Is feeding your children a raw diet nuts?

For any parent struggling to get a child to sit straight at the dinner table, it may seem like advice that is, well, divorced from reality.

In her new recipe book, serialised in The Mail on Sunday, Gwyneth Paltrow admits that not only does she avoid eating pasta, dairy, sugar, bread and rice, but her children Apple, eight, and Moses, six, often follow a similar diet.

Internet chat rooms were filled with mothers, agog – where would they be without failsafes such as toast, pizza and risotto? As well as being met with derision from parents, Gwyneth’s comments attracted criticism from many health experts who labelled her ‘foolish’. But is her approach as bonkers as it sounds? Perhaps not.


Fresh start: After two-and-a-half years on raw food, Inga and Robert Dirzuite and their children David and Kameja feel better than ever
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In fact, there is an increasing minority of Britons going to even greater extremes in an effort to improve their family’s health – and have found that it really does work. Now, far beyond the bohemian enclaves of London and New York, restaurants are popping up to tap into a growing desire for a raw vegan diet – a philosophy similar to that behind the meals in Paltrow’s book.

Even Virgin Active, the gym chain that specifically courts families, has signed a deal with Saf, a high-end chain of vegan restaurants.

One family from Sheffield seeking ways to combat their various ailments were so compelled by the almost instant health improvements they experienced after switching to a raw vegan diet that they’ve opened a cafe catering for those like them.

Inga Dirziute, 26, had been plagued by acne, mood swings and lethargy since having her daughter Kameja, now five.

Partner Robert, 29, a carpenter, suffered from asthma and recurrent laryngitis; son David, seven, was troubled by regular chest infections; and he and his sister were constantly fractious.
New diet: Inga travelled to the US to learn how to cook without actually cooking

New diet: Inga travelled to the US to learn how to cook without actually cooking

Inga began to scrutinise the family’s diet and now, two-and-a-half years after swapping meat, fish, dairy and anything cooked for a strict raw vegan menu, they claim to suffer none of these health problems.

Robert says: ‘I haven’t been to the GP, used my inhaler or taken a single tablet in two years, not even a paracetamol.’

And while food experts have been reacting to Gwyneth’s book with warnings about putting children on ‘exclusion diets’, others say that when executed correctly, a vegan diet can be highly nutritious and even beneficial to health.

But that doesn’t say much about taste. In my view, vegan food means a sea of beige (tofu? Yuk! Quorn? Erm .  .  .) with the occasional bean or roasted vegetable thrown in. Not so, says Inga, who kindly invited The Mail on Sunday to lunch with her family to prove just how varied and delicious this kind of fare can be.

When I arrive at their four-bedroom home, little David and Kameja are sitting at the dining table tucking into a feast of chilled soup, salad, stuffed tomatoes and ‘burgers’ made from walnuts and mushrooms. Weirdly, they actually look like burgers.

‘My grandma used to say that anything can be treated naturally through food,’ says Inga, who is the picture of health, her eyes shining and with not a trace of acne on her glowing skin.

Inga explains that a vegan diet excludes all meat, fish and animal products such as dairy, and to also qualify as raw, food can be heated in a food dehydrator – used to make crisp snacks from fruit and veg – but to no more than 40C. So while a chip butty with margarine counts as vegan, it’s out of bounds on a raw diet.

That’s right: no bread, no potatoes (which need to be cooked), no pasta, no rice. On Inga’s kitchen shelves are countless gleaming glass jars filled with everything from pecans, walnuts and almonds to things I don’t recognise such as carob, raw cacao, psyllium husks, cilantro, buckwheat and a strange-smelling maca powder, made from a plant that grows in the Andes. A jar of coffee granules stands out. Inga explains it’s ‘just for guests’ and that the family now devour smoothies instead, made with the likes of spinach, fresh pineapple, lemon and avocado.

Blue eyes twinkling, Kameja tells me that her mummy’s ‘bunny smoothie’ – which contains carrots as well as almond milk, banana and cinnamon – is her favourite. David likes the chocolate version, which contains carob or raw cacao. They love to drop fruit and veg into the juicer to create their own concoctions.

‘The best one I made had loads of apples and some lime juice,’ says David, offering me some little tomatoes that look as if they’re stuffed with sunshine. The bright yellow mixture is a combination of celery, cashews and spices. They are absolutely delicious. I also try crisps made from dehydrated kale, and chilled soup containing tomatoes and basil that smells of summer and tastes so divine I beg Inga for the recipe.

A dessert made from raw cashew paste, mangos and cacao with a date and macadamia nut base not only looks like a decadent cheesecake, it tastes like one too.

I’m starting to see why Madonna, Demi Moore and Sting are advocates of raw food. And why Hollywood actress Michelle Pfeiffer gushed recently that she’s gone vegan in an attempt to ‘live as long as possible’.

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www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2298032/Is-feeding-children-raw-vegan-diet-nuts-This-family-says-helped-beat-asthma-acne.html