DC does... veganism

You read that correctly. I, Dave Crole, dedicated and unapologetic carnivore, went vegan. For a whole bloody month. Or a month that was not in any way bloody, as it goes.

I took a photo of my last steak because it was an emotional moment for me.

For those that are somehow unaware of veganism and have not heard it from the horse's mouth, they literally eat only plants. Much like horses. That means no animal flesh, no dairy, no eggs, no honey, no gelatin, no anything that may be pleasurable to consume and give you the satisfaction of existing at the top of the food pyramid. However, vegans get the warm glow of knowing that they aren't contributing to animal suffering and have a reduced carbon footprint so therefore are better than other people.

Although the level of smug emitted by vegans may be an environmental hazard in itself.

The health effects of vegan diets are often advertised, with proponents claiming an array of health benefits and detractors claiming a multitude of nutritional shortfalls and inadequacies. To some extent they are both correct, many vegans would have you believe that eliminating animal products is a panacea that will cure all ills, whilst that is demonstrably not true, there are generally some health benefits of switching to veganism. 

Calories from animal products will generally be replaced with grains, beans, fruits and vegetables, which means vegans generally have higher intakes of fibre, antioxidants and nutrients such as potassium, magnesium and vitamins A, C and E. Vegan diets tend to make people feel full at lower calorie intakes, with vegans also tending to have lower body weight, blood sugar levels and diabetes risk than non-vegans, perhaps due to the high fibre intake of the diet. There is likely also cancer protection properties; there is debated data over red meat and dairy both raising the risk of some cancers and consensus data on vegetables and legumes reducing the risk of some cancers, therefore replacing the former with the latter will likely lead to reduced cancer risks. The previous sentence also holds true if 'cancer' is replaced with 'heart disease and strokes'. So, there are demonstrably some positive effects associated with the elimination of animal products and/or eating more vegetables and legumes, but is it all one way traffic?

This is unambiguously good for you.

No. Here's why eating some animals is still good. Vegans are very commonly deficient in a number of important nutrients when compared to omnivores, these include vitamin B12, iron, vitamin D3, zinc and omega 3 fats. Going into detail on the roles of each of these would take quite some text, but suffice to say they play important roles in the healthy functioning of the body including development of red blood cells, nerve function, brain development, mitochondrial function and most importantly by far, muscle function and growth. Deficiencies in these nutrients will lead to reduced physical and mental performance, and chronic deficiency could lead to diseases such as Alzheimer's, heart disease, anemia and osteoporosis. You will find all of these nutrients in ample quantities in animal products and in the case of B12, heme iron (the easily absorbed kind) and long chain omega 3 fats, you will almost exclusively find them in animal products. There are ways of making up for these deficiencies on a vegan diet, if synthetic versions are available, supplementation is an obvious choice, but there is also the odd (stupidly expensive) plant food from a far flung place that contains a given nutrient in small amounts such as nori seaweed for B12 or microalgae oil for omega 3 acids.

This isn't necessarily bad for you.

Discussions on the philosophy and ethics of eating animals can be a very interesting, they also have been done to death by people far more invested in the subject than I, so I'll keep it brief. These sorts of discussions can also be an absolute minefield as people can get quite dogmatic over the issue. It's easy to get a load of information from some partisan website, convince yourself that your position is the unambiguously correct one and stay safely in your echo chamber. I'm not pointing fingers at either side, or saying that I am some even handed ethical arbiter, I've been as guilty as any of adopting a position (in this case "just eat some meat and have a shower you dirty hippie") and ignoring any counter arguments.

Sometimes, this was the correct position.

That being said, here are some basic questions and thoughts on the subject to have a little ponder on:

• Do we have the right to contribute to the suffering of and/or kill animals when we can demonstrably survive (but arguably thrive) without animal products?
• The eating of animals (and the dense source of calories and micro nutrients therein) was arguably a catalyst for the evolution of the human brain, is the total elimination of animal products form the diet a good idea?
• Eliminating animal products will greatly reduce one's environmental impact (mainly through reducing the inefficient land, energy and water use of meat farming), with a study showing that meat eaters contribute approximately 2.5 times as much carbon dioxide as vegans. However, there are many things we can do to reduce environmental impact, but don't due to inconvenience. We could walk everywhere, we could plant trees everyday, we could not heat our homes, use electrical devices or bathe, to go to the most extreme, we could just kill ourselves. To what point is it feasible to reduce our pleasure in life to benefit the environment?
• Are all feed stock animals' lives a net negative experience? If we buy ethically sourced, high welfare meat (and to a greater extent eggs), it may be the case that this animal, which may not even exist otherwise, has lived a net positive life. If an animal is freely roaming and eating, but with protection from predators and little to no stressors until the moment of slaughter, is the entire process tantamount to animal cruelty or benevolence?

