Is a Raw Vegan Diet healthful for diabetes and high blood pressure?
Friday, September 4th, 2009 at
6:57 am
Jim asked:
Is a raw vegan diet healthful over a long period of time, especially with diabetes and high blood pressure? I am trying to switch to a raw vegan diet, but my dietitian insists it is not healthful. Has anybody here tried it long-term, or know anybody who has? I’m wanting to lose a lot of weight, and I’ve been making a lot of salads, with cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, green bell peppers, celery, onions, carrots … and then I pour on a bunch of vinegar and lemon juice. It’s tasty, nutritious, and very low-calorie. It seems to be working for me, but my dietitian isn’t happy. And I didn’t even tell you what my primary care physician thinks about my decision to quit all my diabetes and blood pressure medications and just rely on a raw vegan diet instead of the meds … except that I’m going to have to find another primary care physician.
Is a raw vegan diet healthful over a long period of time, especially with diabetes and high blood pressure? I am trying to switch to a raw vegan diet, but my dietitian insists it is not healthful. Has anybody here tried it long-term, or know anybody who has? I’m wanting to lose a lot of weight, and I’ve been making a lot of salads, with cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, green bell peppers, celery, onions, carrots … and then I pour on a bunch of vinegar and lemon juice. It’s tasty, nutritious, and very low-calorie. It seems to be working for me, but my dietitian isn’t happy. And I didn’t even tell you what my primary care physician thinks about my decision to quit all my diabetes and blood pressure medications and just rely on a raw vegan diet instead of the meds … except that I’m going to have to find another primary care physician.
Tagged with: Lemon Juice • Low Calorie • Onions
Filed under: Diabetes
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My sister is a Type 1 diabetic and has high blood pressure related to diabetes and this type of diet WAS a disaster for her. She worked hard at it but she had difficulty manging her blood sugar (too many lows) and became anemic. There was not enough protein and not enough iron and other nutrients in a form she could metabolize. She had to quit. She still follows a diet that is low carb and only has complex carbs, but the decision to be vegan just didn’t work for her.
My other Type 2 diabetic friend also found that a fully vegetarian diet didn’t work for him either. He eats extremely healthy, lots of complex carbs, vegetables, healthy oils and lean meat. He is in extremely good health and is off his diabetic medications.
a vegan diet in general can be extremely beneficial for preventing and/or reversing high blood pressure and diabetes. that is, if your diet is full of fruits, vegetables, WHOLE grains, and beans/legumes then that will help your health alot. go get the china study, you’ll see how consuming a plant based diet can help you avoid many many western diseases and health conditions.
OK, one thing at a time.
Recent research into such things as the raw diet, the Neanderthal diet, and such “back to primitive” innovations seems to support that they can be quite healthful. One of the things that they do is to incorporate a lot of high-bulk, low-calorie foods, which inevitably supports weight loss. And weight loss improves diabetes.
That said, I think you’re making a couple of mistakes.
The first is just up and quitting your meds. The idea should be to keep up on the meds until you have achieved adequate weight loss. Do you check blood glucose at least daily? If so, then the long-term averages of the glucometer readings (and your regular hemoglobin test) will signal when you have attained a level of health that would support reducing and eventually eliminating the diabetes medication. Yes, change your family doctor if you’re dissatisfied; but don’t make unilateral decisions about meds unless you have good reason (like the emergence of some nettling side effect).
You haven’t mentioned if you’re exercising, but that’s crucial for the BP condition–and it also will help with the weight loss.
Now, going vegetarian or vegan is a little more complicated than just eating salads all the time. There are a range of nutrients that salads don’t provide–unless you know what ingredients to add to the salads.
Meats and dairy products provide protein. No vegetable provides protein with a complete range of essential amino acids–different vegetables have different amino acid profiles. For a vegan, it’s essential to get regularly some of each of the major vegetable sources of protein; legumes, nuts, beans, whole grains, and seeds. Each of these will provide a slightly different part of your amino acid requirements, and so you’ll have complete protein.
Vegans also might run into problems with low iron or folic acid. Iron comes from spinach and other green leafy veggies plus raisins; folic acid also from the green leafies. If you’re putting spinach in quantities into that salad, then you’re probably covering those nutrients–but study up on these things and be well informed.
It might be easier for you to reach your goals if you elect to add four ounces of meat to your diet daily. That’s a piece about the size of a deck of playing cards. The “raw diet” that I’ve seen permits 15% of your food to be cooked, so you should be within limits if you dine on a small steak, pork chop, or can of tuna at dinner. But that’s up to you do decide–I don’t want to be mistaken for one of those intolerant people who post in this forum only to make fun of vegetarians, instead I insist that people should respectfully discuss dietary choices.
okay one, I wouldn’t condone eating complex carbs or starches, I dunno why America is so big on it now, because those come from grains and grains are hard to digest, and it puts more work on your body trying to convert those complex carbs into usable carbs. if you wouldn’t eat wheat or oats in it’s original form, why eat it in any other form? grains are high in cals but low in nutrition (except maybe iron + bcomplex). fruits are better steadily throughout the day with either nuts & seeds or green vegetables to slow and evenly distribute sugar absorbtion.
