While in Asia, I was surrounded by so many exotic and delectable fruits—and this is what got me thinking about addressing the questions and thoughts I had about the “80-10-10 diet.”
In this detailed post, I’m going to cover the basics of what it is, the pros and cons of it, and talk a little bit about my experience eating this way, and then give you my final thoughts on it.
What is the 80-10-10 Diet?
You may have heard of the 80-10-10 diet, which was first popularized by a raw foodist named Dr. Douglass Graham. Perhaps you’ve seen some of the advocates post about it on Instagram and wondered what it was. I’ve seen quite a few of you mention it in the comments section of the blog, on Facebook, and in the community.
What’s the 80? What are the 10’s? Does this work or is it dangerous? A lot of people seem to have questions about it, and I can understand why.
Basically, it’s a raw vegan diet divided up into three food categories (macronutrients). Here’s a summary:
1 – A minimum of 80 percent of your calories are from carbohydrates. These calories come mostly from fruits and vegetables, relying heavily on the sweet fruits so it’s easier to reach this goal percentage.
About 90 to 95 percent of the calories in this category come from sweet fruits. Then about two to six percent of your calories are from greens. There are no grains of course, since everything is raw.
2 – A maximum of 10 percent of your calories are from healthy fats.
3 – A maximum of 10 percent of your calories are from plant-based protein sources, but they’re naturally built into the rest of the diet.
It’s very heavy on the fresh, whole produce and low in fat, which are both good things! But there’s a “but.”
You’re probably thinking, “Wow, that’s a lot of fruit!” You’re exactly right. It is. It is too much, I think, especially if you’re worried about candida or you’re just beginning to clean up your diet after years of surviving on the standard American diet.
I personally love to eat a lot of fruit, and I get a decent amount of calories from fruit each day, but certainly not 80%.
Note: This isn’t exactly the fruitarian lifestyle it’s often confused with (which is what Steve Jobs reportedly followed, and the same diet that put Ashton Kutcher in the hospital after he followed it to get into character for Jobs). In the diet’s defense, it does absolutely recommend greens and veggies like celery every single day.
Though I don’t like to count calories, it’s a good idea to keep the foods you know are high-calorie and the ones that take longer to digest (nuts, seeds, plant-based fats, for example) to a minimum—compared to the fruits and vegetables that you can eat a lot of without worrying too much about gaining weight or clogging your system. That’s kind of built right into this way of eating. That’s one positive.
That said…
There are some concerning aspects to this diet as well, like the heavy emphasis on sweet fruit and the fact that everything is raw.
In my opinion, you need more leafy greens than this diet prescribes, and there’s no need to go 100 percent raw; in fact, there could be adverse effects (I had them after being raw for a few years myself).
This diet has you eating mostly fruit, especially early in the day. You should have more salads—and especially more greens, which your daily GGS makes easy—during the first part of the day, too. This is important for nutrition and detox.
The 100 Percent Raw Diet
A completely raw diet promotes what traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) calls “dampness.” That dampness canlead to a clogged digestive system, blocked energy movement in the body, excess mucus, swelling, allergies, and a number of other health concerns.
One way to avoid it is by keeping seasonal, cooked vegetables and warming spices in your diet for balance.
The Pros and Cons of 80-10-10
Pros:
- You eat tons of fresh produce.
- It’s easy to eat light-to-heavy with this diet, which coincides with the Beauty Detox principles, too. Just keep the denser, heavier, higher calorie fats and proteins (avocados, nuts, beans, lentils, and grains, for example, which are beauty foods but not part of 80-10-10) toward the last part of the day.
- It’s low-fat, which is important for several reasons—weight gain, digestion, and it even affects candida growth (I’ll talk more about that in a minute).
- It’s an improvement if you’re on the standard American diet because you’re eating whole foods and no refined sugar.
Cons:
- Cooked foods, like other veggies (squash in particular), and grains like quinoa have benefits of their own beyond their vast vitamin and mineral offerings. They’re very grounding, comforting, and perfect when it’s cold outside. The 80-10-10 diet doesn’t include any of these. Cooked veggies and grains (the best ones are quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, and millet, as well as brown and black rice) also help fill you up because of their fiber content and density, plus they can help you make it through (or avoid) your cravings for refined carbs—something no one needs to be eating!
- Staying in tune with the seasons and what your body is craving is important, and cooked soups and stews have an important place in a winter diet.
- Going too “vata” (according to Ayurveda principles) can make you feel anxious or scatterbrained. You need to balance that out with grounding, warm vegetables and gluten-free grains that are earthy and “kapha.”
- The potential for the internal dampness mentioned above, from eating too many raw fruits and vegetables and not enough cooked foods.
What About the Fruit?
Fruit is totally natural to eat—you should eat it! It’s a great source of energy and I love it and eat multiple servings of it each day.
