10 Tips for a Plant Based Diet from a Non-Vegan

[LfcCharlie4]

Hey guys, been getting into Ben Greenfield's content a lot recently and while he goes to extremes. I've been reading a lot on the other side of plant-based diets and how to alleviate many of the issues 'Ex-Vegans- are facing, it's not as simple as a lot of what I call 'YouTuber Nutritionists' make it out to be and since Ben follows a high fat diet, yet works with Vegans and Plant-Based athletes, it's quite an unbiased source to get info from, he himself doesn't endorse this way of eating due to his concerns with super low cholesterol, however, here's 10 things he suggests to make sure you don't suffer the majority of health issues on a Plant-Based Diet

'Eat real food. Avoid plant-based Frankenfoods such as fake meats, textured vegetable proteins and processed soy products. Soy contains digestive irritants and digestive enzyme inhibitors such as lectins, phytates and protease inhibitors. Granted, most of these problematic compounds can be rendered mostly  harmless through fermenting soy and consuming it in forms such as miso, natto and tempeh – but you should avoid popular processed foods such as soy milk and tofu. Soy also contains high levels of goitrogens, which are compounds that inhibit the thyroid’s ability to utilize iodine correctly. This could lead to hypothyroid problems if you have a high soy consumption. Finally, soy contains plant estrogens in the form of isoflavones which can raise your estrogen levels and lower your testosterone levels (Barrett). So women with estrogen dominance or men and women with testosterone deficiencies shouldn't be including soy in their diet.

Avoid high intake of inflammatory omega-6 vegetable oils such as soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, or margarine. Instead, use coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil or macadamia nut oil (9). At the same time, increase omega-3 fatty acid intake from algae-based DHA supplements such as EnergyBits and get some ALA from ground chia seeds, hemp seeds, or flax seeds.

Supplement with vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 is critical for a healthy heart and skeletal system and is notoriously deficient in a plant-based diet (27). I highly recommend a vitamin K2 supplement at about 100mcg per day, along with generous amounts of natto (which incidentally goes well with avocado, sea salt and extra virgin olive oil for a nice breakfast).

Supplement with Vitamin D3. If you want to keep your bones and teeth strong, and give yourself adequate hormone and steroid precursors, I recommend 35IU of Vitamin D3 per pound of body weight (8). This could be tough if you're a strict vegan, because most supplemental vitamin D3 is derived from wool, and most vegan versions contain vitamin D2, which is a far less potent form. Garden of Life Vitamin D3 is one of the few vegan D3 brands out there.

Get Vitamin A. Vitamin A is crucial for healthy bone tissue, vision and hormones, but plants only contain beta-carotene, which your body converts into vitamin A, but at a very inefficient rate (29). You need to focus on enhancing this absorption as much as possible by eating beta-carotene rich foods with fatty meals (i.e. have your beta-carotene rich foods with olive oil or avocado), attending to any of the gut issues that you'll read about later in this book, and getting adequate iron and zinc, which help you convert beta-carotene into Vitamin A. Cooking beta-carotene rich foods also helps to increase absorption. Beta-carotene can be found in concentrated amounts in a variety of foods including sweet potatoes, carrots, kale, spinach, turnip greens, winter squash, collard greens, cilantro, fresh thyme, cantaloupe, romaine lettuce and broccoli.

Properly prepare grains, legumes, or nuts. As you learned, fermentation can render soy more digestible (28). Similarly, you can neutralize many of the anti-nutrients and mineral binding compounds in grains, legumes and nuts by learning how to properly soak and (if desired) sprout and ferment them. Here is a useful soak time chart for most grains, legumes and nuts.

Maximize iron absorption. Non-heme iron is the form found in plant foods, and it's less bioavailable than the heme iron in meat (21). But you can increase iron absorption from plant-based foods when you consume them in the presence of Vitamin C (similar to consuming beta-carotene rich foods with oily foods). Combined foods such as swiss chard, spinach, beet greens, lentils, beans, and quinoa with  foods high in Vitamin C like tomatoes, bell peppers, lemon juice, strawberries, oranges, papaya, kiwis, pineapple, or grapefruit. You should also moderate tea or coffee consumption, since these both reduce iron absorption.

