What does it mean to eat a plant-based diet? Many people eat vegetarian or vegan diets and swear by the health benefits. But it isn’t as simple as it sounds. There are many types of vegetarian diets. Some include vegetables and fruit with no dairy or eggs. Some allow eggs but no dairy, and others the opposite. Still other diets also allow occasional use of meats, while others involve vegetables and fish but nothing else.
Those who advocate these diets say that they result in increased cardiovascular health and decreased cancer risk. However, it’s important to remember that vegetarian diets can also come up short in some areas. In fact, depending on which variety of diet one adopts, special attention must be paid so that the vegetable sources provide vitamins typically obtained from meat sources:
For instance, a plant-based diet must be careful to include foods that provide Vitamin B-12 for blood formation, Vitamin D for bone growth and immunity, calcium for strong teeth and bones, iron for blood formation, and zinc for various metabolic processes. Iodine for healthy thyroid function is essential and can be short in some vegetarian diets. The same is true of Omega 3 fatty acids for heart health. Protein is absolutely essential for so many of our body functions and structures, but can be obtained by diligent attention to consuming the right plant sources:
https://medlineplus.gov/vegetariandiet.html
There are, on the opposite spectrum, those who advocate very high-protein diets, heavy in meats, dairy and eggs. Such diets can be helpful for weight loss and in control of blood glucose in diabetics since they are low in carbohydrates. While experts have long suggested a lower cardiovascular risk for those who take a high-carbohydrate, low-fat/low-cholesterol diet, it isn’t clear from more recent research that this is certain. Indeed, it looks more and more as if carbohydrates may have caused far more health issues than the fats we were told for decades to avoid:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322827#which-is-better-for-building-muscle
https://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/high-protein-diet-weight-loss
“All things in moderation,” the old saying goes. And in terms of diet, this is probably good advice. An all-vegetarian or vegan diet can be healthy for those willing to educate themselves and make sure that they cover all of their “dietary bases.” On the other hand, high protein certainly can make for healthy individuals as well. Personally, I suspect that as we learn more about how individual our genetics are, we’ll find that some people do better with one type of diet than the other.
Whatever you do, if you want to make changes in your diet, consider speaking to your physician or to a dietician so that you can eat in a way that is safest, and healthiest, for you considering your underlying medical issues and goals.