Let me repeat- I am a huge fruit fat! However, if you’re still struggling from candida or you’re in the Blossoming Beauty phase, you should be careful about the types of fruits you’re eating. We’ll get to that in a minute.
Nearly 80 Percent Calories from Fruit
Sometimes people will decide to follow the 80-10-10 diet and dive into that 80 percent part by eating a ton of fruit, almost to the point of filling that category with only fruit.
That’s actually not a good idea for a couple of reasons, even though the plan does recommend getting almost all of your carbohydrates from fruit.
I’ve actually tried to eat all fruit, to experiment in my own body, but after two weeks I felt a little too “vata,” which may be great in a hot environment, but not so much in a cold one.
What does “vata” mean?
By vata, I’m referring to the Ayurvedic idea that there are three principles. Vata is one; the others are pitta and kapha. All of them have a purpose in the body, certain things they control, and they need to work in harmony for you to feel your best.
Vata has to do with the movement in your body and it spans several systems—nervous, circulatory, excretory, and respiratory.
Feeling too vata is often characterized by feeling colder than you should, maybe a little restless or anxious, craving warm foods for grounding, and you may have trouble sleeping or staying focused.
Overall, I feel that eating 80 percent fruit may be too imbalancing. Anyway, there are so many delicious mineral-rich vegetables (as well as gluten-free grains that you cook), that are nourishing to the body out there—it makes sense to include them into your diet.
Enjoy your fruit each day, but be sure to get plenty of variety of beauty foods and nutrients.
The stews and soups I eat at home and abundance and here in Asia feel almost medicinal to me, and eating such cooked foods are a big part of the diets recommended by traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda.
In these ancient practices, and all raw diet is not recommended (more on this below).
Candida and Fruit
As I mentioned earlier, if you’re in the Blossoming Beauty phase or you’re trying to remove candida, sweeter fruits aren’t right for you—yet—because the sugars will feed the candida that’s already living in your body.
That doesn’t mean you can’t have fruits that are lower in sugar, though you may wish to cut all fruits out for a little while (not permanently).
According to Dr. Douglas Graham, creator of the 80-10-10 diet, the problem with sweet fruit as it relates to candida has to do with fat intake, which is too high in most people’s diets (even some raw vegans get way too much fat, and the Standard American Diet is loaded with them, of course, and not the healthy kinds).
In other words, the fat’s slowing down digestion and “keeping” the sugar in the blood for far too long. That causes problems. I totally agree.
When the sugar in fruit is eaten alone, and there’s not a lot of excess fat slowing things down, the sugar doesn’t stay in the blood for long and it’s utilized for immediate energy.
When it’s eaten in a diet–or too soon after–food that’s high in fat, the fat slows down digestion, the sugar stays in the blood longer, and candida grows to eat the sugar.
If there’s already candida in the body, you should restrict or minimize your sweet fruit intake until it’s gone or reduced significantly; otherwise you’ll just be feeding the candida.
Just remember that fruit itself is not the problem. It’s the combination—fruit in the context of a diet filled with dense, slow-digesting fats and/or proteins—is what slows down the digestion of the fruit and leads to the weight gain and bloating that people often mistakenly attribute to the fruit itself.
Again, it’s not the fruit; it’s the combination of the fruit with other things. Once you know you’re free of candida, you can enjoy lots of sweet fruits and move up to the Radiant Beauty phase—just enjoy those fruits on their own.
How Do Cooked Foods Fit In?
Well, in the 80-10-10 diet, they don’t! But I believe they do have a place in a nourishing, healthy diet. Cooked foods are some of man’s staples from traditional and ancient cultures all around the world.
Think of all the healing medicinal teas and stews used for wellness and enjoyed throughout the centuries. Think of how you feel in the winter when you sit down to a delicious meal with warm squash, a serving of quinoa, or a soup.
Much better than coming in from the snow and having only a pile of fruit salad, right? ;)
Trust your body and follow the seasons and you’ll find that these cooked foods are some of the most nourishing you can eat. Food’s not always just about the calorie count.
Would we be where we are today if man hadn’t discovered fire, one of the five elements (along with metal, earth, wood, and water), the Tao scholars and mystics later observed to be great expressions of the transformations that occur in the world? (To read more about the five elements and traditional Chinese medicine, visit the Traditional Chinese Medicine World Foundation.)
None of the oldest eating systems in the world promote fruit as the total source of our nutrition. Can you think of a tribe or a civilization that has survived without cooking at least some of their food?
One could argue that the introduction of fire changed the human diet and eating habits, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I read an article in the Harvard Gazette that points out just how much cooking makes us, well, human.
The Benefits of Cooking Vegetables (and Why You Shouldn’t Overcook Them)
Cooking food not only (sometimes), releases more of certain nutrients, but it can speed up the eating process (it takes less time to chew your food up, for example), freeing up time and energy to do other things.
