This is NOT real food!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not anti-vegetarian! I know many healthy vegetarians. But I know many more unhealthy vegetarians. And I speak from personal experience.
My own seven year experience with vegetarianism was a disaster. I never felt well. Fatigue and sugar cravings were my everyday companions. Digestive problems developed through the years as well.
Looking back, I thought I knew what I was doing. I was not a junk food vegetarian. I shopped organic and ate a lot of fruits, veggies and whole grains.
Breakfast was often granola with soymilk or low fat milk. For lunch I ate more veggie sandwiches with cheese and Vegenaise than I care to remember. Dinner consisted of stir fries, pasta dishes and lots of tofu meat substitutes a la the picture above. My favorite was a seasoned ground “beef” product. Man oh man did I make A LOT of tacos out of that.
But I really had no clue. So when I learned about real food I was shocked at how much I was doing wrong.
Because I see so many people, in particular women, making the same mistakes with so many associated health problems, I don’t recommend going vegetarian to anyone.
So in no particular order, here are five reasons I don’t recommend going vegetarian.
Note: if you are a vegetarian, do not be offended! This is not a vegetarian-bashing blog post. You CAN be a healthy vegetarian. But there are some important things you need to know. For that reason I’ve included some tips and links at the end of each of the five reasons to help you make better choices as a vegetarian.
Due to the widespread myth of low-fat diets, most vegetarians in America are not getting enough fat.
Trust me, I know what you’re thinking:
Saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease. Those are in animal products. Going vegetarian will will decrease my chances of getting heart disease.
That was my thinking when I went vegetarian. But nothing could be further from the truth. Contrary to popular belief, saturated fat and cholesterol are actually vital to the health of our heart.
Please understand that there is no culture on this planet that ever ate a low fat diet. For example, the traditional vegetarian diet of India is not low fat. It contains ample fats from healthy dairy. Those cultures that tend towards plant based diets in warm weather climates regularly consume healthy fats in the form of dairy, eggs, seafood, coconuts and palm oils.
And when you don’t get enough fat in your diet, you get fatigued. When you get fatigued, you look for energy!
Enter sugar.
Rarely is it beyond arm’s reach in modern day America. If so, it’s certainly not more than a quick trip to the kitchen away. Or the break room, vending machine, gas station, Dunkin’ Donuts or just about anywhere else.
It gives us a quick energy burst. It makes us feel good…temporarily. But sugar is a drug. And it’s addicting.
Over the long term sugar consumption degrades every system in our body and is a major factor in all of our modern health epidemics - chronic digestive problems, obesity, type II diabetes, heart disease, cancer and osteoporosis.
Most vegetarians eat way too much sugar, especially teenagers. And many become sugar addicts.
So what to do if you’re a vegetarian?
http://www.pvnutritionaltherapy.com/7-tips-for-getting-sugar-out-of-your-diet/
http://www.westonaprice.org/making-it-practical/taking-the-fear-out-of-eating-fat
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/high-fat-diet-healthy-safe/#axzz1wxoLRlCM
Finally, for those vegetarians that are not sugar addicts, many of them are using dairy for good sources of fat and protein. And that’ s good. But that brings up another problem.
Note I said “modern” dairy. Not “all” dairy.
A good example of a traditional healthy vegetarian diet is India. Indians consume a lot of dairy in the form of milk, ghee (clarified butter), yogurt and cheese.
But traditionally, as with any dairy-based culture, their milk was raw.
Raw milk is Nature’s milk, full of beneficial enzymes, probiotics, healthy fats and proteins.
Most milk in America is pasteurized and homogenized which damages milk’s nutritional profile and makes it highly indigestible.
Furthermore, conventional milk production in America is a disgrace. Cows are jammed into factory farms, fed soybeans, grains and industrial waste and shot up with chemicals and growth hormones.
Is it any wonder dairy sensitivities are on the rise is America?
This leads many vegetarians to forego dairy as well and for good reason. It leads many others to declare all milk unfit for human consumption without understanding the health benefits of raw milk.
So if you’re a vegetarian, just switch to raw milk, right?
