What Do You Think Of My Vegan Diet?

[welshwing]

Hi, I have tailored a Ray Peat inspired diet for me that's vegan. Mostly potatoes, sweet potatoes, veggie broth and a carrot.

I know sweet potatoes aren't recommended but I don't think they're bad since I've seen primitives eat them in abundance and stay healthy.

The reason I do this is I stopped eating meat seeing no reason to. The occasional oysters are okay but expensive. Now I want to stop drinking milk and eating cheese because I think they're only good for calcium and with kale broth you get calcium. It's hard to find milk or cheese without bad ingredients that cause stomach problems. Potatoes have perfect nutrition and Ray Peat said potatoes & mushrooms have high quality protein so meat is unneeded.

It's only vegan by coincidence, not for a moral reason but it sounds cool to be a "vegan Peatarian". Tell me if you think this diet is okay. Thanks

 

[welshwing]

Before Ray PEat my health was deteriorating fast on a vegan diet but one thing I enjoyed was being very lean all the time. I'm not fat from Ray Peat eating, but I think a vegan diet that's pro-metabolism must be the best thing to stay a healthy fat level for life.

-Potatoes are very satiating and not fattening, unlike eating tons of green vegetables like most vegans which leaves me feeling unsatisfied.

-Kale or broccoli broth is not fattening at all and doesn't cause stomach problems like milk or cheese do to me sometimes. They're best for calcium, milk is a perfect food but just not needed if you have a good diet.

 

[Kasper]

One problem with vegetables for calcium, is that they are often very high in nitrates. I wonder, wouldn't a vegan diet together with an extra calcium carbonate supplement be better?

Also, what about vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin K2? They are all very low on a vegan diet. So I think taking something like estroban should be taken on a vegan diet.

Vegans are also very low in taurine, which I think is very important for health.

 

[Giraffe]

To get enough copper could be difficult on a Peat inspired vegan diet. The only plant sources [edit to add: high in copper] I know of are nuts, seeds and cacao. Zinc is best absorbed from a diet high in animal protein.

A vegan diet might require quite a bit of fine tuning to get all the macros and micros covered.

Now I want to stop drinking milk and eating cheese because I think they're only good for calcium

What about vitamin K2, B -vitamins, protein...?

 

[thegiantess]

Hi, I have tailored a Ray Peat inspired diet for me that's vegan. Mostly potatoes, sweet potatoes, veggie broth and a carrot.

I know sweet potatoes aren't recommended but I don't think they're bad since I've seen primitives eat them in abundance and stay healthy.

The reason I do this is I stopped eating meat seeing no reason to. The occasional oysters are okay but expensive. Now I want to stop drinking milk and eating cheese because I think they're only good for calcium and with kale broth you get calcium. It's hard to find milk or cheese without bad ingredients that cause stomach problems. Potatoes have perfect nutrition and Ray Peat said potatoes & mushrooms have high quality protein so meat is unneeded.

It's only vegan by coincidence, not for a moral reason but it sounds cool to be a "vegan Peatarian". Tell me if you think this diet is okay. Thanks

B12, b12, b12.

 

[Richiebogie]

Are you including much sucrose food, like fruit and fruit juice?

Ray Peat reckons sucrose is the best energy source, plus fruits will provide some vitamins, minerals (eg. potassium and copper), soluble fibre (of debatable importance) and a little protein.

 

[BastiFuntasty]

B12, b12, b12.

Should be produced by gut bacteria like we have pointed out somewhere.

 

[Brian]

Make sure you are eating enough to consistently stay in the 2500 to 4000 calorie range. You won't be able to do that on potatoes alone so consider other foods such as quality sourdough bread, fruit juice, and rice, which supply some more selenium in particular. You should supplement zinc, just 10-30 mg per day is plenty. If you can't get daily sun exposure I would supplement vitamin D. Also B12 to be safe.

 

[postman]

You need about 100g of protein per day. You're gonna have to eat a lot of potatoes to reach that amount, even with the ketoacids. Also you should eat at least 2000 calories per day.