Cooking opened us up to agriculture and a greater sense of community as a species, which ultimately contributed to our survival. Humans have evolved to eat cooked food; it shouldn’t be off-limits.
You should just be careful about when you eat it (later in the day), and balance it with enzyme-rich raw veggies and fruit that deliver some of the vitamins and minerals that may be cooked out of certain foods (it’s all about balance!).
I’m not denying that cooking destroys some of the nutrients in your veggies. Overcooking non-starchy vegetables isn’t good; certainly burnt food of any kind is unnatural and bad for you.
But you gently can steam or lightly sauté your veggies and nourish your body with warmth while also retaining some of the nutrients. Starchy vegetables can be baked/roasted and should always be well-cooked before you eat them. Think squash and sweet potatoes.
Listen to Your Body and Share Your Experiences
So there you have it. That’s my take on the 80-10-10 diet. Overall, I mostly agree with the macronutrient breakdown of calories and think most people consume too much fat, or worry about too much protein.
However, I think there are ways to reach this without over consuming fruit—in particular, using cooked vegetables, some gluten free grains, soups and other items we’ve covered here.
Of course, I am and will always be a big fan of including a high amount of living foods in your diet. I recommend you drink your Glowing Green Smoothie® each day, and that always have some raw veggies before or as a meal.
Just know that if your body’s telling you it needs warmth as nourishment, there’s no reason not to whip up a vegetable soup or throw some steamed or baked veggies on top of your salad.
And if you want fruit—even sweet fruit—eat it, but eat it alone and be aware of the beauty phase so you choose the fruit that won’t contribute to weight gain or bloating for you.
As I mentioned, after being raw for a few years I went back to introducing some cooked squash, sweet potatoes and other foods into my diet and have never felt better. MUCH better in fact. That was the experience I had with my body.
Have you ever tried the 80-10-10 diet or been a raw vegan of any kind? Do you feel like the ability to cook our food has helped or hindered our health overall?
Remember to listen to your body and let it tell you what feels best.
Of course, I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions below—please feel free to share!
I’m so honored that I get to share this amazing journey with you :)
In health and love,
Kimberly
47 Comments
Elenaon April 23, 2014 at 10:42 am
Hi,
Can you mention fruits considered “sweet fruits” vs. those that are less sweet?
Thanks!
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Jan P. Lopezon April 23, 2018 at 5:50 am
Sweet fruits are say: Mango, papaya, banana, sapodilla, jackfruit etc.
Non-sweet : cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, zucchini etc.Reply
Allyon August 26, 2021 at 5:27 pm
5 months ago, I transitioned to 80-10-10 after a lifetime of being vegetarian, and after about 5 years of being vegan. and non-processed. The 80-10–10 absolutely took my health and energy levels to a level I could never have dreamed of!! My body is thriving in every possible way, my energy and mindset are at an all-time high. Every single aspect of my health that had ever been “imperfect “ (from achy, popping joints to bleeding gums and sparse eyebrows) somehow, incredibly, got “fixed”, and my vitality and immunity have skyrocketed. And every time I ever tried to include a bit of “cooked” , my body would let me know right away that this is not the optimal way to nourish it. Ripe, sweet fruit and vibrant green veggies, if you can manage to source them in consistently sufficient quantities, are, to me, the ideal way to eat for thriving, and not just surviving:)
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Katyeon April 23, 2014 at 11:46 am
This was probably the most articulate and realistic “anti-” 80/10/10 perspective I have heard. I must agree with you – at least in my personal experience. However, I do find that it is very difficult to “listen” properly to what your body needs until you have been eating cleanly for a good amount of time. What makes it all so interesting is that there seem to be people who do thrive on it long term – I guess it’s all so individualistic…..thanks for your blog posts!
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Ashleyon April 23, 2014 at 11:50 am
Hi Kimberly,
Thank you so much for posting this. There is a huge hype surrounding 80/10/10 right now. I agree with many things Dr. Graham says in his book. But I also agree with you. Eating entirely raw is not something that comes naturally to me. And while I think that doing 80/10/10 for a period of time to cleanse my body of toxins accumulated by years of eating SAD, I don’t see it as a long-term plan. I much prefer the means of long-term detox that you propose in your books. Thank you for being such an incredible inspiration time and time again.
-Ashley
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Samon April 23, 2014 at 12:17 pm
I tried 80-10-10 last year for 6 months and experienced more energy and mental clarity than I have ever experienced before! However it triggered binge eating for me and led to weight gain which made me feel uncomfortable in my body so I stopped. I think I am going to revisit my own version of the 80-10-10 diet that is more intuitive and includes both raw juices and cooked foods :) Especially after recently moving to Maui! The fruit here is outstanding!
