Everyone has opinions about food and health these days. As we learn more about what makes the body function optimally, it can be easy to think that what we believe is the absolute truth. We are also living in an age where people are dying every day from diseases that could be mitigated or prevented with dietary changes. As people committed to health, our passion for a particular way of eating can overwhelm our curiosity and close our minds to other possibilities.

One of the biggest current debates about food is about the healthfulness of the Paleo Diet in comparison to the raw, vegan diet that we promote here at MHLC. While we obviously choose to eat a living foods diet because it works for us, we strive to offer unbiased information. Here is a bit more about both of these ways of eating, and the benefits and challenges they both offer.

What Is the Paleo Diet?

The Paleo diet is based on the idea that humans are healthiest when we eat like our Paleolithic ancestors probably would have. In theory, early humans would have had access only to meat and eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds. They would not have had grains, legumes, refined sugar, or processed food of any kind. Though the Paleo diet does stretch to include some modern, but still grain-free, foods like coconut oil.

What Is the Raw Vegan Diet?

The raw vegan diet is based on the idea that humans thrive when we eat only food that is still living. The theory is that heating food above 108 degrees (F) causes it to lose nutritional value and the beneficial enzymes that make food digestible. Then when we eat the food our digestion has to work harder to break it down, and we get less nourishment from it. Living foods help our bodies be more energized and supposedly can slow the aging process.

Dangers of the Paleo Diet

Many people have reported losing excess weight, experiencing improved energy levels, and healing chronic health conditions by following a Paleo diet. But a diet based around animal protein comes with its own dangers. High animal fat intake is implicated in the development of heart and colorectal cancer. The emphasis on meat intake can contribute to unhealthy cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, and obesity. And if the diet is entirely cooked food, Paleos miss out on the essential nutrients that only raw vegetables provide.

Challenges of the Raw Vegan Diet

Even though many people have healed digestive disorders, lost weight, and even reversed diabetes by following a raw vegan lifestyle, it still comes with its own challenges. Eating only living food can seem expensive if you are used to being able to make large cooked meals that keep for days. And it requires creativity to ensure that you get a wide array of nutrients.

It is also challenging to get sufficient complete protein on a raw vegan diet. Many plants contain protein, of course, but to get all the essential amino acids and enough protein for optimal health and weight loss, many raw vegans take a plant-based protein supplement.

Where the Paleo and Raw Vegan Diet Meet

Even with their vast differences, the Paleo and raw vegan diet actually have a lot in common. They both focus on eating as much real, whole food as possible. Paleo can contain animal products and raw vegan can contained processed foods and refined sugar, but most of the people who follow either diet usually focus on the same thing wholesome, homemade meals that are mostly vegetables.

As with any dietary lifestyle, it is possible to do either diet in a way that is healthful for the body, or in a way that is poisonous. If you are eating only processed raw treats that are high in sugar and fat and not getting enough vegetables, than a living foods diet is only marginally better than a conventional diet. Or it can be one of the healthiest choices possible if your meals are based around fresh leafy greens.

The Paleo diet can be toxic and even contribute to cancer if you are eating large amounts of animal products, especially fried meats. And Paleo can be a very healthy choice if you are eating mostly vegetables and nuts, with organic, free-range meats only on rare occasions. It is also possible to be both Paleo and raw vegan if you are dedicated to a completely wholesome, plant-based, unprocessed, and unrefined eating lifestyle.

We are passionate about our food, even evangelical at times. It can be easy to get caught up in our beliefs, especially when we have the health of humanity and the Earth in mind. But one persons poison is anothers medicine. And while there are some fundamental rules to health like eat vegetables some things are dependent on an individuals needs and options. The Paleo diet and raw vegan lifestyle are very different in some essential ways, but they can both contribute to health or detract from it, depending on the choices of the individual.