For decades, there have been folks who have been adherents to and advocates of the raw vegan lifestyle. And, while for a long time such people were considered a bit "quirky," their approach to eating is beginning to gain acceptance. There are more and more raw food books on bookstore shelves, more raw food diets talked about on the internet, and even more raw food restaurants cropping up all across the country, which all supports the premise that this lifestyle is no longer just for a few on the fringe of mainstream society.

One event that helped to bring the raw vegan food "movement" into the forefront was the recent opening up an up-scale, five-star gourmet restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area called Roxanne's. Roxanne Klein, a well-known chef and restaurateur, and her multi-millionaire husband David Klein, opened the new establishment featuring a menu that is strictly made up of raw food recipe choices.

Most of the dishes on the menu were developed by Roxanne and are unique to her establishment, and are considered to be gourmet quality. In fact, her raw food recipes have garnered the attention of well-known chefs who have traveled to her restaurant to gain insights into her raw vegan menu.

Roxanne's is just one example of a much larger movement that is becoming more popular. Today, in most large cities you can find several restaurants that have raw food meal options on the menu and even a few raw food restaurants that are devoted to only offering living foods.

John Robbins is a best-selling author and is widely known and respected for his research and information about the food industry as a whole. He reports that there is a true food revolution in the works that has people leaning toward eating more foods that are organic and locally grown, which is at the heart of the vegan way of life.

He indicates that this is out of both concern for health factors and for protecting and improving the environment as well. The vegan diet is a step beyond both the raw food diets and the vegetarian diets. Eating a raw food vegan diet excludes all meat and dairy, and also eliminates the cooking of fresh foods in favor of eating them completely in their natural form.

The raw or natural vegan diet includes a wide array of fresh fruits and vegetables, as most would expect. In addition, this raw vegetarian diet also relies heavily on sprouted legumes and grains, nuts and seeds to supply protein and beneficial oils and fats.

One of the primary reasons why eating raw food is considered to be healthy and beneficial to the body is because all of the food is packed full of living enzymes. The enzymes help with digestion and help deliver nutrients throughout the system.

When food is cooked, these beneficial enzymes, as well as the other minerals and vitamins are destroyed. When these vital nutrients are eliminated by cooking, the body ends up craving more food in an attempt to get its nutritional needs met. Through eating a raw vegan diet, the body receives more nutrients from fewer calories and tends to shed weight easily, while also feeling less sluggish and bloated. 

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