Book Review: The 80-10-10 Diet, by Dr. Douglas Graham
My three favorite foods are sticky buns, homemade bread and muffins (in that order), so I am hardly a good candidate to become a raw foodist. I like fruits and vegetables, of course—especially when they are cooked in fat, drowned in sodium or baked into a pie. You get the picture: My cooked and processed dietary indiscretions are unending.
I’ve always been sold on the idea of raw foods: unprocessed, environmentally low-impact, unpackaged, enzymatically intact; and I love going to raw food restaurants. The complexity, both in terms of taste and artistry, is beguiling. I am charmed by the slicing, dicing, dehydrating, sprouting, stacking, freezing, juicing and blending that went into my enthralling and luscious plate of raw goodness. I’ve made many trips to the bookstore, thinking I would attempt to recreate some of these delicacies. You’ve seen some of the popular raw food “cook” books, filled with photos of gorgeous food and gorgeous people who claim to have stopped the aging process because they eat ice cream made of raw nuts. But what always stops me in my tracks are the recipes themselves—complicated, time-consuming and kitchen gadget reliant—when all I really want is the heavenly glow and boundless energy promised on all of the book covers!
Lucky for me, I stumbled upon Wake Up, America—an Internet radio show hosted by Tina Volpe. One of my co-workers, Lee Hall, was a guest co-host, and I listened to their show featuring Dr. Douglas Graham—a thirty year raw foods enthusiast and author of the new book, The 80-10-10 Diet: Balancing Your Weight, Your Health and Your Life, One Luscious Bite at a Time. Dr. Graham’s enthusiasm inspired me to order the book immediately.
The title of the book is misleading. The word diet is too culturally loaded, conjuring images of meticulous menus and strategies for dropping pounds, and 80-10-10 (the ideal ratio of carbohydrates to protein to fat) presents a lifestyle—a way of inhabiting the world. In fact, the author argues that the material presented in 80-10-10 is our original and intended way of eating: a diet consisting of mainly raw fruits, some leafy green vegetables and the occasional and limited consumption of nuts and seeds. Graham argues that a diet consisting of mostly fruits meets this ratio effortlessly. The book is one part a meditation on the joys of eating simply, healthfully and in harmony with the natural world; and one part scientific support for a high-carbohydrate, low-protein and ultra low-fat, raw vegan eating plan. The only tool required to prepare a meal from 80-10-10 is one’s own hand.
Most of the information presented in 80-10-10 disputes current nutritional opinion—for example, that there’s good fat and bad fat. All excess fats are practically equal, Graham asserts – and a health risk, even when derived from vegetables or nuts. 80-10-10 isn’t a case for eliminating fat altogether, but for eating it in limited amounts and only in its unprocessed, unextracted, naturally-occurring form. Graham challenges the raw-foods movement itself, and its reliance on high-fat foods: nuts, avocadoes, seeds, even coconut. The diet that the current raw foods movement pushes, Graham argues, is almost as bad as the standard Western Diet.
The “science” presented in 80-10-10 is both anecdotal and extrapolative. That said, it is refreshing—especially given Graham’s overwhelming enthusiasm—to note the lack of hyperbole on the pages, and the endnotes citing specific studies. Graham’s claims, while not all necessarily supported by current and mainstream scientific literature, appear reasoned and assured; Graham does not make unbelievable health claims or promise miracles—only that the principles offered in 80-10-10 are health-supporting in a way that most of us have yet to experience.
I followed the 80-10-10 Diet for three weeks as a personal experiment, but only for breakfast and lunch. Because I wanted to ensure domestic harmony, for dinner I attempted to eat very low-fat cooked vegan foods. I contacted Graham via e-mail before starting—asking whether it was a worthwhile experiment to attempt a partial and part-time raw foods diet. Graham reiterated the advice in the preface to the book: “The 80-10-10 plan is not an all or nothing proposition. It allows you to work toward a goal, rather than simply follow a diet. You do not have to eat primarily raw foods to benefit from the 80-10-10 plan.”
After three weeks, I can admit my favorite aspect of this eating plan is its utter simplicity. I’d never even considered a “mono-meal” before—a raw meal consisting of a single fruit like bananas or mangoes, eaten in large quantity. Surprisingly, I found these meals to be not only enjoyable, but filling and energy-giving as well. A favorite emerged promptly, too: a big bowl of organic cherries and a mango, eaten with a large green salad lightly drizzled with the puree of a blended fruit. The biggest shock to my system occurred when I came home to eat deep-fried falafel for dinner—saint by day, sinner by night.
If you are wondering whether all of this organic fruit cost a fortune—yes, in fact, it did. Dr. Graham gave some wonderful suggestions for how to minimize costs: buy as locally as possible, buy by the case and in bulk and work with local farmers to get the best price. But organic, tropical fruits aren’t ever going to come cheap in places where they don’t grow. “Money doesn’t grow on trees” goes the adage; unfortunately, not much fruit does either in Washington, D.C., where I happen to live.
Am I going to trade in my dough addiction for an all-you-can-eat mango buffet? Probably not. Yet I find myself, more and more, drawn to simple, raw, very low-fat meals; I love the way my body feels afterwards—sustained, full but not stuffed, recharged. Great health is addictive; and—unfortunately for me—so are sticky buns.