& raw veg is very different from veg&vege diets from what I’ve seen. raw foodists eat veryyyyyyyyy well. (how can you not eating all the seasons freshest and best produce?) every meal is extremely nutrient dense. (oh and green peppers are just unripe red bell peppers with less nutrition)
I haven’t done much research on diabetes, I’m looking into it now, I’m still confused about what it is so maybe you can add some details explaining? I always heard about it but never quite fully understood? all I can really tell you relating to diabetes in this lifestyle is not to eat too many bananas or dates or figs and such, if this is relevant.
I can tell you though, I’ve been doing raw-veg for quite a while with spectacular health and happiness (always light and not bc of health reasons – I just love this food and lifestyle) and know some who’ve been doing it for 4 years (both guys were over 200lbs in awful health and are now 160lbs and thriving, both are so fit!), and if what you want to do is lose weight, then raw-veg is a great way to go about that. You need to get educated on this though, because if you’re not, on any diet, you could get hurt. also another guy I know whose been eating more salads and drinking green juices is noticing an improvement in his severe allergies.
I can understand why your dietition isn’t happy if he or she is trained in classical nutrition. I’m gunna tell you though, there’s nothing wrong with a salad, and it seems you’ve been eating lots so that’s a wonderful way to start(if all your veggies are organic and with lots of green leafys). BUT if you lose weight too fast or go on this diet too fast, you could experience some deadly detox so ease into it. (yeah it’s not so pleasant – I heard about it)
You might want to see if there are any local raw food places where you live so you may inquire about this lifestyle and getting everything you need to thrive. You also might want to start off with a green powder or supplement? (fresh is always best though)
A few things you MUST get on this diet, especially if overweight;
-lots purified WATER to flush and cleanse
-a very wide variety of vegetables, especially dark leafys (dark leafys provide amino acids, minerals especially CALCIUM, and iron, zinc)
-a very wide variety of fruits
(these two provide vitamins and minerals)
-avocados (amino acids, b complex, vitamin E, essential fatty acids)
-nuts and seeds (in moderation. essential fatty acids + amino acids + other nutrients, specifically b-complex)
-enough calories, that you can later reduce as your body requires less.
-EXERCISE, even if it’s brisk walking for an hour and a half
-SUNLIGHT for vitamin D. your body synthesizes vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.
oh yeah, you also need vitamin b12. you can get vitamin b12 from nutritional yeast, fermented nut cheeses, yogurts and kefirs or fermented veggie products such as sauerkraut or make your own.
oh as for the meds… I dunno. I don’t want to jeopardize your health, but I don’t think meds are doing much good to your overall system anyway. please don’t take my word for it, as you are responsible for your health; look into this and start learning up on it before you decide this is what you want to do.
Just make sure you get enough calories (nutrient dense calories, NOT empty calories). avocados give you calories coming from fat and fruits; from sugar. raw cold pressed olive oil/hemp/flax oil are great for EFAS, hemp seeds are also nutritious. and I would also suggest going organic as well, maybe checking out a local whole foods. why? cause it tastes better and it’s better for you.
it’s all up to you. if you have any questions, you can send an email.
Get a copy of “12 Steps to Raw Food,” “Green For Life” or “Raw Family” by Victoria Boutenko.. she talks about her son Sergei being heal from Diabetes. Her is their website.
Slainté (to your health)
doctors don’t know s h i t. american doctors have only been taught what they know in medical school: how to diagnose a disease, how to refer a patient to a specific department, and what medicine to prescribe to treat the disease. instead of going to the source of the problem, they would rather give you medicines that will suppress the symptoms rather than cure it.
everyone wants the easy way out here in america. they need to wake up and realize that change will not happen by popping a few pills. in order to change your physical state, one must go to the source of the problem and start healing there. i.e. *some* overweight and obese people would rather undergo surgery instead of changing their eating habits and exercising.
just make sure you’re getting all your proper nutrients. salads are great, but raw foodists can also include nuts, legumes, and grains. perhaps you can contact the owner of this store. i spoke with him once, and he is super friendly and very informative. if you live in the southern cali area, you can drop by and purchase a cookbook.
find another dietitian and find another physician. they don’t know any better.
Well… at least one of them went to med school. It’s their job to keep you healthy. If you have diabetes, you need to eat a BALANCED diet… proteins included.
If you could find a way to get all of your protein, carbs, and healthy fats on your raw vegan diet, I’m sure they wouldn’t have a problem. Just eating salads won’t help you there though. Quinoa, for instance, is a complete plant protein and you must cook it, because it’s a grain.
My dad and brother are both diabetics, and are both insulin dependent. They both work out almost everyday, and eat very healthy meals with low amounts of sugar. They feel great and haven’t had any problems.
That said… it’s your life. If you want to give up something that medical research has proven to improve your quality of life for something that might possibly have a chance of working, that’s your decision.
Good luck.