Use iodine. Plant-based diets are notoriously iodine deficient (25). Sea vegetables such as nori, kelp and dulse are the best natural sources of iodine. Check out the website Main Coast Sea Vegetables, where you'll find many more iodine sources that you can easily read about or order. Also consider taking supplemental iodine, such as a daily dose of liquid iodine, at about 6mg per day.

Take vitamin B12. Nearly every study conducted on vegans show much higher rates of B12 deficiency than omnivores, with elevated homocysteine as a result (homocysteine increases blood clotting and raises your risk of heart disease) (2). I recommend a highly absorbable liposomal Vitamin B12, at about 10mcg per day.

Supplement with taurine. Taurine is an amino acid found only in animal foods, and it is crucial for brain development, healthy blood pressure, blood glucose stability, fighting free radicals and protecting your vision (23). Your body can indeed make its own taurine from a combination of other amino acids, but this can be very hard for vegan athletes to pull off inadequate volume (20). There are vegan taurine sources out there such as NOW Foods Vegan Taurine Powder (trust me, it's a much healthier alternative to Red Bull), and I recommend using 1 gram per day.' 

 

I had issues a couple of years ago as I didn't properly supplement B12, D3 or DHA, and was eating a lot of processed shit, I used to believe anything Vegan was healthy. It's always important to look at both sides of an argument and a guy like Ben (who isn't a complete Anti-Vegan like Carnivores and the Ex-Vegan NWO movement lol) offers helpful solutions. I thought this would help anyone looking to go plant-based for health, environmental or of course Ethical reasons. Most of it is pretty common sense- Get all the nutrients your deficient in, properly cook your food and cut the processed shit to a minimum. 

Have a great day everyone  

 

Here's the Whole article- https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/article/nutrition-articles/how-to-customize-your-diet/

[Cocolove]

14 hours ago, LfcCharlie4 said:

Supplement with Vitamin D3. If you want to keep your bones and teeth strong, and give yourself adequate hormone and steroid precursors, I recommend 35IU of Vitamin D3 per pound of body weight (8). This could be tough if you're a strict vegan, because most supplemental vitamin D3 is derived from wool, and most vegan versions contain vitamin D2, which is a far less potent form. Garden of Life Vitamin D3 is one of the few vegan D3 brands out there.

 

I found it easy to get a cheap high quality vegan D3

14 hours ago, LfcCharlie4 said:

 

Take vitamin B12. Nearly every study conducted on vegans show much higher rates of B12 deficiency than omnivores, with elevated homocysteine as a result (homocysteine increases blood clotting and raises your risk of heart disease) (2). I recommend a highly absorbable liposomal Vitamin B12, at about 10mcg per day.

 

I've heard those studies were corrupt and recent research has revealed no difference in b12 defeiciencies between vegans and omnivores but I have not fact checked this.

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing! this was helpful. I certainly need to look into vitamin A, k2, iodine.

[LfcCharlie4]

@Cocolove I'm sharing as when I went vegan at 15 I kinda fell for the thought that anything Vegan= Healthier lol. 

Now, I'm not so naive and to thrive on a Plant-Based diet long term, there's a lot of steps we need to take. 

I agree, D3 is easy to get, and I'd just take B12 to be on the safe side, the only time I felt shit on a Vegan diet was when I wasn't properly supplementing B12- Tired, minor depression, lethargic etc etc, since taking it felt amazing. 

A Good 'Vegan Multivitamin' should have you covered on all of them mate, actually just checked mine doesn't have Vitamin A, unfortunately. 

Oh, and if you're into Holistic health and fitness (I'd say he's SD Yellow) check out Ben Greenfield, simple shit like Intermittent Fasting, Low level of activity, L-Theanine in my Coffee among other things is really helping me burn fat effortlessly on this cut.

