A Review of My Beef with Meat, the Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong Diet
written by Rip Esselstyn
The plant-based lifestyle (vegan diet) is an increasingly popular diet that has many supporters and many more protesters. Protesters have a laundry list of arguments against a plant-based diet. In this review, I will present many facts to support arguments that favor a plant-based diet especially for its health inducing properties if the diet is followed correctly (I will not support eating French fries and potato chips as a plant-based diet, although it is plant-based). I will use the same presentation format for this review as the book, My Beef with Meat, the Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant Strong Diet.
Argument #1
Eating a plant-based diet makes you sick and look sickly!
Many plant-based diet protesters will use this argument because some people who have been vegan for several years might get sick often and/or look “sickly.” This is usually due to ignorance about how and what they are supposed to eat. The vegan diet is often tied closely to the “raw food vegan diet,” which is where one would eat all of their food raw or cooked no more than 110˚F. I have learned from Chinese Medicine that eating mostly (if not all) raw food in ones diet can wreak havoc on the digestive system and ultimately making that person susceptible to disease. A plant-based diet, when eaten and prepared correctly, can be the healthiest thing for someone to do. Studies have shown that a plant-based diet not only stops further advancement of coronary heart disease, but it can reverse damage that has previously occurred.
Argument #2
Vegans don't get enough protein. Plants aren't "complete" proteins
When we breathe air, we don't generally worry about getting enough oxygen, as long as we continue breathing normally, although only 21% of the air we breathe is composed of oxygen. The rest of the air is mostly nitrogen and a few other gases. This is a good analogy for protein. As long as one is eating enough calories each day, that person will get enough protein, even if they are only eating plants. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that each person gets (0.8)x(your ideal body weight in kilograms) = daily protein in grams. For a 175lb person, that would be 64 grams of protein per day...easy. On average, twenty-five percent of the calories from plants comes from protein. Green, leafy vegetables have as much as 50%! Even fruit has between 5% and 15% of calories coming from protein. Even a fruititarian could get enough daily protein as long as they were eating the proper amount of calories. The only way to not get
enough protein in ones diet is to 1) not get enough calories in the first place or 2) eat a high fat, high sugar diet, which doesn't have enough necessary nutrients.
In 1971 a book called Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé started the whole "complete" protein craze, which also led to the "protein combining" myth that plant eaters have to use a complicated method to combine certain plants to gain all of the essential amino acids to create complete proteins. Ten years later, Lappé rescinded the "protein combining" statement in an anniversary edition of her book, but by that point, the damage was done. Complete proteins can be found in foods such as meat, eggs, dairy, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds. Meat and eggs don't need to be eaten to obtain these essential amino acids just to get enough protein. Protein combining can still be used to get what our bodies need.
Argument #3
You can't get enough Vitamin B12 on a plant-based diet
Vitamin B12 doesn't actually come from animals or plants. B12 is found in the soil that plants grow in and then the animals eat the plants (plus a little dirt) and incorporate that B12 into their systems. Technically, plant eaters can get B12 from eating a little dirt, but most people don't want to do that. The best way for vegans to get B12 is to take a B12 supplement or eat fortified whole-grain cereals, plant-based milks or nutritional yeast. Most humans have a B12 store in their liver that will provide them enough B12 for 3 to 5 years. The recommended daily allowance for B12 is 2.4 micrograms per day. Any plant eater can easily get that at breakfast alone.
Argument #4
Vegans will become iron deficient
Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world regardless of diet. Studies have been done to compare iron levels in vegetarians, vegans, and meat eaters and the results prove that iron deficiency can happen to anyone. There are two types of iron, heme and non-heme. The heme iron only comes from meat where the animal once had red blood cells. Non-heme iron comes from plants. Heme iron is absorbed at a slightly higher rate than non-heme iron, but adding vitamin C to ones diet can help absorb iron at a 30% faster rate. Foods like dairy and the oxalates in some leafy greens can slow absorption rates. The CDC recommends that a male between the ages of 19 and 50 on a plant-based diet get about 14mg per day of non-heme iron. This is a snap if he is eating beans, spinach, soy and many other plant-based foods. Women need more daily iron than men due to a loss of iron monthly during their menses. It is always good to check with a nutritionist to determine how much iron one needs since excess iron in the body can lead to free radicals and disease. Cooking with an iron skillet will also provide some extra iron to any food, whether it contains iron or not.
Argument #5
Our bones need calcium and you can't get enough calcium without milk
Calcium does not come from cows! Calcium is a mineral that is found in the soil and absorbed by plants. How do cows get calcium? They eat plants and absorb the calcium too. So why can't humans eat plants and absorb it just the same? We can! The logic should be that the countries with the highest consumption of milk (if milk is really where we get calcium) should have the lowest instance of osteoporosis and other bone diseases. This is not the case, however. Studies have shown that the countries with the highest consumption of milk and dairy products actually have the worst bone density and most bone diseases. This is due to the fact that dairy products and animal proteins are very acidic and leach the calcium from our bones to try to neutralize the acidity with the highly alkaline mineral, calcium. Calcium is found in dark, leafy greens, collards, and baked beans.
