The content discusses the nuances of plant-based and vegan diets, emphasizing that while a plant-based approach is generally healthier and more sustainable for most, individual experiences and dietary needs vary, and extreme dietary restrictions can be detrimental.
Key Points
Mind Map
Click to expand
Click to explore the full interactive mind map • Zoom, pan, and navigate
So lately, I've been getting comments
from a particular person on some of my
videos, and so far, they've all been
pretty polite, and I appreciate that
because I feel like we can have debate
or conversations without people being so
defensive or argumentative in a way
that's not productive. Uh, some of the
questions, it seems like this person may
have been vegan in the past and they
they find that their health has improved
or something has improved in their life
when they've reintroduced animal
products. And if that's the case for
you, then that is your experience and
nobody can say anything to that fact. I
guess I don't understand why it is when
there's a channel with a vegan on it or
a plant-based person on it who's
promoting what they've experienced or
what they they know from all the
education or books that they've read.
why it is that somebody might come on
that channel and specifically talk about
or ask why I'm not eating animal
products. I can acknowledge that there
are healthy people who are not vegan. I
can also acknowledge there are vegan
people who are extremely unhealthy. So,
we get that cuz I think both sides can
acknowledge that. And there are
definitely people on the extreme ends in
both camps who will say that it's not
possible. They'll say that it's not
possible to be vegan because you can't
get this, this, this, or that. Or
there's never been an entirely vegan
population to get any data from that
makes or that proves that what you're
doing right now is correct or
sustainable. And that is true. I don't
think there's ever been a vegan
population in all of history. But I
think in most of history, we've all been
kind of struggling when it comes to
being able to eat enough food. And we
don't live in that environment anymore.
We live in an environment of excess. And
when it comes to peoples like the
Okanowens specifically, they're always
the ones that I think of when I think of
the people who do the best or even the
African, some African tribes eating high
carb diets. They thrive. They're lean.
They're healthy. and they might have the
occasional meat, but we talk about these
people as if they're eating a lot of
meat in their diet. And they might eat
meat on the order of once a week to once
a month. Uh back in the day, like even
during biblical times, when I look at
the diets that they were having, they
only had any kind of animal products
during u maybe celebrations. That's
about it. Otherwise, most people eat
plant-based diets. And that's why I like
to promote plant-based diets. I don't
always talk about vegan diets because if
more people were plant-based, I think
everybody could be happier with it. You
cannot convince everybody that it's
morally wrong to kill animals for food
consumption. You just can't get
everybody on board with that. But we can
all acknowledge that a plant-based diet
is healthier for most people. and all
the healthiest cultures out there had a
plant-based diet. So, not plant
exclusive, but plant-based. So, that
gets us back to, well, then why don't I
include animal products in my diet? If I
can thrive on the diet that I am eating
now without having to kill an animal,
then that's what I'm going to do. Why
would I change anything up if I don't
have to? And I think that's the question
that you see a lot of vegan activists
ask asking. We don't live in a world
where all the necessary foods or
supplementations one might need to be
healthy isn't available. That's the
world that most of us live in. And we're
not telling everybody in the world that
they need to be vegan to be ethical.
It's supposed to be about whether or not
it's possible for that person to eat
that kind of diet. This channel seems to
go a little bit further in talking about
what the ideal diet might be. And it's
worth noting that I don't think that
people can achieve that ideal very
easily. If the ideal diet based on what
I understand of the Bible, and I know a
lot of people roll their eyes at that
concept, I used to be one of them. But
the ideal isn't possible because we
don't live in an ideal world. We live in
a very different kind of world. We are
not in the Garden of Eden. So then there
are some different ways we can go about
filling in those gaps. Some people might
talk about having lowfat, lean cuts of
meat from a healthy animal. That was
what the question is. Why don't I have
that? And I will say I did at one point
when I was doing more of that paleo
style. I wasn't like the unhealthy put
butter and MTC oil and coconut oil and
mix it in with my coffee kind of paleo.
I ate fruit and vegetables, avoid beans
and grains, and I ate animal products.
And by animal products, I mean meat. Uh
I even did I didn't even do the whole
dairy thing because I think people were
a little more strict about getting rid
of dairy from your diet because it
wasn't what they believe paleo people
were eating. And to be fair, dairy makes
no sense for humans. It might have made
sense for people who couldn't grow
anything else and all they could do was
eat cows and and the secretions of those
cows, you know, the the milk meant for
their babies. But once we're all weaned
from mother's milk, from human milk, it
makes no sense for us to continue having
it. And the fact that so many people in
the world are allergic to milk, it makes
sense that we shouldn't have it and we
shouldn't promote it, especially on any
kind of food pyramid. If a lot of us are
allergic to it, it shouldn't be on
there. There should be there's a plenty
of other ways to get whatever nutrients
people think they're getting from dairy
on that. But fortunately, this person
wasn't asking about that. They were
asking about the lean meats. So, yes,
when I was paleo, I did the lean meats
then. I [clears throat] had I don't know
and I I was very particular about it.
