![Diet Plans and Nutrition [Home]](/images/everydiet5.png "Every Diet [Home]"){kind=small}
80 10 10 Diet
Background
The 80 10 10 Diet by Dr. Douglas Graham is a raw food version of a low fat plant based diet, similar to that popularized by Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. John McDougall.
Graham, who is a lifetime athlete, has been eating a raw food diet for almost thirty years. He has acted as dietary adviser to world-class athletes and celebrities including Martina Navratilova and Demi Moore.
80/10/10 Diet Basics
Graham proposes that the ideal ratio of nutrients to support health is 80% carbohydrates, 10% protein and 10% fat.
Other low fat vegan diets rely on cooked starches such as rice, bread, and potatoes as the main source of calories. Starches and grains are low in nutrients and because they taste bland we usually add sugar, salt, and fats which compromises their potential health value.
Graham overcomes this problem by basing his program entirely on raw foods with fruit forming the foundation of the diet. He states that fruit is the ideal food for humans and supports his claims with convincing arguments and scientific research.
Dieters are encouraged to eat mono meals of fruit where a single fruit is eaten in large quantities. For example breakfast might consist of 4 pounds of watermelon. Graham explains that it is necessary to eat fruit in such amounts in order to obtain adequate calories, which is necessary to thrive on this diet.
Graham also advises dieters to consume approximately a pound of leafy greens each day such as lettuce, spinach, and celery. Foods high in fat such as avocado and nuts are generally limited to a small serving every second day or so.
Although the diet is the foundation of the program Graham emphasizes the importance of addressing other lifestyle factors, which include exercise, sunlight, adequate sleep, and emotional balance.
Recommended Foods
Fruit, vegetables, avocado, raw nuts and seeds, young coconut.
Sample Diet Plan
| Breakfast
3 lbs cantaloupe |
| Lunch
1 lb bananas 1 lb mangoes |
| Dinner |
| Course 1
1 lb apricots |
| Course 2
Orange Pepper Tomato Soup (8 oz romaine lettuce 8 oz tomatoes 8 oz orange or yellow pepper Parsley sprig) |
| Course 3
Heirloom Avocado Salad (8 oz romaine lettuce 8 oz cucumber 12 oz tomatoes 6 oz avocado ¼ cup cilantro) |
Try other vegetarian recipes here.
Exercise Recommendations
An important aspect of the program is regular daily exercise. Graham advises dieters to aim to do some aerobic exercise every day and to engage in strength training three times a week. Graham states that if you are not exercising on a regular basis then you are not following the program.
Costs and Expenses
The 80 10 10 Diet retails at $29.95.
There will be an increase in the cost of groceries due to the need for a large amount of fresh produce.
Pros
- Many athletes have reported improved performance on this diet.
- Good for dieters who like eating fruit.
- Low fat diets are associated with a reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes.
- Higher in nutrients than low fat vegan diets that include cooked foods.
- Encourages the intake of fruit and vegetables.
- Encourages a physically active lifestyle.
- Provides suggestions to gradually transition into the full diet plan.
- Beneficial as a short term cleansing diet.
- Food preparation is easy.
Cons
- Highly restrictive. Difficult to eat out and in social situations.
- Requires a complete overhaul of eating habits.
- Many dieters will not enjoy eating this way.
- Some dieters may have difficulty maintaining the recommended exercise guidelines.
- Dieters will undergo withdrawal and detoxification symptoms in the initial stages especially if they are regular users of caffeine and alcohol.
- Risk of nutritional deficiency especially if intake of leafy green vegetables is not adequate.
- May be too low in protein, essential fatty acids and minerals including zinc and selenium.
- May require the use of vitamin B12 supplements.
Conclusions
The 80 10 10 diet is an extreme approach to dieting that will not appeal to everyone. It is probably most suitable for individuals who are highly committed, such as professional athletes, or dieters who have a specific goal that they hope to achieve by following this plan.
Graham improves on many of the nutritional inadequacies of other low fat vegan diets and the intake of vitamins and minerals is much higher due to the inclusion of an abundant amount of fruit and leafy green vegetables.
However many people have reported problems following a raw vegan diet and it may be difficult to support optimal health without guidance or supervision from a qualified health professional who has experience with this approach to dieting.
Click to vote!
Loading ...
You’re a high on too much fruit sugar !!
80 10 10 is the most ridiculous long term eating plan
unless you want to become weak and do very little physical work
It would be good for very short term detoxes however
Any advice anyone can give?
