Should I Go Vegan?
Welcome back to another edition of #ASKLAUREN where I give a ridiculously long answer to a relatively short question. My mother - and every teacher I've ever had - always said I talk too much. DO I LOVE THE SOUND OF MY OWN VOICE? Maybe. But, you know the upside to having your own blog? I can sit here babbling into your screen for as long as I please with no one to mute me. Well, except you. If you stop reading. Please don't stop reading.
Today's question comes from Nat and is one I get asked OFTEN. Like, The Weeknd often. Like, every day often. So, since this seems to be the Q on everyone's mind, let's get straight into it.
"Hi Lauren!
Lately everything I'm reading and everyone I talk to is obsessed with going vegan. It's at the point where I'm starting to think this might be something I should be doing. I watched What The Health on Netflix and it scared the ish out of me. What are the benefits of going vegan? Downsides? And what exactly does 'going vegan' mean? Am I just supposed to eat raw fat balls, vegetables and chickpeas?! I don't even like nuts. Apparently I can't even have honey? Is vegan the best diet for everyone or is it just a fad? And honestly, is it safe? Or is eating eggs the thing that's really going to kill me!!
Tell me if I should go vegan, kk thx.
Nat"
Nat! Eggs will not kill you. Let's just start there. Unfortunately, I can't give you an easy answer as to whether eggs are ~always~ good or bad. Eggs that come from GMO corn-fed cage-trapped chickens are not a health food. They contribute to illness in many ways. I outright avoid them. Eggs can be nutritional powerhouses when they come from pastured, organic hens that roam free and happy and feed on unsprayed green grass. These are good for you, in moderation, if you can digest them and you aren't battling infections, viruses or diseases that are aggravated by the compounds in eggs. See what I mean? It's complicated.
So much of nutrition depends on you and what's going on in your unique body. It's impossible for me to give you a sweeping recommendation like YOU SHOULD GO VEGAN when I don't know enough about what's happening in your bod. What I can do is take some time to explain a little bit about our food system and why vegans - in some cases - are healthier. I can also explain some basic nutrition tenets, the way I try to eat and why, and the way some old people who live until 100 eat.
Let's start with factory farming: the fact that we even have to worry about what FACTORY our food is coming from is very sad and the root of what is making us sick, especially in North America. In most European countries, they just have FOOD; grown in the same way for 1000+ years, on. like, an actual farm, by producers that respect the animal, the soil, the land, the ecosystem, the environment, the human body. Meat and dairy products are more expensive in Europe, because the animals aren't stuffed with growth hormones and take longer to raise. The animals eat grass, the way they are meant to, not fattened up with corn. Here in North America, we have government-subsidized companies running disease-promoting, profit-maximixing organizations that happen to make stuff we eat. They pump animals with HGH and antibiotics, cram them together in tight bacteria-laden quarters, and feed them genetically modified corn and soy to chub them up quickly. It's not the natural way - it's a horrendous, cruel process. Factory farming is ruining the environment - the carbon emissions produced by these farms are rapidly accelerating climate change - while also ruining our health. It's one reason our disease rates are skyrocketing! Our bodies are confused because the food we consume is far too fucked with to even be called food. We can't recognize or digest it, because it's not real. It's void of the important enzymes, vitamins and minerals we need. It's filler, not fuel. How can the body survive and thrive when it's not getting what it needs? Removing these animal products from your body will obviously lead to improved health. Cleaner food = cleaner blood = cleaner mind and body. This is part of the reason why some vegans thrive.
