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I was vegan for eight years, back when only freaks and a few extreme left-wingers were the only few who have even heard of a vegan diet, and, if you were not vegan for political reasons then you were full of it. These days, veganism has gained traction and the majority of vegans are now vegan for health reasons only. Ironically, they may be making themselves more sick by having gone vegan.
People have strange, and often false, ideas about food, nutrition, and health in general. Vegetables are healthy, so eating nothing but vegetables must be even healthier! This is largely the result of media and individual opinions. While the physiological process of eating a piece of food is relatively similar across the board, the bodies response can vary. Person A can eat a chocolate bar and be fine while Person B breaks out into hives. Fat does not make you fat and everyone needs calories.
Harvard Medical published a study in the early 2000s looking at the "healthiness" of vegetarians. The paper was inconclusive as they were not able to ascertain whether vegetarians were healthy because they did not consume meat, or if meat-eaters had a higher tendency for sickness because they ate less vegetables.
Another paper that was published around the same time followed the eating habits of nurses for seven years. The conclusion: those who eat the same foods every day had a shorter life expectancy while those who varied their diet lived longer.
This is totally false.
When I was vegan there were few options for pre-packaged vegan foods, and of the ones that were available, most tasted like cardboard. So being vegan largely meant cooking at home. These days it is easy to walk into any grocery store and find many, if not tons, of processed foods that are vegan. Plus food science has come along way. If anything, it is now easier to be vegan and "get it wrong".
I was vegan for eight years and gained 40 pounds in the end. Friends say that my skin looked "grey", I was tired all the time, constantly hungry, and would get incredible cravings for fish. I never felt better than the day I ate a slice of cheese pizza followed by a chicken sandwich.
By the time you are 30, your body has about as much calcium as it will have for the rest of your life. In essence, you stop taking in calcium. Iodine deficiency is often linked to low-sodium diets or those who use kosher salts. Vitamin D is still up in the air and you really only need a small amount of vitamin B-12, which is why it can take years before a B-12 deficiency develops.
Natural fats are an essential part of the human diet.
Your body does all it can to take care of damaged cells/DNA including correcting the damaged DNA, destroying the cell, or the cell itself destroying itself. There is not one thing that causes cancer (which is why it is so hard to cure) and in reality up to 100s of things need to go wrong in order for a cancer to develop (some cancers do not require as much, but still more than a handful). That is why cancers are more common in older people and rarely seen in the young. Smoking alone will not cause cancer. Nor will eating hamburgers everyday.
I would like to see this paper, its methods, and its discussion. I doubt they consistently followed 45,000 people. There are also too many corollary effects to take into account to take this type of study with more than a grain of salt.
Some people can go on the Atkin's Diet and remain, or become, healthy. Others develop health problems. Don't believe the hype, do what works for you.
Nope. I would argue that most vegans eat an improper vegan diet because to do the vegan diet right is probably more work than the average vegan is willing to put in.
This.
+1 Bravo. Finally someone on CD who is a true scientist and has credible knowledge on the topic.
Not that this has alot to do with this conversation (it might I don't know) but upon what I've read - why does it seem like alot of the people who go Vegan seem to do poorly and eventually return to eating meat YET the people who go on plant-based diets through Esselstyn, Mcdougall and Fuhrman do well and don't return to eating meat/dairy etc?? Is there something these so-called vegans are eating that isn't as nutritious as what the Dr's diets recommend on their plan? Even Rip Esselstyn got his whole crew of fireman on a strict plant-based diet and he said they all loved it. Could it be that these people are preparing foods that are in a more appetizing, nutritious way and they don't desire the meat anymore? These are all vegan diets that's why I'm really confused......
It does make me wonder if these Vegans that are not on the Drs plans that do return to eating meat were just eating a bunch of crap and processed food.
And on another note - I often hear people say "my body was telling me I needed meat, fish etc." so that's why they went back to it. Well every day my body tells me it needs a piece of cake, candy bar, chips etc. Does that mean I should be eating them every day?
We basically follow the Esselstyn diet except we do add avocado and nuts to our diet which I believe he does not advocate...we add no oil or additional fat to our diet. We are very satisfied with this way of eating and have lost weight - we are normal weight now....my husband's total cholesterol has gone from 160 to 108. My physical for the year is soon and I'm anxious to see how I do.
We are completely committed to this way of eating and after 8 months we are very satisfied with the food we are eating, the way we look and how we feel so it's all good.
We basically follow the Esselstyn diet except we do add avocado and nuts to our diet which I believe he does not advocate...we add no oil or additional fat to our diet. We are very satisfied with this way of eating and have lost weight - we are normal weight now....my husband's total cholesterol has gone from 160 to 108. My physical for the year is soon and I'm anxious to see how I do.
We are completely committed to this way of eating and after 8 months we are very satisfied with the food we are eating, the way we look and how we feel so it's all good.
How do you get protein if you dislike peas, beans and lentils? They all make me gag.
Perhaps it is the way beans, lentils and peas are prepared - maybe this is why you don't like them - don't know....I couldn't live without them and think they are very delicious although I don't eat a lot of peas - just once in a while.
Quinoa has decent protein - not super high but enough. Soy - tofu, soy milk, but you don't want to overdo that and make sure you get non-genetically engineered soy products.