I am 21 years old, and have been interested in raw foods, particularly fruitarianism, for almost 3 years now. I suffer from bipolar disorder, and am unable to work. I still live with my mom. Not only is it hard to convince her to buy enough fruit to help sustain this diet, but it is very difficult to stick with it when my family is constantly downing cooked foods, steaks, ice cream, etc. Does anyone have any advice or support they can offer me regarding this?
The 80/10/10 diet is the way to go.
I try to eat just raw fruits and salad all of the time.
As humans, we cook food purely because our cultures survived times when fruit was scarce by using otherwise inedible vegetables and bits of dead animals.
And just because society appears to be built around eating cooked food doesn’t make it normal in any other sense.
I’ve been eating fruit and salad as much as possible since April 2011 and all my running personal bests have been shattered. I just did the Dublin marathon and thought “that was easy” at the end despite shattering my marathon PB.
Eat raw fruit and vegetables that don’t need cooking – have fun eating just one fruit uncooked as an entire meal – love the taste of natural, unenhanced salads – eat a packet of peas instead of peanuts as you walk around and savour every gorgeous mouthful.
Read the 80/10/10 diet book BEFORE you make daft comments about it, because it is THE most healthy way to eat. Full stop!
Been doing the Dr. Hayes food combining approach and it is great? I think this is a step beyond and I am almost there. I still “fall off the wagon” sometomes butpart of that is lack of a place to get answers…like is Hummus considered cooked or raw! How do you eat beans without cooking them? I don’t see many raw kidney beans in the store!
Help would be much appriceatedBonnie
@Raederle…I’ve come to the same place…discovered it naturally w/o the 80/10/10 plan…but am now encouraged that I’m not alone. Check out The Fruitarian as well…he’s rawsome. I think that Mercola has some great information…he just can’t get over his meat addiction and has to rationalize it…sad. He’s a candidate for disease…sooner or later…and then he’ll learn.
We humans overcomplicate so many things, including health and eating. Our brains get in the way. If we watched how our nearest DNA relatives, 98% match, it’s chimpanzees. How do they eat? 10-10-80. If you think about how people have eaten over the last many thousands of years, before cooking, there was simply the food that grew in the ground, no processed oils or sugars or anything like that. And it got us all here!
I’ve just been reading another phenomenal book soon-to-be-published on the 10-10-80 diet and food allergies (you can see the author’s website at preventivecare.com), and it rings true for me. I’ve been eating much closer to 10-10-80 the last 2 weeks, and I’ve lost weight and my energy levels are MUCH higher. I also don’t get the constant “crashes” and my moods are MUCH more stable!! And I’m only 2 weeks in! I’m already a raw fooder, so yes this seems “extreme” but then again, what’s “normal” about sucking milk from a cow’s udder? Udderly disgusting! But we call it “food”. Anyway, nice meeting you all.
“May be too low in protein, essential fatty acids and minerals including zinc and selenium.”
Um…what?? Did the author of this article even read the book?? It goes over this in MUCH DETAIL!
I believe doctors know very little about nutritian, and yes the pharm companiesa and the fda are in bed with each other so to speak… come on there are so many people who believe in you and you have all let us down because of greed, you know that the corn syrup in products which are so readily advertised to our children are making them obese, unhealthy and health issues from the starting gate of their life…you would think by this time we would have a handle on obesity but its only getting worse, unfortunely people are so deceived by doctrine that is false and untrue because too of their belief in the system which is indeed making them so much heavier and unhealthy… have a concious about what you do and take a stand for what is right not what is popular or makes you more money… I grew up with a mother who is a top notch dietitian, she knows her stuff and she even if not popular gives the right unbiased opion,she worked a full time hospital administration job running a hospital kitchen, as well as taught doctors and nurses a nutrition course although it was a short couse that was all that was required… and we put our lives into their hands..mind you there are some dedicated doctors and nurses who do take their profession serious and take extra couses and are up tp date with information… but also should be in the concerns of medicines and foods that are in short making so many americans sick and fat……
I’m definitely a basic traditional four food groups sort, due to my body’s response indicators. Too much fruit is not good, but some fruit is good, and that goes for all the foods. Livingdaylight who posted here is telling it straight. Response indicators. Animal products, cooked food, alcoholic beverages, salt, herbs, and spices are all good for us. It’s a matter of balance. We are Homo sapiens ssp. sapiens for a reason. Tools, fire, and the food we prepare are fundamental in making us the species we are, in addition to other factors.
