I remember when I first became vegetarian, I thought vegans were crazy. How could people resist cheese or ice cream? Although I kept this mentality, I knew that my messages weren't reflective of my actions. How could I speak up for an animal that I exploited on a daily? How could I speak up for the male chicks killed in the dairy industry? Each time I cracked an egg, I swiped my card to buy eggs; I contributed to a cruel, heartless industry.
Since I have become vegan, I think many people can agree that "raw-foodism" and subsequent diets give off this same bitter taste. When these "lifestyles" begin to take on different forms, growing more and more restrictive, it begs the question: was it really about the animals? Today I am going to give you my take on the most popular vegan diets and fads. I know that many of my readers could be following one of these diets: but if the lifestyle is healthy, plentiful, and sustainable for you, proceed as you wish.
The first diet I will discuss is the "raw food" diet that rose to prominence in the late 2010s by Kristina Carillo-Bucaram and Freelee the BananaGirl. Freelee advocated for "raw food" lifestyles in the past with intermittent components (e.g., Raw till' Four). I used to look up to these influencers and many other advocates of this lifestyle, as I can imagine other young girls have. I had high hopes going into Kristina's book, The Fully Raw Diet, hoping she would promote reasonable and sustainable approaches to veganism. Instead, in my opinion, the paragraphs seem to contradict one another, her takeaways of the "raw food" diet. Kristina promotes an unhealthy all-in approach to "raw food" veganism that encourages binge-eating and unprecedented weight gain. The all-in approach to health and wellness promotes a loss of touch with one's natural hunger cues and ultimately ruins one's relationship with food.
Source: Carrillo-Bucaram, Kristina. The Fully Raw Diet. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.
Although many vegetables are promoted as "negative calorie" foods in the fitness industry, Kristina and Freelee believe a vegan diet can violate the laws of thermodynamics. This is similar to Jen Peach's promise of fitness on a four-thousand-calorie vegan diet per day.
In essence, Freelee promotes a thirty-banana per day lifestyle, a 3,630 calorie diet, which would knock most of her "target demographic" audiences into a severe caloric surplus. Regardless of these calories coming from fruit or potato chips.
I understand where Kristina's heart is, but I don't think her message carried through the book. Carrillo-Bucaram writes that the raw food diet "allows you to eat all you want, every meal of the day." (Carrillo-Bucaram 11). You would be surprised to know how many people gain weight from her "lifestyle," in actuality. For instance, I'm Going Vegan; an online discussion-based forum, shows that many people going on the "Raw Till 4" diet gain weight due to this caloric imbalance.
Source: “Charles W. Foulke Jr.” Charles W Foulke Jr, 29 Dec. 2020, charlesfoulke.com/is-supreme-iuiu/why-am-i-gaining-weight-on-a-raw-vegan-diet-704e70.
Freelee and Kristina frame their diets around the advice of medical professionals, whether emphasizing a high-carb (Dr. Douglas Graham) or starch-based lifestyles. I felt uncomfortable reading Freelee the Banana Girl's book, The Raw Till 4 Diet, from the moment I read the word "cleanse." Freelee's target demographic is young girls that have struggled with a history of undereating and weight control. For this reason, Freelee refers to her audience as "girls" in the book. The book excludes male audiences (by choice of pronouns/approach), just as likely to suffer from body dissatisfaction and eating disorders.
Source: Freelee. The Raw till 4 Diet: Banana Girl Cleanse. 2019.
Not to mention, raw-food lifestyles are EXTREMELY unsustainable for the grand majority of people. The raw food lifestyle excludes any food cooked over 104-118°F (40–48°C), all of which must be unprocessed and fresh. The raw-food diet is also impractical in low-income neighborhoods. Fresh, clean produce is expensive, and providing enough fruit and vegetables (low-calorie dense foods) to reach your maintenance needs appears to cost a lot of money. It comes as no surprise that the costs of healthy foods (most of which are vegan) are more expensive than their counterparts. Choosing more healthy, nutrient-dense alternatives costs on average a dollar a fifty cents more per day. Often, many raw food vegans present the argument that raw veganism originates from our past, and therefore should be implemented today. This is a fallacious argument, and the most comparable "diet" to our ancestors would be the paleo diet.
Beginning a raw food diet for women also opens the risk for a loss of menstruation or monthly cycles. Menstruation is a marker of health, and for this reason, in eating disorder recovery, its return is a signal of stabilized health. As a result of raw veganism, women can completely lose their cycles or develop a lighter flow. There have been many women losing their periods due to raw foodism in less than a month upon beginning. One of these women is Freelee The BananaGirl, herself. Freelee believes that heavy periods are "toxic" and "a non-menstruating body indicates the body is clean" (Bonet 2017). Jen Gunter for the Sydney Morning Herald spills that this concept "is a very dangerous idea and displays a complete lack of understanding of female biology and the human body in general" (Gunter 2017). Finally, in a raw vegan diet, participants consume unnatural amounts of fruits, missing essential vitamins and minerals in their diet, a gateway to nutritional deficiencies.
