My dream is to be vegetarian, kinda fat but healthy. Please tell us how to get fat in a wise way so to speak. I want to get on a raw food diet and get fat, is that possible somehow? Aside getting soy lecithin in smoothies what could I eat so as not to have my skin come to being right next to my muscles and bones. I want to remain in a very healthy body and brain still but get the fat.
– Simon, age 30’s, Granby, 4/15/2011
I’m almost at a loss as to how to answer your question, but I’ll try my best. Reason being, what you’re asking goes against everything I know about nutrition and good health. My sources for information are The China Study (by Dr. T. Colin Campbell), Dr. Neal Barnard (pcrm.org & nutritionmd.org), Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Pam Popper (Wellness Forum), Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, and others in the same camp. None of them advise getting fat.

I agree, you don’t want to be “skin and bones” – but a healthy weight. I can point you to numerous plant-powered athletes who are extremely fit, strong, muscular and healthy, but not fat: Canadian ironman champ Brendan Brazier, former NHL brawler Georges Laraque, retired NBA superstar John Salley, bodybuilder Robert Cheeke, and the list goes on. Brendan Brazier is 80% raw, and certainly not skin and bones.

Having said that, the highest fat content foods from the plant world are: nuts (fattiest of them being macadamia and cashews), avocados, coconuts, olives, and to a lesser degree seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, hemp, flax, chia, etc). You would include more of these types of foods to gain weight – but only if your activity level is high enough to support eating these foods in large amounts. The doctors I mention above actually caution against these foods for their heart, cancer and diabetes patients.

As you rightly point out, water rentention products like creatine are not a good idea – they unnaturally throw your body off balance.

I would highly recommend you either read “The China Study” or go see the movie “Forks over Knives”, then let us know if you still want to gain weight. For a good book on a healthy raw diet, I recommend Brendan Brazier’s “The Thrive Diet” – try your local library – or both books are widely available at most book stores and on-line retailers such as Amazon.

If I’ve misunderstood your question in any way, please clarify, and we’ll take another run at it.

In good health,
Nimisha

Steve responds:

I did a google search and found this:
www.thebestofrawfood.com/raw-food-weight-gain.html

Of course, it may be your body type to be thin. But good luck.

For gaining weight, see High energy vegetarian foods at veg.ca. If you really want to bulk up, check out www.veganbodybuilding.com.