Is eating a vegan(whole-food/plant-based) diet actually good for you?
Is it sustainable for a lifetime? Is it something that could be done on a large scale and affordably if it weren’t for the luxuries afforded to you by the Industrial Revolution and relatively modern technologies like refrigeration and food distribution technologies like container ships, refrigerated containers, refrigerated grocery stores and their supply chains made possible by a vast and modern highway network? There are no more seasonal foods, because we are no longer bound by seasons because of our modern distribution practices. You want seasonal fruits every day of the year? No problem. It’s always sunny somewhere and we’ve got the means to not be limited by seasons.
Then, there is the intervention of man with his desire to make plant-based foods larger and more tasty through selective and cross-breeding, and a more recent version of that historical practice is called genetic modification. It’s the same game but a slightly different playing board. No one likes eating foods that are unpalatable, and so the result is that the plants we have to eat today are not the ones that Mother Nature created but are of man-made origin. Yet, we still label it natural when it is far from natural. The majority of it is Frankenfood.
Then, there is the issue of seasonality and availability that I briefly touched on above. We can get virtually any kind of plant-based foods we want 365 days a year. There are no seasons anymore when it comes to plant-based foods. Is this natural? No it is not, yet it gives people the impression that this kind of diet is sustainable and perfectly feasible. I personally do not believe that our bodies were ever intended to eat according to luxury but of necessity. And the fact that our body can adapt to all manner of foods, plant-based or animal-based or anywhere in between, should be enough to show the folly of diets that are hyperfocused on a narrow part of a broad spectrum of all food sources that would have been previously available on a rotational basis throughout any given year.
We are opportunistic omnivores and don’t let anyone fool you into believing anything else. Though I can say this with 100% certainty, I am pretty sure that since the dawn of man, however long ago that was, we have likely always been creatures that have been much less prone to dietary fads and patterns afforded to us by modern luxury and marketing.
For those of you who have more time to read, I have more in my head I want to share about this topic. I’ve been thinking lately about the marketing that we don’t see happening behind the scenes that may be playing into our differing opinions about what is good/right to eat and what is not.
Follow the dollar to find the motive. -Me
In a quest to better understand what drives modern narratives about dietary intake, I figured a good place to find answers would be to follow the dollar. What kinds of food make more money and how fast you can get it to market would be a good place to start.
When I started meditating on two popular dietary extremes that are popular today, whole-food/plant-based, what most refer to as veganism and carnivorism, a popular version of a ketogenic diet are what first came to mind. Both have cult-like followings and both are diametrically opposed to the other. And influencers on both sides of that divide think the other side is nuts and going to die from their food choices. I am a centrist that goes both ways depending on what goals I have in front of me. I see the benefits that not just these two, but many in between and regularly shift my diet according to what my body tells me it needs. I don’t allow someone else’s ideologies get in the way of what my body tells me. I let my body lead. My body knows what it needs better than anyone else or the book they are selling on Facebook and it is my job to listen and provide.