Can A Vegan/ Plant-Based Diet Be For Everyone?
I bet you have heard the argument that no one diet can be for everyone and that is why the world could not be all vegan. Well, I agree that we all need variation in our diets but I totally disagree that each of us could not be vegan or plant-based. What vegan expert or doctor has ever said each of us has to have the same diet just because we eat all plant foods? None. As a homeopath you know I believe in treating each person as an individual and that includes our food choices. And no I don’t buy the blood type diet so you eat according to your blood type because most Americans are O blood type and that means they should eat lots of meat and protein if you follow that fad diet plan. Our planet can’t even raise enough animals to kill to feed every American animal meat at the rate we are consuming it now, so that is not even a sustainable possibility anyway.
There are so many fad diets out there and most are not only short lived or they just keep getting renamed in order to cover up its unsuccessful dangerous origins. The bottom line is all these high fat or low carb diets are taking a toll on our health today. Sure you are going to meet someone who tells you they lost 40 pounds or even lowered their cholesterol on this crazy diet. Initially that sounds tempting to try, but the truth is this high fat low carb craze is wrecking havoc on our health and we need to start tracking this via blood work done after 5+ years of being on a high protein, high fat diet..
Kidney disease is on the rise at an astronomical rate in today’s world and that is all because of this high protein low carb phase. I have now 3 people in my close circle all with kidney failure. One is on his 2nd kidney transplant; the other just got her second transplant; and the last one is family friend who ate a body builder’s diet for years with high protein meals from animals and lots of whey protein powder shakes. He is about 50 years old and in 4th stage kidney failure as I write this. And I promise you if you saw this guy you would never believe it. He is fit, active, not overweight but he has the nice big muscles from his high protein deadly diet. Sadly he has the damaged kidneys now to go with the big muscles! AND guess what his doctor told him when he diagnosed him… he said: “Now you need to eat a plant based or almost NO PROTEIN diet because the protein is too hard on your kidneys.” Funny they wait to tell you that when your kidneys are failing when we know that the kidneys never handle very much protein very well. We know for a fact that protein is a kidney’s biggest enemy. So if we know that and all doctors learn that in medical school, then why isn’t the Kidney Association pushing a vegan plant based diet? Why is it that every doctor in the world isn’t recommending a plant based diet? Well, if you guys follow my podcast and work, you know the answer…. $CHA-CHING$$!!! That is the sound of money dropping in their profit buckets! It is all about making money and the meat and dairy industry are using you to get rich. And then they get to make more money on you when you have to take all the drugs which they also have an investment in.
Did you recently read the article or hear on the news that now suddenly after all these years of saying that red meat is bad for you as it causes arteriosclerosis & shortens your life? Well, now they are saying they don’t think there is that much evidence or truth to that. Another article said vegans have less heart attacks but they have more strokes! What? This is a flat out lie proven a million times…. by so many scientific experiments. Who could believe this news I wondered? Well, sadly many do because even though they are lies they get published in journals with high prestige. I immediately sent the article to my friend and podcast guest Martha Rosenberg for her to tell me the source of this article. I knew she would know because this is her business to expose big food and big pharma! I got my email reply from Martha that stated the person who wrote it worked for the meat industry I think in London… CRAZY CORRUPTION and it makes me so mad because many don’t know this… and then they become confused.
But did you know and it is proven that all they have to do is confuse you to win? Because once a person is confused they just eat the diet that is most convenient and supports their desires rather than one that would be a sure health prevention diet. The big food industry doesn’t want you to know the truth and they are working hard to get people to be confused and question what is right.
Here are some common questions people have about a vegan/plant-based diet.
1. How can a vegan plant based diet can accommodate each of our individual needs?
We all need to make the bulk of our diet from fruits and vegetables. However we each will vary on things such as: how much fruit we feel good on or how much raw food vs. cooked food feels right for you. Another area that may be different is how protein do you feel good on? How much fat? I believe in a low fat diet but If you are a person that feels better on some fats and has good lipid blood work results and you don’t have any heart disease then eat avocados, hemp, flax and chia seeds. If you are in a stage of having medium to advanced heart disease then I suggest a no fat diet till you reverse this. And lastly if you are a person that feels you do better with a little more protein, no problem, eat more lentils, quinoa, even beans if do ok with them in your diet. And if you want to stay more raw then use clean healthy Spirulina for some great protein calories.
If you feel better on carbs then fill up with the good fruits and veggies and add the starchy veggies after you fill up on those so you don’t over eat the starchy ones. If you want to stay raw then an all carb diet is easy if you stay away from the nuts and fats so many raw diets overdose on. So the high carb raw diet is fruit and salads and smoothies and veggies if you tolerate them raw.
2. Will I gain weight eating an all carb diet?
NO .. weight gain comes from an unconscious diet. Once you are focused on taking out most of the fats you will see you can eat a lot and not gain weight. But when we lose site of how many calories one tablespoon of olive oil can be and how easily we use more than this on a salad we lose site of just how much fat we are eating. Vegan butter here and there, snack of nut butters on a cracker or an apple, raw food dishes with nuts and fats to make yummy sauces and soon you are on a high fat diet. Be mindful of almost no fats and you should not have to worry about weight. And as I said before fill up on the veggies and fruits and then eat the foods you love like potatoes so you don’t eat so many.
3. What is better cooked or raw vegan diet?
I answered this in my last podcast. Check it out here:
But the bottom line is every person should incorporate as much fruit as they can and build that up to more because fruit is the most detoxifying food and filled with mineral rich water. Then eat salads because they are delicious and you can make many great kinds of salads and it is an easy raw meal. However, some people don’t feel that good on a raw diet so you should experiment with raw foods and adapt this to your needs. If we go by the Ayurvedic system of medicine if you are a Vata you would not feel good eating raw veggies and your digestion would tell you this and honestly this is what I experienced when I went from my ALL fruit diet to my raw diet which included raw veggies, nuts, seeds and some fats of course with nuts you have fats. My body does not do well on a raw diet. I do great on fruit though so for me now that I am adding a few foods back into my diet I am choosing warm soups since it is fall and it feels right. I do well on fruit and soups or fruit, salads, soups and some cooked veggies when I feel I need it. But in summer I don’t want anything but fruit and sometimes a salad but I thrive on fruit all summer. So for me I do better thinking of the seasons and in this regard I like the Ayurvedic system as it has proven true to me because I think I am a strong Vata. So the bottom line is again do as high raw as you can but evaluate how you feel and adept as you need too. And from year to year will may require something different depending on our bodies stress, or digestion, or other factors.
4. Last question and the one I get asked the most: Am I missing anything from a vegan diet?
I answer this question is so much detail in my new course: “To Supplement Or Not To Supplement”. I am relaunching the course this week and will offer you a special price so you can learn every aspect to the answer of this question.
So this question is too hard to go over in detail.. but again it is individualized but also knowing which supplements are harmful and what are essential and why are we even taking supplements anyway. Once you understand nature’s law and how we are designed to eat and how to balance your emotional & spiritual health you will know with confidence what you should take or not take. Some people need to be more careful, some situations require supplementation .. so it is too hard to just give a fast answer but yes there are some essential and there are some dangers to supplements we have to learn about. So check out my course and stay tuned next week for the prelaunch sale.
Ok that is it for today.
Happy Vidal Speaks Wednesday my friends!
I love you
With Gratitude,
Vidal