Exhibit A: Happy cow

• At what point is it rational to draw the line on animal consumption? Most recoil at the prospect of eating dogs or dolphins (or cannibalism), yet eat cows and pigs. Do we rank by intelligence? Ability to feel pain? Cuteness? Similar can apply to vegans, how small is too small to care about? Most vegans won't eat insects, but also likely won't go to extreme Jainist levels of sweeping the path in front of themselves in case they were to step on one or worry about the insects that were inevitably killed in the harvesting of crops.

More vegan than you.

I'm not pretending to have answers on any of this. Extending universal ethics to all animals is a nice idea, but so is eating steak.

Anyway, on to my actual experiences of eating vegan. I've detailed my usual eating habits in a previous post; essentially lots of animal products and vegetables, some grains and fruit and a bit of junk when my sweet tooth needs a fix. This generally works out as a high protein, moderate carb, moderate fat intake (somewhere around 30:30:40 P:F:C) and I've found it works pretty well for maintaining physique and performance whilst providing satiety and ability to eat a flexible range of foods.

I still can't believe I survived a whole month on this sort of thing.

Cue veganism. Cue a large calorie, protein and fat deficit. Chief of concern among these is protein, which tends to be the main worry amongst active people considering a vegan diet. Vegan protein sources that don't come coupled with a significant portion of carbs or fat are relatively few, so analogously replacing meat with a direct macro-nutrient equivalent isn't always possible, but such sources do exist:

• Tofu and tempeh - I limited these due to the non conclusive evidence on soy's feminising effects and my current state of quite enjoying being a man.
• Seitan - essentially wheat meat, not good if you are gluten sensitive, but great otherwise, albeit hard to get hold of.
• Rice, pea and hemp powders - I had a big bag of pea protein that a friend rejected due to it tasting like a dusty barn, so I used this in small amounts throughout the month. Pea protein is among the cheapest protein powders and has a very high leucine content, which is arguably the most important amino acid to signal anabolism, so this might just be the vegan athlete's saviour.

Sources of protein which come bundled with a hefty whack of fat include:

The supermodel of the plant food world

• Nuts, seeds and nut butters - These are tasty and many contain beneficial micro-nutrients in addition to protein and fat, however too much consumption can be detrimental due to the high omega 6 content. Too much omega 6 can block omega 3 metabolism pathways and therefore lead to the same effects as omega 3 deficiency, which is already a potential issue on the vegan diet.
• Chia seeds - darling of Instagramistas world over, these little black seeds provide a decent amount of protein and nutrients but importantly also omega 3 fatty acids that are regularly lacking in a vegan diet.
• Flax seeds - These are chia's less glamorous cousins, slightly less nutritious but they do a good enough job.

Finally, sources of protein that come in a nice carby package include:

I don't think I can stress just how many of these goddamn things I ate over the past month.

• Lentils, beans and legumes - probably the most important food to vegans. Beans made up the bulk of my intake during this month due to their protein content, decent micro-nutrients, versatility, high fibre and low cost. If you want to eliminate meat from your diet, get friendly with beans.
• Grains - Though we generally think of grains as carb sources, many have a nice little bit of protein tucked away. Oats are about 17% protein when dry, wheat flour is about 10%, buckwheat 14% and if you want to get fancy, quinoa is about 15% protein. 
• Vegetables - okay, they are a crap source of protein in terms of density, however in terms of macro-nutrient ratios, vegetables like peas, bean sprouts, broccoli and green beans are pretty favourable as they are also low carb and practically zero fat. They aren't going to be a majority contributor to your protein needs, but the grams add up when you are getting your veggies in.

This list may lead you to the first realisation I had when eating vegan, that protein comes in small amounts from a large variety of sources. When eating an omnivorous diet, meal planning and tailoring of macro nutrients is easy: cook a lump of meat, that's protein sorted (and fat depending on choice). Add grains/potatoes for carbs. Add more fats if necessary. Add veggies for micro-nutrients and fibre. It's kids play. Tailoring macro-nutrients on a vegan diet is advanced algebra in comparison.

