Why Paleo and Vegan are making you sick!

This blog post is definitely going to trigger some emotional outbursts. Good.

Let’s get one thing clear. Your dogma is making you sick!

Until last year I had eaten Paleo for over 5 years. Then something strange happened. All the meat was making me feel not as great as I am used to. Lower energy, my skin not as clear, poo funky. Something was up.

So I decided to go vegetarian or vego as the kids call it these days. I started to feel better. My eyes became whiter, my skin got it’s glow again and my poo, well let’s just say it was perfect.

Now vegetarians are vegans at this point are probably going “YEAH THAT’S BECAUSE BEING VEGAN AND VEGO IS HEALTHIER”. Well they are right and wrong! It was what I needed at the time. But not what I needed before or now.

Let me give you a nutrition 101. Multiple factors effect what you need to be healthy especially when it comes to nutrition. Things like genetics, sex, age, exercise level, stress and environment all play a role. Just like your retina (eye) is completely unique to you, just as your finger print is unique what you need bio metabolically is unique to you! No diet, no diet book, no expert can design a generic food plan that’s right for you.

Genetics

For example, my heritage is from Croatia. Croatia is closer to the North Pole than to the Equator. Now, nothing grows in a Croatian winter. What can you grow in snow? Nothing. So what did the people eat? Animals, potatoes and fermented veg.

Compare that with someone of Indonesian heritage. Indonesia is closer to the equator where there is more sunlight and therefore more plant life. Same with India. Someone of this genetic heritage would have eaten more plants and less heavy meats and therefore do better on a more vego diet approach.

Sex & Age

Does a man that weighs 100 kg need the same amount of food as a woman that weighs 50kg? Or water for that matter? Definitely not! It’s illogical.
The next thing is that every month women menstruate, guys don’t. That’s a huge difference to what we need in food. People with some years under their belt are wise to know that their body’s change with time. Boobs and penis’s sag, wrinkles form and with time your preference for food changes.

Exercise

I know personally when I do a heavy lifting session I want more meat. Whereas if I don’t train, I don’t want red meat and prefer chicken, fish and beans. If you exercise vs don’t what you need nutritionally differs. Breaking down muscle tissue = wanting to rebuild with muscle tissue (meat).

Stress

Think about this? When you are stressed the hormone cortisol is released. What are you making cortisol out of? Food. When you’re stressed it changes what the body needs.

Environment

Ever been in a hot Australian summer or a -20 degree winter? Do you feel like stews and slow cooked food in summer or do you prefer fruit and more refreshing foods? Therefore the environment influences what we should eat.

As you can see above, off the top of my head there are 5 unique factors that no nutrition book, diet, nutritional ‘expert’ can account for! And the kicker is, it’s changing 24/7, 7 days a week. You are constantly changing. The only way to know what to eat, is to learn the principles to nutrition and healthy eating. I’ll cover this in future blog posts.

A dogmatic view such as I ‘have to’ eat Paleo or better yet, the identification of I am my choose food dogma makes people sick, like I am a vegan. We all know that vegan friend that prefaces anything with I’m making vegan (insert food). It can’t be ever I am just making food. The key point is that it’s vegan god damnit!!!

His the harsh truth, a time will come in your life in 1, 5, 20 years when what you are doing won’t work - you can guarantee on that because in life the only thing certain is everything is changing.

If you identify to such a degree who you are with what you eat, you’ll numb the sound of your body talking to you. So listen up. Listen to your body it’s telling you what it wants and I’ll teach you how (future blog post).

Think about this - if a lion was to eat leaves and a giraffe was to eat meat, would either animal be healthy? No, no they wouldn’t.

Paleo and vegan both have their place. If it’s making you healthy that’s great but don’t buy into the BS of the dogma.

Eat according to your body’s needs not the needs of your ideas.

ps. Check out the video my fellow CHEKie JP made. It’s hilarious!