Is it TOO Expensive to Be Raw Vegan?
Video 4 of 7 Diving into reasons people say they can not succeed on an 80/10/10 diet, This time “Is it TOO Expensive to Be Raw Vegan?” with the author himself, Dr. Douglas Graham of FoodnSport.com
As a disclaimer, this video is coming from the perspective of comparing the costs of a raw vegan diet to an average “healthy” diet, rather than aimed at someone more focused on just getting enough food, affording shelter, and basic survival. My Heart goes out to everyone that is struggling to simply have enough food to eat and who is barely living check to check. Every healthy bite is a win, adding in sprouts, growing what we can ourselves, and foraging for wild edibles can go a long way with a very small budget.
Partial Transcript of “Is it TOO Expensive to Be Raw Vegan?”
Watch the Whole Video for More!
Chris: I’ve heard people say that the raw food diet is a diet of privilege or it’s too expensive to be raw, what do you think of that?
Dr. Graham: Okay so there’s a couple of parts to that, expensive is a funny adjective because there are lots of things to have it in relation to. I mean it can be expensive on your time, it could be expensive on your health, it could be expensive dollars and cents. It could be expensive in lots of ways, on your social life, so expensive, it’s also very close to expensive though isn’t it? So when I first think of expensive I think of how I eat and why I eat, I invariably eat for the outcome, I eat for the desired outcome.
Yes I eat food that love, I enjoy my food as much as ever, but I’m eating now not just to fill myself, I’m eating to fuel myself, I’m eating to nourish myself,
I’m eating for the pleasure I’m eating based on activities I might have later in the day, I’m eating because it’s socially a pleasant thing to do with others so there are a lot of reasons why I’m I’m eating besides just I need to fill my face. When I incorporate those reasons into my adjective expensive, I go well, I have not had to spend any money on medical care in the last 43, or 44 years… Oh in 1979 yeah I definitely went to a doctor and spent money but since going low fat raw vegan trips to the doctor have just almost never happened. So in that in the concept that I invested in my health, yeah becoming Health assured and then starting to spread that message to other people so I became a health Assurance salesperson.
Maybe that’s not realistic, maybe it’s just the cost, maybe it’s outright just dollars and cents. Well I don’t know where you draw the line on diet, I don’t have a lot of nasty ingestion habits so I’m not doing drugs, recreational or otherwise, I’m not paying for medically prescribed drugs, you know insulin’s expensive, I’m not drinking alcoholic beverages, so that’s a lot of bottles of wine which I think are part of your food bill every month… I think it’s got to be considered its caloric intake, it’s got to come under the heading food wine and beer, and hard liquor, cigarettes I don’t know if that counts as food but it kind of is in the food budget isn’t it?
Chris: I tell you, I know for a fact in my late teens I smoked and drank and I went out to fast food restaurants and I easily spent double, triple, and even sometimes quadruple on the weekends of what I spend overall on average now…
Dr. Graham: So when I started thinking of convenience “foods” bottles, boxed, bagged, canned individually, wrapped slices of things that are reminiscent of slices of cheese, now that’s expensive, even more so down the line. But because I buy most of my food in bulk, like in a box of bananas, a box of oranges, a box of dates, I don’t buy 10 dates in a little tiny package, I buy five-kilo boxes 11-pound boxes of dates which often brings a good discount.
I recently scored on persimmon and found boxes of 80, they were 15 British pounds a box so it was just around 18 cents a persimmon. I was like wow this is a no-brainer let me buy this these, and then my market guy, because I buy from one guy primarily so my guy’s looking out for me and he tells me what’s inexpensive, he tells me it’s really high quality, he tells me who has the best taste this week, he’s he says I’ll order something and go to pick it up. I buy by the case he not only reduces the price but it makes me a great customer of his so he again reduces the price and then looks out for me and again keeps my costs low.
So I am conscious of the price, I do consider money when I buy my food, I’m not in that category of people that just don’t even care what the food costs because it doesn’t matter but when I run it down it is usually around 10 British pounds per day per person.
Chris: Yea, I have traveled all over the world and in general have found I can eat well for $5 – $15 a day no matter where I am. Sure on occasion, it may be more, and we both agree you can make it more by buying superfoods, out-of-season foods, or buying one piece at a time, but as you mention buying in bulk and seasonally helps a ton!
For Many more tips to help combat the thought “Is it TOO Expensive to Be Raw Vegan?” be sure to watch the whole video! 🙂
Check out the first video in the series “I Get Too Skinny on a Raw Vegan Diet”
Check out the second video in the series “Overcoming Social Challenges as a Raw Vegan”
Check out the third video in the series “It’s Too Cold to Be Raw Vegan Where I Live”
Check Out This Video on “Raw Vegan Powerlifting at 70”
with Dr. Douglas Graham to watch him qualify for the British Powerlifting Nationals!
I hope you enjoy this video series with Dr. Douglas Graham and that this video helps you Overcoming Social Challenges as a Raw Vegan!
This is just video 3 of 7 Diving into reasons people say they can not succeed on an 80/10/10 diet with Dr. Douglas Graham of FoodnSport.com
In 2006 Dr. Douglas Graham released “The 80/10/10 diet”, a book widely considered to be the raw food bible. His ability to take complex nutritional subjects and present them with just the right dose of common sense, humor, and science is unparalleled. A 40+ year raw foodist himself, trainer of elite athletes, fasting practitioner, keynote speaker, fitness instructor, and more.
If you haven’t read the 80/10/10 diet I highly recommend it as the best book on diet and nutrition out there!
Subscribe to Dr. Grahams Youtube Channel, and his IG Here!
Check out “Simply Delicious 80/10/10 American Classics”
the Raw Recipe ebook I co-authored with Dr. Graham
As Always
Wishing You Much
PeaceLovenSeasonalFruit ck