...Fuck it, just eat more beans

Firstly, unless only vegetables and nuts is appealing to you, a vegan diet is necessarily a high carbohydrate diet, as most readily available protein sources fall under the 'protein with carb' heading. When eating a high carbohydrate diet, in general we then want to bring fats down. Some fat is necessary for hormone synthesis (including the omega 3s that I have been banging on about at many points in this article), but in a high carb diet where there is sufficient fuel for the body, ingested fats are the most facile macro nutrient for the body to store as fat (perhaps unsurprisingly).

I decided to aim for a classic high carbohydrate macro nutrient split of approximately 25% Protein, 15% Fat, 60% Carbs, which for my maintenance calories ends up somewhere around 200 g protein, 55 g fat and 480 g carbs. I also tried to eat an almost entirely 'wholefood' diet, avoiding processed foods and limiting protein powders, which seems to be doing vegan on hard mode. This article is already running long, so here is a list of my thoughts, take-aways, general musings and advice to anyone thinking of trying a vegan diet:

• When eating vegan (albeit for only 30 days) I didn't feel any magical energy boost or alertness or ascend to a godly level of karmic bliss that many converts seem to talk of. However, I also didn't feel tired or weak like many avowed anti-vegans will talk of. I think a decent diet can come in a variety of forms. Try to eat a variety of whole foods, a good volume of vegetables and keep protein fairly high and you can't go too far wrong.
• A mechanism by which I think veganism helps people lose weight is also a mechanism by which I think no carb diets can help people lose weight. It's not a physiological one, but a psychological one. When entire families of foods are off limits, one has to think about almost everything that goes into their mouth. This promotes a mindfulness about what you are eating; quickly after "can I eat this?" come "should I eat this?", resulting in a more thoroughly thought out diet.
• It's hell of a lot of carbs. I'm fairly large, but a vegan diet will necessarily contain a lot of carbs for everyone. If you want to take in 0.5% of your body weight of carbs each day, its going to take some effort in both cooking and eating.
• This is especially true when those carbs need to encompass as much protein as possible and therefore also tend to contain a load of fibre. This meant the carbs came mainly in the form of various beans and lentils, buckwheat and whole wheat breads (I can't eat oats). Prepare for a lot of jaw work to get it in, and a lot of toilet time to get it back out.

The authentic vegan experience.

• I regularly undershot protein and total calories due to the sheer volume of food I had to eat. Sometimes I also went higher on the fat (in the form of nuts) to hit my calorie/protein goals with a much lower volume of food. Therefore it seems that 'long term' vegans with higher calorie requirements may have to opt for eating some more calorie dense foods and supplementing with protein shakes to avoid permanently eating.
• This leads to the second mechanism by which I think many people will lose weight on a vegan diet. Most unprocessed plant foods are full of fibre, this means the volume and satiety per calorie is huge, so when they make up the vast majority of your diet, prepare to be very full from not that many calories.
• If not supplementing with protein shakes, there is not a lot of room for 'junk' on a vegan diet if you are conscious of hitting protein targets. Various biscuits, crisps and sugary breakfast cereals are vegan, but eating these gives you carbs, possibly fat and not much else. That leaves protein (and micro nutrients) found wanting. As you don't have the option to eat a chicken breast and call it bulking like an average gym bro, filling up on junk calories can mean either overshooting daily calories to fulfil protein requirements, or undershooting protein.

Crap can be vegan too

• Vegan food requires planning unless you want to eat a plate of misery. Most of the best foods that I had fell in the family of bean stews, curries, chilli and the like. Meals like this can be incredibly tasty, satisfying and nutritionally complete. They also tend to take at least a few hours to make.
• In a pinch, some variant of hummus/bean dip made by blitzing 2 cans of chickpeas/butter beans with a load of spices and eating it by scooping it up with vegetables and pittas was a go-to meal for me. The macros are good (somewhere in the region of 60 g carbs and 30 g protein for 2 cans of butter beans) and pureeing the beans makes eating them a lot less effort. 
• I ate barely any soy and no Quorn during my month, making the whole thing much harder for myself. If you are a female or a male who doesn't mind rolling the dice on your ball health, have at it with the soy. If you like eating sponges posing as meat, get the Quorn in.

Yummmm.....

