Two dietary philosophies stand at opposite ends of the spectrum: the carnivore diet and the vegan diet. The carnivore diet consists solely of animal-based foods, while the vegan diet focuses entirely on plant-based foods. Despite their clear differences, both diets have been praised for offering similar health benefits, including improved sleep, increased energy, better cognition, enhanced mood, and better body composition. This paradox raises an intriguing question: How can two entirely different dietary approaches yield such similar health outcomes?
The Debate: Carnivore vs. Vegan
The debate between the carnivore and vegan communities is intense. Vegans criticize the carnivore diet for its exclusion of plant-based nutrients, emphasizing the importance of fiber, antioxidants, and phytochemicals found in fruits and vegetables. They argue that these nutrients are crucial for digestive health, reducing inflammation, and preventing chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer.
On the other hand, carnivore diet adherents argue that plant-based diets lack essential nutrients found in animal products, such as vitamin B12, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids. They contend that these nutrients are vital for brain function, muscle maintenance, and overall health. Carnivores also highlight that plant-based diets can include antinutrients, which may inhibit the absorption of essential minerals.
The Common Thread: What We’re Not Eating
Despite these differences, the surprising similarity in benefits from these opposed diets made me realize a crucial point: perhaps the key to these positive health outcomes lies not in what is being consumed, but rather in what is being avoided. Both diets, by their nature, eliminate a wide range of processed foods that dominate the modern diet-industrialized seed oils, processed grains, and added sugars. These components are often linked to various health issues.
Processed foods are typically high in unhealthy fats, sugars, and sodium, contributing to a range of chronic health problems. Industrialized seed oils, for instance, are high in omega-6 fatty acids, which can cause inflammation when consumed in excess. Processed grains often lack the fiber and nutrients found in whole grains, leading to blood sugar spikes and crashes. Added sugars contribute to weight gain, insulin resistance, and increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Moreover, processed foods often contain artificial additives and preservatives that can have adverse effects on health.
Read also: Is a Vegetarian Elimination Diet Right for You?
When followers of the carnivore and vegan diets eliminate processed foods, they also avoid the additives, preservatives, and artificial ingredients that are common in many modern foods. This reduction in processed food intake might be the common thread that explains the health benefits seen in both dietary approaches.
An Evolutionary Perspective
From an evolutionary standpoint, our ancestors thrived on diets of nutrient-dense whole foods, sourced directly from their environment, such as wild game, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. The advent of agriculture around 10,000 years ago introduced grains and domesticated animals into the diet, but these remained relatively unprocessed compared to today's standards. It is only in the last century that industrialization has drastically changed food processing, leading to the widespread availability of highly refined sugars, industrialized seed oils, and chemically preserved foods. These changes have been linked to a rise in chronic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and certain cancers.
Our bodies evolved to process whole, natural foods, not the highly processed products common in modern diets. The diets of our ancestors did not include the additives, preservatives, and artificial ingredients prevalent today. Thus, by reverting to a diet that eliminates processed foods-whether through a carnivore or vegan approach-individuals likely reduce their intake of substances our bodies are not equipped to handle.
This evolutionary perspective helps explain why both carnivore and vegan diets, despite their differences, can lead to similar health benefits. They encourage a return to eating patterns that align more closely with human evolutionary history, focusing on nutrient-dense, minimally processed foods.
Nutritional Benefits
The carnivore diet’s nutritional benefits come from its emphasis on animal-based products, which provide high amounts of essential nutrients. The carnivore diet is exceptionally high in protein, a crucial macronutrient for muscle growth, tissue repair, and overall body strength. By consuming animal-based foods such as beef, chicken, and fish, individuals on this diet receive complete proteins, which contain all the essential amino acids the body cannot produce on its own. Animal products in the carnivore diet are rich sources of vitamin B12 and iron, two critical nutrients in maintaining energy levels and promoting efficient oxygen transport throughout the body. B12 is found almost exclusively in meat, fish, and dairy and is essential for brain function and preventing anemia. The carnivore diet drastically reduces carbohydrate intake by eliminating plant-based foods. As a result, the diet helps stabilize blood sugar levels, which may benefit individuals looking to improve insulin sensitivity or manage conditions like type 2 diabetes.
Read also: Healthy Vegetarian Eating
The vegan diet offers various nutritional benefits, particularly for those looking to maximize plant-based nutrition. A vegan diet is naturally high in fiber because it emphasizes foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, all of which are excellent sources of dietary fiber. Fiber supports healthy digestion by promoting regular bowel movements and preventing constipation. Plant-based foods are rich in antioxidants such as vitamins C and E, which help combat inflammation and protect the body’s cells from oxidative damage caused by free radicals. These antioxidants are essential for maintaining youthful skin, reducing the appearance of wrinkles, and promoting overall skin health. Excluding animal products in a vegan diet typically results in a much lower intake of saturated fats, which may benefit cardiovascular health. Saturated fats are linked to higher cholesterol levels, which may increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. A well-planned vegan diet contains essential nutrients, including vitamins A, C, and folate, which are vital for supporting immune function, maintaining healthy skin, and promoting cell repair. Leafy greens, nuts, seeds, and legumes provide essential nutrients like magnesium, aiding muscle function and bone health, and essential fatty acids for brain and heart health. The high fiber content and lower calorie density of plant-based foods make a vegan diet an effective way to maintain a healthy weight. Fiber-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains provide bulk, which helps individuals feel fuller for longer periods without overeating. Research shows that adopting a vegan diet may significantly reduce the risk of chronic diseases, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. Focusing on whole, plant-based foods, which are low in unhealthy fats and refined sugars, helps improve overall health outcomes.