Unfortunately, raw milk is hard to access in the majority of America. Some states ban it completely while most ban it from being sold in stores. This has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with corporate power and political influence by the conventional dairy industry.
So what to do if you’re a vegetarian?
http://www.westonaprice.org/making-it-practical/milk-it-does-a-body-good
http://www.realmilk.com/where.html
OK, I’ll leave it at that for this blog post. To read part II with reasons three, four and five, click here.
In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Please share in the comments below. If you consider yourself a healthy vegetarian, tell me why. If you gave up being a vegetarian like myself, tell me why.
I know this is a hot-button issue for many so please be respectful. Inappropriate, vulgar or abusive comments will be deleted.
I’ve been a vegetarian for about 10 years now, and have no intention of ever going to back to eating meat and fish/seafood. I’ve never had any problems with my vegetarian diet. I do my best to eat healthy, real food, but occasionally (maybe once a month) use products like those pictured. I guess they’re kind of like my junk food.
Looking forward to the next recommendations.
Hmmm…good point on some things. One thought.. after watching forks over knifes and the benefits of eating whole “real” foods, avoiding dairy and meat, and the benefits they saw with terminally ill people..my opinion is different. Avacado for instance has tons of fat in it, so do nuts. Is Milk really hype?? We have been brainwashed since childhood into thinking cow’s milk, which is intended for calves, is absolutely needed everyday for health reasons.
I will and do still consume dairy..but don’t believe you MUST have milk every day.. I guess it’s a balance.
Hi Tina,
Regarding milk, I believe we’ve been brainwashed by Big Dairy into thinking we need their milk. No one needs that. But raw milk is a completely different story. Cultures have thrived on raw milk for thousands of years in climates and geography perfectly suitable for grazing cows. No, not everyone needs it to be healthy, but I do believe everyone needs to know the difference between conventional and raw. And considering it contains so many beneficial nutrients, it’s a wonderful food for vegetarians. India in particular is a shining example of this.
Great post Craig.
What about vegans? Do you know any healthy vegans?
Hey Eric,
Aside from short term healing protocols/detox programs, I do not recommend veganism. No traditional cultures ever thrived on a vegan diet. Veganism is simply not in alignment with the laws of Nature.
Thanks Craig. I’d like to hear more about why Veganism is not in alignment with the laws of Nature because it seems to be very popular and is promoted as the healthiest way to eat. I also saw that Houston Texans running back Arian Foster is now a vegan and was thinking of doing the same thing.
Maybe you can do a future blog post on this. Thanks!
article says 5 tips but I only see 2 tips?
they’re coming in the next post.
“healthy whole grains” are also a misleading and benefit only big busines agriculture and damage your health in ways most peole have no idea about. Read Wheat Belly by Dr William Davis MD. I’m not vegetarian but I do not eat most carbohydrates so I rely heavily on natural fats in good dairy nuts and oils. Since wring this way I have never felt better nor been so healthy!
I eat yogurt and drink milk to add vitamin D and calcium, (for which I also take supplements,) from food products as supplements can’t do the job alone. Plus It’s not OK to make dark chocolate orange juice.
Thank you for this article. I’m bummed that there are only two reasons listed so far. I’d really like you to elaborate on the vegan aspect as my 17 year old daughter, who has been an unhealthy carb queen vegetarian since she was 12 has been “enlightened” since watching Forks over Knives and has decided now that she will shift to veganism. GRRRR! I’ve been a strong supporter of her desire to be vegetarian, but I just can’t get behind her being a vegan. I think her health will not improve but she won’t listen to a thing I try to present to her and thinks because this movie promotes no animal protein (that she was still getting with eggs, milk,butter and cheese) that it’s okay to do. Suggestions, please.
Hi Em,
Well I could give you all sorts of resources for your daughter to read. If you’d like, let me know and I’ll recommend a few. But will she really read them? My mind was certainly made up in my vegetarian days and nothing anyone told me back then would’ve mattered, especially family. It wasn’t until my health suffered dramatically that I was open to another way. That’s probably not the answer you want to hear but sometimes I think acceptance of a situation, even though it might not be beneficial, will help more than not. Hopefully though your daughter will be open to some ideas from others.
