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Before I even start, I want to make it absolutely clear that I am neither endorsing nor opposing plant based diets. Reasons for following a diet like this may go far beyond health benefits. People observe these diets for personal, ethical, spiritual, or moral purposes. Full disclosure: I eat meat.
This review will strictly keep to the health & fitness domain of the diets. I'm not here to preach about veganism, or condemn eating meat.
I feel as though this review will elicit one of two responses: You will either feel justified in your diet choice, or feel indignation. Or you may just glance over it and move on. Who am I to judge?
The "Too Long, Didn't Read" summary:
If it works for you, great! But what works for one person may not work for another.
Many of the health benefits come from eating more nutritious foods.
More work is required to match the nutrition profiles of meat-eating.
Super strict adherence to veganism may limit certain vitamins, minerals, and fatty-acids that are essential to good health. Thus contradicting the point.
Don't be a nutrition zealot. People are different.
Plant Based Diets
What can I say about plant based diets that you don't already know? They've been around forever. You either follow one yourself or you know someone who does. Or has. Our ancestors ate their veggies because sometimes meat was hard to come by - and we've turned out okay so far.
I feel as though plant-based diets can be divided into three major categories:
Vegetarian - Not eating meat, but consuming some animal products
Pescatarian - Same as above, but eats fish
Vegan - No animal products or meat
I don't think you need me to give any more definitions, as most of us have had some kind of exposure to this stuff, and you've probably seen the Game Changers documentary, right?
What Works For You?
As a personal trainer, I often get asked about my professional opinion of these diets. Well, here it is:
If it works for you, by all means do it!
I know, boring, right?
I don't think there's anything magic about following a plant-based diet. It doesn't give you superpowers (that I'm aware of), but it might definitely probably improve your health.
Why?
Switching to a plant-based diet almost always improves your overall food quality.
If a person routinely eats fast food, processed foods, and the occasional stick of butter every day, and then suddenly stops doing those things, her health will definitely probably improve.
I say definitely probably because humans are difficult to measure. We are so complex that a single study can't possibly control for all the variations in our genetics. The best researchers know their limits, and we can only control so many variables in human studies. Such a large amount of genetic and lifestyle differences makes it extremely difficult for us to make exact "If, Then" statements.
Which brings me to my first point of this article - what works for one person, may not work for all people.
Take for instance, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Phelps, and Eliud Kipchoge. Three extremely successful athletes at the top of their field. Arnold is a world-renown bodybuilder, Phelps has more gold than the US treasury, and Kipchoge can run a marathon in less time than it took for me to write this article. Even though they are all world class athletes, they probably ate different stuff.
I mean, it's hard to imagine these three people are the same species. Let alone having the same diet. Their body types are all different, but their performance is in the top 0.01 percent. Although I think they all ate meat (not the point of this article), I'm willing to bet their nutritional needs and preferences are vastly different.
Proponents of a plant based diet suggest that eating meat isn't required for top athletic performance. And I'm inclined to agree with that thought. You can be a successful athlete, bodybuilder, and health nut without eating meat.
Assuming, that you're meeting your nutritional needs, the actual source of the nutrients may matter less than we think. If the protein is coming from lean chicken, fish, lentils, chia, quinoa, or tempeh, it's still mostly protein.
However, some debate exists on the validity of comparing meat protein with plant proteins. This is because plant-based proteins have limited amino acids whereas animal proteins tend to have a complete amino acid profile.
Side note: Think of protein as Lego sets. Amino acids are the individual Lego blocks. If you buy a complete Lego set, you'll have all the blocks you need. Alternatively, you can build something similar if you collect many different Lego pieces and put them together.
It shouldn't be surprising to know that plant-based diets require much more work to make a calorie-for-calorie comparison to other diets. In fact, it takes significantly more work to properly follow a plant-based diet the right way. Many people jump into a vegan or vegetarian diet without doing the proper research, and might be setting themselves up for long-term health problems.
Speaking of long-term, some of the long-term health issues (good or bad) have not been thoroughly studied by science. Largely because people are unreliable. It's very difficult to get a group of 200 people to follow a strict plant-based protocol for 20 years. Instead, we have to rely on anecdotal evidence and biased reporting. But such is the case with any diet or health trend.
Regardless, it should be noted that the immediate health benefits are noticeable. Including weight loss. No surprise. When you restrict foods and cut out fatty meats, your calories go down. This makes people more likely to adopt the diet trends because they see immediate progress. Much of the health benefits of any diet are caused by a sudden improvement of overall quality of life. People eat better, start living better, exercising more, and so on.
Which brings me to my next point: Many of the health benefits of plant based diets or any diet come from improving the overall quality of food and lifestyle.
You Are What You Eat, and Not Eat
If you get most of your calories from fatty, sugary, processed foods, you're doing your health a disservice.
If you get most of your calories from vegetables and plant-based sources, you'll automatically increase the quality of foods.
This should be a surprise to nobody.
Following a plant-based diet has many scientifically supported health benefits, including:
Resistance to many various diseases
Reduced inflammation
Reduced cancer-contributing factors
Improved cardiovascular health
Reduces obesity and diabetes
There are obviously a lot of health reasons to follow a plant-based diet.
On the other hand...
But with strict adherence to any diet comes a lack of nutritional diversity. This means that while you might be looking to improve your health, you must be careful not to cause more harm than good.
There is plenty of research to suggest that strict adherence to a vegan or vegetarian diet can leave you vulnerable to health issues due to missing out on certain nutrients like Omega-3 fatty acids, B Vitamins, and other vitamins and minerals provided by animal products.
A (not comprehensive) list includes:
Vitamin B12
Iron
Zinc
Calcium
Omega-3 Fatty Acids (ALA)
A lack of these can cause tons of health issues like chronic fatigue, anemia, cardiovascular risks, bone disease, and more.
I've actually had many clients who follow a vegan or vegetarian diet who tell me about their lack of energy and have frustration meeting their fitness goals. I totally support anyone who follows a plant-based diet - BUT make sure you're getting enough calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals.
You can't just stop eating meat.
What's The Conclusion?
There are many short-term and potential long-term health benefits of following a plant-based diet.
You don't have to sacrifice athleticism or performance.
More work is required to properly follow the diet.
Even more dietary work is required if you want to be a highly successful athlete.
Make sure you get all your vitamins and minerals.
One Final Thought
You've heard the joke: "How can you know if someone is a vegan? Don't worry, they'll tell you."
If you do follow a strict diet, please do the rest of us a favor: Show, don't tell. Demonstrate how healthy you are by living a good life. Don't preach to us. This goes with any diet trend, not just vegans.
Dietary zealots are the worst.
MORE Information
Want to do your own research? You can start here.
Is this diet right for you? Concerned you're missing out on vitamins or minerals? Get a free consult with me here.
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