Being vegan worth it physically

“Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

- Michael Pollan

Why people try to make diet so difficult is beyond me. There is no one perfect diet for everyone.

And yes, What the Health was basically vegan propaganda that likely did more harm than good.

a high school coach wrote:

Unfortunately, asking for dietary advice on this website is about as useless as asking for health advice. If my 2 cents are worth anything, you can be a healthy runner with basically any sort of balanced diet, including vegan. I've been vegetarian for over 30 years and vegan for 20 and am basically your average, middle of the road masters runner. I don't think it made me faster or slower, but I do think it improved my immune system as I rarely get sick. It's better for the planet. It's better for the animals. If you do go for it, make sure you get enough calories. Plant-based foods are dense in nutrients, but less dense in terms of calories, so get ready to increase the volume of food you eat. Take a b-12 supplement. Consider a plant-based iron supplement if you're over 70 mpw. Good luck.

Eaten meat for 40 . years and rarely get sick. So eating meat has improved my immune system also?

The big health benefits from giving up meat is that it tends to make people eat better. You tend to eat less refined food. But that is a choice that is independant of giving up meat. Switch to eating Impossible burfers versus the beef one and your aren't going to notice any health benefits.

A girl I was dating tried to convert me into a vegan. I went with it for about a month, but it absolutely killed my sex drive. Couldn't get it up for anything, and this girl was absolutely gorgeous (probably why I went with the whole idea in the first place.) Anyway, she wound up leaving me for that exact reason, of course, but it was probably for the best. I went out that same night to go treat myself, booked a table for one at a fancy restaurant and got the nicest steak they had. Took a bite, instantly got a bonerr, and came all over the table. Problem solved.

Are we talking good wild game or factory farmed, antibiotic fed, growth hormone injected feedlot beef? I eat wild venison (whitetail and elk) almost exclusively as my meat source and I feel great.

crosscountryrunning wrote:

asleep in class wrote:

Did you even watch the documentary?

No I did and they only provided like 4 things of evidence trash talking meet, they also never took into account everyone's different physical characteristics and quantity. They also never proved how plant based was better.

What kind of proof were you looking for?

All their sources, including studies, are here

Looking at the diets around the world of some of the healthiest people, the consensus seems to be that the best thing to do is to not go vegan but to reduce meat intake. Eating meat 3-5 times a week instead of everyday, giving you most of the benefits of veganism and a standard omnivore diet.

You should watch the “Game Changers” film. What do you think I’m “deficient”in exactly ? I’ve been racing pretty well this summer.

Every athlete regardless of diet should monitor their iron, B12, Vitamin D, testosterone though.

Tons of meat eating guys I know get low on these things (especially running high mileage). Boosted my testosterone this summer naturally just by lowering my mileage and adding hex bar deadlifts (not changing off the vegan diet...also dropped 3-4lbs of fat). Not eating any cholesterol...still eating soy products...

The real key is a “plant based” diet....most Americans would be way more healthy if they just ate more fruits and veggies...

You can be a vegan/vegetarian and eat like dogshit- i.e. processed grains. Just eat real food.

How many elite (Olympic level) runners do you know that are vegan or vegetarian? Not many, if any at all. That speaks for itself.

Personally I find it healthier to eat meat and veggies. Satiates me and let’s me avoid processed grains and deli meats.

Apparently the What the Health guys say the dairy industry is racist.

And... "The documentary has been criticized by a number of medical doctors,[2][3] dietitians,[4][5][6] and investigative journalists[7][8] for what they describe as confusing causation with correlation, cherry picking science studies, using biased sources, distorting study findings, and using "weak-to-non-existent data."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Health

Libertarian Centrist wrote:

Veganism is proven to be 100% lethal. I am a doctor of naturopathic medicine (ND) and 100% of my patients who were vegan have become severely emaciated and psychotic. Avoid at all costs.

The science is settled. Raw red meat is the optimal human diet.

All diets are proven to be 100% fatal. Everyone dies eventually, lol.

I appreciate how diets elicit the same emotional responses as politics and religion.

I’ve been vegan close to two years, vegetarian for ~5 years before that.

To be honest, I don’t feel “completely rejuvenated” or amazing all the time or anything else that’s super out of the ordinary.

However, I do feel my diet overall has improved substantially, in that I eat far more whole foods, fruits/veggies/legumes etc. now that my meals aren’t completely centered around meat and/or dairy.

That’s not to say I don’t eat junk food or processed food from time to time, because I definitely do. Overall though, I feel the healthiness of my meals (which make up most of the calories I consume) has gone way up.

I take a b12 supplement, as should most athletes, vegan or otherwise. That’s the only supplement I take. For reference I run about 50-55mpw while working full time, am not an amazing runner but have run in the mid 14s for 5k while vegan, and had a college teammate who has run an 8:3x steeple on a vegan diet. It’s good for you, folks.

Omnivorous Runner wrote:

Apparently the What the Health guys say the dairy industry is racist.

And... "The documentary has been criticized by a number of medical doctors,[2][3] dietitians,[4][5][6] and investigative journalists[7][8] for what they describe as confusing causation with correlation, cherry picking science studies, using biased sources, distorting study findings, and using "weak-to-non-existent data."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Health

full disclaimer: I am vegan.

Yeah it was a biased documentary. Doesn't mean much of the information presented was inaccurate though. I would advise caution, but not to throw out the baby with the bathwater either.

Veganism is a naturally biased topic. People who aren't vegan are more likely to believe it isn't healthier/better. People who are vegan are more likely to believe it is healthier/better. It's why no documentary on diet will ever be unbiased.

Need for any type of supplementation is a huge red flag for dietary deficiency. Eating sufficient animal products guarantees enough of all B-vitamins. The average Western diet is 70% plant based (and the 30% of animal products is typically of poor quality and poorly prepared as in overcooked and/or heavily processed), and typically deficient in B12, among others like D3, as well as quality protein.

I'm sure this thread will be informative, enlightening, and more conclusive than the previous 42,567 threads about this.

Absolutely not! Humans are carnivores. They need meat to be healthy. Sure you can get those key nutrients you lack from not eating meat using manufactured products (i.e. supplements). Something we've only had over the past 100 years or so - which should tell you humans need meat (and/or fish).

Should you eat less meat? Absolutely. You should have vegetarian (or even vegan) days - maybe even weeks. You should eat far more vegetables and fruits. Far less sugar. Far less processed grains. Far less processed oils. Very little processed meats.

In fact you should eat what looks like a vegan diet with the occasional serving of the best meat/fish/fats you can find (from animals/fish which are as healthy as they can be). You should also eat from the whole animal - organ meat, etc.

Be healthy - eat meat. Not too much. The best you can find.

crosscountryrunning wrote:

asleep in class wrote:

Did you even watch the documentary?

No I did and they only provided like 4 things of evidence trash talking meet, they also never took into account everyone's different physical characteristics and quantity. They also never proved how plant based was better.

Well, if nothing else, your post does provide evidence that eating 'meet' does absolutely nothing for brain function.

blatter wrote:

Absolutely not! Humans are carnivores.

Should you eat less meat? Absolutely.

This response nicely encapsulates the conflict between biology (our requirements as animal beings) and food politics (wanting to fit in with an imposed cultural narrative). If you were a zookeeper trying to keep a large carnivore healthy and vigorous, would you be increasing it's plant intake at the expense of it's species-preferred food of meat, fish and eggs?