How much of a minority are my fellow males on this forum?

[Gaius]

Hey people, I'm curious about something. How much of a minority are the men in the raw food lifestyle? I've never really thought about it, but just now I was thinking: am I the only guy here?

Also, can any of you ladies tell me about if you know any men who have done this successfully? I kind of have to keep it a secret at work since I have sort of a male-dominated job and it's sort of a secret with most of my friends since I don't want people to bug me about it so I don't have many men to talk to about it, so I'm just wondering, can any males out there relate their experiences to me?

I've been raw for well over a month so far by the way, but I'm wondering if there are any male longtimers here who can give me some pointers with male-specific experiences? No disrespect to the ladies, of course.

[Jehote]

I'm a guy. :) I'm new to raw but I'm vegan and love it! I don't flaunt it but I don't hide it either.
Jehote

[Gaius]

I'm a guy. :) I'm new to raw but I'm vegan and love it! I don't flaunt it but I don't hide it either.
Jehote
How new are you to it? I feel like I should hide it because even though I'm in San Francisco, the downtown workscene still isn't friendly to male vegans.

[Revvell]

There are a LOT of male raw vegans... just not many on this board.

On my two shows, Let's Talk Raw (http://LetsTalkRaw.com) and Rawkin Radio (http://RawkinRadio.com) I've interviewed:

Matt Monarch
Doug Graham
Anthony Anderson
Ronnie of Ronnie and Minh
Matt Amsden
Clent Manich
Paul Nison
Rod Rotondi
Russell James
Aris Latham
Raw Model Anthony Anderson
Jim Dee
David Wolfe
Sergei Boutenko
Tim Van Orden
Philip McCluskey

and more to come!

My teacher, Rocannon MacGregor (http://www.youtube.com/user/zenkahuna) was the one who introduced me to raw and I don't think anyone you know can go up against him as far as being a manly sorta man.

Revvell (http://www.Revvellations.com)

[Jehote]

omg!!!!! Tim V. O. Is my hero!!!!!! You have a link for his interview???

[Revvell]

omg!!!!! Tim V. O. Is my hero!!!!!! You have a link for his interview???

http://rawkinradio.com/?s=Tim+Van+Orden

[T-Bird]

Had to google up that anthony anderson......


HOT stuff!

by the way, revvel - I'm available - if you fancy any match making!:p

[Celeryhead]

I am male and am working toward being raw (at least 80% raw). Even being a vegetarian I have no close friends or family who are vegetarian, and while no one is really un-cool with how I eat, there is no positive support - going raw, I think, is something they just won't be able to comprehend. Also, I don't see a lot of local resources that support a raw food life-style (though with the internet, this is not a huge deal).

I understand how you might fell somewhat isolated.

[Rufassa]

How new are you to it? I feel like I should hide it because even though I'm in San Francisco, the downtown workscene still isn't friendly to male vegans.

I am in the Deep South. So I am sure that SF is A LOT friendlier to male vegans than Memphis. Like Jehote, I don’t flaunt it and I don’t hide it. If you ask I will proudly talk about what ever you want to know. When asked why I simply answer that I am, and have always been a health nut, I eat right, go to the gym, etc… I think I win back many of my macho points because the gym I am talking about is a boxing gym.

When I have to decide on a place to eat with someone I just say I am a vegetarian. After questions and observations co-workers quickly asked was I vegan (I respond that I do eat honey but to them that’s still vegan) and soon after that they started asking questions around raw foods. The last time I got those questions I was mostly raw although it didn’t seem to matter that my avocado sandwich was on bread.

I have on occasions put my lifestyle off on my wife but most times I don't and if I sense ridicule I respond with the demeanor of, “Yeah, I am, and what?” so there is no mistaken my diet for weakness.

As far as how long I have done this:
Although I have been a semi-vegetarian for the majority of my adult life (32 years old), I have consistently been vegan +honey for almost 3 years, mostly raw for almost a year, and have been eating only proper raw dishes (I guess that would be considered 95-9%) for two weeks.

[Stina]

Most of the guys are over at giveittomeraw.com debating politics..................

[Stina]

I am in the Deep South. So I am sure that SF is A LOT friendlier to male vegans than Memphis. Like Jehote, I don’t flaunt it and I don’t hide it. If you ask I will proudly talk about what ever you want to know. When asked why I simply answer that I am, and have always been a health nut, I eat right, go to the gym, etc… I think I win back many of my macho points because the gym I am talking about is a boxing gym.