Argument #6
If one is craving meat, they must need meat
Humans tend to crave things whether or not we need them. Addicts crave their drug of choice, but no doctor will tell the addict to keep taking drugs because their craving must mean they need it. The same goes for meat, dairy and eggs. People eating the standard american diet (ironically the acronym is SAD) will undoubtedly get cravings for meat for a short time after they first give it up. The good news is, these cravings go away very soon.
Argument #7
Eating a Plant-based diet is so hard to follow
Eating a plant-based diet is actually very easy once you know which foods are nutrient packed super foods and have a few recipes to follow. Recipes are very easy to find, just Google, "vegan recipes" or something specific like, "vegan carrot cake" and you'll have a long list of things to choose from. There are a significant amount of great vegan cookbooks as well for around $15 each. Shopping for vegan food is a snap. All grocery stores carry plenty of plants in the produce section. Making a shopping list before you get to the store is great and it should include five sections: whole grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, spices. Once you get to the store, head straight for the produce section to find most of your staple items. Avoid specialty products since they usually contain large amounts of sugar, sodium, and processed ingredients. Buy dry beans and grains in bulk to keep on hand. For quick cooking, buy canned beans and frozen vegetables. Purchase only what you need for the next few days to reduce spoilage. Eating out can be easy for vegans too. Many restaurants now have vegan options and you can always ask your server to talk with the chef about making something vegan specially for you.
Argument #8
A plant-based diet is more expensive than eating meat
This argument is entirely untrue. There have been a couple of studies that show a plant-based diet as more expensive, but those studies are using a calorie per dollar comparison. Eating a Snickers bar will give you more calories for less money than eating a banana. However, how many doctors or nutritionists will recommend eating a bunch or Snickers bars over a bunch of bananas? Very few doctors, I'm sure. The following are a few inexpensive power house foods to keep in your pantry at all times. Beans, for a long time have been referred to as the "poor man's food." I think beans are the "smart man's food." Beans are nutrient packed super foods for a very inexpensive price. Oats are cheap and packed with fiber and complex carbohydrates. Bananas are one of the greatest snack foods and they are cheap and packed with potassium and fiber. Potatoes are filling, plus they are packed with vitamins and potassium, not to mention they hardly cost a thing. Brown rice is great source of complex carbohydrates to keep your stomach full as well as your wallet.
Argument #9
Everything in moderation is healthy
Not everything is good in moderation. You would be hard pressed to find a doctor that would recommend a moderate amount of cocaine or heroin. When eating meat, eggs and dairy have been shown to increase bad cholesterol, decrease good cholesterol, and increase vascular inflammation increasing ones risk of heart disease, eating these foods in moderation won't be beneficial either.
There are even more benefits to a plant-based diet that skeptics can't argue with. A plant-based diet is more eco-friendly than a diet high in meat, eggs and dairy. All the animals raised for human consumption require more space, energy and water than plants. Large factory farms that raise animals for widespread human consumption require millions of gallons of fossil fuels to transport the animals and products to stores and eventually the dinner table. If all the meats are averaged, it takes about 25 calories of fossil fuels to produce one calorie of animal protein in the US. On the contrary, it takes about 2.2 calories of fossil fuels to produce one calorie of plant protein.
Eating a plant based diet can help a person steer clear of unhealthy contaminants such as pesticides, heavy metals and antibiotics. Other toxic chemicals found in meat, eggs and dairy look like they came out of a meth lab: arsenic, lead, ammonia, copper, penicillin, nitrites and ivermectin. The FDA estimates that meat contains between 500 and 600 unnatural chemicals that they cannot even begin to track because of how vast
the pollution is.
It has been proven that the microscopic "bugs" that live in our gut are very beneficial to our bodies and digestion. Unfortunately for meat eaters, the carnitine that comes from meat is consumed by the "bugs" at which point they belch out a gas called trimethylamine (TMA). Then, the TMA is transported to the liver and changed into a chemical called trimethylamine n-oxide (TMAO). A recent study by the Cleveland Clinic revealed that high levels of TMAO can be a stronger indicator or heart disease than hypertension, smoking and high cholesterol. TMAO changes how cholesterol is managed and makes it easier for cholesterol to attach to the vasculature as well as makes it more difficult for the liver and intestines to rid the body of unnecessary cholesterol. Plant eaters actually have different "gut bugs" and those "bugs" don't produce TMA even if a vegetarian or vegan eats a steak. It takes time for the "gut bugs" to change and develop into TMA producing microbes.
Ultimately, a plant-based diet with all the proper nutrients is the best defense we have against preventing and possibly reversing heart disease, stroke and cancer. Eating plants prevents inflammation in the body and vasculature, decreases bad cholesterol, increases good cholesterol, helps rid the body of harmful free radicals and keeps the body's mechanisms working in perfect harmony.
References:
Esselstyn, Rip. My Beef with Meat, the Healthiest Argument for Eating a Plant-Strong
Diet. New York: Grand Central Life & Style, 2013.
Freedman, Rory, and Kim Barnouin. Skinny Bitch. Pennsylvania: Running Press Book
Publishers, 2005.
Lear, Jane. "Jane Says: Stop Trying to Eat More Protein."