We use hemp protein powder in our nighly green smoothie (this is what we have for dinner each night)....it is very high in protein and fiber - it is a complete protein.
I love buckwheat (a seed)...when you soak it overnight and rinse it, cook it and mix it with cinnamon, a few raisins, a dash of nutmeg, a little stevia and plain almond milk - well it tastes like rice pudding...high in protein and fiber.
Oatmeal with soy milk and fruit would be a healthy breakfast with enough protein.
1 cup of brown rice has 5 grams of protein.
Of course wheat has protein - I have Celiac so I cannot eat wheat, barley or rye
Perhaps it is the way beans, lentils and peas are prepared - maybe this is why you don't like them - don't know....I couldn't live without them and think they are very delicious although I don't eat a lot of peas - just once in a while.
Quinoa has decent protein - not super high but enough. Soy - tofu, soy milk, but you don't want to overdo that and make sure you get non-genetically engineered soy products.
We use hemp protein powder in our nighly green smoothie (this is what we have for dinner each night)....it is very high in protein and fiber - it is a complete protein.
I love buckwheat (a seed)...when you soak it overnight and rinse it, cook it and mix it with cinnamon, a few raisins, a dash of nutmeg, a little stevia and plain almond milk - well it tastes like rice pudding...high in protein and fiber.
Oatmeal with soy milk and fruit would be a healthy breakfast with enough protein.
1 cup of brown rice has 5 grams of protein.
Of course wheat has protein - I have Celiac so I cannot eat wheat, barley or rye
Thanks for the suggestions. I've tried the beans and lentils in many forms and I just don't care for them. I'll try the non-soy options you suggested. I'm allergic to soy.
Don't forget nuts - peanut butter, almond or cashew butter, a few walnut halves scattered over your oatmeal. I make up a mixture of organic raw sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, toasted flax seed, sliced almonds, walnut pieces, pecan pieces - mix everything up in a baggie and put a heaping tablespoon of the mixture on my oatmeal or cooked buckwheat along with a tablespoon of flax seed meal.
Don't forget nuts - peanut butter, almond or cashew butter, a few walnut halves scattered over your oatmeal. I make up a mixture of organic raw sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, toasted flax seed, sliced almonds, walnut pieces, pecan pieces - mix everything up in a baggie and put a heaping tablespoon of the mixture on my oatmeal or buckwheat along with a tablespoon of flax seed meal.
Not that this has alot to do with this conversation (it might I don't know) but upon what I've read - why does it seem like alot of the people who go Vegan seem to do poorly and eventually return to eating meat YET the people who go on plant-based diets through Esselstyn, Mcdougall and Fuhrman do well and don't return to eating meat/dairy etc?? Is there something these so-called vegans are eating that isn't as nutritious as what the Dr's diets recommend on their plan? Even Rip Esselstyn got his whole crew of fireman on a strict plant-based diet and he said they all loved it. Could it be that these people are preparing foods that are in a more appetizing, nutritious way and they don't desire the meat anymore? These are all vegan diets that's why I'm really confused......
The original purpose of vegan (and vegetarian) diets was to eliminate meat because of your beliefs. Only in recent times it seems that veganism and vegetarianism is being thought of as "extremely healthy and a way to lose weight", especially now that commercial diets like WW are promoting boca burgers as a low number points, people automatically thinking fake meat is healthier because it's lower calorie that real meat, and that numerous celebrities have gone vegan. With veganism, like any diet, you need to do your homework and carefully plan nutritious eating. From my personal experience, most healthy vegans I met were former vegetarians and many of them don't stay vegan for the rest of their life, but go back to traditional vegetarianism eventually. I'm sure there are the ones that go vegan because they think it's "healthy and humane" and end up quitting like you mentioned, and they probably did not carefully plan meals or ever lose their taste for meat.
I'm a vegetarian, but sometimes I refer to myself as a borderline vegan because I consume very little dairy due to being highly lactose intolerant. I cook many vegan meals, which are all nutritious, tasty, and contain minimal processed ingredients. Then again, I am a nutritionist, so I have an advantage over the general vegan population with that kind of stuff.
The original purpose of vegan (and vegetarian) diets was to eliminate meat because of your beliefs. Only in recent times it seems that veganism and vegetarianism is being thought of as "extremely healthy and a way to lose weight", especially now that commercial diets like WW are promoting boca burgers as a low number points, people automatically thinking fake meat is healthier because it's lower calorie that real meat, and that numerous celebrities have gone vegan. With veganism, like any diet, you need to do your homework and carefully plan nutritious eating. From my personal experience, most healthy vegans I met were former vegetarians and many of them don't stay vegan for the rest of their life, but go back to traditional vegetarianism eventually. I'm sure there are the ones that go vegan because they think it's "healthy and humane" and end up quitting like you mentioned, and they probably did not carefully plan meals or ever lose their taste for meat.
I'm a vegetarian, but sometimes I refer to myself as a borderline vegan because I consume very little dairy due to being highly lactose intolerant. I cook many vegan meals, which are all nutritious, tasty, and contain minimal processed ingredients. Then again, I am a nutritionist, so I have an advantage over the general vegan population with that kind of stuff.
I agree thinkingelsewhere. I believe you can be healthier eating smart with a full diet including meats, than you can eating vegetarian and definitely more so than eating vegan. It is simply a matter of ethics to refrain from meat or animal products, not a health choice.
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