When I have to decide on a place to eat with someone I just say I am a vegetarian. After questions and observations co-workers quickly asked was I vegan (I respond that I do eat honey but to them that’s still vegan) and soon after that they started asking questions around raw foods. The last time I got those questions I was mostly raw although it didn’t seem to matter that my avocado sandwich was on bread.

I have on occasions put my lifestyle off on my wife but most times I don't and if I sense ridicule I respond with the demeanor of, “Yeah, I am, and what?” so there is no mistaken my diet for weakness.

As far as how long I have done this:
Although I have been a semi-vegetarian for the majority of my adult life (32 years), I have consistently been vegan +honey for almost 3 years, mostly raw for almost a year, and have been eating only proper raw dishes (I guess that would be considered 95-9%) for two weeks.

That's a strong man! Go Bright Light!

[Raw Angel Mom]

My Husband is the one that introduced me to raw food.

You aren't alone for sure. It is true that women are more into this but as the partenor sees their spouse, they can clearly seed the change in a good way that this diet does.

Congratulations!

[Revvell]

Had to google up that anthony anderson......


HOT stuff!

by the way, revvel - I'm available - if you fancy any match making!:p

I'll pass the word. :) He's scheduled for June 22 on Let's Talk Raw (http://LetsTalkRaw.com) but he's going to be at Raw Union in Oregon so, not certain it'll happen.

[LotsaRaw]

My man got me into this :D He did the 30 day challenge (referred by another male) He's not into the message board of any kind other than the NYGiants, and when we are in the same state I am the raw chef of the two. So, while men might be a minority here on this forum, many of the participating ladies have raw men in our lives!

[kaybee]

yeah what stina said. giveittomeraw. debating politics...or raw foodist hairstyles or clothing styles, hahahaha (i.e. Charles' amusing posts)

[veganman]

Hi Gaius and welcome!

I am male and have been 100% raw for 3 years now....in fact I think my anniversary was last month! Having been vegan for a long time, I am used to people thinking the way I eat is different. I am in the Bay Area like you and actually find it more accepted and common than other places.

The only time people get really weirded out is when I drink green smoothies...green-colored things freak some people out for some reason. However....yellow-dyed little cupcake type things don't seem to have any affect....:rolleyes:

[Humanist]

I am male and have been a raw vegan for 40 years. What I eat is nobody's business but my own.

[RawYorkCity]

Male here. Living a raw lifestyle does not require a specific gender! :)

[Bananna]

Yay, a Tim VO interview I haven't heard yet! :) Thanks Revvell!~

[RawSar]

My boyfriend introduced raw foods to me two years ago. He's been vegan for almost 10 years and raw for about 6 or 7 years.
None of his friends really bug him. He doesn't hide it but doesn't flaunt it either. I don't think his friends bug him about it because he never has kept it a secret. He's an honest man and his friends respect that. More and more of his friends are asking questions about raw foods and the choices he has made and why since a lot of them all have kids now.
He's big into sports and all other manly things and isn't worried or care about what others think about what he eats. He's very proud to eat and live the way he does.
One of the many reasons why I love him :)

[Gaius]

Thanks for the support so far, guys and gals. I'm still fairly new to this and I don't know too many male vegans so it's good to see that I'm not alone online at least.

[rawbabymama]

I would say 9/10 raw people I have known in real life were men-folk. I was introduced to raw foods by Paul Nison's exgirlfriend ( she's my best friend for ten years now) back in 1999 - she wasn't raw, but she was investigating it because he had healed his illness by eating raw. Lots of raw men in NYC back in the day...I used to be surrounded by them at pot lucks and parties.

Have you reached out to the raw community out there? In San Diego, the pot lucks had plenty raw men. :D

If you are worried about pressure/hazing for being raw, don't come out of the "raw closet" until you have been at it about a year. ;)

[supersonic_528]

Rufassa or any other male who can answer:

I started raw diet over a month ago. I'm not 100% raw, but 60% to 80%. Before I started my weight was 157 lbs and in about a month it dropped by 10 lbs (btw, I'm 5'11 tall). I'm pretty confused and even wondering if I should eat more cooked food. The raw part of my diet consists mostly of green smoothie, fruit smoothie, salad (with avocado) and some nuts. It will help my greatly to know what you eat everyday to keep up with the calorie requirements because I think I'm not getting enough calories from the raw diet. If you can give me a chart of what you are eating, that will give me some ideas. Thanks!

