go.
I’ve also just bought this book and am working through it. I think it’s a great idea that most meals should be simple and low fat – it makes sense as every other diet thrives on the premise of “healthy low fat recipes”. – even meat receipes call for “lean meat”, etc..however I don’t think indulging in a gourmet raw meal once in a while will kill you – but for optimum health and nutrition the simpler the better. I’ve also been feeling much better eating fruit during the day and having a low fat savoury dinner – however I am making salsa tonight with lettuce wraps and I WILL be having guacamole with it!
I’m 67 years old and have come a long way … have studied holistic life styles since the ’70s and learned if a book/author used the word “DIET” to be cautious (have gone through too many too name) … raw foods is not a diet, but a life style … the simplicity of it comes from the Essene Monks back in the time of early old testament, eating what was seasonal in the region they lived, they lived to be many hundreds of years old … the order still exists to some extent … there are writings about Jesus following them and teaching of their life style … Raw Food has become experimental recipes and a variety of produce and product from all over the world now days and I’m not sure that is the best way, just more fun … I have been doing raw for over 8yrs and have gone off track several times only to find all my old weight/physical/emotional symptoms coming back … when I add all the product today in our world, it makes creating wonderful recipes exiting and fun(your blog has posted many I enjoy), but it does not keep my body as clear as true RAW … I do believe we are not what we eat but how we eat it … be aware that “diets” have proven to be short lived, especially when put forth in a book everyone is buying, next year there will be another person with all the answers … raw food life style has been around since the beginning of time, it is just difficult because of all the “STuFF” around us … I have lived through: candida, arthritis, chronic irritability, depression, lethargy, myasthenia gravis, graves disease, appendectomy, hysterectomy, B-12 deficiency, iron anemia, 4 children with a wide spectrum of severe allergies, grandchildren with ADHD, bipolar, asthma, diverticulitis, auto immune disease … with all this behind me, I now: sleep through the night/do not get sick/have no joint problems including full movement of neck(calcified vertebrae) and my children have started adding my way of eating gradually into their lives because it works no matter how hard it is … plan on living well over 100 and being vital and disease/sickness free
discipline is the key, along with support, isn’t that why we all turn to BLOGS
you got me through days that the world was pushing at me
stay focused … stay alive … stay raw … stay CSA … stay creative
STAY – Crazy Raw Vegan
~sandra iasiello
What a journey Sandra! Thanks for the inspirational note.
I agree with your comments re. the word ‘diet’. I try and live by the most simple of definitions of the word; ‘habitual nourishment’. I see it not even as a ‘lifestyle’ per se (if I did, I would follow my instincts to a tropical island somewhere and live barefoot and barely clothed, eating mangoes straight from the tree!), but more of a set of guidelines to better nourish my body and have the health and energy I need to live the life I have. A combination of a lot of ‘diet’ books are helping me define those guidelines but you’re right, it’s for permanent long-haul gains, not temporary short-term gains.
Happy to hear that you have found what works for you and hope to be hearing from you as you march, happy, and healthy, towards 100!!
Much love,
xx
The 80/10/10 is a great idea but don’t go too crazy with it. most raw vegans do it too much fat, but a lot of people who try this diet swear off anything high in fat completely- nuts, seeds, avocado, as well as fermented foods, seaweed and spices. spice is the life of food and some fats are good for us and keep us from getting week. I try to keep my fats to 20%, but realize how very small 10 is!
The key to 80/10/10 long term is variety in my opinion. I did it nonstop for four years. Loads of fruit yes, but also loads of greens. Nuts and seeds and other overt fats should not be cut out entirely, simply mindfully applied.
My biggest problem on that diet was that I listened to other people too much, cut out all fat (that’s not 80/10/10) and only ate bananas for a long period of time. This caused me to go off the diet to seek out other nutrients in other foods.
I’m doing my second go with 80/10/10 now and feel so much better eating a variety of food and 10% fat. (verses no fat)