veganism: Some foods, such as carrots and tomatoes, have nutrients that increase their bioavailability as they're cooked. Sweet potatoes and potatoes should also be cooked, but it's packed with nutrients. You can eat MOSTLY raw and still be good. But it's just better to eat a mixture of raw and cooked foods. Don't boil & toss the liquid and you'll keep most of the nutrients. *EDIT* Also, since you're an athlete, you need protein, right? You'll get more protein out of beans and quinoa when they're cooked than if you were to sprout them. Sprouting removes a lot of anti-nutrients from beans, but the sprouting process also uses up the protein. Many raw vegans aren't hard core athletes and can get away with less protein. Veganism provides a lot of protein, but I haven't heard of any vegan athletes who are raw. Triathlon athlete Brendan Brazier eats 80% raw. I'm pretty sure that most of that are fruits and veggies, but the protein is probably cooked.|||If you consider longevity as being healthy - then no, it isn't. A diet consisting mainly of plant based foods with some lean meats has proven to be more beneficial to people by making them live longer, than a plant based only diet. From wiki: "A 1999 metastudy combined data from five studies from western countries.[71] The metastudy reported mortality ratios, where lower numbers indicated fewer deaths, for fish eaters to be 0.82, vegetarians to be 0.84, occasional meat eaters to be 0.84. Regular meat eaters and vegans shared the highest mortality ratio of 1.00. The study reported the numbers of deaths in each category, and expected error ranges for each ratio, and adjustments made to the data. However, the "lower mortality was due largely to the relatively low prevalence of smoking in these [vegetarian] cohorts". Out of the major causes of death studied, only one difference in mortality rate was attributed to the difference in diet, as the conclusion states: "...vegetarians had a 24% lower mortality from ischaemic heart disease than non-vegetarians, but no associations of a vegetarian diet with other major causes of death were established."" That was based on a study released in 2009 that shows vegans had the same mortality as heavy meat eaters - but for different reasons. Read the study at; http://www.ajcn.org/content/70/3/516S.fu鈥?/a> I know a lot of people will vote this down because it is contrary to what they hope is true - but you can't argue with facts.|||I have to say yes. I had chronic migraines which lasted for weeks and during these migraines I could not be exposed to light, could not eat or drink, have skin so sensitive that I could not be touched, and I was ridiculously sensitive to sound and smell. I was put in the hospital, and when a particularly bad migraine had ended, I was given a meal of an apple, a chicken drumstick, corn, and rice. They told me to eat the protien and carbs (chicken and rice) first because I needed that the most. As with red meat, my body had suddenly begun to reject any cooked food given to me. My body began purging the food I was given. Another migraine was beginning. I was rather hungry and decided to try to eat while I was still able. So, down the hatch went the apple. And, shockingly, it stayed down. The sensitivity began to lighten about an hour later. I could no longer smell the sickly chemical scent of food, and I could stand a weak light. After weeks of total pain, darkness, and starvation, I could finally sit up. With a light on, no less! I was given fresh orange juice, and my condition improved even more, if only slightly. Needless to say, two days on an all fruit and veggie diet later, I was out of the hospital. Turns out, my digestive system is that of a frugivore. So I was put on a raw vegan diet. My life has improved dramatically, and next year Im going to public school (Im 15, and rarely leave the house. So excited)! I went from a small, extremely underweight, nearly suicidal girl to a healthy, strong, happy girl! raw veganism is a cure all! I no longer need glasses either ;) Good luck with your athletiness :)|||I'm bound to say yes. If done right, it contains more nutrients, more vibrancy, and less pollution ( cooked food is rather useless and dead weight an awful lot of the time) than cooked food. Which is never actually MADE to be cooked. If it was made to be cooked, it would come out fo the ground that way. Cooked is purely for human's taste. Raw is absolutley the best, when you practice it, you actually feel and thrive exactly how the human body is meant to feel. If you have never done this before you'll most likely have a revelation somewhere around week two, when you realise just how full of insane calm fit energy you contain. What you'd want to do with cow teat fat coming near your mouth in the first place beats me. SO, if you wanna call it vegan, go ahead. I personally don't use the word, I find it vulgar ( it's the v). :)|||http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/438983鈥?/a> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magaz鈥?/a> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18鈥?/a> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-an鈥?/a> Yep, looks like it. (Hey at least these sources aren't from wikipedia lololol)|||Not for humans no,the human body is omnivorous for a reason.a mixed diet of fruits,vegetables,grains, lean meat,and the rest of the food pyramid is the healthiest diet for humans,frankly because its what our body is meant to run on.|||www.30bananasaday.com You can find out about some serious raw vegan athletes there. I can't conclusively say whether it is or isn't, but research, try for yourself (but do it right), and see if you can get the results that other people are getting. 80-10-10 rv's are super lean and claim to be pounds lighter with the same or more strength, so this may be right in line with your mma goals.|||I was on the raw vegan diet for two weeks, and now my beard grows twice as fast. The same amount of hair that took a couple weeks to grow now only takes 1 week to grow. How do you explain that? With that, I say that the raw vegan diet is the healthiest diet.|||Only if you're a ******* retarded hippy.