[sozei]

Rufassa or any other male who can answer:

I started raw diet over a month ago. I'm not 100% raw, but 60% to 80%. Before I started my weight was 157 lbs and in about a month it dropped by 10 lbs (btw, I'm 5'11 tall). I'm pretty confused and even wondering if I should eat more cooked food. The raw part of my diet consists mostly of green smoothie, fruit smoothie, salad (with avocado) and some nuts. It will help my greatly to know what you eat everyday to keep up with the calorie requirements because I think I'm not getting enough calories from the raw diet. If you can give me a chart of what you are eating, that will give me some ideas. Thanks!





hey there ! I am a male :D

As far as calories go , when i first went Raw about 6 months ago , i would occasionally input my daily food intake into http://www.fitday.com/ to see how i was doing. I don't really do that now that i know i get plenty of calories.

I don't think you need to eat cooked food , just eat more raw ;)


random day :

Breakfast- 1 grapefruit, 1 canteloupe
snack- 12oz carrot juice ,

Lunch - GREEN SMOOTHIE - a ton of greens, 5 nana's, hemp protein powder, ground flax seed

snacks - handful of nuts , 5 medjool dates

Dinner - BIG SALAD, with evoo , avacado
snacks - 2 apples , grapefruit,

Evening - GREEN SMOOTHIE- tons of greens, 5 nana's

[T-Bird]

Looks like there's just as many men....


They just aren't as chatty as the ladies!

[Rufassa]

Rufassa or any other male who can answer:

I started raw diet over a month ago. I'm not 100% raw, but 60% to 80%. Before I started my weight was 157 lbs and in about a month it dropped by 10 lbs (btw, I'm 5'11 tall). I'm pretty confused and even wondering if I should eat more cooked food. The raw part of my diet consists mostly of green smoothie, fruit smoothie, salad (with avocado) and some nuts. It will help my greatly to know what you eat everyday to keep up with the calorie requirements because I think I'm not getting enough calories from the raw diet. If you can give me a chart of what you are eating, that will give me some ideas. Thanks!

If losing weight is what you are concerned about then here are my experiences.

I along with a couple I know went on a 30 raw challenge last summer. It was 30 days of Raw Food and serious exercise. I blogged about it here http://bumblezee.com/blogs/rufassa?m=20087 and I included my diet at the time on a day by day bases but keep in mind that I ate very large quantities. I had been high raw for months leading up to this were I had lost some weight before I started as well but I have never been over weight.

The other male and I tried to see if I could put on muscle mass while eating raw. Our weight immediately dropped drastically then begin to slowly come back but in the end all of our weights ended up slightly down. My chest and arms got very well developed and I got and 8 pack (every muscle on my body was outlined). In the months following, after getting adjusted to eating a high raw diet, some of my weight came back as so did my wife and the other couple. I think the other couple continued to be about 50% raw where as we were about 80% in my household.

So, I say that to say that at first you are going to lose weight and I don’t think you can eat your way past that; just have to accept it and try to get it back later. Maybe more weight than you would like but at some point your body is going to stabilize and possibly start putting weight back on. People will tell you that eating more avos and nuts adds weight but for my wife and I that has not proven true at all; or cooked foods are vegan but include a lot of beans and that is not adding weight either.

I think raw is a perfect way to build a great looking body but not necessarily a big one. A few examples that might be inspiring are:
http://www.thegardendiet.com/shannon.html
http://richardblackman.workspacesite.com/
http://www.gotohealth.com/athletes/read.cfm?article_id=11

P.S. As far as that calorie thing goes. Trash it. Eat as much food as you can and the more raw the better. I used fitday to collect some stats during my challenge but there is no way I could just eat to get 2000 calories a day; not now that I am use to this diet and don’t crave as large of portions as I use to. The strangest thing is I felt good although I know I was burning more calories than those charts said I was consuming. I didn’t feel weak and I recovered quickly from my workouts.

My advice is to just eat a lot of food and don’t go hungry, do strength training if you want to pick up muscle mass but don’t expect big gains, and realize that you may drop weight at first but you want keep losing it.

[Bodhi]

I'm still here, I just don't post a whole lot.

[RawHeaven]

I'm not trying to invade this thread, but wanted to post a link to Shannon's story. I think men will gain inspiration from him as well. I was inspired by reading his story.

http://www.thegardendiet.com/shannon.html

[Gaius]

I'm not trying to invade this thread, but wanted to post a link to Shannon's story. I think men will gain inspiration from him as well. I was inspired by reading his story.

http://www.thegardendiet.com/shannon.html
I've seen his story before. I don't want to get as big as him but it certainly is inspiring.

[jimmorti]

{snip} A few examples that might be inspiring are:
http://www.thegardendiet.com/shannon.html


Definitely inspiring. Thanks for sharing it, as well as your own! I'll get to your blog next...