Hello and

today I have some thoughts on the nutrition diva podcast.

I'm Monica Reinagal, your host,

and today I have some thoughts on the 80-10 diet.

The goal with this diet is to get 80% of your calories from carbohydrates,

primarily raw fruit, and then 10% each from raw plant-based protein and fat.

Now raw food and vegan diets are nothing new, of course, but the catchy new name has breathed some new life into an old trend.

As with any diet fad, this one comes with big claims such as weight loss, reversal of chronic

disease and aging, better energy, sleep, mood, athletic performance.

The 80-10 diet also has a best-selling book by a guru with questionable credentials, a bevy of true believers, and a crowd of equally passionate

critics and detractors.

I'm going to steer clear of the personalities and the politics though and try to focus just on the nutritional aspects of the diet itself.

Is the 80-10 diet a healthy way to eat? Is it necessary to go to these extremes in order to feel and

function your best? Is it safe? Here are what I see as the primary

advantages of this approach. The primary advantage, as I see it, is that you eat a

lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, foods that provide a lot of nutrients for relatively few calories.

Compared to the typical American diet, where adults average just two servings of vegetables a day, this represents a big upgrade.

But the amount of produce you eat on the 80-10 diet is probably overkill.

While diets higher in fruits and vegetables are associated with longer healthier lives,

recent analysis suggests that the benefits peak at around five or so servings a day.

Eating 10 or 50 servings a day doesn't seem to bring any additional

dividends over the long haul. Number two, you don't eat any processed foods.

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