• Chia seed pudding is possibly the most wanky hipster food on the planet. It's also pretty awesome. As mentioned above, chia seeds are nutritional powerhouses. Soak them in some almond milk with stevia and add whatever else you feel like (cocoa, berries, nuts, granola), put it your prettiest jar, place it in the best lighting with a manicured background, take 18 photos, put the best one on Instagram and watch the likes roll in. Oh, also eat it.
• Soy sauce, miso, marmite, smoked paprika, sundried tomatoes and sesame oil can all give an umami flavour or 'meatiness' to your food; they are your friends.

Blessed flavour saviours.

• I don't think a vegan diet is ideal for athletes, especially those who weight train. Higher protein and calorie requirements are most easily met by animal products. A vegan diet can be done, but be prepared to spend a lot of time cooking and eating and make sure that you plan meals/supplements to cover potential gaps in micro nutrient intakes.
• For a more sedentary person or those who do light aerobic exercise, a vegan diet with a few additional supplements (B12, omega 3 and an iron/zinc would be a good idea) is definitely a feasible long term solution. Occasional blood tests and a monitoring of body weight would probably both be good ideas just to make sure that red blood cell counts and muscle mass stay at a healthy level.
• Ethically, it's very difficult not to concede that not eating meat beats eating meat in most cases. The 'happy cows' argument may have some merit, but outside of eating a small amount of very high welfare meat, just not eating meat is close to unarguably kinder. This led me to a bit of thinking and researching on the most ethical and environmentally friendly animal products to eat, for one who wishes to eat sustainably, but cover all the gaps that can arise in a vegan diet: 
• Number 1 would be high welfare, local eggs. Eggs are laid routinely by modern day chicken breeds and those from high welfare farms are likely to have a superior quality of life when compared to the majority of animals.
• Number 2 would be bivalves, including mussels, clams and oysters. There is debate in the vegan community on whether these can be eaten, because the extent of their central nervous system is such that they very likely cannot feel pain and they are arguably not even sentient. The farming of bivalves also has extremely low environmental impact compared to large animal farming. To top it all off, they are super nutritious and will plug all the gaps in a vegan diet incredibly well.

They have literally no idea what is going on.

• Number 3 would be small fish such as sardines, sprats and mackerel. These are some of the most nutritious animals you can eat, notably containing very high amounts of omega 3 fats. These are sentient animals that likely feel pain, however, they are very far down on the intelligence scale, highly abundant and can be fished with relatively low environmental impact.
• Bonus entry: When insects become a feasible food stock, I am all for them. If we collectively stop being squeamish little children and accept that a locusts are basically little flying shrimp, then we may be ready for the next food revolution. Insects such as crickets, meal worms and grasshoppers rival beef in terms of nutrition, but are some of the most efficient forms of animal protein to produce, requiring orders of magnitude less resource input than beef. Currently, farmed insects are pretty expensive due to low scales of operation and us still figuring out how best to farm a bunch of tiny flying things, but look for this to change in the not too distant future.
• One could essentially go on, ranking each animal product from most to least ethical based on research and the values that are most important to them, and this may be an interesting intellectual exercise for some. These are 3 of what I see as the least harmful animal products to welfare and the eco-system, but you may come up with a different order. Thinking about such things is probably a good first step.
• I am not going to completely give up animal products and I likely never will, however I think I will incorporate some of what I learned in this month.
• Beans are a great source of plant protein, fibre and nutrients and we should all probably be eating more of them.
• Getting 200 g of protein a day from plant sources was a struggle, but getting around 100 g is relatively easy (for me). Therefore I will try to start thinking of meat as more of a supplement and less of a cornerstone of my diet.
• I'll try replace a portion of intensively farmed meat in my diet with either the 3 foods listed above or higher welfare meat. On a PhD salary, cost is a concern here, as it is for many people, it would be nice to eat only cows that have roamed free on green pastures and been treated like gods, but we don't all have £30 for a ribeye everyday.

We can all dream.

• I'll replace some of the whey/casein protein I use with rice and pea proteins. The dairy industry is certainly not a shiny beacon of ethics and environmentalism so reducing demand there is a positive. Sure, rice and pea proteins taste like an old sandal, but with a bit of clever cooking they can be well hidden in savoury baked goods, stews and curries to add some nutrition without adding any unwanted funk.

That's my thoughts on the vegan diet for now. I'm sure I could keep going but this stream-of-consciousness ramble has gone on long enough, get in contact if you are a meat eater wanting to tell me I sound like a pussy, a vegan wanting to tell me I'm totally wrong and still an uncouth savage, or anyone else wanting a chat.