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Yvonneon April 23, 2014 at 12:53 pm
Thank you for your post, Kimberly! I’m one of your readers that has asked about your thoughts on the 80-10-10 diet. I’m so glad to hear your thoughts because I feel the same! I tried doing the raw diet for a short period of time, but it kind of felt unnatural to me– I craved warming foods and was hungry all the time. Although I lost weight and had a lot of energy, something just didn’t right. When I met up with a friend who studied Chinese medicine, she told me my body was so cold and had a lot of stagnation, and that I should add warming foods and spices to my diet. I then read up on Ayurvedic medicine and it all sort of made sense. I am a tridosha (a little bit of each dosha, but more pitta. After reading your book, experimenting on myself, and learning more about Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, I think a Raw Till 4pm diet works best for me… of course, if my body feels like eating a warm soup for lunch, I will eat soup. Thanks so much for your inspiration and for sharing your knowledge, Kimberly!
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Michaelaon April 23, 2014 at 12:54 pm
I think you missed out the point that there is also a place for cooked carbs in the 801010 lifestyle. It is not raw, but the macronutrient ratio stays the same. The raw’till 4 diet is one example of a high carb diet with cooked foods included.
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Debraon April 23, 2014 at 12:59 pm
Great article, Kimberly! Thanks. Informative and balanced. I totally agree with what you say. I tried the raw food/much higher fruit diet for a while, altho I was still eating fats at night (ug, didn’t realise then!) and it made me really spacey, sedated for sure, but also a bit irritated, like I couldn’t quite think straight. It definitely wasn’t right for me at that stage because of my age, my illness/partic. problems, and my previous history of overconsuming and being v. sensitive to sugar!
But I’m so glad I tried it and it has taught me lot of good info and habits which I follow now in my diet. :O)Reply
Arlene Meyeron April 23, 2014 at 1:20 pm
Your opinion on 80/10/10 Diet, on raw foods, on cooked foods, is a breath of fresh air. In this day and age where there are tons of websites and health gurus espousing all the benefits of raw foods and all that, yours is a balanced approach. I have done raw vegetables and I found that my body reacted. I got food poisoning more often. There are still benefits to drinking hot soup, hot tea, and cooked grains. Balance is the key.
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Ninaon April 23, 2014 at 1:41 pm
Hi Kimberly,
Thank you for your share, great blog! I have tried to go raw vegan but it was a struggle for me…my heritage is Eastern European (lots of cooked and baked food in my childhood!) so I was constantly craving warm food which makes me more focused and GROUNDS me! I’m vata-pita constitution to say I’m flighty is being nice :) my bowls increased which was a positive but my poor skin (that I already have problems with) was not having it! I was in a state of a constant break out that almost seemed like an allergic reaction. So needless to say I’m back to my norm of cooking some food and trying to keep my veggies up! If you have any suggestions for acne prone, oily and congested skin would love to hear from you. I have experimented lots with diet and product and can’t quite figure it. Thank you!Reply
Chrison November 23, 2014 at 11:32 pm
Has anybody told you that you had typical cleansing reactions when your skin broke out? I.e. toxins being expelled from your skin? More raw, earlier sleep= faster cleansing :)
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Davidon April 23, 2014 at 2:25 pm
Great article!
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Laurenon April 23, 2014 at 2:35 pm
I have been reading so much on the 80-10-10 diet and felt confused by all the information. I trust your opinion & thank you so much for touching on this topic :)
Much love xxReply
clauon April 23, 2014 at 3:09 pm
Thank you so much for posting about this topic. I was following the blossoming phase of beauty detox for about a year before trying the 80/10/10. The reason this seemed appealing was because my struggle came almost every evening when I just felt I Needed something sweet. I was eating chocolate,avocado, almond milk, oat groats pretty much everything recommended in BD to stop cravings but the cravings were still there and after consuming too much of this the night before i just had no energy the next morning nor was i hungry. The Idea of eating an abundance of fruit ( something I cut out of my diet for about a year) seemed awesome .I felt great , my energy went through the roof. i started exercising again and have experienced tons of mental clarity as well as a special connection with nature. unfortunately it is hard to sustain a lifestyle of mainly all fruit or all raw. I did struggle through winter and so I started to Incorporate cooked food again. I do find that now that I’ve started to incorporate cooked food in the evening not every day but a few days a week i feel a bit more satiated and “normal” when i am around others. In conclusion i would say that i like it because of the abundance of ripe fruit you eat which stopped the cravings completely for any other sweets even chocolate, any processed carbs ex. breads , crackers and fat in the form of oils . Do you think that the idea of consuming more carbs that be in the form of fruit or cooked starchy vegetables with a low percentage of fat is not such a bad idea?.. this is what I am experimenting with now as I feel that the candida has not been an issue for me since I cut down the fat . also do you think its ok to have some “bad” bacteria as they also help our bodies stay in balance?. Again thank you for this post! I find that no matter what I am doing regarding my diet you are one person that I truly value as a teacher regarding all aspects not just our food and would love to get your opinion on this. loving the podcast with tony!!! keep them coming :)
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annalee macalusoon April 23, 2014 at 3:10 pm
Hi, Kimberly! My name is annalee and i just wanted to say that your blog has helped me tons!!!! I stared my healthy eating journey almost 2 years ago. Im 17 and eldest of 7 children! :) were all homeshcooled and have two loving parents. But anyways i recently started not eating meat and getting my proteins from beans, nuts and of course my veggies! I love em! But i was doing all raw…. and just realizing about 2-3 months later of all raw that i dont feel completely balanced. .. until i read this i hadn’t thought bringing cooked or steamed veggies back into my diet. Seems legit lol. Sooooo if theres anything else u could possibly suggest for me that would be amazing!