There is -so- much information circling out there about the DANGERS of food or specific diets. You watched What the Health and it freaked you out because you are a smart, curious person. You want to treat yourself like you're golden and I'm so happy you're questioning all this. But please don't blindly believe every sensationalized Netflix documentary or health article you read. You should only believe me... lol. No, but seriously: this kind of biased media is totally fear-based. It may mean well, but ultimately it leaves you feeling like what you're eating IS KILLING YOU. Is this true? Yes and no. .The wellness world is a high-speed shitshow. The internet has made it possible to seek out more data and opinions than our little yet masterful brains can ever aptly comprehend. Health trials and studies - even those done by reputable universities or scientists and referenced by major media outlets - can be manipulated to prove almost any theory correct or incorrect. AND, the same studies are incresingly paid for by big drug or food companies desperate to convince people to purchase their products. CEREAL IS GREAT FOR YOUR HEART HEALTH ACCORDING TO STUDIES, but if you read the fine print, you'll likely find those same studies were paid for by Cheerios' papa, General Mills. With all the health stuff flying around, it's hard to know what is TRUE. What is right for us. So, what do you do? Will going vegan protect you?
The reality is simple: all of the noise you hear is just marketing. It's designed to get us to buy, buy, buy. It's trying to distract us from figuring out which foods fuel us, from listening to our bodies, from trusting our own cells to tell us what's right and wrong for us based on a very simple, accurate, cost-free indicator: how we're feeling. It's trying to convince us that we need another diet, another product, another opinion, another study or clinical trial, another person outside of us to tell us what to do in order to be well. It's total crap. You don't need a study, documentary, doctor or health article to tell you when a food or diet makes you feel bad. You just know.
Nat, how are you feeling? You didn't say anything about what's going on with your body. Are you stressed, lethargic or tired? Do you have headaches, brain fog, sinus infections, painful PMS? Do you have anxiety or other mood disorders? What about your poops - are they regular? Do you feel bloated, gassy or uncomfortable after eating? Do you have PCOS, fibroids, autoimmune disease, allergies, cystitis, colitis?
If you're dealing with any major health challenges, discomfort or disease, I would recommend you see a nutritionist or naturopath who can tailor your diet directly to your needs. The right dietary changes can improve any health situation. Not to blow my own horn, but HEY THERE, I'm available. If you're feeling good, if you're avoiding junk, if you're sleeping - why go vegan? You don't need to spend the rest of your life surviving exclusively on chickpeas and kale, UNLESS those things make you feel great and strong and happy. If they do, eat more of them and less of the stuff that makes you feel like turd soup. All you really need to do is follow some basic nutritional information and listen to your body. Start with the building blocks and then pay attention to how your body responds.
Ok, building block time:
To survive and thrive in our modern society you'll need to be a bit of a food detective. Get curious about what you're eating, where it comes from, how it was grown or raised. This is more crucial than following any one diet. You are what you eat, but you're also what you eat EATS. If the poor cow that sacrificed itself for your delicious double cheeseburger ingested pesticides, antibiotics, GMO's etc, all of that junk is going directly into your cells, as well. If your kale is sprayed with the carcinogenic pesticide Round-up, you're consuming Round-up. I'm not trying to turn you into the food police, but having this information will improve the way you feed yourself and, in turn, your overall health. I wish you didn't have to think about all this. I wish we lived in a wonderful world where you could eat whatever you liked without worrying about toxic chemicals or GMOs or antibiotics. This is what happens in places like Sardinia. They eat natural, wild, humanely-raised and prepared food, in moderation; mostly vegetables, a little grass-fed meat, wild fish, beans, olive oil, raw dairy, and sourdough or unleavened bread, the occasional honey-sweetened dessert. They drink wine. They tend to their own crops and get some exercise. They laugh with their friends and spend time connecting face to face. They live to 100 years old. I want you to try and replicate this way of life in your own little corner of the world. These very old humans are not vegan. They're not extreme dieters or crazed paleo crossfit bros. They just eat from the land. Going vegan changes lives for one simple reason: what you add is just as important as what you take away. Your health will always improve when you eat more vegetables + fruit and remove excess animal products and processed food.
