The Raw Food Diet is Way Too Restrictive with Dr. Graham

Enjoy Video 6 of 7 in the Series “I Can’t Do 80/10/10 Because” with Dr. Douglas Graham.

This time “The Raw Food Diet is Way Too Restrictive” with the author himself, Dr. Douglas Graham.

I feel really blessed to be sharing these videos with Dr. Graham and hope that they help you apply the mindset shifts, habits, and practices to thrive on the 80/10/10 diet!

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!

Get “The 80/10/10 Diet” here, 

Plus – Subscribe to Dr. Graham’s YouTube channel Here, and Follow him on Instagram Here!

Other Topics Discussed with Timestamps

1:00 – Praise for Dr. Graham and The 80/10/10 Diet

1:30 – What does Dr. Graham think of the thought that The Raw Food Diet is Way Too Restrictive

7:57 – If there were no negative repercussions of eating cooked, would Dr. Graham eat Cooked?

12:10 – Reframing restriction

20:50 – If you want to be healthy do you have to be fit

24:40 – Are typical athletes more or less healthy than the average person

26:45 – Does 80/10/10 only work for endurance athletes, what about strength and bodybuilding?

40:25 – Is there any truth to the concept of fast metabolizers and slow metabolizers?

49:04 – Why does everyone think they are a nutritionist?

52:35 – Is it true you need to eat less and less the longer on a raw food diet?

56:10 – Is the 80/10/10 diet too Idealistic or Too Healthy?

1:09:25 – Nature’s Fast Food!

Enjoy this Partial Transcript from “The Raw Food Diet is Way Too Restrictive”, Be sure to watch the whole video for more!

Chris: “Welcome, Dr. Douglas Graham. So stoked to have you back for a discussion on common misconceptions of the 80/10/10 diet. How are you doing?”

Dr. Graham: “I’m doing great, Chris. Really looking forward to this. We should have a good, fun time.”

Chris:  “I absolutely think so. The first one was a hell of a lot of fun, and I think if you guys haven’t seen the first one, we go over a lot of really fun topics. I really recommend you check it out. I’ll have a link below. We went into certain foods that some people think may or may not be a part of the diet, basics of 80/10/10, grazing versus meals, the difference between men and women, and meal plans in 80/10/10. It was a lot of fun stuff, but we have so many misconceptions. It’s amazing. And, you know, as we kind of said before, a lot of them come from people who just haven’t read the book. It’s kind of funny. They think they know what’s going on because they heard someone explain something, but realistically, I recommend everyone read the book ‘The 80/10/10 Diet.’ If you don’t know Dr. Doug Graham by now, I don’t know where you’ve been. So, you’re heading the low-fat raw vegan lifestyle and spreading it far and wide. I wouldn’t be here without you, Doug, so I’m really, really thankful for you and how you’ve changed my life and the lives of thousands. But 80/10/10 Diet, I’d say it’s like a raw food Bible, I dare say. So, I recommend everyone check that out.”

Dr. Graham: “Thank you very, very much.

Chris: Such a pleasure, man. Such a pleasure. So, one of the misconceptions next is that some people think that The Raw Food Diet is Way Too Restrictive. You know, that it’s just biting your nails, and you’ve got to force yourself and use tons and tons of discipline. What do you think about that?”

Dr. Graham: “Well, first of all, I’m not a willpower guy. I’m not a disciplined guy. I’m a very goal-oriented person, and I find it quite easy to go after my goals. But I think everybody else does too. You go after what you want out of life, whatever it might be. So, I don’t recommend that people force themselves to eat 80/10/10 or to go raw or vegan or anything else, or to exercise or even go to bed at night. So, what do I want the outcome to be-oriented? That’s me. What do I want the outcome to be tomorrow morning? Do I want to be rested, or do I want to drag myself out of bed because I have to? Well, no, I want to be rested. So, I go to bed tonight. You know how do I want to perform when I’m 70, 80, 90? I’m going to take care of myself in such a way so that I can have the kind of health that I want to have.

