Should I go on a plant based diet?

The reality of nutrition science tends to be... very boring, and in some ways, rather obvious, and when 99% of dietitians are asked, they'll give very boring and very obvious advice for maintaining your health. Get all your vitamins and minerals, get all your fiber, get x% of your calories from protein, avoid trans fats, and avoid added sugars. But nobody wants to hear that advice because they've been told all that shit a thousand times, and it's kind of hard to follow. So that other 1% of dietitians all come up with their own crackpot theories about how your body works, cobble together a few studies that support their claims, and then sell dieting books for a hundred bucks a pop. It's the oldest trick in the book and people eat right out of their hands.

Plant foods aren't inherently bad for your health; in fact, they're great sources of fiber, antioxidants, monosaturated fats, and natural carbohydrates. They're not very calorically dense, which can be important since so many American adults are fighting to stave off weight gain. Meat isn't inherently bad for you either, as it contains lots of protein and nutrients -- including B & D vitamins -- and is higher in protein. Realistically, what matters is what plant foods you eat, and what meats you select. Gorging on hydrogenated vegetable oils or sticking exclusively to berries is incredibly harmful to your body, as is regularly consuming steak or deli meat. A vegan diet is much healthier than a standard American diet, but a Mediterranean diet will do the trick too.

All that said, a plant-based diet is far, far more socially responsible. Animal agriculture is causes an immeasurable amount of death and suffering for innocent animals as well as underpaid, traumatized workers. Providing food for livestock requires an immense amount of crops, the farming of which depletes water supplies, ravages the soil, pollutes the rivers, and drives carbon dioxide emissions.


If you care about the animals who are suffering right now or about the humans suffering from environmental destruction, please talk to a dietitian about adopting a plant-based diet. You could really save a lot of lives through your own actions.

Eating meat is not the healthy option, AT ALL.. It is actually the exact opposite. All the nutritions and vitamins you need are actually in plants, not meat. Meat only gives you protein and iron, but then plants are filled with protein too. I am not gonna go extreme and tell you to completely cut all meat consumption, but eating it three meals a day is definitely very bad for your health, it will set you up for heart disease and depending on the type of meat you eat, processed meat generally has been linked to cancer.

Dairy is not as healthy as we were brought up to believe.. it is filled with fat and hormones... also reducing it is good.

I'd say the more plant based you can go, the better it is going to be for your health. and plant based can actually be very cheap.. beans and veggies are very cheap,

I eat meat maybe once a week and I have lots of energy, it's cheaper, better for the planet and your digestion as well. I top up with protein shakes.

I don't eat meat but wouldn't want a plant based diet because I like cheese and milk. And I love natural yoghurt. People always say that not eating meat will result in a lack of energy but it's really not a problem for me...kind of the opposite really. You should start having more fruit and vegetables because then you probably won't feel so tired...they're so high in nutrients

Here’s the book I once tried using. But it just wasn’t for me. Good luck.

The USDA nutrition guides have relatively high visibility which means big businesses have their representatives fighting to give their products more prominence. It's not too terrible.


This healthy eating pyramid is better. Notice how exercise is part of a healthy diet?

Some meat is good, some is bad

Meats that are qodesh (kosher) are healthy, not all animals are for food

Death through starvation is NOT a good way to go.
It IS healthy to be on a plant-based diet, especially whole, organic fruits and vegetables.

Well, cows eat plants, and you eat cows, so that's kind like being a second-hand vegan, right?

No.

I wouldn't necessarily go completely plant-based, but you need plants in your diet.