What Are The Dangers of a Plant-Based or Vegetarian Diet?

Hello!

There has been a huge buzz lately about the merits of a vegetarian, vegan, or plant-based diet being beneficial to one’s overall health, treating illness and disease, and improving athletic performance.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you disagree, perhaps vehemently? Why or why not? Is a Plant-Based Diet™ detrimental to one’s health?

Do you currently engage in a vegetarian, plant-based, or vegan diet? Why? Has it helped or hindered you? Do you do it for personal, health, or “moral” reasons? Which of these do you think are superior?

Are you on Keto, Paleo, or Carnivore, and absolutely hate a plant-based diet? Do you have Facts and Logic™ as to why going plant-based is a bad idea? Can you back up your F&L with sources, relevant research, and citations?

For the purpose of this discussion:

Vegetarian – They don’t eat meat. They consume eggs, dairy, and meat based broths from what I understand.

Vegan – Moral crusaders that are 400lbs and diabetic from all the cashew ice cream, oreos, and Dr. Pepper they’ve been drinking

Plant-Based – No animal based products.

Some of the above have a “raw” variant, that removes grains such as rice and oats, as well as not cooking anything above 165 degrees fahrenheit.

Title doesnt seem to line up with the op

what


is this a shitpost

5 Likes

Edited.

Vegans do it for the animals, not necessarily for health benefits.

Sort of. Derailing my own thread as to not derail another.

ah, I see, do continue

2 Likes

EDIT: Trying to type on a weird keyboard is messing me up.

Anyways, a vegan/vegetarian diet seems to be low on some vitamins and minerals, but good for cholesterol.

1 Like

Look at kevin smith vegan after heart attack and looks good AF compared to where he was. Honestly I dont think you need to go full vegetarian to have a healthy life, it just makes it a lot harder to eat the stuff that is really bad for you.

1 Like

Not true, a lot do but that is way to broad of a statement

There’s a lot more I need to to in terms of research and testing and there’s a lot of stuff I don’t know.

Personally I think it’s a case of whatever works well for you. But i realised that there seems to be a number of plant based foods as well as preservatives and other additives that have a negative effect on my body not a positive one.

Lentils, beans, onions, wheat (very likely, not definitive yet) all seem to be rejected by my body if eaten in any sufficient quantity. I know I can’t really eat them any more.

Thankfully I’ve ruled out more serious conditions such as celiacs and other inflammatory conditions. It looks likely to be purely a bad reaction to certain plant based foods and preservatives (specifically the once’s that are actually listed to cause reactions).

This seriously impacts any ability to be vegan even if I wanted to. Though funny enough I’ve had people tell me I can just eat other vegan foods. Great. Potatoes and rice for life :smile:

On a more serious note, I have zero issues with meat, and fats. My understanding actually is that no one is allergic to meat unless you happen to be extremely unlucky to be bitten by certain tics (anyone heard of this). I don’t know other other conditions where people would not be able to eat meat?

Additionally yet to be identified but I believe I may also be having some joint pain/stiffness from some food as well as it seems to come and go after certain meals.

I’ve not been strict enough to narrow down all the plant based foods I can’t eat yet though, but it doesn’t make me consider reducing them to just some basic greens, rice and the ocasional potato with a larger meat base.

What I hate most is the people who are completely ignorant of reality. Not everyone wants to eat meat, not everyone can be vegan, what works for your body isn’t going to work for everyone. The fact that so many foods are labeled as an allergen should make that obvious.

I actually believe (anecdotally) that more people are probably reacting badly to more foods than they realise and they’re just so used to the symptoms they don’t even realise. It was only recently that I noticed the weird joint pain I occasionally get must be linked to something and that it comes and goes, the only thing changing is food and the only reason that I’m considering there might be a link is because of the bad reactions I’ve had to foods (I never used to) that made me realise they can affect our body quite drastically.

1 Like

Yes, I gave sweeping, broad, somewhat hilarious generalizations for all three categories.

I’ve read bits and pieces of this, but can’t seem to find the root of the issue. Some speculate that you can’t eat B12 and be fully plant-based, but nutritional yeast is full of B12. Others claim that you can’t get the proper amino acids, but, again, I’ve seen research that indicates otherwise.

That link is really interesting. The measurements would take a little work to visualize, but one of their links is pretty good regardless

Also interesting

The most positive results to those that bandwagon happen in the beginning. Then they find the hacks. Cashew-based ice cream (loaded with sugar and additives), Oreos (no diary, 100% “Vegan”), Pillsbury (same for most of their stuff, naturally “Vegan” – They don’t advertise this because stupid ass people will boycott them, imo), and other garbage is quickly ingested. People that do it for benefits and are disciplined maintain benefits throughout their life.

The people that go Keto/Carnivore boast the same benefits I experienced going plant-based. Is it the “diet” or is it the care for what you’re putting into your body, paired with a proper rest and exercise regime?

