Your FAQ's

I have compiled a few questions that I frequently get asked.  Thanks for your patience in waiting for me to pull this together.  If you have other things you're curious about, drop me a note in the comments and I'll add it to a future post!

“How do you get protein?”

The WHO (World Health Organization) says humans need about 5% of their daily calories to come from protein to be healthy. The USDA puts this figure at 6.5%. On average, fruits have about 5% of their calories from protein. Vegetables have from 20-50% of their calories from protein. Sprouted seeds and beans contain from 10-25% of their calories from protein. So if you are eating any variety of living plant foods, you are getting more than adequate protein.  Source

“I could never do that.”

I know this isn’t a question, but it’s usually one of the first responses I get when someone finds out about me eating a raw vegan diet. I always respond, and I mean it, “Yes, you could.” Depending on the person I might elaborate, b/c what’s going on in my mind is the fact that I would have said the exact same thing before I made this transition. I have found that for myself it is all a matter of my motivation.  What is propelling me to continue this day in and day out?  I think your motivation HAS to be bigger than a wish and bigger than your need to feed your desires.

“How do you get all the nutrients you need?”

When I get this question I immediately think, "I wasn't getting all the necessary nutrients before!"  I was NOT eating all the fruits and veggies that I should have been.  I didn't care one bit about the nutrients I was or wasn't getting.  So by simply changing my eating to a raw vegan diet I know that I am already getting many more nutrients than I was before (and that's half the battle!). 

To ensure that I get the most out of the food I do eat, what I do is try to eat a large variety, over the long term.  I read somewhere that can mean eating what is in season and then switching to what is in season the next month.  It doesn't have to be a gigantic variety from day to day, but from season to season is a good way to do it.  That helps take the pressure off!  But either way I am getting many nutrients that I would never have gotten on the SAD.

“Aren’t you always hungry?”

In the beginning, yes. It took some time, probably about three weeks or so, to get a handle on how much I need to eat so I’m not always hungry.  I'm also learning what foods fill me up for longer periods of time than others.  It's still kind of a guessing game for me at this time so I try to always have food with me in case I unexpectedly get hungry.