A low-fat raw vegan diet cuts out cooking oil, dairy fat, and most processed fat sources, then leans on whole fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds eaten uncooked. The "diet inside a diet" framing comes from the fact that raw veganism is already restrictive, and adding a low-fat rule on top of it removes two of the few dense-calorie foods raw vegans normally rely on: nuts and avocado.
That's where dates usually come up. They're one of the few whole foods that deliver real calories and sweetness on a raw, low-fat plate without any added fat at all — Piarom dates in particular are dense enough that a small handful covers a meaningful chunk of a meal's energy.
What actually changes without fat
Cutting fat this hard means giving up the things that usually make raw vegan food filling — nut-based sauces, coconut, avocado in large amounts. What's left is mostly fruit sugar and fibre for energy, plus whatever protein comes from smaller amounts of nuts, seeds, or sprouted legumes. Meals end up higher in volume (more fruit and vegetables to reach the same calories) and lower in the fat that normally slows digestion and keeps you full longer.
Dates fill part of that gap. Blended into a date paste, they replace the sweetness and some of the texture that oil or nut butter would otherwise provide in a raw dessert or smoothie, without adding fat.
Where the diet gets hard to sustain
The main problem with combining "low-fat" and "raw vegan" long-term is calorie density. Fruit and vegetables are mostly water, so hitting daily energy needs on raw produce alone — without nuts, oils, or cooked starches — usually means eating a large volume of food, which isn't practical for everyone, especially people with higher activity levels.
Most people who try this combination end up loosening one rule or the other after a few weeks: either allowing a moderate amount of nuts and seeds back in, or accepting occasional cooked meals. Treating it as a short trial rather than a permanent way of eating tends to work better than committing to the strict version indefinitely.
Buying dates for this kind of diet
If dates are doing double duty as your fat-free sweetener and a calorie source, buying a supply that lasts a few weeks makes more sense than small repeat purchases. Check current supplier pricing before committing to a bulk order, since Piarom pricing shifts with the harvest season.