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Tatyana Kiselevaon April 23, 2014 at 4:22 pm
Well, that’s interesting. Kim’s books and advice helped me a great deal while transition from standard diet to Raw Vegan or 80-10-10 diet. I couldn’t have done it without Beauty Detox Solutions and because of slow transitioning I never had any problems that are attributed to 80-10-10 diet. In fact 80-10-10 diet helped me to finally get rid of cellulite, to get rid of an awful PMS that would take away 2 weeks of my life with my pretty short 25 days cycle, get rid of skin problems, chronic constipation, chronic fatigue and a lot of minor issue like dry skin – I don’t need to use any creams or lotions anymore. Kimberly Snyder CN have always been my “guru” on my way to eating a raw diet and I am kind of sad that this article sounds more critiquing than advocating 80-10-10 diet. In any case I took this article into consideration and if I ever have any problems with eating 80-10-10 that would be a good place to look for solution. Thank you Kimberly!
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Allyon August 26, 2021 at 5:37 pm
I have the exact same experience with the 80/10/10, which has been optimal for me after years of step-by-step transitions. And, just like you, I am grateful to Kimberly for providing me with the tools to transition and eventually end up at the 80/10/10 level as simply the best way to nourish myself:)
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Donna Veeon April 23, 2014 at 5:26 pm
I agree with eating certain cooked foods. It keeps me emotionally sane and that means harmony with my family:) and there are a few good programs out there that recommend making your first two meals, raw fruits and veggies and the third a cooked whole food such as starch based veggies or a whole grain or bean dish although I do think that in a perfect world, if we could just pick it off of the tree and eat it, it would be the most beneficial. And of course there are those who will offer the118 degree argument but personally, if we eat the way that you recommend, we should be getting plenty of nutrients in our day anyway and heating a few healthy foods through shouldn’t hurt anything but in fact keep us warm, healthy and comfortably satisfied. Great article Kimberly
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Kate Schwabacher Yoga & Ayurvedaon April 23, 2014 at 5:48 pm
As an ayurvedic practitioner, I LOVE how you framed this evaluation of the 80-10-10, eating raw, and importance of smart fruit (non-)food combining! I wrote a blog post about cleanse types and what’s best for each body type that touched on similar notes. Thanks again for the great share of your experience and suggestions!
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Elizabeth Adamson April 23, 2014 at 6:33 pm
80% in fruit will not work for me. I am hypoglycemic. There are very few fruits I can eat. This is a genetic issue for me. My father was diabetic and my mother hypoglycemic also. This is not something I decided. I spent a week in Philadelphia Hospital being tested. I am food sensitive and diet controlled.
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paulon April 23, 2014 at 7:43 pm
I like your review of this diet. I had done it for many years myself but found it hard to sustain in a practical way. However, I do have a few replies to what you wrote. these in no way are criticisms but more observations.
-You can’t totally gauge the effects of a diet after only 2 weeks.
-Fruit is not a problem with candida necessarily. I’ve seen examples of Dr Graham recommending a banana diet for those with stubborn (persistent) candida problems with amazing results.
-You’re mixing all kinds of things here with Ayurveda, CCinese medicine, raw food diets, etc to make your points. I agree with all the info of itself and appreciate reading what you’ve posted. However, isn’t that exactly one of the very problems we see far too often: people ‘co*cktailing’ info from various different systems and approaches AND THEN claiming something works or doesn’t work? Isn’t this one of the very problems with diet since there is so much info as well as diets available on teh internet these days?
Thank youReply
Angelaon April 24, 2014 at 12:42 am
Hi Kimberly, great post as usually. I was a 100% raw vegan for 2 years and the last 6 months of them I followed the 80/10/10. I live in Spain and during the winter is very cold where I live so after those 2 years I realised neither ways of eating were made for me. I felt tired, always cold, I craved warm foods all the time and I think I wasn’t getting enough nutrients, I have had some issues with my hormones and fertility. I am a vata dosha so the 100% raw way of eating agravated vata more. Right now I follow your principles combined with ayurveda and I have to say that I feel great, much better. Even my digestions are much better than having only raw food, I felt bloated and constipated all the time when I eated raw all day long.
