From eNewsletter 12/4/2019
DID YOU KNOW that malondialdehyde (MDA), a free radical metabolite that causes inflammation, was found to be significantly higher in recreational runners who were following a vegan, vegetarian, or lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet compared with runners consuming an omnivorous diet?
The Journal Nutrients study brings much-needed perspective to counter the damaging propaganda coming from movies such as Netflix's The Game Changers, which preaches veganism for athletes, but fails to take into account individual needs.
As every food fad does, the popularity of veganism will eventually wane. It is astounding that 30 years later we are still pleading for public health officials to emphasize individual dietary needs.
"BIG PLANT-BASED" IS HERE
Bonnie and Steve: There is a disconnect in understanding the plant-based food movement. The disconnect lies in that the movement, as currently constructed, is a fraud.
We can make it fairly simple for you. If you truly wanted to adhere to a vegan diet that would be considered healthy, only about two percent of the citizens in this country could follow it. Out of that two percent, only about five percent could follow it long-term and still be healthy. If you are one of those individuals, we tip our caps to you. For everyone else thinking they are following a healthy vegan diet by eating plant-based foods, you are not.
The majority of the population could not follow a true vegan diet merely because it activates taste receptors that most of us do not care for: bitter, sour, and spicy as opposed to salty, sweet, and umami.
Ah, but that's where "Big Plant-Based" comes in. Just like the propaganda spewed by Big Cattle, Big Sugar, Big Dairy, Big Sugar-Free, Big Fat-Free, Big Gluten-Free, Big Corn, and every other "Big" food industry, the plant-based food industry is following their predecessors propaganda machine with great success.
For starters, they are preying upon your guilt that plant-based is better for the planet. True plant-based diets are better, but not the plant-based food Big Plant-Based is espousing.
In addition, by calling something plant-based automatically makes it healthier, right? That's what Big Plant-Based is banking on. But as we have shown you in previous newsletters, plant-based in most cases means loaded with salt, sweeteners, and processed fake ingredients that activate the taste receptors most Americans identify with.
Have you ever eaten soy beans without salt? Blah. Raw kale? Unless you are Steve who enjoys it, yuck. Beans with no salt? More like chewing cardboard. Some would say that you can do wonderful things with plant-based foods just using spices and very little salt. If you can spend time making all your food from scratch, more power to you. But the majority of Americans do not have that kind of time. What major food manufacturer is going to use expensive spices in their plant-based foods to lower salt content? None. They take the easy way out by using spice extractives, a sexier label term for the dreaded monosodium glutamate.
In conclusion, we would like to emphasize five percent of two percent. If you are two percent of the population who can consistently follow a true plant based diet, and of that two percent, you are part of the five percent that can thrive on it, we are thrilled for you. Unfortunately, that amount of people will not be able to save the planet.
Many of you reading this are doing so many wonderful things to make the planet healthier. We can always do more. But do not let Big Plant-Based guilt you into thinking that you are a bad, ill-informed human being for following the optimal diet for your individual needs. For most of us, that diet is some form of an omnivorous eating style.
See it for what it is. The latest in a long line of misinformation campaigns propagated by industries looking to line its coffers without taking into account your individual needs.
DEEP DIVE INTO PLANT-BASED
Steve: If you couldn't get enough of our free Big Plant-Based article, here is more ammunition to share with your friends...This article is reserved for NCI Well Connect Members. You can get this article by signing up here. You can get our free eNewsletter by signing up at the top of our website.
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