For years dietitians and doctors have been recommending more fiber in diets as a way to improve health and reduce obesity. Recommending what the science tells us, that meat and dairy should be completely excluded, is problematic as it riles the meat and dairy industry. Kaiser Permanente, America's largest health plan has called on doctors to recommend a plant based (vegan) or vegetarian diet to their patients as a way to avoid obesity and prevent and reverse heart and other diseases. Here is what Kaiser says are the benefits to a vegan or vegetarian diet: Imagine being able to regress severe coronary disease in a year with only a diet change. I think what we're seeing is more and more evidence that simply reducing food intake or eating a bit more vegetables isn't enough to make a difference. The change people really need to make is to go completely, or almost completely, to a whole foods plant based diet. Kaiser Pemanente's recommendations can be found here.
I'm not a bunny rabbit I want my meat, some sugary goodness and carbs and why should I give up the pleasure for a few more years I would rather enjoy life with some gusto and die a bit sooner.
You do not need an all-vegan diet. Just eat mostly vegan and try to reduce the amount of meat and dairy you eat. If you combine meat with other vegetable proteins (beans, whole grains) you can reduce the amount of meat on the plate. Add just a little bit of vegetable fat into the plate too (nuts, peanut butter, avocado, sunflower seeds go great in a salad, coconut, etc). Dairy and eggs can be part of a healthy diet, but it is best not to eat too much of them. Make sure you get a small amount of vegetable in every meal, and do not eat all carrots either. Balance meat and carbohydrates. For example, if you use wholegrain food instead of a potato or white rice, you can have less meat on the plate, because whole grains have more protein to offset this. On the other hand, if all the plate has is white rice and meat, you will also want some vegetable to provide the fiber. Every meal should have a balance of protein, fat, carbohydrate and fiber. Those are the 4 fundamental components of a complete meal. It is a lot easier to eat more of a vegan-type diet if you make it a healthy and balanced vegan-type diet. When you eat, and how much you eat, is just as important as what you eat. If you use the right combination of food types in every meal, you will not have to worry about eating too much, your body will naturally regulate itself.
I think the idea is that both elements, what you eat and how much you eat, are important. Reducing calories will allow you to lose weight but if those calories are unhealthy then you're a thin person with a higher risk of heart and other diseases.
I'm going to eat meat. I need it to keep at least some fathom of muscle. Veggies and fruit won't do that. I will eat my meat and then I will exercise. Or maybe I should just eat asparagus and salad all day and sit on my ass. Which is better I wonder? Or maybe I could eat asparagus and salad all day and exercise, I might pass out.
There are vegan MMA fighters and weight lifters. You don't need meat for muscle or energy. There is protein in plants and it comes without the fat and carcinogens.
Actually the article is very specific about differentiating a plant based diet from a vegan diet. The article recommends only a plant based diet and not a vegan diet.
I was a vegetarian for 2 years, and true enough that got me as skinny as I've ever been. However, this is because most fattening foods contain meat: almost all fast food. I now eat a healthy diet including meat. There is hardly anything known to man which is as nutritious as chicken or kangaroo meat. My conclusion is as follows: eat 5000 calories of potato fries a day and you'll be fat and unhealthy. Eat 5000 calories of big macs each day and you'll be fast and unhealthy. However, there's a much lower proportion of these unhealthy foods on the vegetarian side. Additionally, having the willpower to refuse meat correlates highly with having the willpower to refuse unhealthy food. In short: eat a moderate healthy diet and you'll be fine either way.
That's not even remotely true. Look at Chicken compared to lentils and kale: Chicken 100g daily values Fat: 21% Cholesterol: 29% Sodium: 3: Potassium: 6% Protein: 54% Vitamin A: 3% Calcium: 1% Vitamin B: 5% Vitamin C: 0% Iron: 7% Vitamin B6: 20% Magnesium: 5% Fiber: 0% Lentils 100g daily value Fat: 0% Cholesterol: 0% Sodium: 0% Potassium: 10% Protein: 18% Vitamin A: 0% Calcium: 1% Vitamin B: 0% Vitamin C: 2% Iron: 18% Vitamin B6: 10% Magnesium: 9% Fiber: 32% Kale 100g daily values Fat: 1% Cholesterol: 0% Sodium: 1% Potassium: 14% Protein: 8% Vitamin A: 199% Calcium: 15% Vitamin D: 0% Vitamin B: 0% Vitamin C: 200% Iron: 8% Vitamin B6: 15% Magnesium: 11% The two plant sources above blow chicken out of the water on most nutritional values except for protein. Chicken has more protein but that's only one nutrient and it comes at a high cost - lots of fat and no fiber at all. Plant based protein comes wrapped in better nutrients and none of the downsides of high fat and cholesterol.
Chicken Breast Fillet - Skin Off Per 100g: 356kJ Fat: 0.6g Protein 19.6g Carbohydrate 0.0g It's a very lean source of protein. Trace elements and minerals are valuable as part of a balanced diet, but a good source of protein is also essential. As a meat eater and someone who grows all his herbs and vegetables himself, I can have both. Kangaroo is even better: Kangaroo Steak: 418kJ Fat 1.4g Protein 21.0g Carbohydrate 0.2g [hr][/hr] Of course, as a former vegetarian I know there are many fine sources of protein which don't involve meat, but the above are my favorite by far, especially as complete protein foods.
You Should probably read the link to the article you posted instead of just the headlines. A plant based diet does not exclude all meat while a vegan diet does.