I’ve been involved in the full gamut of dietary practices since 1984, when I was 14. Basic thing is don’t over eat(however that may be for an individual), be in tune, live to perform and enjoy life. Not based on flawed research with ‘extensive studies’ and flawed books. Base it on reality with population at large and your own body. Your body reveals. Many ‘healthy’ plant based diets have caused harm to adherents, simply due to lack of balance, and not trusting and being in tune with one’s body.
Actually, I really think Dr. Mercola actually did write that. What he wrote here is not really much different from what he says in his website. He does have a few articles where he simply attacks fruits and veganism. Robert Atkins, Timothy Ferris, and Mark Sisson are just a few examples of what the fruitarian community calls “anti-fruitites”.
i do not believe that was dr mercola who wrote that.
Joseph,
Providing it’s really you…and based on what you said above in this blog or highlighted below…my questions/comments are:
“Hello, I’m Dr. Mercola. I am a registered O.D. and the author of the mercola health website. Based on my years of practice, I have concluded that fruit should be avoided at all times. In 1985, after a few weeks of eating fruit for breakfast I was stunned to discover my fasting triglycerides had skyrocketed from below 100 to nearly 3,000 (yes that is not a typo)! Clearly this diet was NOT right for me and was rapidly doing some serious damage to my body. I’m thankful I caught my mistake before it was too late. Veganism is not healthy and will result in nutritional deficiencies. People MUST have some sort of animal products to keep healthy. Also, fruits are absolutely NOT a healthy food and WILL raise triglycerides. Red-meat on the other hand will keep you in shape and will not affect cholesterol or triglyceride levels in a bad way despite the saturated fat and cholesterol content.”
1. Did you really say fruits are dangerous and so is being a vegetarian but do eat plenty of red meat and worry not about the fat, cholesterol, et al, because it’s the only way one can actually survive?!!! Evidentially, you are like many doctors, who listen to nobody if not legends in their own minds, read very little but love drastic statements…the power of the God Complex and possess a dirtily little hobby of being a paid talking piece for big pharma, dairy, meat, etc.
Perhaps this why Napolean said “doctors will have more hell to pay than even we generals in the end!”
2. This is foolish and surely I waste my time; mostly because you are either a paid sell out and/or you are so arrogant you refuse to read continuously. I think they say a PhD is the same as 100 books…so, what does that mean for people who read thousands of books articles, periodicals, journals, and conduct interviews, experiments, etc., compared to doctors (I cant even capitalize the name because I disrespect so much of the profession) who are so arrogant they stop learning after big pharma gives them all they need to know…you take your orders from pharma reps…did NOT study any nutrition and are just guessing at most things and make unwieldy comments in order to raise your PR quotient and then hope to sell more products…
When people start thinking again, allopathic medicine will be for trauma only…unless your kind kills us all first…which is a high probability.
3. In 1985 you ate some fruit and now your entire life, practice and PR machine is anti fruit…this sounds as stupid as anything I’ve heard to date from the people who kill a million plus iotragenically each year and hide it, but then whine when insurance companies crank your rates because they see that you get sued all the time for killing people or worse.
4. Any other supreme wisdom…should we stay away from vegetables too, how about water, perhaps oxygen? Today’s science is tomorrow’s junk mail, especially when it’s completely unfounded, purely opinionated and based mostly off of greed.
5. IF you really did study anything in school besides how to keep people coming back for more so you can buy another boat, plane or trip to the strip club with a pharma rep, Please explain the difference between mother’s breast milk, fruit, consumption of burned meat of another animal and vegetables, enzymes, co enzymes and fiber chemically speaking.
Tell us which ones are healthy and why; and which aren’t and why?
6. Tell us one more time why it is that we see in color and beside pollinators (and very few animals who have very limited color visually speaking) that we can see all the bright fruits…smell them, taste them and call them “low hanging fruits,” which by the way often need opposing thumbs to open (tubers, etc., require a farmer, shovel or snout to dig out of the ground and must be cooked with spices, fat, etc., to eat…sounds real natural, especially 10,000 years ago) and why is it we have a sweet tooth, why is it the brain only feeds off of simple sugars…why is it everything else we eat is broken down to simple sugars…and why it is fruits have the same or similar nutritional content as mothers milk…when infants grow the most…explain why excess protein is excreted as soon as possible from the body…please explain why natural foods are bad for us but the products you hock are actually goof for us?
