Aaaah, diet. One of my favorite and least favorite topics. What is the best way to eat.
As somebody who has struggled with eating disorders in the past, who had done junk food, vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan, paleo, autoimmune paleo diets, intermittent fasting, water fasting, high carb low fat, high fat low carb, fruitarian and what ever way of eating out there exists - you would think I would have figured out by now what works. I haven't. Here is the thing: I would LOVE if veganism works because yes I have compassion for animals. On the other hand I understand that pure veganism doesn't really work either for the agriculture. It is a symbiosis of plants and animals that create a nourishing food industry. YES we need the poop of the animals to fertilize our soils! Does that mean we also have to eat the animals? Well that is a different question, but if everybody now goes vegan and we need to produce even larger amounts of grains, maize, soy etc, that won't solve the environmental problem. So for the environment it doesn't matter if you are vegan if you are not eating local or tons of tofu etc. Health wise I do believe plant based diets are best. Plant based meaning a TON of vegetables. That is something I can agree on. When it comes to the rest, I am still a bit unsure. 100 % veganism seems unnecessary extreme. Why not include small amounts of animal products (as most longevity cultures actually do), just to make sure you get all those nutrients that are needed. Maybe you can get all of them on a vegan diet, but is there really an advantage of 100 % veganism? Then there is the question of high carb or low carb. Both have their followers claiming it works for them. I must admit there are two youtubers especially who seem to thrive on a 100 % vegan plant based high carb diet, Derek Simnett and Lilykoi Hawaii. These two look very healthy to me. But then again, youtubers. Lilykoi recently made an amazing video about the latest vegan youtuber Rawvana and Raw Alignment who stopped veganism due to health issues. Those claimed to thrive and feel healthy. Apparently they didn't. Good camera light and being skinny doesn't mean you are healthy. Whereas I must say I don't have the feeling Lilykoi or Derek are faking anything. They are well educated about nutrition, eat plenty of healthy calories and seem in good health. Though Lily did mention anxiety issues in one of her videos. So my question is, is well-planned veganism working for everybody? For example in the case of mercury toxicity? What about Pyroluria? Diet is such a confusing topic. For example, I have a friend with MS and she manages it brilliantly with diet and yoga and exercise. The diet she follows strictly avoids saturated fats and is more high in carbs. It works well for her and many others. Then there is Terry Wahls, an MD with MS who beat her disease with a more paleo style diet high in saturated fats and low in carbs. Who is right? Both of course. Does that mean Terry would do not so well on a high carb no saturated fats diet, and vice versa? Or does that mean that you can chose either or, and your body can work with both? You just can't mix both of them it seems. High carb and high fat doesn't seem to go so well. Then there is Alberto Villoldo who claims that the limbic brain (based on the Triune brain theory by Dr. MacLean) feeds on sugars and is responsible for the fight flight reactions etc. It seems outdated because humans have developed a newer part of the brain that thrives on fats and which is more connected to spirit etc. Makes sense too. We are no apes who just feed on fruit, we developed more capable brains and that is probably due to higher amounts of fats in our diets. But apparently the Triune Brain theory had been too overly simplistic. I need to go to work now (meh), so Part 2 will follow. Please feel free to comment though what you think is the best diet because I am really interested about other's opinions.
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