VEGAN VS. KETO??

Who is winning the Keto vs. Vegan diet wars?

Every day you see headlines.. “Vegetarian diet will save the planet!”…” Keto diet reduces inflammation!”… “Carbs will make you fat!”… “Fat will give you heart disease” ”Fat will make you skinny and nourish your brain” ”Plant based foods are the wave of the future”..

Which is true? And how do you know which diet is best for you?

The truth is all diets work for some of the people some of the time.

Here are some general guidelines..

If you have liver and gall bladder congestion keto diets are going to be difficult for you because your body is not digesting fats efficiently. If you have fatty tumors, cysts, greasy skin etc. you might want to avoid animal fat diets and consider plant based diets. Dairy products and animal fats can build up in the system especially in women, going to their breasts and reproductive systems. For these people staying away from animals fats is important, so you can burn off and metabolize those fat cells.

If you are genetically inclined to have difficulty with carbs, do you have diabetes in the family? You maybe one of those people who do better to stay away from grains.

These days we recommend almost everyone stay away from wheat and dairy because they are more inflammatory than they used to be. Wheat because of glyphosate toxicity and dairy because by the time we get out of high school most of us have had way too much dairy consumption. Dairy overdose has already built up in our system as cellulite, fat, phlegm and mucous and inflammation leading to allergies.

If you exercise, eating meat will often be a good for you to keep re-nourishing your blood and rebuilding your resources. Many runners and athletes burn up so many calories they also burn up their resources and need extra animal fats and proteins in their diet.

Of course if you are going to eat wheat or meat or dairy we always recommend organic, biodynamic, locally grown and sustainably produced.

Vegetarian diets can be great for people as they get older because most bodies don’t work as efficiently as when they were younger. The problem I see with most vegetarian diets (and people in general) is that people don’t take the time to cook as they need to. They live on shakes or protein bars and don’t get enough variety of vegetables and complex carbs and proteins. Variety is a key.We often see people building up sensitivities to foods they always eat.

Sometimes vegetarians (and of course typical Americans) live on too many processed foods. But for vegetarians it is especially detrimental living off of soy burgers and other processed foods often filled with corn and other junk ingredients.. Athletes too, often live on pea protein, whey protein, protein bars and not enough live food. They might have the right daily recommended requirements, but if it lacks life force, it is dead. It will not convey the divine energy you get from the sun, earth, moon and stars, soil microbes and living organisms from where our divine food originally comes from..

Processed foods lack life force!

Not enough people are eating whole foods as they were originally grown or raised. Someone somewhere once said. ”If the sun has shined on it or if it has grown out of the Earth you can eat it.” Earth includes the oceans and streams.

But honestly I don’t eat so much fish any more because tuna and big fish have way too much mercury and other toxins. Fish in general now have plastics and other toxic pollutants picked up from our waste. Eating fish not sustainable which brings us back to plant based diets..

There is a good case for eating less meat for our health, for the planet, for the consciousness of our animal brothers and sisters, as well as sustainable farming and agriculture. It makes a lot of sense to eat more beans and whole grains, if you tolerate them. Usually I would say rice but so much rice has arsenic in it, picked up from the polluted water in which it grows. They say, to reduce arsenic, white rice is better than brown and California rice is better than Texas rice.

So what do we eat?

The food chain has truly been contaminated. 70% of vegetables have toxic pesticides and herbicides on them. Many gut health issues are increasing because we have reached a tipping point of saturation and side effects form all of the chemicals and toxins in our bodies.

We have to be somewhat intuitive with what we eat. How does it make us feel after we eat it? Do we feel balanced and clear? Do we feel sluggish and phlegmy? Do you get headaches or stomach aches? Listening to your body is key to figuring out what to eat. Do you need to eat your big meal at lunch and smaller meal at night? Do you need to eat more warm foods to warm your body?

The science is so confusing because very one is different and needs different diets at different times of their lives…Childhood, pregnancy, nursing, athletic times, elderly times, high stress times all need different diet considerations..

Your internal strengths and weaknesses will play a role. What you have inherited from your parents in terms of organ strength and function will influence you. What you do daily in your lifestyle will influence what you can eat. What you have eaten for most of your life will affect you as you age.

I have put people on many different diets, ranging from macrobiotic and Ayurvedic recommendations to a more low carb, keto style depending on who they were. Often if people present with yeast or candida we put them on low carb diets.

When I speak of good carbs I mean whole grains, rice, oats, millet, buckwheat and quinoa… not bread or pasta, granola, whole wheat bread or any other refined grain or processed sugar. We assume you know enough to keep them mostly out of your diet. If they are trying to get pregnant and are overweight we restrict their wheat and dairy. If people are cold we recommend warming diets etc. These are general rules and suggestions

EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT AND NEEDS A PARTICULAR DIET ACCORDING TO THEIR AGE, BODY TYPE, LIFESTYLE AND ENERGY NEEDS.

SO, listen to your body and get the advice of a health care practitioner who can guide you toward a healthy lifestyle. We all hate diets. But we all love to eat and want to eat things that are delicious and healthy too, supporting our bodies to function well.

Whether you are inclined and thrive on beans and rice or meat and vegies we suggest you eat whole foods as clean and fresh as possible…

And please talk to your political representatives about the poisoned food chain. This is not hype. We need to clean up our environment and our food chain to keep us all healthy and happy!