I have a few questions maybe you could answer. So what is the right ratio of prots, carbs and fats in your opinion? And during pregnancy? What is your opinion about ghee?
Thank you very much for being always there. AngelaReply
Melissaon April 24, 2014 at 5:00 am
Fantastic article, thank you !! Also thought you would like to know there is a typo ( i think) in the paragraph beneath the woman selling lychees. It says ” I’m a huge fruit fat !” instead of fruit fan. Again I’m assuming that’s what you meant but I could be wrong.
Have a great day and thanks for sharing all your knowledge !
MelissaReply
Sulayon April 24, 2014 at 7:31 am
You speak of candida in your book and in this article. But it is still unclear to me how you know if you have candida? I’ve seen many articles on internet about it, but I (we beauty detox community) would feel much better if you explained because we trust you. So please if you could shed some light- scratch that lots of light- it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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Alisonon April 24, 2014 at 8:48 am
I don’t fully agree with this post but you definitely make a good point about the cooked food, especially in colder climates. I follow more of the RawTill4 lifestyle that Freelee the banana girl & Durianrider follow and it has helped regulate my hormones and cure my eczema. I don’t find the mass amounts of fruit cause candida issues…actually opposite for me. I had candida for years and it went away eating a plant based diet low in fat and high in carbs.
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Michelleon April 24, 2014 at 10:14 am
Kimberly, you have put so much time into this article! Thank you for that.
I know how busy you are, and in the past, have not answered any questions I have asked here on this blog. but I am REALLY hoping you will answer just one?
I do not digest fats well, but have read that in order to absorb the nutrients in greens that are fat-soluble, I have to add fat to my salads.
The only fat I can seem to digest in very small portions is sunflower oil. Even whole avocados, nuts and seeds make me ill.
Is it necessary to add fat to my salads and greens in order to glean the nutrients from them?
Why or why not?
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Lulúon April 24, 2014 at 3:28 pm
Im doing THE 801010 diet and never felt better THE thing is socially im afectted but this is how i started gainning weight and Had my periodismo again after a so many years but i agree with u i guess u have 2 listen 2 ure body and know ureself thanks kim!!
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Karoon April 24, 2014 at 4:43 pm
Wonderful article! Just today I made a green salad with pickles, tomatoes, warm green beans and some cooked zucchini and eggplant. And after reading the article, I don’t feel guilty that I’d included the cooked veggies. It’s easy to watch some great-looking ppl who are raw foodists and fall under their spell. :) but I agree, the fire is an element of every ancient medicine and should not be ignored. My question is: when you mix raw and cooled veggies, should you take an enzyme? Have a beautiful day!
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Kourtneyon April 24, 2014 at 5:40 pm
The ideal diet you have basically described (as to how to fill in the ‘gaps’ of the 80/10/10) is the “Raw till 4” diet that is a variation of this…it is a great program that seems more sustainable to follow and currently what I have been doing for two years and my family for a year! It follows the digestion principles and waiting until after 4pm to eat cooked carbs (potatoes, rice, veggies). I generally am all raw in the summer and in the winter do super low sodium/fat/protein cooked meals and use a lot of your recipes. :)
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Lorion April 28, 2014 at 10:56 am
This is a great write up about 80-10-10. Parts of it make sense, but going all raw, especially in cold climates, just isn’t practical. Thanks for the info!
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Lorion April 28, 2014 at 10:58 am
This is a great write up. All raw can be really difficult, especially in cold climates. Also, there are times I crave something not sweet, like a potato or a bowl of quinoa. 80-10-10 left me lethargic and with salty cravings. Thanks for the blog!
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Jonathan Riveraon April 29, 2014 at 2:32 pm
I do the 80-10-10 all the time… I love bananas. I hate going a day without ripe bananas. I like to eat a lot of green salads, but I guess your right. I don’t know if I have candidas…? I like cooked yams after they cool off. I like to put them in the fridge because they taste sweeter when they turn cold. So I don’t want to be a hipocrate and say I’m against cooked food. But the truth is… I wish I could be less dependent on technology, but its difficult, cause I didn’t grow up in a tribe somewhere in a distant land. I’ll try to eat a little less fruit though. Thank you, I’ll research candidas.
