People who participate in Dherbs cleanses are occasionally confused about the raw vegan diet. We’ve heard it all, folks, and the questions about the cleansing diet will never stop. This is completely normal because the raw vegan diet forces you to focus on foods that people often neglect. These foods include raw fruits, vegetables, and raw nuts and seeds. Yet, there are still questions about the diet, and this article intends to clear up the confusion surrounding the foods that people think are cleanse-approved.
YOU CAN ONLY CONSUME RAW FRUITS, VEGETABLES, AND RAW NUTS AND SEEDS WHILE CLEANSING. YOU CANNOT COOK THESE ITEMS AND YOU CANNOT CONSUME MEAT, FISH, POULTRY, PROCESSED FOODS, REFINED SUGARS, ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS, COFFEE, OR SUGARY BOTTLED BEVERAGES.
Despite those instructions, we still receive questions about eating beans, chicken, or roasted vegetables while cleansing. Sure, there are a few additional items (like spices, nutritional yeast, olive oil, raw apple cider vinegar, and certain raw vegan items) that are acceptable to consume. Yet, questions about beans, canned foods, sweeteners, bottled juices, and other food items keep pouring in. We welcome your questions, everyone, because that is how you receive clarification.
Some people don’t understand why certain items are not acceptable to eat during the cleansing process. For this reason we decided to put together the most common foods that people ask us about eating during their cleanse.
Corn
Yes, corn is a vegetable, but the kernel (where popcorn comes from) is a grain, well a whole grain to be completely accurate. To further complicate things, most grains like corn are technically fruits, because they come from the seeds or flowers of the plant. What does this mean for you, the cleanser? In short, you cannot consume corn during the cleanse. It requires cooking, contains genetically modified organisms, and it is not nearly as nutrient dense as other fruits and vegetables.
Ezekiel Bread
Sorry, folks, but the answer is no, no, and no again. While this is an excellent product to consume after you finish cleansing, it is not acceptable to consume during your cleanse. This bread is made with wheat, soybeans, lentils, spelt, millet, and barley, and it is a baked product.
Store Bought Salad Dressings
People get upset when we tell them that store bought salad dressings, even the vegan ones, are not cleanse approved. The reason for this is because bottled dressings often contain dairy products, added sugars, saturated fats, trans fats, and other preservatives. Instead of drowning your salads with unhealthy dressings, whip up your own. It’s so easy to make homemade dressings!
Honey
This one frustrates a lot of people. Honey is a common sweetener, especially for herbal, caffeine-free teas. While raw organic honey has its benefits, it is not a raw vegan product because it comes from bees. Often times, people purchase heavily-processed honey that contains added sugars. Instead of honey, you can use raw agave syrup, stevia, and grade A maple syrup as sweeteners during your cleanse.
Legumes
Yes, legumes are excellent sources of heart-healthy fats, fiber, and protein, but they are not cleanse-approved. Legumes are staples in various cuisines around the world, but they aren’t staples in the raw vegan diet. Eat them when you finish cleansing, though, because they help to fill you up with tons of high quality fiber, which prevents over-eating or excess snacking between meals.
Bottled Juice
There is one exception to this rule and it is that you can purchase a bottled juice from a juicery that cold-presses the juice in house. Other bottled juices contain sugar, preservatives, and they are fortified with nutrients because the processing strips away the flavor and nutritional value of the ingredients.
Balsamic Vinegar
The reason apple cider vinegar is acceptable to consume during the cleanse is because it doesn’t go through a heating process. Balsamic vinegar, on the other hand, involves boiling the sweet juice from pressed grapes into a concentrate. When you come off the cleanse, this is an excellent vinegar to use in homemade salad dressings.
Raw Fish And Sushi
Raw fish is not classified as vegetarian, vegan, and especially not raw vegan. Fish remains an animal product, no matter how you consume it; therefore, you cannot have raw fish while cleansing. And don’t get us started on sushi, because sushi involves cooked rice that is often sweetened with sugar and rice vinegar, two more foods that are not cleanse approved. Nori, however, is acceptable if it is not roasted.
Peanuts
Technically speaking, peanuts are legumes, which are not cleanse-approved. Additionally, peanuts tend to be hard on the digestive system, which is why we advise against consuming them during your cleanse. Opt for raw almonds, raw walnuts, raw pecans, raw pistachios, or raw cashews instead.
Vincent Stevens is the senior content writer at Dherbs. As a fitness and health and wellness enthusiast, he enjoys covering a variety of topics, including the latest health, fitness, beauty, and lifestyle trends. His goal is to inform people of different ways they can improve their overall health, which aligns with Dherbs’ core values. He received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Redlands, graduating summa cum laude. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
