The 80-10-10 Diet
Review
Dr. Douglas Graham, athlete, chiropractor, owner of a fasting spa retreat, and raw food practitioner for 30 years is considered one of the founders of the raw food movement. He’s written books (The 80-10-10 Diet, The High Energy Diet Recipe Guide, Nutrition and Athletic Performance, Grain Damage, Prevention and Care of Athletic Injuries), given more than 4,000 speeches, and worked as a dietary advisor to the likes of Martina Navratilova, Chicken Soup for the Soul co-author Mark Victor Hansen and the seemingly ageless Demi Moore.
Let’s cut right to the chase: this is a raw food, vegan program. The 80-10-10 designations indicate Graham’s preferred ratio of nutrients for a healthy diet: 80% carbohydrates, 10% protein and 10% fat.
Because it seems as though every diet somebody publishes needs some sort of hook in order to persuade people to buy it, Graham does not disappoint. His hook here is that fruit (vast quantities of fruit) are the foundation of the diet. Dieters are instructed to eat fruit “mono meals” (that’s where you only get to eat one type of fruit in a sitting) in, what may seem to many, alarmingly large quantities. As in: you are instructed to eat, say, 3 pounds of cantaloupe – or, if you prefer, 1 pound of bananas - for breakfast. Graham explains the need for such huge portions as the means by which a person can obtain the adequate amount of calories per day to keep metabolism up and functioning.
As you might expect, there are no high calorie starches in this diet – no rice, potatoes or bread – only leafy greens (lettuce, spinach, celery) of which you should be eating about 1 pound per day, the occasional seeds and raw nuts, and – on a limited basis – some high fat but nutrient dense avocadoes and coconut. All other standard vegan rules apply: no meat, no fish, no salt, no sugar, no alcohol, etc.
To his everlasting credit, Graham emphasizes that the nutritional aspect of this diet is not enough for weight loss or overall health. He stresses the importance of exercise (aerobic every day, strength training 3 times a week), as well as other lifestyle issues like managing stress for emotional balance and getting the proper amount of sleep as paramount to a healthy life.
Will you lose weight on the 80-10-10? Of course. This nutritional program fits the definition of “extreme.” Is it healthy? Largely, yes – you are cutting absolutely everything unhealthy you ever ate or drank out of your diet and living on fruits and vegetables, though these types of diets do tend to cause nutritional deficiencies in some areas, which need to be fixed through supplements. Note also that this diet is expensive: living on fresh produce, sadly, doesn’t come cheap. Most certainly the 80-10-10 diet has a niche appeal – only the most disciplined, most committed will be able to live with its rigorous demands.
