A low-fat raw vegan plan is a diet inside a diet inside a diet. Start with vegan, remove cooked food, then remove most of the fat. Each step shortens the shopping list, and the question in the title is whether what remains still works as a plan. This article tests it on four nutrients the NHS singles out for vegans: vitamin B12, iodine, vitamin D and selenium.
The NHS vegan diet page says that with good planning and an understanding of what makes up a healthy, balanced vegan diet, you can get all the nutrients your body needs. The same page tells vegans to have fortified foods or consider supplements for the nutrients that are harder to get on a vegan diet, and it names vitamin D, vitamin B12, iodine, selenium and calcium. Calcium is left aside here. The other four show most clearly what the raw and low-fat rules add to the job.
Vitamin B12 and the fortified-food question
Adults aged 19 to 64 need about 1.5 micrograms of vitamin B12 a day, according to the NHS vitamin B page. It adds that B12 is not found naturally in foods such as fruit, vegetables and grains, so vegans may not get enough. The vegan page lists the sources it accepts: breakfast cereals fortified with B12, unsweetened soya drinks fortified with B12, and yeast extract such as Marmite or nutritional yeast flakes fortified with B12. It also says a B12 supplement may be needed.
Now apply the raw rule. Every item on that list is fortified, and whether a breakfast cereal, a soya drink or a jar of yeast extract counts as raw depends on whose rules you follow. A strict reading may leave none of them. Fruit will not fill the gap. USDA FoodData Central lists 0.0 micrograms of B12 per 100g of Deglet Noor dates, which is what the NHS line about fruit leads you to expect. For this diet the NHS remark that a supplement may be needed carries more weight than usual.
Iodine depends on the soil
The NHS iodine page puts the adult need at 140 micrograms a day. Its list of good food sources is cows' milk and dairy products, eggs, sea fish and shellfish, and none of them is vegan. Plant foods such as cereals and grains contain some iodine, but the page says the level depends on how much iodine is in the soil where they grew. For strict vegans it suggests foods fortified with iodine or an iodine supplement, and it says some soya or oat drinks are fortified, so check the label. If you are thinking about a supplement, it says to ask a healthcare professional first.
A strict raw rule takes out cooked cereals and grains and puts the fortified drinks in doubt. That leaves iodine mostly to chance. The FoodData Central record for Deglet Noor dates gives no iodine figure at all, so there is nothing to count on there either.
Vitamin D and the sunlight calendar
Children from the age of one and adults need 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day, the NHS says. The body makes it from direct sunlight on the skin outdoors. In the UK, most people can make all they need from about late March or early April to the end of September, but not between October and early March. That is why the NHS says everyone should consider a daily 10 microgram supplement in autumn and winter, since it is hard to get enough from food alone. Those months apply to the UK.
The vegan food sources the NHS gives are fortified fat spreads, breakfast cereals and unsweetened soya drinks with vitamin D added, and it asks you to read the label to make sure the vitamin D is not of animal origin. A low-fat raw plan drops the fat spread on the fat rule and puts the cereal and soya drink back in the doubtful raw group. Dates add nothing here: FoodData Central lists 0.0 micrograms of vitamin D per 100g of Deglet Noor.
Selenium runs into the fat rule
The NHS puts selenium needs at 75 micrograms a day for men and 60 micrograms for women aged 19 to 64. Its good sources are Brazil nuts, fish, meat and eggs, and it says people who eat meat, fish or nuts should get enough from their daily diet. For a vegan, Brazil nuts are the only item on that list. They are also very fatty, so this is where the low-fat rule bites.
The FoodData Central numbers make the trade-off concrete. Dried, unblanched Brazil nuts carry 1,920 micrograms of selenium and 67.1g of fat per 100g. So 5g of Brazil nuts would hold about 96 micrograms of selenium, more than the adult figure for men, with about 3.4g of fat. A 30g portion of Deglet Noor dates holds about 0.9 micrograms (3.0 micrograms per 100g). The NHS says too much selenium causes selenosis and warns against taking too much as supplements. It gives no limit for Brazil nuts, but 20g would hold about 384 micrograms, five times the daily figure for men. A small, weighed amount of Brazil nuts may be the one fatty food a low-fat raw plan keeps on purpose.
So is it a diet plan within a diet?
On these four nutrients, yes. The low-fat raw version relies more on fortified foods and supplements than ordinary vegan eating does, while its raw rule makes many of those foods hard to fit. The NHS line about good planning applies twice over. Write down where each of the four will come from before you start, and take the plan to a healthcare professional if a supplement is involved.
Dates fit the low-fat rule on fat alone. FoodData Central lists 0.39g of fat per 100g of Deglet Noor and 0.15g for Medjool. The NHS counts a 30g portion of dried fruit, naming dates, as one of your 5 A Day, and says to eat it at mealtimes rather than as a snack between meals, to reduce the impact on teeth. If you buy dates from a seller such as Kurma Rotab Green Diamond, that portion rule still holds. As the figures above show, they add almost nothing on these four: no B12 or vitamin D, about 0.9 micrograms of selenium in 30g of Deglet Noor, and no iodine figure on record.
About this dates site
This site is Distributor Kurma. Its about page describes a range of date types for retail and wholesale buyers, delivery across Malaysia and customer service on WhatsApp, and it invites you to get in touch for a quote. The WhatsApp number is on the contact page, and more articles are on the blog.