Eating only uncooked, organic (as much as possible) plants and "super-foods" is the next step beyond simple calorie restriction. Pure raw foodists are vegans, eating no animal products at all, including dairy and eggs. Also no alcohol or caffeine. A raw foodist menu is made up mainly of uncooked vegetables and fruits, raw nuts and fresh juices. They too restrict their daily calorie count—sometimes to half that of a non-vegan's—because of the amount of leafy greens and other low-cal veggies they fill up on.
Miranda Martinez, a Dallas actress who also does theater production and PR, has been attending raw food get-togethers since converting to an all-raw vegan diet in 2007. A native of Panama, Martinez, now 36, had been a yoyo dieter and admitted "bread-aholic" for much of her life. She'd tried all the major fad and commercial weight-loss plans: Atkins, The Zone, Cybergenics, Weight Watchers, low-carb, high-protein and the Master Cleanse (a liquid fast involving lemonade, cayenne pepper and maple syrup). With most, she'd lose weight and then gain it all back and more, she recalls.
MARK GRAHAM
MARK GRAHAM
“Calorie restriction works in the lower
organisms, we know,” Bauer says.
“But with humans it’s anybody’s guess so far.”
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In December 2007, after hitting 205 pounds, the 5-foot-2-inch Martinez did a 30-day Master Cleanse fast, which knocked off 21 pounds, then started eating only organic raw fruits and vegetables, totaling about 1,500 calories a day. She lost eight pounds the first week on the raw foods and also lost her craving for sweets. Within a few months, her cholesterol levels dropped into healthy numbers. She began supplementing with so-called super-foods—spirulina, bee pollen, chia seeds, nutritional yeast and nori seaweed—and signed up for Bikram yoga classes three times a week.
By July 2008, Martinez had pared off 66 pounds, going from a size 20 to a size 4. She said it wasn't a struggle, and she is now such a believer in raw foods, she's started working as a "coach" to help those who want to try the raw way of life. She's also written an e-book full of tips and recipes, available on her Web site, VivaRaw.com.
"Before going raw, I felt a physical pull toward food," Martinez says. "I wanted the bread, the chips, the desserts. I had an emotional connection to food. For me, eating raw food has meant finding freedom. As long as my food is raw, I can eat and be satisfied. Now if I get hungry, I eat another apple. It's the best I've ever felt in my life. I don't get colds anymore. My allergies went away. This is my way of life now."
The raw foodists are energetic evangelists, touting the benefits they've reaped from giving up cooked and processed food. But there is no scientific basis, says UT-Southwestern nutrition expert Jo Ann Carson, for a raw food diet being healthier than one that includes cooked food, dairy and meats. "There is a science basis for calorie restriction," Carson says. "But raw foodists are an extreme."
Carson warns that an all-raw diet could lack adequate protein. "They're also losing some muscle, which makes them look thin," she says. "But when they get older, they're not going to have the muscle strength to support themselves easily. They could be more likely to fall over, break bones and die. [Going on raw foods] might keep them from getting cancer at 50, but if they live to be 80, their musculature is not going to be as good."
Isaac Clay, 28, is a stringbean at 6-foot-1-inch and 160 pounds. He met his girlfriend Courtney Taylor, 27, at a Dallas raw foodists' eat-and-greet last year. She started eating only raw vegan foods at age 20; he did at 23, after a period of depression and soul-searching following the sudden death of his mother contributed to his weight topping at 220. He credits going raw with his weight loss, his acne clearing and his chronic backaches going away. It also lifted him out of depression.
"Shock and grief derailed me," Clay recalls. "I stuffed myself with fast food two or three times a day. I would eat fried chicken feet at a Chinese restaurant. When I first got into raw foods, it was new and huge to me. Now it's second nature. Raw food makes the most sense." His two favorite items: a super-food supplement made of blue-green algae and a drink powder called Chocolate Bliss that can be blended with raw fruits or vegetables as a meal replacement.
Clay estimates there are about 600 hard-core raw foodists among the various Meetup groups in the Dallas area. Almost every weekend, there's a free buffet at somebody's house, where people share recipes and give testimonials about which foods are "supporting" them.
Being part of a community of like-minded eaters is as beneficial as the food itself, says Clay. "Getting together physically is a powerful thing. You can't just do it through the Internet. Life is all about relationships."
And his relationship with calorie-restricted raw foods has a higher goal: Living longer. "I just don't plan on dying," he says. "And as long as we're nourishing our cells properly, we're basically immortal."
On a diet of salads and seaweed, however, it might just feel like forever.
While working on this story, writer Elaine Liner started taking resveratrol daily and eating raw foods. She has lost 9 pounds.