Jessica's Rating: 0.5/10 (Trash!)
The second diet I will be discussing is called the junk-food vegan diet. This one makes me laugh so hard because this used to be me. When I first became vegan, I lived off Belvita Bars, and orgain shakes I thought were vegan but turned out to contain large amounts of dairy. Veganism is all about trial-and-error, but you should find stability and structure in your diet within some time. I have met many vegans and vegetarians that differ in protein/carb/fat preferences, even how they distribute their macros, all of which are perfectly ok and sustainable for each of us individually. For instance, protein sources could branch from tofu to beans to hemp seed. On a vegan diet, I don’t suggest anyone undereat or overeat, but find a balance in the density and volume of your meals and the types of foods you eat. The junk-food vegan eats exclusively processed, fat-laden vegan products appealing to our “it’s vegan so it’s healthy” destructive mindset. Junk food contains lots of sugar, salt, and fat causing a release of dopamine into the brain. Dopamine is a drug followed by a feeling of pleasure, encouraging us to take another bite, interfering with our natural hunger cues. I noticed in the vegan community; there has been a glorification for this way of living. Although most of these memes poke fun at this lifestyle, an inconsistent wave of energy throughout the day can throw off our appetite and lead to those late-night binges. In those cases, we usually don't reach for the ten-calorie celery stalk.
Junk food is also more calorie-dense, meaning that a smaller portion will contain a greater amount of calories, do so with this information as you wish. Even if you are consuming your maintenance calories from junk food alone, would this help you feel your best? Are you experiencing any euphoric highs and bottom-lows from your high GI diet? Similarly, a Dirty Vegan Diet mimics an otherwise unhealthy dairy/meat lifestyle with alternative substitutions. To prevent nutritional deficiencies, make sure to find balance in every aspect of your diet.
Jessica’s Rating: 1.5/10 (Trash!)
The third diet I will be reviewing today is the Whole Foods Plant-Based Diet. I think this is the healthiest vegan diet on the list, and it connects to a lot of eating behaviors I practiced months ago. Not as much a diet as it is a lifestyle, the core principle of the Whole Foods diet is choosing healthy, unprocessed foods whenever you can. This lifestyle isn’t about counting every calorie you eat or logging all your macros into MyFitnessPal, but rather a long-term, sustainable “diet” to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases. I love this lifestyle because it reinforces this principle of imperfectionism and doing the best we can in hectic times, like COVID-19. This lifestyle has flexibility, unlike the Whole-30 Diet, which promotes unsustainable approaches to healthy eating, borderline orthorexic behaviors. To eat healthily, you must honor your hunger cues and choose meals that make you feel your best. You can see many Whole Foods Plant-Based Lifestyle Esque meals on my page, and I can drop some inspiration below. Although I used to follow this “diet” almost unintentionally, I now follow a more in-the-moment intuition and science-based diet. Send us any photos of your Whole Food/Plant-Based meals, and we will reshare them! I would recommend this approach to most people veering into vegetarianism or veganism.
(I used Beyond Meat by the way, haha)
Jessica’s Rating: 9.5/10 (Cash!)
The last diet I will be reviewing is the SOS-Free Plant-Based Diet. I think you can guess why I chose to review this diet, haha (SOS-Students Opposing Speciesism). Dr. Alan Goldhamer, the founder of the TrueNorth Health Center, promotes a diet low in sugar, oil, and salt. As previously elaborated, fat, sugar, and salt elements contribute to dopamine release in the brain. This rush of pleasure comes from fast-food and fad-laden vegan foods, readily at our fingertips. Goldhamer stresses these three components, stating that moderation or controlled portions would mitigate overeating and/or binge eating. But this is not the case, and for this reason, Greg Doucette and many other leading fitness icons recommend low-calorie-dense foods for binge eaters into recovery.
For many obvious reasons, this diet could result in weight loss and improved sodium levels/blood pressure. Still, I don’t think it is pretty advantageous to your typical, somewhat healthy American. I think this is particularly insightful if you have a sugar or fast-food addiction, but if you are putting yourself on this diet with no other reason but to lose weight, I would find a more sustainable approach. Instead of completely restricting sugar, salt, and oil from your diet, you could reduce calories and place yourself in a moderate caloric deficit. This way, you can enjoy all the foods you like while reaching your weight loss (deficit) or gain (surplus) goals. I think Goldhamer has the right idea, but I don’t feel too comfortable with his execution.
Jessica’s Rating: 6.5/10 (Trash!)
Although many of these diets and fads are interesting, continuously hopping from trend to trend to reach a desired state of fitness could result in body dissatisfaction and disordered eating habits. If you bring a state of balance into everything you do, enjoying fun foods while nourishing your body as it needs, you can become the best version of yourself without the crash or yo-yo dieting.
See Nutrition Disclaimer for more info. Always take my recommendations with a grain of salt and speak to a medical professional before beginning a new diet or lifestyle change. Don’t forget to share this post with friends and family and leave any comments you may have below.
From, Jess
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