Tarzan is probably the ultimate raw eater.
The King of the Jungle is strong, lean and athletic from living off nature and the fruits of the forest.
But he’s not the only one enjoying the benefits of eating the way nature intended – free of chemicals, additives and processed junk.
Now more than 500,000 young people in Britain follow a vegan diet – but more and more people are going raw.
The benefits are clear – people who eat well are better at fat burning, have a lower body mass, have better gut health, more energy and even better mood.
While it’s a tall order for most people to ditch meat, dairy and starchy carbs all together, there are so many benefits to eating a little more raw food in your diet.
With the Legend of Tarzan film coming out on DVD, JOE chatted to one Britain’s raw vegan pioneers and diet expert Kate Magic who has been eating raw for quarter of a century
She explained what it’s all about, how to eat more raw and how it can make us happier, healthier, more productive at work and even look better…
What is a raw food diet?
It’s primarily vegan, although some raw eaters include some raw dairy produce. But most raw food is vegan. So it’s a lot of vegetables, obviously, then sprouts, sea vegetables, nuts and seeds and then I use a lot of superfoods like the micro-algae like spirulina, maca and hemp.
Why are raw diets good for your health and what are the benefits of it?
It’s really everything. People start for so many different reasons. Some people do it because they’ve got a health issues, others start because they saw it in a magazine.
People have so many different reasons, but the results they get are all very similar and everyone reports having more physical energy during the day, more mental focus, more clarity and the ability to focus more on your work and get things done, emotionally is probably the biggest thing – people just go ‘I feel really happy’
It’s because of the emerging science of the gut-brain interrelationship which scientists are only just understanding now how interrelated the gut and the brain are. When you eat right it really affects your mood and really affects your mind.
Spiritually people feel a lot more at peace and more connected to the world.
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What does the science say on the gut-brain interrelationship then? Is it all linked to chronic inflammation and eating lots of meats, dairy and foods with too much Omega 6?
There’s something called the ‘vegus nerve’ and it goes down your spine and connects to your gut. It’s continually sending signals back and forth. We have actually more sentient activity in our gut than in our brain, so there are more neurotransmitters in the gut than in the brain.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter and it’s the main neurotransmitter associated with happiness. So when serotonin is high, you’re in a good mood, but people are depressed then they have low serotonin levels. But actually 80 per cent of our serotonin receptors are in our gut.
The more clean and healthy your gut is, the more ability you have of producing serotonin.
How does a raw food diet benefit your gut?
I would say primarily it’s cutting our gluten, which is really hard to digest.
Cutting out meat products and cutting out dairy products, because all these things really gunk up your stomach. It’s really a lot of work for your digestion. When you’re having a lot of plant foods, we all know they’re really high in fibre and that acts as a broom and sweeps through the gut and keeps it clean and working.
If you stretched out the whole surface of the gut wall, it’s about the size of a tennis court. So it’s a massive surface area of absorption. But if you’re having things like gluten and meat, then it’s blocking all that ability to absorb.
So that’s why a lot of people run into problems and get things like IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and Collitis.
So when you’re cutting those things out and having a high fibre diet with all these good vegetables, then it really is a big step towards keeping everything working as it should be doing.
Macronutrients like proteins, carbohydrates and fats are important to keep your body functioning well, where do you get these from?
With the raw food diet, the way I do it is actually quite high fat – it’s called ketogenic.
It’s when your diet lets your body become adapted to burning fats for energy, so you’re not having to rely on using carbohydrates for energy.
I have a lot of avocados, olives, nuts and seeds, coconuts, raw chocolate and anything else with the really healthy fats in. Then oils as well like olive oil and hemp oil.
With the protein, I think it’s important to include the superfoods like hemp, maca and micro-algae. The micro-algae are really high in protein. I think the Chlorella is around 60 per cent protein and the hemp is similar as well.
I include those every day.
Are you able to get your full amino acid profile from plant sources?
Yes. But you have to think about digestibility as well. Of course those foods are high in protein, but how does your body digest that and how much of that protein is it able to break down and assimilate?
So when you’re having things like Chlorella, for example, if you’re having it in a juice with some water it’s really assimilable. Your body doesn’t have to do anything for it to absorb into the cell walls.
So its not just the quality or amount of the protein, but how easily it is to use that.
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I know a lot of people cut red meat out because it takes so much energy and so long to digest properly. It’s probably why you feel sluggish.
The average person uses 80 per cent of their energy in digestion and that’s really counter intuitive if you’re eating all this food in order to have energy to process all this food.
