Thriving on Raw Vegan After 20 Years: My Journey to Vibrant Health

Blessed to share that I recently had the honor of returning to Gillian Berry’s amazing YouTube channel for another in-depth conversation about thriving on raw vegan after 20 years. This was such a fun, heartfelt interview because Gillian and I go back more than a few years now. She first had me on her channel in 2022, and we also did a really epic recipe demo together featuring one of my all-time favorite raw curries (I’ll link both below!).

I hope you really enjoy and find benefit from this interview. Thanks so much for having me back on Gillian, excited to have her on my channel to share her story soon!

Be sure to check out her YT Channel, IG @_gillianberry, as well as her new Skool Community Club Raw!

The Power of Long-Term Raw Living

When people ask me about thriving on raw vegan after 20 years, 21+ to be exact, I like to start with where I began: a depressed, unhealthy 19-year-old skateboarder eating bacon double cheeseburger pizzas, a pack of smokes a day, and drinking 40s every night. I was literally falling apart, both physically and mentally. Fast forward to today, at 45, and I genuinely feel better than I did in my late teens and early twenties.

The transformation wasn’t just physical, though people are often shocked when I tell them my age. It’s a complete life shift in technicolor, as I like to say. I have found it has helped me create deeper connections to myself, to nature, to all living beings, and to a lightness of being that cooked, processed foods simply can’t provide.

My Path to Raw Foods

My journey toward thriving on raw vegan after 20 years started with a yoga VHS tape I found in a Walmart dollar bin back in 1999. That simple discovery opened my mind to yogic philosophy, which led me to examine my diet and the concept of karma. From there, I discovered the book “Fit for Life,” which introduced me to high-raw, fruit-based eating and food combining principles.

The true turning point happened in 2003 when I attended a vegan health festival and saw Dr. Doug Graham speaking. I’m not joking when I say he was literally glowing on stage. I thought, “WOW, this guy has something I want,” and listened to all his lectures and talked with him afterward. Although I had been high raw for six months before, I went 100% raw with renewed clarity the very next day. I remember walking down the sidewalk that morning, tears streaming down my face, my heart opening completely, feeling so connected to everyone and everything. I knew instantly this was my life’s purpose. That moment set me on the path to thriving on a raw vegan lifestyle after 20 years and beyond.

The Reality: It Hasn’t Been A Straight Line

One of the most important things I shared with Gillian about thriving on raw vegan after 20 years is that it hasn’t been a straight line, but rather a dance, a few steps forward, a few back, a few sideways, and then on. I’ve had my fair share of challenges, I’ve have had doubts, I’ve “fallen” off the wagon, shared my confessions of a raw vegan, and have come to grow with conscious choices, and ran into other major issues including:

B12 Deficiency

For the first 10 years, I was truthfully pridefully against supplements, thinking they represented failure somehow. I did complete blood tests at years 6, 7, 8, and 10, watching my B12 levels progressively decline along with related collaborative markers like homocysteine and methylmalonic acid going out of range. Near the time that my levels were at a level widely considered dangerously low, I became symptomatic, experiencing fatigue, depression creeping back, and vastly exaggerated emotional reactions to minor frustrations.

Swallowing my pride, I took my doctor’s advice, as well as the advice from multiple long-term raw coaches I consulted with, and supplemented, everything corrected rapidly. In my coaching practice, I’ve seen this pattern repeatedly, and I’ve even witnessed well-educated long-term raw vegans develop permanent neurological damage from severe B12 deficiency, sadly getting stuck on philosophy rather than real-world outcomes. This is why I’m so passionate about this topic and wish to bring consciousness over concern. I don’t want to create fear, but I believe supplements like B12 can be crucial for long-term health, thriving on raw vegan after 20 years.

I have gone deeper into this in my video “Vitamin B12 Deficiency, is it a Joke?”, more to come on this topic.

Major Injuries and Recovery

As a long-term skateboarder and a bit of a daredevil, I’ve been through some serious accidents. From multiple broken wrists, many dozens of ankle rolls and strains, broken ribs, concussions, fractured back, and more. In 2018, I was hit by a truck while on my motorcycle with my sambo Kamilla, which left me with a compound fracture of my fibula/tibia, torn quad tendon, and massive trauma; the doctors’ report said my left leg was mangled. That accident brought me down from 185 pounds to 155 pounds while I was immobilized.

The amazing thing? Within one year, I rebuilt to 199 pounds at single-digit body fat; my back was better than it was pre-accident from all the ground-up rehab, all while raw vegan. My physical therapists, doctors, and chiropractors are consistently blown away by my rate of healing and by how completely I have recovered from the accident. From all evidence, I generally heal in about two-thirds the time of an average person, which I attribute directly to thriving on raw vegan after 20 years.

