Hi, it's Dr Sam Robbins,
Over the past few months, I’ve gotten lots of questions about a vegetarian or vegan diet.
Are they healthier than meat eaters (carnivores)?
Are they lacking in nutrients, since they don’t eat animal products?
What are the benefits?
What are typical mistakes?
How does it affect exercise performance, muscle size and strength?
Does it prevent illnesses and diseases such as high cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure,
cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc.
Is it easier to lose weight on it or will I get fat?
Will I live longer?
Etc.
These are all great questions and today I’m going to give you a quick overview and summary
about all of this.
Difference Between Vegetarian & Vegan
Before I start, I want to first give some clarity to the difference between a vegetarian
vs a vegan.
A vegetarian excludes meat, poultry, and seafood from their diet.
Some vegetarians also exclude dairy, some don't, and some may consume eggs.
Likewise, vegans also avoid meat, poultry, and seafood, but they also take it a step
further by eliminating all animal products from their diet.
This includes any type of animal milk and eggs.
Vegans avoid foods produced using animals or animal products in any way, including honey.
Many vegans also avoid household products, clothing, or other items made from animal
products or tested on animals.
However, since we’re discussing “diet” today, the main difference will be that a
Vegan will also NOT eat any dairy or eggs.
So, let me quickly answer the earlier mentioned questions:
Are they healthier than meat eaters (carnivores)?
I have lots of vegetarian and vegan friends and associates.
So, I’ve seen all the different versions of “health” in this eating category.
One of my friends is a really smart guy, he’s a vegetarian, does yoga and teaches meditation
daily.
However, he is NOT “healthy” in my opinion because he’s overweight, has high cholesterol
and blood pressure.
Why?...
Because when we go out to eat, he’ll order fried Mozzarella sticks, French Fries and
a vegetarian burger with lots of Ketchup and dressing.
Just because he’s not eating meat, does NOT mean that he is having a healthy diet.
First, as you may already know - I don’t approve of dairy.
Of course, I don’t think fried foods and sauces are healthy.
Technically, a bag of potato chips can be part of a vegetarian/vegan diet.
But, this is NOT a healthy food choice.
The point is that, no matter what type of diet you are on - you have to prepare foods
in a healthy way.
However, assuming one does do this, a diet that’s primarily plant based, is without
a doubt, extremely healthy and one that I suggest everyone try.
In fact, over the years I’ve put dozens of my clients and patients, who were very
sick or ill or had a disease or even cancer, on a plant based, vegan diet and every single
person was healthier because of it.
HOWEVER, some of them couldn’t sustain it long-term for over a year and we had to make
changes and adjustments, and I’ll tell you why and how in a minute.
Are they lacking in nutrients, since they don’t eat animal products?
Assuming their diet is well balanced, the only thing they will be lacking over time
are some B vitamins and more specifically, B12.
This is an easy fix.
You can take a sublingual B12 or I suggest B12 shot and sometimes, a full B-Complex shot.
However, some are lacking in essential fatty acids, especially Omega 3’s, iron, calcium,
iodine or zinc.1 Again, all of this can be fixed with better food choices or the addition
of supplements.
Some are also lacking in complete proteins, all the essential amino acids.
And I’ll tell you how you can fix this in a minute.
What are the benefits?
Assuming the vegan diet is done right, it’s well balanced, no fried foods and so forth,
there are LOTS of benefits: Weight Loss
Vegans tend to be thinner than non-vegans.2
The interesting part is that a vegan diet can cause weight loss faster than a calorie
restricted diet.
And the reason is because the diet is high in fiber and bulk, so you can eat a lot of
food, get full and it’ll still be less calories.3 Lower Blood Sugar
vegans tend to have lower blood sugar levels, higher insulin sensitivity and up to a 78%
lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.4,5
Cancer Protection Vegans generally eat considerably more legumes,
fruit and vegetables than non-vegans.
This may explain why a recent review of 96 studies found that vegans may benefit from
a 15% lower risk of developing or dying from cancer.7
There’s a lot more evidence about cancer protection and prevention, that I could keep
going.
Suffice to say, a plant based vegan diet is very beneficial at reducing your risk for
many cancers.
Lower Risk Of Heart Disease Obviously, eating fresh fruits, vegetables,
legumes and fiber is linked to better health and also a lower risk of heart disease.
Studies comparing vegans to the general population report that vegans may benefit from up to
a 75% lower risk of developing high blood pressure.7
Vegans may also have up to a 42% lower risk of dying from heart disease.7
… anyway, these are just some of big benefits.
There are also other benefits such as reduced inflammation, better skin, less pain, better
digestion and colon health.
What are typical mistakes?
Sadly, I’ve seen a lot of mistakes by “newbie” vegans or people who haven’t done the research
yet.
Eating unhealthy, fried and processed foods.
Lacking in Omega 3 fats and vitamins and minerals like B12, Iron, Calcium, iodine and zinc.
Not drinking enough water.
Since Vegans have more fiber, they also require more water.
Not eating enough protein and essential amino acids, which I’ll get to in a minute.
Not taking getting regular blood and hormone tests.
For some people, a vegan diet lowers lots of youthful hormones such as testosterone
in men, estrogen in women, growth hormone and thyroid - just to name a few.
How does it affect exercise performance, muscle size and strength?
This is a big question I’ve received from those that exercise regularly.
The truth is, this one is hit or miss.
SOME people do better on a vegan diet.
Some, do worse.
Genetics, age and proper planning has a lot to do with it.
As I stated earlier, I’ve had male athletes on a very well designed vegan diets and after
a few months, their performance drops.
Less muscle and strength.
And when taking a hormone test, you can clearly see why - lowered testosterone levels.
However, when I’ve modified it with a “hybrid” Vegan diet, their performance goes right back
to before and in fact, it gets better.
Of course, this took a lot of experimenting for me to figure out the right solution and
changes that needed to be made.
Some of the changes that were made was that we did add in some animal protein - a little
bit of salmon, pasture raised bison or beef and whole eggs.
THIS was only for those people who were okay with this change.
We also added in vegan protein powders to increase their total protein in take and in
essential amino acids - such as rice and hemp protein.
And if you’d like more about this topic, I’ve got links below, on customizing your
own vegan protein powders, so your diet is better balanced, and your athletic performance
and muscle mass doesn’t decrease.
Will I live longer?
Studies have shown that people who eat a more plant based diet, especially Vegans - do live
longer and are healthier.
However, there’s a LOT that can be said about this.
For example, people who live the longest (over 100 years old), which some researchers refer
as the “Blue Zones”, are more plant based diets.
HOWEVER, the are not vegans.
The still consume animal proteins such as beef and fish.
But, it’s just at a much lower amount - like 3 oz, 1-2x weekly.
Additionally, these people exercise, don’t eat processed foods, are outside in the sunshine,
manage their stress levels by resting and sleeping better and so forth.
Summary
All things considered, a plant based vegan diet is very healthy.
For some, they can stick to it all the time.
For others, doing so 80-90% of the time with the occasional consumption of healthy sources
of animal protein, is still extremely beneficial and will for sure reduce your risks for many
illnesses.
At the very least, I suggest you reduce some of your animal proteins and substitute more
plants and even vegan protein powders.
And you can get more details about making your own customized protein powders by clicking
the link below in the description area and watching my other YouTube videos about this
topic.
That’s it for today.
I hope this video gave you more clarity.
Please share it with a friend who may benefit and if you liked this video, please subscribe.
Thanks for listening and have a happy and healthy day!