Plant-Based Diet

Again and again, we emphasize that a vegan, i.e. a plant-based diet, is very healthy. But, you can also eat vegan and at the same time very unhealthy. If you put together your diet of high-fat fries, soft drinks, white bread, and sugar. Then you eat vegan, but still far from healthy. A healthy vegan diet protects against heart disease. But, an unhealthy vegan diet makes the heart as sick as a diet with animal products. One study showed this.

Not All Plant-Based Diets Are Healthy

Do you eat vegan or at least vegetarian? Are you sure that you are eating healthy? Many people think that avoiding animal products is enough. They think it’s already good for you. This, however, is a fallacy.

Even in the scientific literature, there was hardly any differentiation here. It has always been said that plant-based diets play an important role in the prevention of heart disease. This is because a diet of mainly plant-based foods can prevent or improve many diseases. These include obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. But what exactly such a plant-based diet should look like to protect the heart is rarely explained.

In Australia 42,700 deaths occured from heart diseases in 2021 (25% of all deaths). In the U.S. more than 600,000 people every single year – according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In Germany, there were 380,000 deaths due to heart problems in 2020. The CDC explained that a bad diet is a key factor. It causes heart disease. Switching to a plant-based diet would therefore be extremely sensible and beneficial in theory.

Protect plant-based diets

In 2008, Current Atherosclerosis Reports reported that they found a link in studies of people and in population studies. They found that using a more plant-based diet was linked to a lower risk of dying from heart causes ( 3 ).

Another study in July 2014 had almost 200 patients with heart disease. It showed that those who switched to a vegan diet were much better protected against a heart attack. This was compared to those who had stuck to the usual diet of meat, dairy, and fish ( 5 ).

In March 2017, Nutrition & Diabetes published the results of a trial. It recommended a diet of plant-based whole foods to participants. They were 35 to 70 years old. This diet was for obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease (4).
The vegan dieters reduced their BMI by 4.4 points after 6 months. The control group, who kept eating, only reduced their BMI by 0.4 points. All other heart disease risk factors also fell more in the vegan group. They fell less in the control group, which had only received medication.

The Different Vegan Diets

Rarely, researchers indicated how exactly the successful subjects had eaten. In this context, a team of researchers from Harvard University in Boston has shown that some vegan diets are unhealthy. They can be very harmful to the body. Because not all vegans are the same. First of all, here is a small overview of the different forms of vegan nutrition that can exist:

  • Vegan whole foods with a high proportion of raw food
  • Vegan raw food (which is wholesome at the same time)
  • Vegan primeval food (raw food form with, among other things, a high proportion of wild plants)
  • Vegan Ayurvedic food (almost only cooked food, not always wholesome)
  • Low carb vegan
  • High carb vegan (80/10/10 = 80 % carbohydrates, 10 % protein, 10 % fat)
  • Vegan junk food diet (no attention is paid to healthy aspects here, the main thing is: vegan)
  • … and, of course, an infinite number of mixed forms

The Vegan Junk Food Diet

In the vegan junk food diet, you eat vegan but not healthy. There are chips, alcohol, and soft drinks. There are also soy puddings, sweets, white bread, and hot dogs with seitan sausages. Plus, there are vegan cakes, ice cream, candies, gummy bears, and coffee. And much more. Anything can be eaten, as long as it’s vegan. Health aspects are unimportant.

Studies say again and again that the plant-based diet is very healthy. So, some might think that avoiding only meat, fish, eggs, and dairy is enough to become healthy or stay healthy. They might think they can keep the rest of their diet and add soy ice cream and imitation cheese as they like. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Dr. Ambika Satija, led a team of Harvard researchers. They confirmed this in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in July 2017 (2).

Plant-based diets are unhealthy like meat-based diets

The Harvard study used 20 years of data from three large health studies. It included 166,030 women from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Nurses’ Health Study II. It also had 43,259 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. Participants already suffering from cancer or cardiovascular disease were excluded. In the course of the study, 8,631 people developed coronary heart disease.

Earlier nutrition studies lumped all plant-based diets together. The new study was more precise. A distinction was made between three plant-based diets:

Diets should contain many plant-based foods. But, they should not completely exclude animal-based foods.

The diets are vegan. They have as many healthy plant-based foods as possible, like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

Diets should be unhealthy plant-based foods. These include sweetened drinks. Also, ready-to-eat potato products (like chips, fries, and croquettes), sweets, white flour products, and white rice.

The participants in the second group were vegan and healthy. They had a much lower risk of heart disease than the other two groups.

The third group, like the first, struggled with the diet’s negative effects on heart health.

Therefore, we must teach patients about the best plant-based foods.

Only a wholesome plant-based diet is healthy

A healthy vegan diet consists of the following food groups:

  • Staple foods are vegetables and fruits
  • The main drink is water

Supplement the staple foods with:

  • Whole grains (e.g. oatmeal, bread, pasta, brown rice, millet) or pseudo-cereals
  • Legumes
  • Nuts and oilseeds
  • Small amounts of high-quality fats and oils (e.g. olive oil, hemp oil and coconut oil)
  • High-quality soy products (e.g. tofu, tofu patties, etc.)
  • Freshly squeezed vegetable or fruit juices (the latter only in small quantities)
  • … and the individually required dietary supplements

Here are some vegan recipes you may want to try:

Updated on: 20 Jan, 2025
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