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Chrison May 15, 2014 at 5:52 pm
Hi Kim, I have a few questions. Not everyone who follows the 80-10-10 ratio eats a 100% raw diet. I have felt for sometime now that 100% raw in unhealthy and unsustainable in the long run, but my questions are about the high carb, low fat vegan diets that are still high in raw foods, but include some simple cooked plant foods like potatoes, rice, cooked vegetables other whole plant foods. Some people call it “Raw til 4”. I’ve seen some people who do this diet eat massive quantities of potatoes and other foods (on a regular basis). That’s what kind of baffles me. Is this healthy in the long run? I guess time will tell, but it seems to work for some people. Also, why it is acceptable to eat grains and other carbohydrate-rich foods, but not eat sweet fruits when addressing candidiasis. Could you please explain this? From my own personal experience, I don’t seem to handle a lot of sweet fruit well at all, but I can sweet potatoes, green apples, oats, white rice, as well as some other high carb. foods. Does it have to do with the glycemic index, how the food is absorbed somehow? It puzzles me that many people say that their candida issues have disappeared once they have started eating 80-10-10. Lastly, I have a question regarding brown rice vs. white rice. White rice is traditionally consumed throughout history, whereas consuming brown rice seems to be strictly done among western health conscious folks. It seems there is a good reason why white rice is preferred, and it has to do with decreasing phytic acid content and increasing digestibility. What are your thoughts?
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couron June 6, 2014 at 3:29 pm
when consuming all carbs, this does not pose any problems for candita. the only time candita goes overboard is when the blood sugar is imbalanced. the blood sugar is only imbalanced when we combine fruit/carbs with high amounts of fats. otherwise, 100 percent raw and fruit is just fine. I’ve been at it for months.
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Kimberly Snyderon June 7, 2014 at 12:04 pm
I’ve long said that dietary fat is much more the culprit than sugar when it comes to Candida. Thanks for commenting!
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Chrison June 8, 2014 at 4:11 pm
I’ve just read this article again and realize the problematic wording in the candida section. In this section, you say “If there’s already candida in the body…..”. EVERYONE has candida, candida is an issue when it becomes systemic which is called candidiasis. That is confusing to people who don’t understand that. Also, so many sweet fruits are hybridized and contain unnaturally high amounts of sugar as a result of hybridization. Fruits cannot grow like this in the wild, they would never survive. Wild fruits are usually much smaller, contain seeds, and are much less sweet than many of the store-bought hybridized fruits. They don’t require pesticides to protect them. I also don’t understand why you promote Cavendish bananas which are basically clones and contain no seeds, yet you have stated in other blogs that seedless watermelons and other seedless fruits should be avoided. I would be very interested to see you address this as well as Panama disease (the fungus threatening the world’s banana supply) in another blog post. I’m not saying I’m anti-fruit or anti-sugar (natural sugar that is), but it is definitely not natural to be consuming lots of hybridized fruits (making up the majority of the diet), because I said before, they would never survive in nature with that much sugar content. Also, many people who eat high fruit diets end up having mineral issues and dental problems and end up going back to eating animal products and see their issues clear up.
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Stephon July 11, 2014 at 11:30 pm
I have read the 80 10 10 book and he recommends a whole head of lettuce a day (or similar greens) and a few cucumbers a day (or similar greens). Yet you say you don’t get enough greens in Dr Graham’s diet???????? What the? How much more greens can you eat in a day lady?????
I love the 80 10 10 diet and your cons do not provide scientific evidence like Dr Graham does. Eat to live don’t live to eat!
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Lorraon August 27, 2014 at 9:45 pm
I have been eating a mostly raw food diet for 6.5 years and the latter half has been 80/10/10 or attempting to be.
I have had both successes and failures on 80/10/10, and I have had similar with a gourmet raw diet. I was gourmet raw for the first 3 years and felt great. I had issues with vitamin D and was convinced it was other things and so jumped on the low-fat wagon. While this gives me a lot more energy naturally, it also has a lot of drawbacks. For instance it took me 3 years to figure out that my rashy dry skin and dandruff was caused by a lack of sodium – sodium is very difficult to get on 80/10/10 unless you eat a LOTTTTTTT of greens and celery.
That being said it is a good GUIDE, but I do not agree with all of it. Sometimes I feel better with a bit more fat (like 15-20%) and sometimes better with less. I also feel better with a bit more protein, though not a ton, and so added in some raw vegan protein powder and now soaked oats. This still brings me to about 80/10/10, too – I feel happy this way most of the time, especially in summer, but I usually relent in winter because I want SOUP or something less sweet. And darnit sometimes I just want hummus.I always have a minor detox when going back to 100% raw, and I do feel best that way, but I feel really good with some cooked food, too.
One thing I do not agree with that many people say to do in 80/10/10 or “Rawtil4” world is to STUFF yourself. This is where people start getting weight problems and give up the diet completely. It’s best to know how much you need and eat that and factor in your activity level. It’s taken me many many years to figure out what works best for me.