Part of the reason why I cut back and
started doing more plant-based besides
the environmental reasons I wanted to do
better. It was because it was simply too
expensive. And that does make a lot of
sense. If people were to eat the kind of
meat that they say they all value, they
wouldn't be eating it three times a day.
And that's what people seem to want to
promote, including the food pyramid.
Everybody thinks that somehow we're all
fat and protein deprived. And that's not
the culture we live in in America. We've
never eaten more protein than we do now.
So, I don't need the excess protein. I
don't need the excess fat because it
might be lean meat, but it's not that
lean. It's not There's still some animal
fat in it. And there's certainly animal
protein in it. And if anybody's watched
or read anything from T. Colin Campbell,
you will see the association with
increased animal meat or animal protein
meant increased rate of cancer. So he
talked about it being you can turn it on
and you can turn it off. If I can get
all the nutrients I need from plants
alone, why wouldn't I do that instead?
The only reason a lot of people keep
meat in is because of taste and
tradition and it's what they grew up on.
And my aunt made me something special
and I'm going to eat this. And there's
this is the controversy.
I don't find that there's a whole lot
wrong in being plant-based
almost all the time in your life and
then being the person that relaxes their values
values
because if that'll get that person to
eat far fewer animals than going to the
extreme end of vegan which is such a
small you know s such a small percentage
of us. I would rather that person get
rid of most of the animal products and
then that one time they go off to France
and they just have to have that treat,
then let them. And let's not guilt trip
people either. Uh I know it's an ethical
thing for a lot of vegans to want to
make sure animal exploitation is
completely zero. And I get that,
especially when they relate it to things
like, "Oh, only a little bit of rape is
okay. Only a little bit of murder is
okay." That's the equivalent um point
that they're trying to make. And while I
see the point, just know that most
humans, most people don't put animals on
the same level as humans, and I don't
think they're going to change their
minds. So, for a lot of vegans, it just
sucks and they, you know what, you kind
of just have to get over it. And that's
where I've been. I used to be a very
angry vegan. But also, I think a lot of
meat eaters just need to stop pushing
their agenda on the vegans. I don't see
why anybody would want to force or try
and get another person who's eating
plant-based and they're healthy to try
and acknowledge or eat meat occasionally even.
even.
Like, what's the point in trying to get
somebody to lessen their values?
It's one thing if you were trying to
improve their ethical values, but to
lessen it when there's no need for it. I
don't get it. The only other thing I
could see is from more of a selfish
standpoint, and that might not be it.
I'm just guessing.
But if if you feel the need to justify
your own choices in your diet, then you
don't need to try and justify it by
trying to get vegans to eat meat. Like,
that doesn't make sense. So, just let
them be their ethical selves and get
through life. And if that means they're
going to be unhealthy for it, let it be,
you know, just let it be. Let them be
unhealthy. Some, like some of us went
and changed our diet assuming it would
be less healthy for us until we did the
research, starting with Caldwell Esson,
um going to uh T. Colin Campbell, going
to Neil Barnard, like researching all
these guys and then seeing what people
from the Blue Zones that what they're
doing, right? Seeing what people were
thriving on. So, it sounds like this
person believes in the high carb,
low-fat diet and just having the
occasional meat. I think that's where
they're at just from these comments. Um,
and if that's you,
you know, live your life. you're doing a
decent job probably not promoting eating
meat three times a day like most people
are. We don't need more people promoting
meat. We need more people promoting
sustainable plant-based starch-based
diets. I also had another thought on the
whole thing. If the idea of a perfect
vegan diet is keeping you in that place
where you feel you have to reintroduce
meat to be healthy again, then maybe you
are going too extreme. Maybe you need to
have rice and beans and avocado and all
those other plant-based foods that are
still healthy for you.
Um, stop with a all fruit diet. Stop
with just the fruit and vegetables.
diagnose yourself. Are you somebody
prone to the eating disorders? Are you
somebody who tries to purposely undereat
by a lot because you are seeking a
certain kind of body? If you are
struggling with this concept and you
think you need meat to be healthy, know
that it might not be the meat that you
needed, but the calories that you are
finally allowing yourself when you eat
meat. So,
whenever I see people like failing on a
vegan diet, I tend to notice that they
are the the extreme type. They've gone
to certain extremes. And going to a
no-fat diet is an extreme diet. It's
even extreme within veganism. So,
if that's where you're at and you feel
you need to reintroduce the animal
products, maybe reintroduce the higher
calorie plant foods. Eat sandwiches.
Eat burritos. Have some vegan pizza.
There are plenty of unhealthy vegans out
there. There are plenty of vegans who
eat enough food. All right? You don't
need to go to extremes.
And if you felt better eating the lean
meat, that might have been you. It's
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
