A friend of mine in London recently asked me a question and I thought – after getting his OK; that I will share my reply with everyone else.

Here is what he said: “Hi Ariel. Hope you’re well. I know you’re very into your raw food diet and I’ve started – two weeks ago- blending raw veg (beetroot, celery, carrots etc.) into a smoothie every morning which is great. But the two times I’ve had vodka – and got a bit drunk – I’ve literally been unable to move the next day and am exhausted .. Is this normal as I still want to be able to have a drink..! Cheers.” Colin

Here is my response:

Firstly I should clarify that drinking a smoothie every morning is a good practice to adopt but it is only a start. You still have a long way to go to eat a full raw food diet where all of your calories (or most of them) come from raw food.

The point of eating healthier in my opinion is to be “happier” but not fanatic. So my answer is yes, you can still drink alcohol on a raw food diet if you wish so, even though the liquor isn’t always strictly raw, but this isn’t the point because it’s your choice.

Feeling knackered the next morning after drinking alcohol is nothing more than your body’s own reaction trying to detox itself and recover from alcohol poisoning. Most people try usually to “numb” this feeling of tiredness by eating junk food in the form of croissant, English breakfast and other foodstuff, but in fact what they are doing is drugging themselves ever more. Drinking a vegetable smoothie instead of junk food means you are not getting the “stimulation” from the food, hence you might still feel “tired” though as I’ve just explained and in most cases, it is nothing to do with raw food.

To summarize and in order to feel well and healthy you need to “cleanse”, and you might do so by adopting an all-around low fat, high fruit, raw plant based diet, which means getting most of your calories from fruit, quit eating animal products and keep fat intake to fewer than 10% – 15% of your total calorie consumption.

Personally, I haven’t drunk alcohol regularly since 2008, and I only drank twice since. In both occasions I only consumed no more than half bottle of beer. I have to say that the effect of alcohol in my body was much nicer while eating a raw food diet than any time previously and even the “comedown” period was much shorter. This comes as no surprise as I am overall healthier.

However I should emphasize that by eating the correct raw food diet you will feel so well and naturally “high”, that you may not have the need or desire to drink alcohol again. And you have to take my word for it.