One more thing about 80/10/10 I’d like to add is not to refer to it as gospel. Some people think they must follow it 100% and get fanatical. I must say that the ones who are the most extreme are either the nicest people, or the most awful. It’s weird. I’d rather be sane and open-minded than an extremist. But as I said before, it’s an excellent set of basic guidelines for real health. John McDougall is a good guy to look into as well.
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Graceon September 24, 2014 at 12:55 pm
Interesting post thank you! I actually read an article a while ago that said that scientists believe one of the main reasons the human brain evolved to the size it has and we became ‘human’ was that we learned to cook our food. It would have been impossible for our ancestors to consume the amount of calories and nutrients we needed to grow our brains to their current size on a raw vegan diet, we would have had to eat for more than 9 hours a day, which due to the dangers of collecting suitable vegetation would have been impossible.
It is quite possible now of course, and much healthier than existing on the current standard American diet I’m sure! :)Reply
Barb Cuttanceon November 7, 2014 at 8:46 pm
The writer does not have a firm grip on the 80/10/10 diet and lifestyle.
I’ve been mostly following 811 now for around 6 years, I’ve never felt better.
I’ve struggled with my weight all my life till then, I’m now almost 60 and feel much better than I ever have before. More energy, sharper mind, balanced emotions – working physically daily and still have plenty of energy to exercise.I can strongly recommend this diet and lifestyle – provided the person involved can get over there prejudice towards fruit and vegetables – the natural diet of the human animal.
We have been sold a “crock of crap”, about diet and are suffering the consequences of doing so. Cancer, heart decease, high blood pressure etc, etc.
I know many, many people who are thriving like never before now that they follow this diet and lifestyle….get the book, eat the diet properly, do some exercise most days, and judge for yourself!No other animal eats cooked food or if they do they suffer the same debilitating deceases as the human animal does – we animals are all built in the same fundamental way, why would the human animal benefit from cooked food. Our nearest cousins the great apes eat the same diets as is best for humans.
Raw till 4 is a transition diet to 80/10/10, it’s not the destination…
There is no need for supplements, super foods or anything other that fresh, ripe, whole, organic fruits and vegetables with a few nuts and seeds added.
In fitness and in health – Barb
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Prof. L. Allium Cruciferouson November 13, 2014 at 10:32 pm
I have been following my own ‘plant-based’ diet now since 1992. Most of what I eat is ‘raw’, but not all of it (little bit of brown rice and lots of died/cooked beans). And I agree about the fruit. I find that I just don’t gravitate towards lots of fruit, although here in Thailand fruit abounds…but so do lots of great vegetables. I also think it essential to make sure you combine daily ‘D & E’ (diet AND exercise), and spend 2 hours in the gym every day. The proof is in the pudding. I check my numbers weekly, Resting heart Rate: 45…Blood Pressure: 110/71…Body Fat: 10.8%…and 65 years of age. But it is important to pay attention and ‘test’ on yourself. Do not just t6ake anybody’s word for it no matter how much conviction the may have. I do a ‘vegan buffet’ with a little bit from this diet, and some from that diet, and so on.
For me when I discovered Dr. Caldwell Esselstyne back in 2006, I thought I had found a long-lost kindred soul. He was singing out of them same ‘hymn-book as me, and it just confirmed all my own research over the years.
80-10-10 is also what Dr. T. Colin Campbell endorses (and so do I), just go easy on the fruit.
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Allyon August 26, 2021 at 5:44 pm
Absolutely, Barb! Spot-on comment:)
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Jason Batton November 30, 2014 at 7:09 am
Your critique suggests to me that you have not read his book.
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Lorion December 11, 2014 at 9:59 am
Every “body” is different. My TCM doctor found that my spleen was damp. He said it was due to my eating too many raw foods. True, 20 years ago, eatint raw healed me from a chronic health problem. After it cleansed and healed, it became problematic. I introduced chicken breast and fish a few times a week and and cooked vegs, rice, barley, etc. Feeling better.
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Jessica Lee Brookeon August 12, 2015 at 3:01 pm
I really appreciated this post Kimberly. It has helped to clarify a lot for me. Thank you so much. :) X x
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Mar Caribon February 24, 2016 at 2:56 am
THIS IS SUPER GOOD, I live in China, and i am ur big instagram fan since i started raw two years ago, now me here in China suffering from Dampness in the body ! just as u mentioned, and also candida since having dampness can easily develop candida, now following 80 10 10 to detox and get candida clear, with ZERO fats, as well as u mentioned . but of course feeling cold here in China and me living specially in a humid place, so now i am thinking just to do as u say, i will listen to my body, the fully raw was great for the first year but after if not combined good or if living in super cold weather and not following the chinese wisdom of keeping the body warm i can harm my health, is hard to accept raw doesnt apply fully 100 % anymore, ( since it cured me so much for the first year ..thanks KIMBERLY hopefully one day u come China :) love :)
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