Environmental Impact
The sustainability and environmental impact of the carnivore and vegan diets are drastically different. The carnivore diet is associated with a larger environmental footprint due to the high resources needed for animal agriculture. Raising livestock for meat production consumes vast amounts of water and land while requiring extensive feed crops, leading to significant deforestation. A vegan diet is often praised for its lower environmental impact, as it relies on plant-based foods that are less resource-intensive to produce. Growing plants for food typically uses fewer natural resources like water and land than raising animals for meat. Adopting plant-based diets, such as veganism, promotes long-term global sustainability. Reducing the demand for animal products directly decreases the environmental strain caused by animal agriculture, a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Animal agriculture, particularly cattle farming, is highly water-intensive, requiring large amounts of water for animal hydration and feed crop production. Plant-based farming is much more efficient regarding water use, as growing vegetables, fruits, and grains generally requires less water. Meat production demands substantial land for grazing and growing the feed needed to sustain livestock, often leading to deforestation and habitat destruction. In contrast, plant-based diets rely on crops that take up less land and can be grown more efficiently. Veganism supports biodiversity by reducing the environmental pressures of large-scale livestock farming, often resulting in habitat loss and species extinction. Plant-based diets require less land and fewer resources, helping maintain healthier ecosystems and protecting wildlife habitats.
Health Goals and Lifestyle
When deciding between the carnivore and vegan diets, it’s essential to consider your health goals and lifestyle. The carnivore diet may be a good fit for those who want a high-protein, low-carb option that can lead to weight loss and muscle gain. On the other hand, the vegan diet offers a wide variety of plant-based foods that provide essential vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants. It’s often associated with long-term health benefits such as reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes. The proper diet depends on your preferences, nutritional needs, and lifestyle. It’s crucial to listen to your body and sustainably choose a diet that supports your wellness journey.
Potential Deficiencies and Supplementation
While the carnivore diet provides high amounts of protein and certain nutrients, its lack of plant-based foods can lead to deficiencies in fiber and vitamins. While the vegan diet provides a wide variety of nutrients, specific vitamins like B12 and omega-3 fatty acids may need to be supplemented. Vegans had the lowest intakes of vitamins B2, B12, and D, whereas meat eaters had the highest intakes of these nutrients. Conversely, mean intakes of vitamin C, vitamin E, and folate were highest in vegans and lowest in meat eaters. The results suggested a high prevalence of inadequacy for dietary vitamin B12 and iodine in vegans.
The Paleo Approach: A Middle Ground
Given these takeaways, the paleo diet presents a balanced solution by emphasizing whole, unprocessed foods similar to those consumed by our ancestors. Research shows that the paleo diet can lead to significant health benefits. For example, a study found that participants on a paleo diet experienced a 30% reduction in triglycerides and a 25% improvement in blood pressure (Cleveland Clinic). Another study noted that individuals following a paleo diet showed improved glucose tolerance, reduced insulin secretion, increased insulin sensitivity, and a significant reduction in waist circumference (Cleveland Clinic). These statistics underscore the potential of the paleo diet to improve overall metabolic health and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.
Read also: Is a Chicken-Inclusive Vegetarian Diet Right for You?
Historical Context and Performance
In 1896, James Parsley led the Vegetarian Cycling Club to victory over regular clubs, and later won a hill-climbing race. In 1904, a Belgian researcher found that those eating more plant-based reportedly lifted a weight 80 percent more times. A Yale study compared meat-eating athletes, vegetarian athletes, and sedentary vegetarians. The vegetarians did about five times better in an endurance test measuring how many continuous minutes the participants could hold out their arms horizontally. The plant-eating athletes creamed them, averaging 927 deep knee bends. Even the sedentary vegetarians performed better than the meat-eating athletes; they averaged 535 deep knee bends.
Considering Dietary Intakes and Nutrient Adequacy
A study investigated differences in dietary intakes between meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians, and vegans. Highly significant differences were found in estimated nutrient intakes between meat eaters and vegans, with fish eaters and vegetarians usually having intermediate values. Meat eaters had the highest energy intakes, followed by fish eaters and vegetarians, whereas vegans had the lowest intakes. Vegans had the highest intakes of polyunsaturated fatty acids, dietary fiber, vitamins C and E, folate, magnesium, iron, and copper. Meat eaters had the highest intake of saturated fatty acids, protein, vitamin B2, vitamin B12, vitamin D, zinc, and iodine. Fish eaters had the highest intakes of calcium and selenium.
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