And why we are at 100, down from #1healthiest since WWII…or the decline of gardens but increase of meat as you say? The 20,000,000,000 animals that are slaughtered, eaten, worn or sat on in cars, furniture, etc.; wouldn’t you say that 20 billion for 275MM people is a bit in excess?
Please explain the destruction of the ocean, earth, farmland, erosion and salinization (50M acres to just salinization and erosion annually) and 150 times deforestation on land are we doing to the ocean as we rip it apart with trawlers. Oil, greed, insanity, poverty, drug addiction, etc., all trumped up by people like you who push what you want for your own gain…we are our brothers keeper and its about each other, not oneself.
Are you a quack? Sure seems like it.
Unimpressed.
Frank
PS Doctors, Politicians, Lawyers, etc., are supposed to defend us, stand up for us, take the bullets for our country when needed but instead, on a whole you’re mostly cheap sell outs. The entire BS you push about being elite, educated, etc…huh!! Teddy Roosevelt said it best with “a man may steal from a rail car but an educated man will steal the entire rail road!!”
I think any diet that GIVES UP fruit is extreme. I’m interested in this… and want to get the book to learn more. I’m vegetarian… and don’t believe excess protein is good. What the heck is Joseph Mercola talking about except his own personal opinion. Not everybody is the same but even doctors shouldn’t knock what works!
The best diet there is. Been eating this way, low-fat raw-vegan for about year. First what I noticed was that my bad skin had improved significantly. I’ve slept so much better as well and never felt this energetic. Thank you Douglas Graham!
Those who are worried about about “getting enough protein” need to shape up. Do not take adviced from supplment merchants nor the meat & dairy industry. Instead look for clinical, peer-reviewed academic studies.
The theory:
“There is little evidence that muscular activity increases the need for protein, except for the small amount required for the development of muscles during physical conditioning. In a view of the margin safety in the RDA, no increment is added for work or training” (Torun Et al., 1977)
Objective experience:
“Later in his career Dr. Schendel studied amino acids and had a hand in establishing the recommended Dietary allowances for protein. In 1970, he convinced me to do a 2-month study on my body to determine if massive protein intake was beneficial. I was consuming more than 300 grams of protein a day back then. I kept accurate records of my food intake and activity for 60 days, and even collected all my urine for the same period. Afterward, I used the Kjeldahl method for determining nitrogen in my urine, which is a measure protein utilization.
To my surprise, any time I consumed more than the RDA of protein, the excess was excreted in my urine. Dr. Schendel concluded that my kidneys were working overtime to metabolize the excess protein. He also explained that human kidneys and livers show overuse symptoms in the presence of massive amounts of protein. We know from long-term animal studies that high-protein diets will shorten life spans. So, I stopped my massive protein diet and immeadiately felt surge of energy unburdening my kidneys and liver. In the 1970s, the daily recommendation for protein was 0,36 gram of protein per pound of body weight”.
Ellington Darden, “The new high intensity training” (2004).
Protein is the least of all nutrients to be worried about.
Raw food is the way to go… in 14 days I lost 24 lbs of water weight effortlessly. It took 3 days to quit feeling the detox affects of my body releasing things that were toxic. You will feel worse first. If this happens slow down the process of changing over from a cooked diet to a raw one. Your system cannot support and overload of toxins and that is the primary reason people feel bad when they start this way of eating. Be sure to have a food ready to slow the process down and continue to move to a 100% raw food diet. Don’t give up! It works!
Hi I am not Dr Mercola.
I’m unconvinced by Mercola’s comments and found being subscribed to his newsletter like having hawkers knocking on my door every hour. He uses every Marketing trick in the book, despite, rightly, leveling that same criticism at Pharma.
Need some support after being on this diet for a few days. Feel Great!
Hello, I’m Dr. Mercola. I am a registered O.D. and the author of the mercola health website. Based on my years of practice, I have concluded that fruit should be avoided at all times. In 1985, after a few weeks of eating fruit for breakfast I was stunned to discover my fasting triglycerides had skyrocketed from below 100 to nearly 3,000 (yes that is not a typo)! Clearly this diet was NOT right for me and was rapidly doing some serious damage to my body. I’m thankful I caught my mistake before it was too late. Veganism is not healthy and will result in nutritional deficiencies. People MUST have some sort of animal products to keep healthy. Also, fruits are absolutely NOT a healthy food and WILL raise triglycerides. Red-meat on the other hand will keep you in shape and will not affect cholesterol or triglyceride levels in a bad way despite the saturated fat and cholesterol content.
