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2025-03-21
I asked myself this question back in 2018 when I started changing my diet from omnivore to vegan. But let's go back
a little further. When I was in my early teens, my diet would mainly consist of bread, meat, milk, and sweets. It's
a wonder I am still alive :-]
Jokes aside, I heard pretty often that young people can get away with bad lifestyles. Some say it's because they are
still growing. Maybe it also has to do with the short exposure to their lifestyle choices so they don't have such a
big impact on their body. In any case, for the longest time I had been under the assumption that a meal without meat
is not a proper meal. And that vegetables might be healthy but that you don't really need them that much. Well, as
many things do, my diet starting changing once I moved out from home. I still took in animal products such as eggs
and chicken. But, at least, the consumption of fatty and red meats, milk, and cheeses seemed to decrease. This was
simply because your fridge only supplies those foods that you yourself provide. And in this case I didn't buy a
whole spectrum of foods but rather selected a few that, I thought, would be the right ones for my lifestyle. That
lifestyle, at that time, was predominantly revolved around sports. It still is today, but in a different way. More
on that later. Things stayed like that for many of the following years. One thing that changed though, was my perception
of what kinds of foods could be more beneficial for the development of my mind and body. Year after year, vegetables
replaced many of the not so healthy foods. I started experimenting with protein shakea as a way to replace the missing
proteins from my now vegetable-centric diet. One more thing that I observed was that my breakfast was almost vegan.
Since I moved out from home I've basically been eating the same breakfast: Oatmeal, in different variations. The first
years mainly with fruits and yoghurt, nowadays with various nuts and with plan-based milk. I evolved my diet to be as
efficient and nutritious as possible, as I've been steadily increasing my focus on sport, the healthy lifestyle, and
a clear mind. Fast forward to 2019 and the only animal products I consumed were chicken and occasionally some milk.
My roommate at that time introduced me to delicious vanilla soy milk which slowly replaced the remaining dairy products
that I would in some instances still consume. So, there I was, with the only product that was non-vegan being chicken. So,
I thought "What if I replaced chicken with a vegan alternative. Then my diet would be fully vegan. I could try it out,
just for fun." And I did. I started using Tempeh instead of chicken, and, honestly, it wasn't too bad. Especially
when preparing Tempeh properly. Obviously, I didn't fully restrict myself to animal products at that time. So, from time to time,
I would buy things like ham sandwiches. That was mostly on weekends as a treat. Since then I consciously
reduced even the little treats until I reached a point of full veganism. There might still be instances when I consume
animal products, but that is because of politeness when eating self-made meals by others or to reduce food waste.
Other than that, my diet is fully vegan! You can see that my transformation was quite natural and didn't happen over night. And for anyone
who is contemplating doing something like this, I suggest doing it the same way. That is, taking your time with the change
and not being harsh with yourself. Everything takes time, especially changing something so deep-rooted as (eating) habits
that also have some social construct embedded in them.
Coming to the main topic. Over the years I read more and more about dieting and foods to incorporate or avoid in
your diet. Part of my research also focused on the question if a vegan diet is detrimental to endurance and muscle
strength. This is especially interesting for me as I'm physically quite active. A quick search on Google scholar yields some
interesting research that could help us understand the impact of vegan diets on performance and overall health for
physically active people.
In their
paper,
Boutros et al. examine endurance and muscle strength differences between vegan and omnivore participants. The authors
"studied 56 healthy young lean physically active women [...] classified as vegan (n = 28) or omnivore (n = 28) based
on their eating habits. All volunteers followed either a vegan or an omnivore diet for at least 2 years." The
results show that "vegans had a significantly higher estimated VO2 max [...] and submaximal endurance time
to exhaustion compared with omnivores." Further, "submaximal endurance might be better in vegans compared with omnivores."
The authors suggest that "[o]ne potential mechanism that could explain the greater level of endurance performance in vegans
may be a higher amount of carbohydrate intake. Evidence has suggested that greater carbohydrate intake may be associated
with a better endurance performance and this could be due to higher muscle glycogen storage." Also, "[o]ther potential
mechanisms that may explain the better endurance performance in vegans could be due to favorable oxidative stress and
inflammation profiles."
In their
explorative study,
Pohl et al. explain that "existing literature indicates the influence of particularly important nutrients [...] on
molecular signaling in tissues and in the long-term different diet regimens may therefore affect exercise performance."
Furthermore they suggest that "[v]egan and vegetarian diets possess potentially beneficial properties for the gut
microbiome and might therefore influence those mechanisms which may affect in the long-term exercise performance."