[Soulbass]

@LfcCharlie4 thank youuu for the share

lots of new info for me here, but as i'm training for marathons it's a good source to look for.

i'm gonna digg into this article

and the name of people you mentioned

[pluto]

If you didn't need to supplement when you ate a diet not designed for the human body, why would you need to supplement now?

No offence but the whole system is flawed and does not understand nature. I rarely supplement and actually feel better when i stop all supplements and just consume whole fresh organic produce, fruits, vegetables and some nuts/seeds.

The body was never designed for meat, animal products or supplements.

It can adapt and has superior adaptation abilities but that does not mean you are thriving.

Surviving and Thriving are two completely different wavelengths of existence.

(2 cents)

 

 

[LfcCharlie4]

@pluto  Okay, you do you mate. I also tried just that...ended up with a B12 deficiency. I know plenty of people do thrive on a fruitarian diet, but also a lot of Ex-Vegans were Raw. 

Also, not everyone in a position where they can go fully fruitarian/raw, or want to, just sharing an article I read on the matter. 

How long have you been eating this way? A lot of Ex-Vegans who were deficient in one thing or another seem to last 2-4 years before the problems showed up, then blamed the diet overall when they were often jumping from fad to fad. Like I said whatever works for you I'm glad mate  

[pluto]

B12 is an absorption issue, without proper cleanse/fast the body will struggle to return to optimal balance and healthy gut flora where B12 circulates efficiently and can be sourced from simple organic produce. Most Vegans who become ex-vegans are just not educated enough and rush into the lifestyle blindly so the body goes into shock because most of its life it grew and was adapted to other diet/lifestyle. Its natural reaction that occurs.

Like detox symptoms when you go into a fast, the other thing is belief systems/programming that you need meat or animal products to be healthy and nutrition sufficient, extended fasting deletes these programmings, without fasting the transition can be challenging because are holding onto beliefs that are not in alignment with what you are trying to do.

You have to be smart about it and educate yourself properly if you want to see those life changing results that others experience.

Hope this helps

 

Edited February 5, 2020 by pluto

[Michael569]

Great and extremely practical list ! Thanks for taking time to post. Love the part about homocysteine, there was a lot of controversy after a Cambridge (or was it oxford? ) study came out showing that vegetarians had high occurence of stroke. Most people guessed this to be cholesterol problems from eggs but in reality this was homocysteine accumulation that was not being cleared out as it needs B12, folate and B6 to be turned into Methionine and to S-Adenosyl Methionine...very interesting stuff!

 

Edited February 5, 2020 by Michael569

[LfcCharlie4]

@pluto Thanks for the information mate, currently not looking to go raw, but agree with the fasting although with my frame probably won't do extended fasts, will do 16/8 year-round with monthly 24 hour fasts, Raw just isn't practical for me atm. I'm 20, work lots of hours, play sport and lift weights regularly. I understand it can certainly be more healing, and will certainly look into it as I get older, just not for me right now  

A lot of ex-vegans don't realize they're craving nutrients not actual food, hence Fish= Omega 3s as basically none get enough EPA/ DHA, those that go carnivore seem to mask the issues they face instead of holistically fixing them. Check out this guys FB, ex-vegan conspiracy kind of guy who now believe all plants= evil and Veganism is an 'NWO starvation goal,' lol. 

https://www.facebook.com/tone.sayers

@Michael569 Yep, if you haven't check out Ben Greenfield's stuff deeper, he has so much helpful shit it's unreal, like anyone not perfect, but am currently learning a hell of a lot from him, especially as he isn't Pro-Vegan like a lot of my other sources, feel it's always good to hear multiple points of view. To me, he seems very Yellow, even discusses importance of spirituality/ relationships, in regards to longevity and wellbeing/ happiness and often references the Blue Zones. 

I see you around here a lot, what kind of Diet do you currently eat?