The only thing that grinds my gears is all these “sick and dying” comments about the plant-based people. Some movie just came out that has a dozen or so athletes on a plant-based diet. Yes that’s “just a dozen of examples” but that’s one 90 minute example. People cherry pick their data on both sides. Yeah, you’re probably going to lack B12 or Calcium, so, guess what buttercup, eat raw Spinach and Kale with every meal, six times a day.

That’s kind of the point, though, isn’t it? Eating cleaner/healthier so you can be free of calorie restriction? Going on a stretch here but, hey, why not since everyone else is doing it?

1 Like

I find the vegam vegetarian carnivore herbivore thing similar to how people push religion on others. Have you accepted the lord jesus as your savior?

6 Likes

To go with the first table in your post, animal-based foods use up a lot of space too

2 Likes

You only need to look to see all the fat people eating to much sugar. And on the opposite spectrum all the people that look like death eating only fruit.

A quick look on YouTube and you can see some scary stuff but also people having a balanced vegan diet that has everything they need and others on a balanced heavy meat and fat diet also perfectly fine. Maybe some are more work than others but for my I don’t think it’s vegan or not I think it’s healthy and responsible or not.

And vegan and meat diets can all be unethical and irresponsible towards the environment.

Funny enough, I can’t eat these.

1 Like

This is my reason for going vegetarian; the amount of resources required to feed animals simply doesn’t make sense. It’s such an inefficient way to feed our own species. Yes, meat is dense in some minerals (ex. iron) and proteins, however, it’s a non-essential luxury for many (not everyone can transition to a meat-free diet). Meat-free alternatives are catching up in taste, texture, and nutritional density.

INB4 everyone says “well, if we don’t eat the meat, it’ll go to waste!” It’s called supply and demand; as demand decreases (ie. less people buy and eat meat), less animals will be raised and slaughtered (ie. decreasing supply).


Regarding OP’s “dangers;” yes, it’s possible to be deficient in something on a vegan or vegetarian diet. Many veg* can be deficient in Vit B12 and iron, however, many people who eat meat can be deficient in Vit A, C, and Iodine.

As always, everything in moderation, eat a variety of foods, avoid fast-food/eating out, and monitor what you intake. This is how people who eat meat and who are veg* stay healthy.

And only take supplements that your doctor recommends and confirms that you require (via blood tests and inspection). Stop self diagnosing yourselves.

1 Like

I am all for reducing the amount of meat eaten, but food is about more than nourishment. There is environmental impact for growing vegetables as well all the pesticides used are also bad for the eco system. This is not to say that animal feed does not have that impact as well but its not a magical environmental silver bullet.

1 Like

I don’t strictly disagree, but it’s worth noting that it isn’t that simple. You can’t really grow crops on mountains but you can keep live stock on mountains, not all livestock is fed human editable food. Many animals graze all year round on grassland and winter grass stocks which aren’t human edible food.

There’s also a co existing nature between plant crops and animals. The use of both can help keep plant based crops free from things like soil erosion and degradation, and reduces the need for things like artificial fertiliser.

Lots of things can be done to improve farming. There’s no real solution imo, the types of people who are all out get rid of the animals ( not directed at you) don’t live in reality and ignore the reality of the suffering that crop farming causes because they don’t see it ok their plate they can ignore it.

Like a lot of things I think the answer is ultimately somewhere in the middle.

2 Likes

I encourage everyone to try a plant based diet, just to see if it works for you.

In hopes that rib prices decrease. Good beef cuts get expensive after a while.

Isnt there a whole subset of earth lovers totally against industrual farming? Something something erosion…

1 Like

Some animals are definitely grown off of grass from land that is uninhabitable or that no one cultivates, however this isn’t the case for most of North America. In NA, most livestock is fed grains (corns, hay, etc.) which are grown on farmland which can be used to grow other human-edible food. The livestock are then grown on flatlands which could have been used to grow human-edible foods.

There are definitely many remote locations which grow their own food and allow the livestock to eat the grasses on the land, but for most people in the urban and suburban environments, they purchase their meats from a grocery store or local butcher which raised their animals via the aforementioned method.

Agreed. Farming has lots of inefficiencies that could be improved upon (ex. growing crops vertically instead of horizontally, use of GMO crops to reduce water, land and pesticide usage, transitioning more to birds instead of cows and pigs for meat), and the people who say that EVERYONE can go vegan are wrong, and that living a vegan lifestyle is possible for everyone when it isn’t (albiet, it is definitely possible for many more, with cultural shifts).

The use of livestock for food will never be completely eliminated for all, but many people really don’t need to eat it (or at least eat substantially less then they currently do). It’s a non-essential luxury for many.

3 Likes

I’ve never really heard of it, but wouldn’t be surprised. The way we farm is very damaging to ecosystems, not just for erosion, but as well as mineral depletion, deforestation, and green house gas emissions.

We just need people to stop having babies…

2 Likes

Every other species either kills or lets the weak die off. They also have natural predators that help balance the population. Where is our equilibrium?

Do you volunteer to have your family and friends be killed off to reduce our overpopulation? I don’t think so…