Personal Diets of Raw Vegan Gurus--Assessing Credibility

(Assessing Claims and Credibility in Raw and Alternative Diets--continued, Part D)

Examining the personal diets of raw vegan
gurus: a potential tool for assessing credibility

DOES THE DIET REALLY ADD UP? (CALORIES DON'T LIE)

Looking closely at an individual's self-reported diet may be a powerful technique, at least in some cases, to assess the credibility of a raw vegan "expert" or "diet guru." However, in attempting to use such information for assessment purposes, one faces the central problem of the raw "experts," i.e., the reality that what they claim to eat is frequently not the same as what they actually eat. In other words, self-reports of diet (especially from extremists) may be unreliable, particularly as such reports may conveniently omit details of "exceptions" or binges.

Compare calorie requirements vs. intake. However, even rough estimates of the calorie levels of self-reported diets may give some insight into the person's credibility. The site article, The Calorie Paradox of Raw Veganism, provides comprehensive information that can potentially help you evaluate the diet of certain "experts." The general evaluation procedure is as follows.

First, using the age, weight, gender, and claimed level of physical activity, make a rough estimate of the daily calorie requirements for the individual in question. Standard sources that one can use to derive estimates of calorie expenditure include NRC [1989, pp. 24-38], and the U.K. Department of Health [1991, pp. 15-38, especially tables 2.5-2.8]. In general, however, most individuals will require 2,000 calories/day as a minimum (anorexics and extremely emaciated individuals excepted, perhaps; even in such unusual cases, however, it would be rare to find anyone consuming less than 1,600-1,800 calories per day on a long-term basis.)

Second, ask the person about their typical daily diet--get as detailed a description as possible, one that includes amounts consumed. (Amounts are important; without such information you cannot make a reliable estimate.) Then use the information in the "Calorie Paradox" article to make a rough estimate of their daily calorie intake.

Next, compare estimated calorie requirements with the estimate for calorie intake. If there is a large discrepancy, i.e., calorie intake is far below calorie requirements, then there are three possible explanations:

The "expert" is getting energy from some mystical source.
They have anorexia nervosa or a similar eating disorder.
They are not being honest with you about quantity/types of foods consumed (e.g., the "expert" binges and/or cheats on the diet, and won't admit it).

The simple procedure above will disqualify (or raise serious doubts about) a number of raw, especially fruitarian, diet gurus. No doubt such advocates will make rationalizations and excuses in their defense. However, the simple explanation that the diet gurus are not being honest about their own diet is far more plausible than unsupported rationalizations. Obviously, someone who claims to thrive on a (long-term) diet whose calorie content is at or below starvation level has no credibility.

If the "expert" reports adequate caloric intake. A few raw vegan proponents report food intake patterns that imply adequate calories, and on the face of it this is a positive sign, at least initially. But there are also a few remaining hurdles when assessing the claims. In probing further, other information from the "Calorie Paradox" article applies, and one should evaluate additional related dietary factors:

High-bulk diet? Does the person claim to eat massive amounts of raw vegetables each day? If so, is that credible, and/or do you want to eat similar amounts every day yourself?
Fruit diets: excess urination? If your "expert" reports consuming large amounts of sweet fruit every day, an interesting exercise is to make an estimate of the daily liquid volume of urine implied by the diet. If you are considering a diet of 4-6 kg. (8-13 lbs.) of fruit per day (the amount that would have to be eaten to obtain adequate calories), note that a substantial portion of that daily input will be excreted as urine. In most people, this will produce "excess" urination. In this case, see if you can obtain information about frequency of urination experienced on the individual's "ideal" fruit diet.
Note: Some who follow a fruitarian diet may actually get habituated to frequent urination, and may regard the need to urinate several times per hour as "normal" or "healthy." This needs to be considered in discussing the above with fruitarian proponents.
Long-term maintenance diet vs. short-term diet. A further distinction one needs to consider in evaluating such diets is that a short-term healing diet might not provide adequate calories. However, a long-term maintenance diet must provide adequate calories. Thus you may not need to analyze a diet advertised only as a short-term therapy. However, you may still find that an analysis of the long-term maintenance diet the "expert" claims is ideal nevertheless provides insight into their overall credibility.

The above are relevant issues to consider in evaluating the credibility of those peddling "ideal" raw/veg*n diets.

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(Raw Vegan Extremist Behavior Patterns: The Darker Side of Rawism)

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