Raw Vegan Diet
An uncooked plant-only diet with substantial nutritional and practical trade-offs.
What Is It?
Raw vegan eating combines vegan exclusions with a rule that foods remain uncooked or are heated only to a low temperature. Meals rely on raw fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouts, and dehydrated foods.
How It Works
Blending, soaking, sprouting, fermenting, and dehydrating replace most conventional cooking. Because the permitted list is narrow and many foods become less energy-dense, careful planning is needed to obtain enough energy, protein, calcium, iron, iodine, vitamin D, and vitamin B12.
Potential upsides
- Very high fruit and vegetable intake
- Minimal ultra-processed food
- Naturally high in fiber
- Encourages food preparation skills
+ Common foods
- •Raw vegetables and fruit
- •Nuts, seeds, and nut butters
- •Sprouts and microgreens
- •Cold-pressed oils
- •Fermented or dehydrated plant foods
− Typically limited or excluded
- •All animal products
- •Cooked grains, beans, and vegetables
- •Most packaged foods
- •Unsafe home-grown sprouts or improperly handled raw foods
Sample day
An illustration, not a personal meal plan.
EVIDENCE What the research says
Research is limited and largely observational. Strict raw-food eaters may have low energy and nutrient intakes, and vitamin B12 deficiency has been reported. Cooking also improves safety and the availability of some nutrients, so this is not simply a superior form of vegan eating.