Which is why juicing is popular because you’re getting all the nutrients without having to worry about your digestion.
Going back to when you first started, how did it make you feel when you went raw vegan?
Maybe clarity is the best word. Clarity on all levels. Clarity about who you are and what you want to do in the world. I always feel like I’ve got a lot of focus.
I always feel like I’m in a good mood and I always have energy and I always feel productive and creative and I can always get on and do a lot of good things.
I really appreciate my health and that I can just get on and do things.
When you’re not feeling good, everything just feels more of a struggle.
Can you use this kind of approach if you’re into performance or training or if you’re doing something sport-specific?
Yes. There are a lot of vegan athletes. I think for athletes the ketogenic thing is really key. With carbs you get slumps, so you get energy, but then you also get the slumps.
With the ketogenic it’s very stabilising, so you get a very steady level of energy and your body becomes more efficient. Whereas using carbs is more up and down.
How can people start introducing raw foods or raw meals into their diet? I imagine going completely raw from being a carnivore is quite a big and frightening step to make.
I think 50 per cent is a good starting point. So if people think about including raw at every meal. So if you’re used to having toast for breakfast, just have juice with your toast.
Or if you’re having a sandwich for lunch, maybe have a salad alongside it. Then have little snacks of fruit or raw chocolate bars in between.
So just having raw at every meal. Or the other way people do it is they eat raw during the day time, so they have breakfast and lunch raw and then for their evening meal they just eat a normal meal with the family.
That 50 per cent should be enough to set you off and feel the benefits.
If that’s enough and that’s working for you, a lot of people just stop there. But you can gradually add more – and it is something you have to do gradually, it’s not wise to jump in at the deep end and go fully raw.
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Do you get cravings and get hungry? I get hungry all the time and struggle to fill myself up!
It’s really common when people transition to a raw diet they’re surprised how quickly they feel full.
There are two ways we feel full – physically when your stomach is full and you can’t fit any more food in.
Then the other one is the hormone leptin which gives the body the signal when it’s full.
So when you’re eating a bowl of pasta, there’s really no nutrients in that, so it fills your stomach but then very quickly after that you can be hungry again because you haven’t produced the leptin.
If you eat a meal full of nutrients then your body produces leptin and it says ‘I’ve got all my vitamins and minerals, I can start work, you don’t need to eat any more’
So you feel full very quickly. So yes, it’s really common how many people are surprised how much more full they are on a raw food diet.
That’s why it’s really important to get in those superfoods that have all the micronutrients like the micro-algae, the hemp and the maca because without those, there’s a danger you won’t be getting enough nutrients. So if you were eating broccoli and you put a tablespoon of Chlorella on it, you’d definitely feel full.
Chlorella is a farmed micro-algae which is really nutrient-dense and it’s full of every single nutrient the body needs. It’s one of the highest bio-available sources of protein on a plant-based diet. It’s a unique substance – it can rebuild cells, so it’s really good for athletes or anyone who has had an accident or injury. It oxygenates the blood so it’s also a really powerful detoxifier.
What do you eat then?
There is so much you can do. People think it’s just going to be salad, but I very rarely just eat salad.
Any menu you can think of, you can do a raw version of. So pasta, pizza, lasagne, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Mexican, Moroccan. I do a raw shepherd’s pie which is one of my favourite things to make.
You just make a tomato sauce, like you would. Then for the ‘meat’ I use raw nuts and sunflower seeds. Then I make a fake potato mash with cauliflower and some other things. Then we put it in a dehydrator to warm it through.
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What does your daily diet look like?
I don’t have breakfast usually. I drink a lot of tea in the morning, like herbals teas. For lunch I had a spinach wrap and put raw falafel in it with tahini and some kale, salad and babygem lettuce.
Normally for dinner I’ll make something that will last a few days like a shepherd’s pie or spring rolls with seaweed noodles.
The food is amazing as well and that’s why it’s getting so popular. Everyone is always looking for a new cuisine to try. Twenty years ago it was Thai, then everyone had Thai. Then it was Japanese and everyone then had Japanese. People are always looking for something new, because eating the same things all the time gets boring. So with raw you can take the best dishes from all of those other menus and do a raw version. There’s so much to have and people are always excited by the new flavours and textures.
Don’t miss out on the King of the Jungle in The Legend of Tarzan, available NOW on Digital HD, Ultra HD Blu-ray™,Blu-ray 3D™, Blu-ray™ and DVD.