I’ve never felt better in my life!!! I prefer to think of this way of eating as all the things I am protecting my body from as opposed to what I’m being denied!!
I’ve been doing 80/10/10 since the first and because of the increase in energy I’m constantly wanting to work out. Which is great.
I feel so good, that I know I’m on the right track.
My digestion wasn’t great before. Lots of gas. Consipation. Sticky smelly poo.
(I was vegan before. Medium healthful eater, too much protein, salt and beans.)
Now my digestion is the best it’s been since babyhood and I do NOT want to go back to eating cooked vegan food again.
There will be social pressures to stop being so “picky” but if you go in knowing it..
Very interested in trying!!
I read the book, and was “fired-up” On paper it sounds like a good theory, and he makes the case well, but in reality, I don’t think there is a one-size fits all approach to anything, including diet. Well, if by approach one means to say principles, then, yes. But what is being advocated here are strict rules, and that’s different from approach or principles.
Context is king. I can’t imagine that 80-10-10 would be feasible the colder the climate; likewise I imagine the converse is true.
Personally, after eating only fruit for a few days my teeth were hurting. It was like my nerves were getting zapped. Maybe too much acid in the pineapple, but I had to stop.
Apart from the awesome nutritional boost this diet would give you. has anyone tried it to loose weight? iv set up an exercise routine now i am looking for a meal plan to try out as well.
its not just fruits wobbly bobbly its copious amount of fruits and leafy green vegetables with a small amount of nuts and seeds. there is a lot of medical research supporting a 100% whole food plant based diet in a 80/10/10 ratio from colin campbell (0ver 300 published papers) mcdougall, furhman, ect.. all were doing here is replacing the grains with fruit. i put a typical day into nutridiary and all my vits/minerals are above 100% RDA and blood work is text book perfect after 4 years. join in the sweet fun
I’m so excited to start this diet with my husband. I may even decide to blog about it. He’s prone to migraines, has high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Not to mention being born and raised in Louisiana which equals deplorable dietary habits. When I met him, BBQ equaled some dead animal (he wasn’t discriminating) and a loaf of bread. He has since been introduced to the Biblical dietary laws and wants to make a change. Not to mention, how could a diet like this NOT work? All Adam and Eve had were the fruits of the trees, nuts, and seeds. If it worked for their perfect bodies, why wouldn’t it work for us?
Great diet, simple to begin: give all your food to charity/church and spend LOTS less time shopping and preparing food.
I have been on it since Christmas 2010 after seeing first hand other athletes (www.thefruitarian.com) who are super-athletes and very happy with this Fruit/Vegetable diet.
Yes, discipline it takes, but that itself is the secret to success in anything we undertake: work, school, family, religion, etc.
My tastebuds are so much more sensitive and I have never been without congested breathing problems for nearly my entire life, until 12-25-2010 and I can vouch for the increased energy (beyond belief), the mucuslous diet, the increased awareness of your bodies excercise needs/levels, etc.
Give it a try, you will love it when you eat one whole cantaloupe the first time!!!
No problems at all, I would say that it compares to fasting: when we give up something we are accustomed or addicted to (food, sugar, soft drinks, alcohol, etc.) we gain a deeper appreciation for God and all other important aspects of our lives.
Happy living: your psychology will be upgraded completely off the charts!
Thanks so much Dr. Graham.
As a professional athlete, I am concerned that the protein is too low. This must be a common question, what are your thoughts?
What’s crazy is that I’ve ended up HAVING to eat this way to get my digestive system straight.
That’s right.
Through trial and error over years, this diet is what makes me not get bloated, not get sick, not get headaches, not feel tired, etc.
I literally got to this diet without discovering the book, but through lots of trail and error over six years, starting with the elimination of processed sugars, moving on to eliminating pastas and breads, moving on to eliminating meat and dairy, making it to raw, learning to limit nuts, learning to increase fruit… Long journey it’s been. Wish someone had just given me this book six years ago…
Insane.
Where’s his medical research, Kirk? Of course it’s extreme. How can you live on fruits alone? Crazy.
I just don’t understand how anyone could view Dr. Graham as “extreme”. He explains everything in plain terms and uses medical research to back it up. There are practices followed in the medical field to help heal people that this diet does for you on its own.