What I Eat Today

When discussing the topic of thriving on raw vegan after 20 years with Gillian, she asked about my current diet. Here’s my typical day:

• Breakfast/Lunch (around 12-1 PM): A large fruit meal, often 15-18 bananas, 12 cherimoyas or another sweet mono-fruit meal, sometimes with greens
• Pre-dinner: Usually some juicy fruit, often citrus, subacid or even melon
• Dinner: A big veggie or greens-based meal with some fat (typically ¼ cup hemp seeds and 1-2 tablespoons of chia or flax)

I love making raw curries, Italian dishes, salads, Greek food, Thai cuisine, and Japanese-style sushi. The diversity available in raw food is incredible, the sky truly is the limit, if you haven’t check out my FREE Raw Recipe app here, as well as my Rawsome Recipes Playlist.

I generally eat two meals a day now, though when I first started, I needed 4-5 smaller meals because my digestive system and sugar metabolism needed time to adapt. Thriving on raw vegan after 20 years means understanding that your body evolves and your needs change over time.

My Philosophy: Lower Fat, Higher Fruit

After thriving on a raw vegan diet for 20 years and working with hundreds of coaching clients, I’ve found that a lower-fat, high-fruit, high-vegetable approach, as popularized and taught by Dr. Doug Graham in “The 80/10/10 diet”, produces the best long-term results.

This is supported by what I call my 4 pillars of truth:

• The largest body of scientific evidence on human nutrition
• Observations from the raw food community
• Looking at our closest genetic relatives (primates) who thrive on low-fat, fruit-based diets with loads of greens
• Personal intuition and experience

That said, even though I 100% believe this is the healthiest way to live for human beings as a species, I’m not dogmatic, making it right or wrong. Different people can find their balance on different dietary approaches based on personal preference among other factors.

Something I have felt compelled to share more about to help streamline others’ journey is dispelling some of the big myths in the raw food world. During this interview, we talked a bit about the Mucoid Plaque and my in-depth video “Mucoid Plaque Myth Debunked, What you need to Know” which represents nearly 20 years of digging into this topic with experts from many fields. I also mentioned my newest book “Raw Truths, Exposing the Top 10 Myths Sabotaging Your Raw Food Journey”

Supplements I Take

For anyone interested in thriving on raw vegan after 20 years, here are the supplements I currently use:

1. Vitamin B12 (for over a decade now, after my deficiency)
2. Vitamin D (occasionally, especially after major injuries or during dark winters, I now use a Sperti vitamin D lamp)
3. Barley grass juice powder (regularly, for trace minerals)
4. Seaweeds (dulse, raw nori – 5% off code CHRIK5) for iodine, trace minerals and other nutrients
5. Mushrooms (which provide nutrients less common in other raw foods)

Anti-Aging and Longevity

People often comment that I look like I’m in my 20s or 30s, even though I’m 45. While genetics play a role, thriving on raw vegan after 20 years has clearly made a massive difference. I believe it’s less about “anti-aging” and more about aging at the pace we’re designed to age when we’re not bombarding our bodies with processed foods and toxins.

The key principles are:

• Getting out of your body’s way
• Giving it what it needs with minimal energy and damaging residues
• Staying well-hydrated with quality water, as well as high water-content fruits and vegetables
• Getting adequate sleep and rest
• Maintaining an optimistic mindset

Advice for Beginners

If you’re inspired by stories of thriving on raw vegan after 20 years and want to start your own journey, here’s my advice:

1. Start with a fruit meal on an empty stomach – Make sure you’ve digested last night’s dinner (you shouldn’t burp up yesterday’s food)
2. Eat more than one piece – A fruit meal might be 5-10+ pieces, as much as you enjoy, and a bite or two more
3. Trust your body – Eat conciously and you’ll stop enjoying fruit before it becomes a problem with blood sugar
4. Front-load fruits and vegetables – Make them meals, not just snacks
5. Focus on foods you love – Don’t force yourself to eat things just because they’re “healthy”, explore variety and focus on what you LOVE
6. Be patient with yourself – This is a journey, not a race

Looking Back and Moving Forward

Thriving on raw vegan after 20 years has been the greatest gift of my life. It’s allowed me to heal from major injuries, maintain my athletic performance into my 40s, look and feel younger than my years, and most importantly, live with a deep sense of connection and purpose.

If I hadn’t found this lifestyle, I genuinely believe I’d be fat, sick, nearly dead, or actually dead. The depression and addictions that plagued me at 19 would have likely consumed me. Instead, I’m living proof that you can transform your entire life through the power of raw, living foods.

I’m so grateful to Gillian for having me back on her channel. She is such a bright light and great interviewer. I hope you really enjoyed this interview!

You can also watch our 2022 interview, “18 Years Raw Vegan Q&A” Here

and the Raw Vegan Curry recipe demo, this curry is still one of my favorites!

Thriving on raw vegan after 20 years isn’t about a static end point of perceived perfection; it’s about finding what works for you, staying open-minded, being conscious of your choices, and treating yourself with compassion along the way. It’s about choosing life in technicolor over black-and-white.

Thank you again to Gillian for the platform to share my story, and thank you for reading. Here’s to vibrant health, deep connections, and living our best lives!

As Always

Wishing You Much

PeaceLovenSeasonalFruit ck