Finally, Durkalec-Michalski et al. present an
interventional study
on "the effect of a four-week vegan diet [...] during a four-week high-intensity functional training [...] on performance,
training results and blood biochemical indices" in a mixed group. The authors discuss that "[a]fter the four-week
nutritional interventions, individual groups experienced a significant increase in the number of repetitions performed
[...] and a significant improvement in the speed and a shorter time of completing training units [...]." Here, the authors
mention that, at least for short and intense cross-training exercises, the increased intake of carbohydrates in vegan
diets does not seem to have an effect on the performance of the test participants. The authors also mention that
"endurance training tends to reduce iron stores" and that "a high prevalence of iron depletion and anaemia [in vegetarian
diets] are based on the poor bioavailability of iron from plant sources." However, "iron deficiency anaemia rarely occurs
in vegetarian athletes and a mild iron deficiency is not likely to impair performance. Surprisingly, contrary to what is
commonly believed, this study did not reveal any significant changes in iron metabolism markers (iron, transferrin,
ferritin) between the groups." The authors go on to talk about mixed observations in other studies regarding iron
metabolism markers in people with vegan and omnivore diets.
From my personal observations, in the six years that I am following it, I couldn't observe any
direct negative effects from my vegan diet on endurance, muscle strength, and overall well-being. In fact, in these
six years my strength and endurance have steadily increased albeit it probably having more to do with the regular workouts
rather than dramatic changes from the different diet. There have definitely been other observable positive effects, though.
Since the change to plant-based products, I noticed that I very rarely get inflammations that I would usually get when
following an omnivore diet. Those are, for instance, inflammation of my gums or my skin. Some studies
[1,
2,
3]
suggest that there might be a link between a vegan diet and reduced inflammatory markers. Other studies explain, though,
that the observations are not definitive and further ones are needed to support this claim. What is definitive is that
some meats negatively impact inflammatory markers in humans, as shown
here.
Especially red meats and poultry (and with that eggs) contain the omega-6 fat arachidonic acid which is shown to cause
inflammation. This acid can't be found in vegetable sources. This could at the same time and potentially be disadvantageous
for vegans as theses acids do have some benefits.
One other thing I noticed is that I can process foods much quicker and easier now. I don't feel bloated, never
have an upset stomach, and feel much lighter during my workouts with a strictly vegan diet. I can definitely feel the
contrast on the rare occasion that I do consume some animal products, especially when they are greasy and overly spicy.
Then, I get problems with my digestion and feel sluggish. I also notice that a plant-based diet helps me get through the
day easier without fatigue. This could be due to the omnivore diets often being heavier. By now, I barely consume any added fats
and keep my meals light and natural. The same can't always be said about omnivore meals that can potentially be heavily
processed. But then again, this might have more to do with preparing one's own meals versus eating out. I noticed that I pretty
much fully stopped eating out and that I prepare my own meals on a daily basis. Doing the same on an omnivore diet could yield
the same benefits that I mentioned above.
One last thing that I would like to discuss is the myths that go around in non-vegan communities. One thing
I often hear from people that are open-minded and tried out a vegan diet before is something like "I tried the plant-based
diet but after a couple of weeks I noticed a decline in mental and physical health. This probably has to do with something
missing in plant-based diets that my body needs." Well, I would argue that it isn't the vegan diet in its broader sense
that leads to such effects but rather the personal choice of a specific (vegan) diet. Becoming vegan by taking out all
the animal products in your current diet without any substitutions and additional provisions is unsustainable. And I
suspect that many people fail their transition because of that. Becoming vegan means informing oneself about macro- and
micronutrients, one's own predespositions, and the importance of complete and well-balanced diets in general. And I
recommend learning about this to anyone, even outside of veganism. I'm a big advocate of at least one
protein-rich food source in each meal. This is something many people miss when not substituting animal products with
plant-based products that are rich in proteins. Another example is the link of vegan diets and vitamin B12 deficiency.
It is true that vegans do need to supplements vitamin B12 in some form if not mitigating the deficiency directly through
certain foods. From my own observations, there seems to be
a consensus around non-vegans that a vegan diet is incomplete and can therefore not be healthy for humans, because of
the need for certain additional supplements. However, what most people don't know is that these deficiencies
are more of a symptom from a society that is, in a nutritional sense, based on a heavy meat industry which fails to
address needs for people with other diets rather than stemming from veganism as a root cause. Vitamin B12, for instance,
cannot be synthesized by either plants or animals. Instead, animals (and humans alike) get vitamin B12 through microorganisms
which are ingested with soil or bacteria. The reason vegans don't get enough vitamin B12 through a plant-based diet is
mostly because of plants being processed, that is, washed, peeled, etc., and the soil and bacteria being removed in the
process. Omnivores don't need to care about this as the animal products they ingest are rich in vitamin B12 from the raw
plants the animals consumed during their life. This is just one example of the skewed perception that currently exists
for some when thinking about plant-based diets. There are many more interesting facts and I suggest reading about if
you are interested in the topic. Going further into detail about them here would go beyond the scope of this article.
Finally, I would like to say that just seven years ago I believed that alternative diets like the vegan diet are delusional.
By informing myself about diets, tracking my health with regular blood samples, and gradually transitioning to a fully
plant-based diet I established a sustainable way of veganism, for myself. There will definitely be nuances for
other people with different physiologies. Or, a vegan diet might not be feasible at all for some people with certain
predespositions or health issues. Nevertheless, and perhaps because of it, our health, it is imperative to learn about
different diets, one's personal needs, and the possibilities of change.
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