Should you be a vegan to age well?
There are many people who say yes.
Whatever your current belief, here are two broad questions to ask yourself if you are considering a vegan diet, or if your doctor has recommended one.
Just for clarification, a vegan diet is eating no animal products, including dairy or eggs.
1. How will you avoid blood sugar imbalances?
Because a vegan diet lacks efficient sources of protein, it can become either a very high fat or a very high carbohydrate way of life. And both of these scenarios can make it very hard to balance blood sugar and to decrease insulin resistance. (Insulin resistance is at the heart of every health concern as you age - not just Type 2 diabetes. Here's a video to help.)
Vegan sources of protein are always also carbohydrates or fats.
Here’s what I mean:
4 oz of chicken breast is 0 g of carbs, 1 g of fat, 35 g of protein.
It is, percentage wise, very high protein, with little to no fats or carbs.
Vegan sources of protein, such as beans or lentils, will be some protein + a lot of carbs. Or, nuts, for example, will be some protein + a lot of fat.
Carbs:
1 cup of garbanzo beans is 40 g of carbs, 3 g of fat, 12 g of protein.
It has some protein, but a lot carbs.
Percentage wise, that’s 68% carbs and only 20% protein. To get 35 g of protein from garbanzo beans, you’d have to eat 3 cups, (which no one would do), which would land you at also consuming 120 g of carbs.
Fat:
¼ cup of almonds is 7 g of carbs, 18 g of fat, and 8 g of protein.
It has some protein, but a lot of fat.
Percentage wise, that’s 72% fat and only 8% protein. To get 30 g of protein from almonds, you’d have to eat 1 cup, (which, actually is quite easy to do if you’re hungry enough), which would land you at 830 calories (!!!) and 70 g of fat (that’s enough fat for one adult in a day).
*Well you could say, what about beef? It’s high fat, and also protein, and not vegan? Is beef an efficient source of protein? That’s a great question. Let’s look at it.
4 oz of ground beef is 17 g of fat, 21 g of protein.
Percentage wise, that’s 65% fat, and 35% protein. Despite the high fat content, the 35% protein content is better than any non-animal source of protein.
So what does that show?
That no matter how you cut it, vegan sources of protein are not efficient sources of protein. That does not mean they are not healthy, they just are not efficient for protein.
They are very efficient at providing carbohydrates or they are very efficient at providing fat, while supporting some protein.
And a diet that is percentage wise too high in carbohydrates and fat, and too low in protein, will lead to blood sugar dysregulation.
Insulin resistance is caused by many avenues.
One of the top ways to make sure you get there fast as you age is to not get enough protein. And it can be very hard to decrease insulin resistance in someone who is eating too many carbohydrates or too much fat in relation to protein.
2. How will you get enough Vitamin A as retinol?
Vitamin A is required to help us age well and prevent disease. Low levels of Vitamin A have been found in individuals with Alzheimer's, Type 2 diabetes, and cataracts. While you might think vegan diets can provide enough Vitamin A via carrots and sweet potatoes, here is what most people do not know.
Vitamin A Comes in 2 Forms:
Form one: Preformed Vitamin A (Retinol)
This form is found in animal products
Form two: Provitamin A (Beta-Carotene)
This form is found in fruits and vegetables, especially those with an orange color like sweet potatoes and carrots.
How Vitamin A works:
Vitamin A is a fat soluble Vitamin. What this means is that it requires fat to be present in order for it to be absorbed. Usually 10 grams of fat with a meal is sufficient.
Vitamin A plays a role in skin health, immune health, thyroid health, eye health, iron levels, and even reproductive health. Many people with Vitamin A issues get sick often, suffer from acne or eczema, always have cold hands and feet, have a slow metabolism, worsening vision (especially at night), or have iron deficiency.
It is a very important vitamin!!
While there are benefits to both forms, Retinol is absorbed at a much higher rate than Beta-Carotene (as in 70-90% vs 20-50%).
Here’s why.
Retinol is ready to be absorbed as vitamin A. It doesn’t require any activity other than fat to be present (which it normally is in the animal based forms).
Beta-carotene (the plant based version), however, requires an enzyme in order for it to become the active form, retinol. It does happen, however, it requires more work. This is why beta-carotene is only absorbed as Vitamin A at about a 20-50% range, versus 70-90%.
—>More hurdles arise because some individuals have beta-carotene monooxygenase (BCMO1) gene mutations, which may further reduce their ability to convert plant based vitamin A into retinol. ***About 45% of the western population is a low converter**
—>This is a huge issue for those who are strict vegans or vegetarians, as their diet does not contain animal sources of Vitamin A.
Plant based beta-carotene requires extra enzymes to be converted into the active retinol vitamin A.
VITAMIN A1 SOURCES (RETINOL):
- Beef Liver
- Cod Liver Oil
- Mackerel
- Salmon
- Tuna
- Goat Cheese & other cheeses
- Butter
- Eggs
- Trout
- Whole Milk/Cream
Some vegans might say, well, we will just supplement. However, Vitamin A toxicity (something you want to avoid) is possible with supplementation. For that reason, it is best to consume whole food sources rather than supplements.
Another key factor, too, is you need Vitamin A *in the form of retinol* to turn cholesterol into pregnenolone. Pregnenolone is needed to make other adrenal hormones, as well as hormones such as testosterone.
So hormonal balance is a key part to adequate, high quality protein intake.
Final note:
I was a vegan for close to 5 years, but stopped for a few reasons. One I was hungry all the time. Two I felt like my hormones were very out of whack (they were). Three I kept gaining weight.
Just because you eat meat, doesn’t mean you should eat McDonald’s hamburgers. The aspect of veganism that I do understand and empathize with is that factory raised meat is not healthy. They are fed seed oils, raised poorly, never see grass, etc.
However, today, we have abundant access to healthy, pasture raised meat sources and regenerative farmers who do things right. Choosing to eat meat does not mean you need to eat low quality meat that is high in seed oils.
And, ironically, veganism is just like the carnivore diet - they both have eliminated a whole nutrient group rather than finding a healthy balance. (The carnivore diet eats only meat.)
And that is why most people cannot maintain either one of these long term. At some point, despite the positive changes they saw initially, their body says, “Please, no more.”
Do you need help figuring out how to create a balanced approach to nutrition and lifestyle to age well and prevent disease? Click here to apply to join Wellness in Bloom, today.