Some people don’t understand that health isn’t just a crapshoot, that it’s not an accident. They think that, you know, you open the window, and influenza just flies in. They think that Skylab could fall on them, and they could get hit by a bus, so they might as well just do whatever they want. That’s true of individuals in some senses, but it’s not true of groups. What we find with groups is that groups that take better care of themselves are healthier groups and that the individuals in that group are healthier. So, if you want to stack the lifestyle cards in your favor, you want to be strong.

I guess maybe there’s one in a million people who are strong whether they do strength training or not, but most people are strong because they do strength training. Or most people who are good at cardio do cardio training. Or most people who are flexible do flexibility training. It doesn’t just happen. I don’t find 80/10/10 to be restrictive or stoic, if you want to use that word. I don’t find it to be hardcore. I find being sick to be really horrible. I don’t enjoy the days spent in bed ill. You know, if you want to spend the day in bed because you’re reading such a good book, you don’t want to get out of bed. Well, fine, nice to have that freedom. But to be sick, you know when you’re in and out of consciousness and fevers and everything hurts, and your stomach’s upset, and you smell bad and whatever else, and you’re not yourself, and being sick, being needing medical attention in any fashion, just not being your usual full-go-for-it kind of guy or person. Then, to me, that’s the hardship. That’s the restriction.

‘Oh, I can’t go out and play because I’m sick,’ or ‘Oh, I don’t have the energy to go do the things I want to do.’ For me, that’s really tough. ‘Oh, I have to wait in doctor’s offices so that I can go get tests so that I can go get prescriptions so that I can go get surgeries done,’ or whatever else it is. To me, that’s really hard. I love having a body that works, having a mind that works, having a spirit that works, being able to remember things, and to accomplish things, and having visions of future wonderfulness that’s yet to happen and bring that into reality.

So, for me, I know that I have to do what I have to do in order to get what I want to get. So, absolutely, I want to have lots of wonderful times. I want to go out and ice skate with my daughter. I want to go on long walks with Rozzie. I want to be able to visit with friends and participate in whatever they do. I like taking care of my garden, so I go out and rake leaves. I want to be able to do stuff. And I feel better when I eat fruits and vegetables than when I eat anything that isn’t fruits and vegetables. And I tried and tried and tried and gave everything else lots of chances until I finally gave in and learned my lesson and said, ‘You know what? It’s going to be fruits and vegetables because they always work.’ And it’s not going to be meat and potatoes because it never works. It just never works. We tried over and over and over, like bottled, bagged, boxed, canned, and whatever else it was. And it doesn’t work.

So, yes, I know all the health stuff, and I know the science and the information. And yes, I like fruits and vegetables. Turns out that in my life, I pretty much like everything I ever tried. I like a lot of food. So, I stick to the stuff that lights me back. I stick to the foods that work for me. And that’s fruits and vegetables. They just work so well. They get me like, ‘Oh, getting a good night’s sleep every night, that works really well for the next day.’ You know, doing my fitness activities, works really well for being able to do more fitness activities, which I find fun. I don’t feel restricted. I honestly don’t feel The Raw Food Diet is Way Too Restrictive.

For Many more tips to help combat the thought “The Raw Food Diet is Way Too Restrictive” and much more be sure to watch the whole video!

Check out the First Video that Prompted this Series

“Common Misconceptions about The 80/10/10 Diet with Dr. Douglas Graham”

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 the fourth video in the series “It’s Too Too Expensive to be Raw Vegan”

Check out the fifth Video in the series “Raw Vegan Goes Against My Culture”

I hope you enjoy this video series with Dr. Douglas Graham and that these videos help you overcome common challenges and perspectives as a Raw Vegan!

This is just video 6 of 7 Diving into “The Raw Food Diet is Way Too Restrictive” and other reasons people say they can not succeed on an 80/10/10 diet with Dr. Douglas Graham of FoodnSport.com

PS Check out “Simply Delicious 80/10/10 American Classics”

the Raw Recipe ebook I co-authored with Dr. Graham