Frequently Asked Questions About Raw and 811rv

What Is Raw, What is 811rv?

I'm getting the idea that this 80/10/10 diet is pretty much a fruitarian diet. Is that a pretty good evaluation?

Depends what you mean by fruitarian. By calories, yes; by volume, maybe. The guideline is "fruit during the day, and a LARGE salad for dinner."

What is a raw foods diet?

A raw foods diet is made up of fresh, whole, unrefined, living, plant-based foods: fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, nuts, and seeds, which are consumed in their natural state, without cooking or steaming. People who adopt this diet are often referred to as "raw fooders" or "raw vegans."

Are all raw food diets the same?

No, there are different approaches to eating a raw diet. Most of them are designed to obtain a high percentage of daily calories from fats, by eating significant amounts of avocado, nuts, and seeds. These diets tend to be unsustainable, since too much fat, even raw fat, causes health problems and results in the underconsumption of carbohydrates. On the other hand, one cannot eat primarily vegetables as a diet, because they don't contain enough calories. Therefore, a sustainable raw foods diet draws the great bulk of its daily calories from fruits, which are relatively high in calories, along with liberal amounts of vegetables for their high mineral content, and small amounts of nuts and seeds.

Which is the best raw foods diet?

The program we recommend is a "low-fat raw vegan diet." Although the diet is not new, the term for it was coined by sports nutritionist and chiropractor Douglas Graham over twenty years ago. This diet has been used successfully by many amateur and professional athletes as well as many non-athletes to achieve top performance and health. Dr. Graham also refers to this diet as the "80/10/10 diet" or the "811 diet." The numbers refer to the limiting percentage of calories, averaged over time, that are obtained from the three food elements: carbohydrates, protein, and fat, respectively. Put another way, on average, a minimum of 80% of your calories will come from simple carbohydrates, a maximum of 10% from protein, and a maximum of 10% from fat. So, in a 2,000 calorie-per-day diet, a minimum of 1,600 calories will come from carbohydrates, and a maximum of 200 each from protein and fat, as an average over most any month or longer period of time. This works out naturally if 90 - 95% of your calories come from sweet fruit, 2-6% from leafy greens, vegetables and non-sweet fruits, and 0 - 8% from nuts and seeds. This is generally accomplished with two or three large fruit meals during the day, plus a large salad in the evening.