CAN HUMANS SURVIVE (AND THRIVE) ON A 100% PLANT-BASED DIET?
Open-faced raw vegan lasagna with purple cabbage sauerkraut.
As many of you know, I’ll be spending February on a raw vegan farm in the heart of Costa Rica’s Rainforest. There is no shortage of delicious fruits and vegetables to eat, providing ample diversity in culinary endeavours. I’ve been eating fruits, such as the mamey sapota, of which I’d never heard.
The diet is delicious and nutricious here.
But one question continues to dance in my mind. Could I sustain this diet in my day-to-day life? Would it be sustainable long-term, health-wise?
Can humans survive, and thrive, on a 100% plant-based diet?
Let me know what you think.
Of course they can. The key is combining plant proteins to get all the essential amino acids you need.
as a rule for vegetarians, you need to combine 2 of the following to get a complete protein ( a protein that can be fully absorbed and metabolized by the body)
seeds
nuts
beans
grains
aside from that, bear in mind that vegetable sources of certain minerals (like iron) are only absorbed about 1/4 as well as from animal sources, so eat plenty of them.
It is impossible to get what HUMANS need from a 100% plant based diet. It’s not just about the protein-combining, iron and calcium. Do you want a list? lol
Short answer: Yes. Humans can survive and thrive.
As a person with ::ahem:: several academic degrees in Nutrition I can assure you that humans can and do survive and thrive on a VARIETY of diets.
Our eating habits evolved based on where our ancestors lived, what foods were available to them, and what their “spiritual” teachings were.
Our ancestors ate what was available to them; what they found and what they grew; not every climate and soil-type can sustain the same edible plants and animals. Over time spiritual/religious beliefs were overlaid and voila! We have the cultural traditions of today.
I believe that it is our “privileged” status as rich Westerners that permit us to be self-righteous about our diets. We not only have enough, we have too much. We can decide what we eat, what we won’t eat, and what form we will eat it in.
We are fortunate enough to be able to ‘live to eat’, rather than other less fortunate individuals on our planet who ‘eat to live’ (and often don’t have the option to be picky)
People who have the luxury of choosing what lifestyle and diet they what to follow are more than free to do so.
Omnivores, vegetarians, vegans, gluten-free, additive-free, raw food diets, only organics, 100-milers, self-sufficient “off-grid” survivalists… they are all valid choices on which an individual can not only survive, but thrive! Some choices are just way more ‘work’ than others.
Some individuals choose their diets based on strong beliefs (religion, ecology, green-lifestyles, love of animals, etc), and some choose because of their health (food sensitivities, allergies, heart health, cancer, etc). I’ve even heard of people who choose their diet to annoy others (“It freaks my family out that I’m vegetarian”).
I’m all for diversity! What I am against is aggressive conversion techniques, evangelical diet gurus, and the propagation of conspiracy theorist misinformation designed to use guilt/fear/ etc to make others fall into line.
In other words – do whatever you do because that’s what you want to do and it’s what you chose to do. Own it. But don’t make up unsubstantiated and unsubstantiated-able facts/myths/conspiracy theories/pronouncements as excuses or reasons.
I’m all with Ginger: “What I am against is aggressive conversion techniques”
Have I told you lately that I love you?
As a former vegetarian, I am certain your diet there is terribly healthy. But looking at samples leaves me craving a cheeseburger. I am saying “tut tut” to myself as I write. Your comment on dogma made me think. Is catma smaller and lesser than dogma? Should I now coin the word “horsema” to mean something that is much more than dogma? Or will people just think that’s short for horse manure? I am sure you can get through the month there, as February is blessedly short, but I hope the next place you go has lots of beautiful and organic meat. Or at least an occasional cheeseburger.
If anyone can, it’s surely you
Depends who’s the cook
Nope… not this human being…. mmmmm cheese and bread and wine…and maybe an olive or two as well!
With the appendix and lack of canine like elongated incisor teeth, we are and were never meant to eat animals. That whole cold snap with the hairy elephants thousands of years ago kind brought that to the plate, no pun intended, when there was no vegetation to be found on the ice covered cold rolling rock.
Then the ego and the modern market place came into affect. Man needed some sort of social currency and the whole kill it and eat it made them feel permanent on ‘top of the food chain’ Today I giggle when some one comments on eating a stake like ‘I am man, hunter etc’…last i checked eating already killed product is known as scavenging not hunting. As a result eating meat has now become the norm.
Rant over, enjoy the fibre….Bradley