Thanks for the reply, Craig. You are spot on with your views on if she will really listen and truthfully the answer is that she won’t and it does have to be her decision in the end. She is already struggling a bit with adapting to veganism as she has to think about every detail of her food intake and what it may have in that she can’t have and that’s very inconvenient for her as that takes much more time than she wants to give it plus she doesn’t have me as a safety net to do it for her as I did before with her vegetarian diet. I think your 5 reasons not to be a vegetarian has a great many resources for her to research if she chooses to do so. Thanks again for a well thought out article.
Em, I sympathize. You’re in a difficult position. You don’t want to push too hard, but you don’t want to see your daughter make choices now that will have potentially adverse consequences for years. I’m not a mom so I don’t presume to have the answers for you, but I do have a couple of recommendations.
I highly recommend reading The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith, who was a vegan for 20 years. Read it, leave it around the house, maybe even mention it. But don’t push it. (Leave a copy in the bathroom?) If your daughter has any curiosity (since Keith is lambasted on lots of vegan sites, she may have heard of her), she just might pick it up. My own copy is highlighted throughout. It’s one of those books where you want to highlight every word. It’s beautifully written, thoroughly researched and very, very moving.
I’ve heard a good way to keep kids from going veggie is to cook bacon. The heavenly scent has been known to reign in would-be vegetarians! Of course, make sure you buy bacon from free-range, humanely treated pigs. The same is true for all your meats and animal products. It’s really worth it to seek out local farmers who treat the animals well. Take your daughter with you to visit a farm to pick up eggs and meat, if you can. If she can see how well the animals are cared for, and start to learn about the balance of Nature and humane, ethical animal husbandry, that may have an effect eventually. If she sees that you “get it” about treating animals right, your opinion may hold more sway. Just guessing, based on how I thought about these things as a would-be vegetarian teenager long ago.
Best wishes!
great perspective Jeanmarie. Thanks for sharing.
Craig, can you give me a source that backs up this statement: “Please understand that there is no culture on this planet that ever ate a low fat diet.” I’m eating a high fat Gaps diet myself, so my question doesn’t stem from disagreement, but curiosity. I find it hard to believe that with the wide variety of traditional diets on the planet, that none naturally ate low-fat.
Hi Eileen, sure. Check out Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Dr. Weston Price. He traveled the globe for ten years in the 1930s, studied dozens of cultures in different environments and didn’t find any of them eating low fat. He found quite the opposite.
I really enjoy all your posts. Thanks for all the great information.
thanks Kate!
[...] Contact document.write(''); « Five Reasons I Don’t Recommend Going Vegetarian - Part I [...]
At first I was a defensive vegetarian when I started your article, but found that I align with you completely. I eat WHOLE fat butter, WHOLE fat cheese, etc. I totally avoid soy which I think is one of the biggest nutritional problems most vegetarians face - the protein molecules in soy are too large to be metabolized as protein by humans (Unless it’s fermented), not to mention the problems with cyto-estrogens, etc. And one of the biggest reasons to avoid soy: over 85% of the soy beans grown in the US are genetically modified!
I’ve been a vegetarian for over 18 years now. I’m an avid backpacker, horsewoman and athlete. I’m 41, 5’6 and weigh 132 muscular lbs. I just had my blood-work done and everything was perfect, even the doctor was amazed. My blood pressure is on the low side, but the doctors just say that is genetic (My dad is the same way)
I’m looking forward to the rest of your article and hope you will be touching on the dangers of soy.
Thanks for the info!
Good information. I am almost vegetarian (I eat some shrimp on rare occasions) and I read recently that the “fake meats” are really not good for you because of the soy (making you gain weight, feel bad, etc.). At work I’ve been reliant on frozen meals with fake meat so now time to change that. I have to say that my sugar cravings didn’t change after going vegetarian (except the rare shrimp). The cravings only changed after I quit making sweets so often. My body got used to less sugar and I wanted it less. Regarding Forks Over Knives, I too watched that and cut out all milk, only occasional cheese. I was worried about my calcium levels since we are taught from early on to consume the almighty milk. I am proud to say my calcium level is 9.3. I’m still learning a lot about eating right and I appreciate what I’ve read here.
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