… And why that matters for the health of people, and the planet. 🙂
NOTE: I am not a certified nutritionist. This is general information only, to the best of my knowledge.
At various times, such as in presentations or conversations, the question of dairy, carbs or other specific food items comes up, particularly as plant-based eating is often part of the discussion at hand.
One of the ones that has been raised is that of dairy – a result of the heavy industry marketing-influences on the earlier versions of the Canada Food Guide. Many people still hold the belief that dairy is essential for health, and that whole-foods plant-based (WFPB) eating is leading them astray.
In a similar manner, sometimes the question of carbs comes up in discussions, as being contradictory to common fad diets, such as keto, paleo etc. To the best of my knowledge, there can be value (from a digestive health perspective, for example, and also from a spiritual perspective), to the practice of fasting (intermittent or other), while done carefully and with proper guidance.
However, the idea of eating a heavily animal-based protein diet (regardless of what it is called eg keto or paleo etc), seems problematic to me – both for individual health and for the health of the planet. There is strong science backing up both the health and environmental benefits of a WFPB diet, and likewise, strong evidence of the damage, to people and planet, caused by a heavily animal-based diet.
I do not know all of the background of how the low-carb trend took off, but there is a quick summary here, which is a shorter version of some of what is in the updated China Study book. Here are a few quotes:
The human body, which does not have the ability to make food from the sun, also happens to use carbohydrates as its main energy source. For example, our brain and red blood cells depend specifically on glucose (a carbohydrate) for normal functioning and energy.
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By telling people to avoid or significantly limit carbs in general, the low-carb movement has erased the crucial distinction between unprocessed and processed foods—creating an entirely new paradigm that goes against everything we know about nutrition and health.
Long-Term vs. Short-Term
If you eliminate carbohydrates from your diet and put your body into a state of ketosis, whereby it’s forced to burn fat to make ketones for energy, it can lead to short-term weight loss. But keeping your body in a state of ketosis is neither sustainable nor healthful, and it does not fulfill the long-term promise of effective weight loss. Indeed, observational population studies show that high-protein, high-fat diets are associated not only with more health problems but also obesity. (Bold mine)When looking at long-term and sustained weight loss without mandated exercise or calorie restriction, the most effective eating pattern has been shown to be a whole-food, plant-based diet (low in fat and high in unprocessed carbohydrates).
FOK website
Going further into details regarding the rise of the Atkins and other similar low-carb, high (animal) protein “diets”, the writer says:
The chair of Harvard’s Department of Nutrition said that the Atkins diet was “nonsense” and “dangerous.” The prestigious Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics called the diet “unbalanced, unsound, and unsafe.” But no amount of criticism stopped the diet’s popularity and the newfound fear of carbs it perpetuated. (Bold mine.)
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That may be why cardiologist Dr. Kim Williams vigorously promoted a plant-based vegan diet during his tenure as president of the American College of Cardiology, and once famously said, “There are two kinds of cardiologists, those who are vegan and those who have not read the evidence.” (Bold mine).
FOK
In light of the health and environmental impacts of heavy consumption of animal-based foods/proteins, both individually and communally, it’s time to find ways to add more low emissions, whole/plant-based foods into how we eat. Let’s find ways to celebrate amazing rice bowls with veggies and tofu, homemade granola with plant-based milk and all of the other endless options that are available to us in the plant-based world – not as a sacrifice, but as one small, joyful step towards ensuring that we all have enough healthy food to eat, and a thriving planet, that we all share, to live on. 🙂