This is especially true for North American eaters because:
1) We eat WAY TOO MANY animal products. Besides packaged, processed foods, conventional meat and dairy products are the most unhealthy things we can eat. Decrease or eliminate these two things and your health improves every, single time. The modern farming system was designed with one objective in mind: to manufacture animal products quickly, cheaply, and in mass quantities for fast food joints like McDonald's. It's unnatural and backwards. Farmers should respect the life cycle and health of each animal; it takes time, care and reverence to raise healthy livestock. Animal products should NOT be available cheaply, easily or quickly. They should be a side dish, never the main event.
and
2) Plants should always be the main component of every meal. Our bodies cannot thrive on a diet that relies exclusively on meat and dairy. These foods might contain important nutrients - depending on how the animals themselves are raised - but they're still lacking the vital enzymes, phytonutrients and minerals we need and can only get from plants.
The most basic nutritional information I can give you is this: focus your diet on food that is natural, wild, organic whenever possible, unprocessed, and alive (not raw 100% of the time, but eating some raw food is very good for you). It's that simple.
Plant-based is a lifestyle we should all be living for our health, regardless of fads, trends, ethics, religion, or values. A well-balanced diet is one based 75-80% on fruit and vegetables, with the rest of the 20-25% coming from healthy fat (olive oil, seeds, nuts), grass-fed meat, wild fish, raw dairy, sprouted legumes + grains or natural sugar. Whatever makes you feel good. All you need to do is follow this easy guideline, start focusing on where your food comes from, and feed yourself consciously. If you enjoy meat or dairy, buy the best you can. It will be more expensive, sure.. but it's a treat, it shouldn't be a daily thing. You'll feel better and you'll be helping the environment .If you decide to go full vegan for ethical reasons, I respect that. Just make sure you're getting whole protein sources and you have your B12 and iron levels checked regularly. If you hate nuts, Nat, don't eat them. Try a new vegetable. Ottolenghi has written some great veg-centric cookbooks with recipes that will get you excited about eating more plants. If you love fruit, eat as much as you want. No one ever got sick from a diet filled with bananas and apples, kids. A general rule I follow is: I only buy organic, raw, wild, or grass-fed animal products and I don't eat them more than once a day. I limit dairy because of my autoimmune issues. I fill my plate with vegetables I snack on fruit alone. I eat small amounts of gluten-free, organic grains and legumes like quinoa, rice, millet and lentils that have been soaked or sprouted. I use olive oil, herbs and spices in abundance. I drink green juice whenever I can get it, herbal tea, red wine, and a shit ton of water. That's my life. I also eat avocado-oil potato chips, dark chocolate, gluten-free banana bread and huge slabs of pizza margherita in Italy once a year. LIFE. It's a balancing act.
At the end of the day, the quality of the food you eat is the most important thing, not whether it's vegan. PEPSI IS VEGAN, does that mean it's healthy? Genetically modified and non-organic corn are vegan... I wouldn't feed those things to my worst enemy. Full disclosure: I don't have a worst enemy but if I did, I still wouldn't let him or her eat bad corn. Vegan baked goods are popping up everywhere and are loaded with palm oil, sugar and other junk. No bueno, no matter what you call them.
So, to answer your question, Nat. Should you go vegan? If you want to. But whatever improved health benefits you can get by going vegan can also be obtained just by reorganizing your plate to include more veg, less processed food, and fewer poor-quality animal products. Don't eat something just because it's cheap, fast, and easy. As Michael Pollan says: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Try to eat the way your great-great-grandmother used to eat. The way the old-ass 100 year old Sardinians eat. They aren't vegan, but they prioritize quality over quantity. They eat well and happily. They live ALMOST forever. And at the end of the day, isn't that what we all want? To torment our friends and loved ones for as many years as humanly possible?
LIVE SLOW, DIE OLD, EAT PLANTS.
Have a question? Email hi@laurenmarotta.com with the subject line #ASKLAUREN. I'll be answering a new question every other Monday.