Saturday, November 6, 2010

Vegan Diet Experiment

Vegan Diet

FOOD

Nuts/Seeds: All nuts and seeds are accepted with the exception of cashews and peanuts.

Fruits: All fruits are accepted. Try to stay away from high GI fruits and eat fruits in moderation. High GI fruits include bananas, watermelons, and pumpkins.

Veggies: All veggies are accepted. Include a large amount of greens.

Other: Olive oil, coconut oil, green tea as well as other teas, unrefined sea salt, peppers/pepper, and any type of nut oil such walnut oil or hemp oil.

SUPPLEMENTS (MUST HAVE FOR A HEALTHY VEGAN DIET)

Protein sources (these are all must as it’s important to get not only complete proteins but essential amino acids as well as branch chain amino acids):
Hemp protein
Soy protein (make sure this is fermented and NOT genetically modified)
Rice protein
Branch Chain Amino Acids
Essential Amino Acids

Fats (EVERYONE in the world today is lacking omega-3, our ancestors ate lots of omega-3 and so should we. Non-vegans can take high doses of fish oil, but for vegans here are some alternatives):
Flax Seed Oil (make sure this is from a trustworthy company and in powdered form and processed properly as flaxseed generally goes rancid very easily)
Hemp Oil
Walnut Oil

Other:
Multi-Vitamin (essential for everyone)
Vitamin B12 (get this in liquid form as it’s more natural and the body absorbs it better. Remember that meats are the ONLY foods that contain Vitamin B12 so I wouldn’t make this a must have in general, but for vegans it is)
Calcium/Magnesium (essential for everyone)
Vitamin D (MUST HAVE if you do not get a good amount of sun on a regular basis)
Zinc (another thing that’s not typically a must have for non-vegans as multi-vitamins supply a good amount of it, but considering that zinc is mostly found in meat this is a good thing to add for vegans)
Vitamin C (essential for everyone)
CoQ10 (essential for everyone)


DOSING

Foods:
Nuts/Seeds: 8 ounces daily
Fruits: 8 ounces daily
Veggies: 1 lb daily (try to eat mostly greens)
Other: 4 tablespoons daily, 4 tablespoons coconut oil, ½ gallon green tea (on top of a gallon of water daily), sprinkle unrefined sea salt on food throughout day as well as pepper seasonings and/or peppers
Try to get all foods raw, organic, and if possible, from local farms so that it is fresh.

Protein Supplements:
Use either hemp protein, rice protein, or soy protein (or rotate them which is a good idea so not to develop allergies). Take 120 grams of either a day separated into 2-4 servings per day. Hemp protein is highly recommended is main source of protein. (TrueProtein is a good source)
BCAA’s: 45 grams per day  (TrueProtein, BulkNutrition)
EAA’s” 45 grams per day (TrueProtein, BulkNutrition)

Fat Supplements:
Use either flax seed oil, hemp oil, or walnut oil as a main source of omega-3 consumption (again not a bad idea to rotate the fats so not to develop allergies). Although, it would be a good idea to keep flax seed oil as a main source of omega-3 as it’s pure omega-3 and it’s not a good idea to supplement yourself with a lot of omega-6 as the diet already contains a lot of that already. Supplement with 12-20 grams of omega-3 a day, start with 12 grams daily, work up to 16-20 grams daily. TrueProtein is a good source for the Flax Seed, for hemp oil and walnut oil Vitacost is good)

Other Supplements:
Multi-Vitamin (Now Foods brand from BulkNutrition)
Vitamin B12 (liquid bottle Now Foods brand from BulkNutrition): one drop = 1 mg
Calcium/Magnesium (Now Foods from BulkNutrition): 2,000 mg calcium, 1,000 mg magnesium
Vitamin D (Now Foods from BulkNutrition): 3-5,000 IU
Zinc (any brand from either BulkNutrition or Vitacost that is 15 mg)
Vitamin C (either True Protein or Now Foods from BulkNutrition): 2,000 mg per day (if want to dose more that is ok, up to 6 grams per day is good)
CoQ10 (NSI from Vitacost) 200 mg split into two dosings

Putting the Plain into Practice:
4 ounces walnuts
4 ounces sunflower seeds
4 ounce apple
4 ounces strawberries
8 ounces spinach
8 ounces broccoli
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons coconut oil
½ gallon green tea
1 gallon water
120 grams hemp protein
45 grams BCAA’s
45 grams EAA’s
20 Flax Seed Oil
2 caps Multi-Vitamin
1 mg Vitamin B12
2 grams Calcium
1 gram Magnesium
3-5,000 IU Vitamin D
15 mg Zinc
2-6 grams Vitamin C
200 mg CoQ10
Overall: Calories – 4,189, Fat- 308.8, Carbs – 97.9, Protein - 267

Conclusion:
Although I do feel that if people follow this strictly they will be healthy and can gain muscle mass as well as strength, the one problem is it is PRICEY. Who has the money to take 120 grams of hemp protein every day for example? Not the average person. I’ll stick to my cheap meat in the meantime. As you can see it is very possible to keep carbs low, and calories high with a vegan diet as long as you’re rich enough to spend the money on supplements. I believe that the protein can stay low as long as the BCAA and EAA supplementation stays high. If not for the BCAA and EAA supplementation then the person would need to raise protein quite a bit depending on circumstances such as level of lifting as well as bodyweight.

Another note worth mentioning is that I thought a vegan based diet would add more unsaturated fats and lower the saturated fats. Not true. My meat/plant based diets are generally 20% saturated fat, 40% polyunsaturated fat, and 40% monounsaturated fat. In other words, 50 grams saturated fat, 100 grams polyunsaturated fat, and 100 grams monounsaturated fat. The diet I laid out had a high amount of nuts, so that may be why. The plant based diet listed above was 72 grams of saturated fat, 108 grams of polyunsaturated fat, and 68 grams of monounsaturated fat. This may show that as long as you are eating fresh unprocessed meats, the fat quality is still good, if not better than many plant based fatty foods.

This was not the only problem I found with the diet. Meats are generally higher in Vitamin A, and this diet was low in Vitamin A, so supplementation is needed in that aspect. All the other Vitamins turned out to be really abundant (and Vitamin D and B Vitamins mostly because of extra supplementation). Although Vitamin D is mostly provided by sunlight, so that is excusable. What this shows is that vegan based diets only provide a good amount of Vitamin C, E, and K.

The Vitamins were not the only problem; the minerals were also low as well. For example, I think the magnesium was about one gram too low (and most of the nutrients again came from supplementation). While magnesium is highly provided by plants, a lot of calcium comes from meaty foods. Iron ironically was also low, about 20 mg too low. Meats are also largely abundant in potassium, so I would probably want to double the potassium levels in the diet, which again means another supplement to add. With this diet only 28% of the RDA was provided when it comes to salt, but this can easily be fixed by using salt on foods. But it just goes to show that meats are the main sources of salt. Even after supplementation the zinc level were still slightly low. I would raise them about 10 more mg. There are probably a lot of other minerals that were low as well; almost every mineral was low with this diet. Meats are the main sources of most minerals as well as B Vitamins and Vitamin A, as well as a good source of unsaturated fats, calories, and protein.

To end the experiment, the fats were not exactly healthier just because of changing to a plant based diet from a meat based diet, although the ratios where still very healthy. I personally would like the protein to be higher, and that’s when already considering that most of the protein comes purely from supplementation. Obviously, plenty of fiber was provided with this diet, actually, over 60 grams. As far as the micro-nutrients, massive supplementation is needed for the micro-nutrients, as well as protein, fat, and calories, which is obviously not affordable for the average person.

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