The raw food diet has been receiving a lot of media hype for its reported health benefits and these 5 stars have all given a raw diet a shot. Only eating pure and raw ingredients, food is said to retain more of its health-benefiting properties when left uncooked or only heated at a low temperature and these celebs opted to try it out, with varying results. Some loved the diet and swear by it, while others had less positive experiences.
- Alicia Silverstone
Alicia realized raw wasn’t for her: “I was getting all excited about eating raw food and I realized it was not working for me. It’s not that fruits and vegetables aren’t good; everybody should [eat them]. But I still ate a lot of processed food and a lot of sugar and things like that, and white flour. In New York City you can get anything you want at any time so I was in the dead of winter trying to eat mangos. God created mangos to cool you off in the heat; that’s why they don’t grow in the cold. So here I was in the snow making myself colder.”
- Kelly Rowan
Kelly has eaten raw for years: “I don’t eat any refined carbohydrates. I eat sprouted rice, I eat raw meat… nothing processed. I’ve been doing it for 12 years and I’ve never been sick. I eat raw dairy; anything the body can assimilate. It’s great, ’cause you don’t feel like you’re on a diet. I get so angry that women always feel that they’re on some kind of diet because as soon as that happens you feel like you’re in deprivation mode. I had hyperglycaemia when I was in my late 20s. I was really tired and I couldn’t figure out why. I kept going to doctors and they kept saying to me, ‘You’re fine,’ and I said, ‘Well I’m not fine. I don’t feel great,’ and that sort of prompted (the diet).”
Megan swears by a combination of raw and vegan food: “I eat five times a day and don’t diet, but I do eat healthily – mostly raw and vegan food with no dairy. It’s not always possible with travel and filming, but I try. I also take supplements like silica and fish oil religiously.”
Miranda loves raw and organic foods: “I find the most satisfying food is food that’s full of life, so it’s raw and clean and organic. We have a vegetable patch in Los Angeles so when I get the veggies out and eat them from there I love that.”
- Naomie Harris
Naomie didn’t enjoy eating a raw diet: “Yes, I’m obsessed with health, which has been an interesting journey. I went down the raw-food diet route, but got ill. It was really hard, especially in Britain in winter, trying to survive on raw carrots. I became so ill and anaemic, so I stopped that and became a vitamin junkie. I just ate lots of vegetables, exercised and breathed.”
