WHO WINS: Plant VS. Animal Based Diets!

Now, this article about plant-based diets vs animal-based diets will blow some of your minds away, change the way you look at food and it also might piss some off. 

But we’re here to debunk myths, educate you on what’s the best fuel for your mind and body so, in return, you can be your healthiest, most productive self. 

And if pissing some of you off is what it takes, we’re ready for the trade!

SO WHAT REALLY IS THE DEAL WITH FOODS AND WHAT ARE YOU ESSENTIALLY DESIGNED TO BE EATING? 

Many people think we humans are omnivores that are designed to eat a diet with our nutrients coming from both plants and animals.

However, let us break it to you…there is strong scientific evidence that has proved time and again that humans are in fact herbivores, which means that the majority of our diet should be comprised and coming from plants only. 

The table below is specially curated for an in-depth comparative analysis of the human physiology, which clearly proves that our bodies are just not meant for meat because it’s simply the wrong fuel for us. 

Now, even looking at how we have evolved, there has been general agreement that the ancestral line leading to apes and humans was markedly herbivorous and that for most of our approximately 150,000-year existence our diet has been based on plants only.

1. What about your VITAMIN C: 

As seen above, humans are anatomically and physiologically herbivores. And Herbivores get their vitamin C from their diet as they don’t have the metabolic ability to synthesize their own Vitamin C. 

This proves that we’re heavily dependant on plants for our source of Vitamin C, which is an essential nutrient without which we’ll die. 

 We need it for the growth, development, and repair of all our body tissues. It's also involved in many body functions, including the formation of collagen, absorption of iron, the immune system, wound healing, and the maintenance of cartilage, bones, and teeth

Carnivores on the other end are capable of making their own vitamin C. And we’re far apart from them!

2. An animal-based meat diet impairs blood flow, increases inflammation, and ruins your gut bacteria. 

Non-vegetarian protein that is derived from chicken, beef, and other meat has inflammatory molecules like neu5Gc, endotoxins, and heme iron. 

Heme iron is found in animal sources like red meat, milk, poultry, etc. A study on 1,30,000 patients proved that 1mg of Heme iron=27% increased risk in heart disease.

These molecules also change the microbiome in our gut. So the bacterial species that promote inflammation overgrow and produce inflammatory mediators like TMAO. 

Here’s a fun (rather sad) fact for you: A single hamburger impairs blood flow & increases inflammation measures by 70%, (wait..did you read that right? YES THAT’S A WHOPPING 70%) which in return reduces your blood flow, increasing soreness and even delays recovery of muscles and joints. 

So for all the athletes, bodybuilders, and even the daily gym-goers, you might want to re-think your protein source, as we all know, recovery is more important than the exercise itself. 

Conversely on the other hand, when you go on a plant-based diet…

You consume and receive 64x times more antioxidant content than animal foods, reduce inflammation in your body, boost your blood flow, and improve gut bacteria. 

Fun fact (this time it’s actually fun): Switching to a plant-based diet reduces your inflammation by 29% in just 3 weeks. 

(Yes, you read that right again- 3 weeks, 21 days is ALL IT TAKES). 

3. An animal-based diet results in a higher risk of developing atherosclerosis (heart disease) and cholesterol problems.

Atherosclerosis refers to the buildup of fats, cholesterol, and other substances in and on your artery walls (plaque), which can restrict blood flow. The plaque can burst, triggering a blood clot. Although atherosclerosis is often considered a heart problem, it can affect arteries anywhere in your body.

Now, it is virtually impossible to produce atherosclerosis in a dog/carnivore specie, even when feeding them around 200 times the average amount of cholesterol humans eat daily. 

On the other hand, Herbivore species like humans rapidly develop atherosclerosis if fed even comparatively much smaller and lesser amounts of fat and cholesterol.

Cholesterol is essentially made from fat, something most plants have very little of. Herbivores have evolved to be efficient at producing adequate cholesterol from a low-fat diet, hence not needing much of it. We also have mechanisms that hold onto and recycle fat and cholesterol.

However, when herbivores eat animal-foods, the excessive fat and cholesterol that is only found in these animal foods facilitate the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in artery walls, leading to chronic diseases.

No wonder Heart diseases are a leading cause of mortality all over the globe. So it’s recommended we eat a diet low in saturated fat, trans-fat and cholesterol and as ever-increasing evidence illuminates this issue, it’s time for humans to consider a change to a plant-based diet.

4. Meat contains 14 times the amount of pesticides as plant foods since pesticides get concentrated as they move up through the food chain, and also because they're more easily stored in fatty tissues. 

Interesting research discovered that the breast milk of vegetarian women contained far lower levels of pesticides than that of average Americans. A study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine found that "The highest levels of contamination in the breast milk of the vegetarians were lower than the lowest level of contamination in non-vegetarian women.” 

Please read that finding again, because that’s absolutely crazy!

Now, before we have some of you questioning our facts and justifying with statements like..well what about my protein? what about B12? I definitely can’t get those from plants... hang on because WE'LL BE DEBUNKING SOME MYTHS AS WELL. 

So stay tuned for our next post as we don't wish to burden you with an overload of information.

Because we could go on but we’re afraid that this may have changed a lot of your minds, so we’ll end it here for today to let you reflect on your dietary habits, and we’ll come back with more news, research and scientific findings of more mind-boggling stuff.

We highly believe that any permanent change in lifestyle and health is brought about after a change in mindset first. 

And that's why, we as a brand promise to educate first, before anything else. 

We want to simply ensure you lead a healthy life, but the decision solely lies in your hands. This is just our take on making you more and more conscious of your choices, for yourself. 

So of course, we don’t want to choke you by forcing a diet down your throat. 

We’re aware that we, as humans, resist change. So you might be resisting acceptance of these facts as they might challenge your beliefs to a strong extent. 

And hence, we’re not going to tell you to completely quit on your non-veg diet, the choice always lies in your hands. 

 After all, you are the creator of your own health and lifestyle. 

Instead, we’re just going to request you to chill it with the meat a little and reflect on the changes it brings about in your health yourself.  

Like mentioned earlier, 3 weeks is all it takes to notice massive changes, so do you have it within you to make the trade-off for just 21 days? 

And post that, if you still believe that the chicken in your diet is the one that’s doing you more good than bad, then you have the freedom to take that call. 

But first, we urge you to try and test it out so you can be the scientist of your own findings!