I've been getting this question from lots of clients so I thought I'd share my experience.  

I was first introduced to a Raw Vegan lifestyle when I was 18. At the time there was very little information out about it. I had a friend who acted like he was giving me the secret to live forever. Im guessing adding more raw foods into your diet will not make you immortal. But if it does, I probably wont be around to find out.

I spent a long time experimenting with making smoothies, eating more fruit and trying more complex raw food recipes. In general, I felt great eating these meals. When I was eating non-raw meals, I generally experienced a digestive lag after eating. With raw foods, it rarely felt that way. I could get up and go right after eating. 

Towards my mid 20's I began to eat more raw foods and eventually transitioned into a 100% raw food diet. I was so invested in this lifestyle at one point that a friend and I opened a raw food smoothie bar in New York City. I spent a good 5+ years on this diet and 12 years experimenting with it. About a year and a half ago, I began to incorporated cooked and animal food back into my diet.

1. One great thing about eating raw foods is that it very quickly can help you get keyed in to what your body needs and help you become very aware of how food effects your digestion, mental state, sleep, energy, and mood. 
 

2. Like any eating program, a good way to see how it is working is to give it 30 days and see how you feel. Most of the time, a shorter period will not give you reliable results because the body has to be given time to transition over to the new style and for most people a mostly raw food diet is a big change. 
 

3. Much of what I know today about food and my body came from my time as a rawfoodist. 

4. A raw food diet is an intense cleansing diet that doesn't stop. This can be good for periods of time (even years depending on your age) but may not be the best for an entire life (or if one decides to, they need to be sure of getting certain nutrients- this is of course not different than any diet, everyone is lacking in something). 

5. A diet is only as good as what it leaves out. A raw food diet leaves out all processed foods which is a big plus for it. You are only putting in lots of water rich fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds, so you are getting lots of great cleansing food. 

6. Its very easy to under-eat especially if you are eating lots of vegetables (since veggies have almost no calories). So to make up for this you either eat a lot of nuts and seeds and oils (most raw foodists) or a lot of fruit (fruitarians). I have tried both and both have positive and negative sides. Eating lots of fats and nuts can provoke some digestive issues, while eating lots of fruit can cause blood sugar surges and exacerbate candida conditions. This is not always the case but for me, I had fungal issues that could not be cleared up on a high fruit diet. It was not until I went on a no-sugar with some animal foods that my condition improved.  

7. The nutrients you may be missing if you do a raw food diet long term (over a year or more) are long-chain fatty acids, omega 3's (fish oil), vitamin K (animal protein), B-12 (animal foods), and saturated fat. These deficiencies are not uncommon (many people who eat the standard american diet also have them) but many of them only turn up over the long-term, so if you are just beginning or giving it a try, go for it. 

8. Balancing my sugar (carbs), fat, and greens intake is the key to stable energy on this diet. Its an art, so if you feel like you have too much sugar, eat salad, or to much fat (stop eating or eat greens). 

I am no longer a 100% rawfoodist but I do eat a lot of rawfoods, especially vegetables, avocados, coconut, and greens.

Benefits I had while eating 100% rawfood: lots of energy, good exercise recovery, clear mind, good bowel movements, easy to keep going after a meal (very little sluggishness), clear eyes.

Drawbacks: spaciness, too much energy or frenetic energy (if you eat a lot of fruit, you need to exercise a lot, so for those endurance athletes, you want to get on the high fruit diet), ungroundedness, social issues because of strictness of diet, fungal issues. 

For many of us who have taken lots of antibiotics when we were young or throughout our life, we may be dealing with unknown fungal and candida issues that are causing many of our symptoms. For this reason, eating a lot fruit worked for me in the beginning but did not work for me after a few years. Despite what many high-fruit eating raw foodists say, I was not able to overcome the candida issue by eating fruit and decreasing fat intake (see 80/10/10 by Doug Graham). For people with this issue but who want to try the raw food diet, I would recommend looking at the work of Dr. Gabriel Cousens and Fred Bisci. 

So if you are interested in it, go for it! Try it out for 30 days and see how you feel. The most common issues generally have to do with eating enough calories. There are usually at least three approaches to calories:

1. High fruit, low fat. See "80/10/10 by Doug Graham", work of Roger Haeske, Frederic Patenaude, and Loren Lockman at tanglewoodwellnesscenter.com

2. Low sugar, higher fat and protein. See the work of Gabriel Cousens, Fred Bisci, Dr. Brian Clement at the Hippocrates Health Institute.

3. A balance of sugar, fat, and protein. See the Sunfood Diet by David Wolfe, and the work of Brigitte Mars.

4. High raw. Lots of raw food but adding in some cooked veggies, grains, etc. See the work of Kevin Gianni at Renegade Health. 

Part of my understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of a 100% raw food lifestyle have to be balanced with the fact that I was young and relatively vibrant. Although I was diagnosed with lyme disease and had acne early on growing up (signs of fungal conditions and weakened immune system), I did thrive on the diet. While my young age may have balanced out some of the negative effects, I have seen repeatedly older people go on the diet and 

1. I think the most well-rounded raw food book is High Raw by Kevin Gianni. He provides a perspective on how to incorporate a high raw but not 100% rawfood diet. This is the one I most recommend.

2. Sunfood Diet by David Wolfe

3. Raw Foods by Brigitte Mars

4. If you want to try a low-glycemic diet or anti-candida diet use the Rainbow cuisine recipe book by Gabriel Cousens

5. If you are interested in the connection of spirituality and raw foods, Spiritual Nutrition by Gabriel Cousens

More questions about this topic? 

Send 'em to me at john@cleanprogram.com