 

[thegiantess]

Should be produced by gut bacteria like we have pointed out somewhere.

Yahhhh I think that's a nice theory, but in application I seriously doubt it. Perhaps if you're supremely healthy and therefore have the most desirable bacterial profile, otherwise no. A b12 deficiency is a nasty thing. Take it from me, a former vegan.

 

[Kasper]

The only plant sources I know of are nuts, seeds and cacao.

Mushrooms are very high, and potatoes are also quite high in cupeer.

 

[Kasper]

Should be produced by gut bacteria like we have pointed out somewhere.

Wait, did I miss something? People are suddenly pro gut bacteria here?

 

[Brian]

Wait, did I miss something? People are suddenly pro gut bacteria here?

Everyone agrees that the small intestine should be sterile, but its up for debate if the large intestine receives net benefit from the presence of bacteria that produce mostly useful B and K vitamins.

My opinion is that whatever bacteria exist in the large intestine are probably harmless and potentially beneficial as long as bowel transit is fast and digestion and absorption are very good in the upper intestine.

 

[tobieagle]

Mostly potatoes, sweet potatoes, veggie broth and a carrot.

Doesn't sound very tasty to me...

If you eat enough calories and get enough protein, you should be fine.
Fine, in the sense of, you probably won't get ill.

 

[thebigpeatowski]

Should be produced by gut bacteria like we have pointed out somewhere.

This is only true if a person actually has the proper gut flora. I tested anemic for B12 despite eating a lot of meat, had to get B shots for a while.

 

[BastiFuntasty]

Yahhhh I think that's a nice theory, but in application I seriously doubt it. Perhaps if you're supremely healthy and therefore have the most desirable bacterial profile, otherwise no. A b12 deficiency is a nasty thing. Take it from me, a former vegan.

Ok agree^^, I'm very interested in the symptoms you had from b12 deficiency in your vegan times. Can you share them?

 

[Westside PUFAs]

Also, what about vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin K2? They are all very low on a vegan diet. So I think taking something like estroban should be taken on a vegan diet.

For anyone, not just a "vegan," there are no reliable food sources of vitamin D that would allow someone to eat enough of in order to maintain a level of 50 ng/mL of calcifediol without giving them too much contaminants, methionine and fat. The only way to get optimum levels is sun exposure on a lot of skin without burning or supplementing. Vitamin A is converted by a healthy person from carotene.

Since vitamin K is easily obtained from the diet and synthesized in the body, deficiencies are rare and usually occur only when there is malabsorption due to bowel obstruction, sprue, bowel shunts, regional ileitis, ulcerative colitis, or chronic liver disease. Vitamin K is given prophylactically to infants at birth to prevent hemorrhage, and presurgically to people who have bleeding and clotting disorders. Vitamin K is a general term used to describe a group of similar compounds, including K1, which is found in foods; K2, which is made by our intestinal bacteria; and K3, a synthetic form that is available only by prescription. Since vitamin K is widely available in foods and made in our bodies, supplements are necessary only in cases of malabsorption or medical disorders, or at birth to prevent hemorrhaging in newborns, or if you just wanted to take it for your own purposes.

Vitamin K2 can also be made in the liver, pancreas, and other organs, showing we do convert K1 to K2 and K4 as well as the remaining K vitamins:

Conversion of dietary phylloquinone to tissue menaquinone-4 in rats is not dependent on gut bacteria. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[thegiantess]

Ok agree^^, I'm very interested in the symptoms you had from b12 deficiency in your vegan times. Can you share them?

Well I think I also had some electrolyte issues, but dizziness, irritability, tingling in extremities, a sort of out of body feeling where I couldn't feel my extremities, inability to withstand stress.. That's all I remember right now.

 

[DaveFoster]

"Primitives." I didn't know people still used that term.

Your diet seems fine, but Peat recommends against starch. If you must eat it, then coconut oil will mitigate the harmful effects, and you'll have the cheapest diet on the planet.

 

[Westside PUFAs]

Cook rice in veggie broth in a rice cooker and you'll never want to cook it in plain water again.