Why Low Fat Raw? By Lizz Bommarito

The low fat raw vegan diet is the diet that human beings are biologically suited for. Understanding this truth is the key to success on a raw vegan diet. Dr. Doug Graham has already done an amazing job at breaking down the scientific reasoning behind this lifestyle in his book, The 80/10/10 diet. For those not in the know a low fat raw vegan diet is comprised of
lots of sweet fruits to meet most of caloric and carbohydrate needs
non sweet fruits for vitamins, minerals, vital water
all the greens one desires (make sure you are getting enough!)
small quantities of raw plant fat from nuts, seeds, or high fat fruit (avocado, coconut, durian etc.)
In addition to the food elements of this diet, it is really a lifestyle more than a diet. Exercise, Rest, Sunshine, Clean Water, a positive mental attitude and healthy relationships are all essential elements to thriving in life. But the low fat raw vegan diet does more than just nourish our bodies it also nourishes our planet. The growing of fruit trees is a win win win win win situation. Fruit trees provide bounties of food, sometimes multiple times a years. They are the solution to food issues related to population. Vegetarians are often quoted as saying that Meat based diets required 7 times more land to produce food. Low Fat Raw Vegan raises the bar on land use for food production by feeding 5 times as many people as land being used to raise grain for cooked food vegans and vegetarians. Humans need a high carb diet to meet our physiological needs, and if we meet this requirement with grains we do our bodies and the planet a disservice. Fruit trees provide sanctuary and refugia for animals and humans alike as well as improve our air quality and soil. When I first embarked on this plan I felt bad about all the bananas I was consuming. Banana plantation farming is a terrible practice that I do not support. Then I heard something that perked my spirits right up. I heard once that domestic rice farming (in the US) is so much more ecologically destructive than importing rice from Asia. I figure that if that is true than the imprint of the fossil fuels of bananas can't be that bad. Anyhoo, bananas are cheap, accessible, available year round and dense in calories and of course delicious! In a perfect world we would all be able to eat ripe raw fresh free fruit all year round without having to exploit anyone ore anything for it. This is why the Circle A Kitchen collective exists, to be a helper in that goal. We are creating alternative to food industrialization, and fruit is one of our best weapons! If you want to lessen your impact when eating fruit that is not local (as most of us in PDX do at least a few months a year) makes friends with local farmers when you travel to warmer climates. Many of them will ship you flat rate boxes of fruit at costs comparable to stores, plus they will be fresher and you will have saved quite a bit of gas. Lets keep working toward a thriving, vibrant raw world!