Keto and vegetables
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KameHameHaaaa
Posts: 837 Member
Someone told me that you don't need to eat a single vegetable to be healthy, just eat protein and fat. They said they don't eat veggies AT ALL since they started a LCHF diet and that vegetables are unnecessary for humans to eat. Kinda confused here....yeah I get potatoes and such are starchy, but where do you get your vitamins from then if you're not eating some asparagus or spinach etc? So, discuss, are vegetables necessary on a keto diet (or any diet, for that matter) ? Why, or why not?
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I think some people are more attune to how vegetables make them feel since they already are accustomed to eliminating so much from the standard american diet. Just like any other food, you can have adverse reactions from certain veggies. Some people have said nightshades make their joints hurt, for example. Me personally it doesn't matter so I don't cut any out other than the higher carb ones. Vegetables have been glorified as the number one food to focus on for so long I think because they are generally very low calorie and have vitamins and minerals0
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I wasn't the person who told you this, but I may as well have been. It's true. There's no need for any plants at all for great health. Here's one graph talking about vitamins and meat.
You'll note that not only are almost all the vitamins and minerals found in meat, they're all more bioavailable (so you need even less than normal). I argue with their statement about vitamin C, as there is no need for any on an all meat diet. But, the chart is mostly correct.
Stefansson said (in the 1920s or 1930s): "What is to be said is only that even with medium cooking there appears to be left over, in fresh red meat or fresh fish, an abundance if not a superabundance of all the vitamins and of all the other factors necessary for keeping a man in top form indefinitely."
This applies to all vitamins and minerals. Some of us never eat vegetables. We don't take vitamins or other supplements either. They are detrimental to our health. What vitamins they have are difficult (if not impossible) for our bodies to make use of. You don't need them.
Now, if you happen to enjoy vegetables, you don't need to cut them out entirely. You just don't need to force tons of them down if you hate them.0 -
I haven't cut them all the way out (they're handy filler, colourful, and a good way to soak up fatty sauces/dressings, PLUS they're delicious!), but I don't eat as much as people who know I'm grain-free probably think I do. My husband and I eat a LOT of spinach and celery, we eat zucchini a couple of times a week, and have broccoli at least once a week. We add mushrooms when we feel like it but they're also more or less a once a week kind of thing.
They're definitely not for the purpose of 'well, we'd better eat some vegetables'. I don't think our diet would suffer nutritionally if we stopped eating them, but the variety and flavour is nice.0 -
I believe some fruits and vegetables are better than none. There isn't any population that I'm aware of that avoided plant food -- the opposite is true. But I don't think the current recommendations for all kinds, types and colors of fruits and vegetables, especially in the large amounts that are recommended, is evidenced based. At all.
I also have an older relative who just doesn't eat "rabbit food". He's alive and well while other vegetable eating family members of the same age have passed away so I know that influences my belief as well.
That said, I absolutely love fruits and vegetables. I eat a lot of them and would happily eat more if I could tolerate the additional carbs.0 -
When I was eating almost nothing but take-out and prepared food, I never ate a vegetable unless it came in the form of a deep fried egg roll or appeared as broccoli in my Chinese food. I never ate a fruit unless it was blueberries or apples baked in a sugary, crust laden pie.
Now I eat 100 carbs a day consisting of fruits and vegetables. Typically I eat at least 2 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables every day.
Life is definitely better for me with fruits and vegetables in every way. Even though I could survive without them, luckily I don't have to.
Oh you're one of the lucky ones! I have to keep my carbs very low, I'm trying to stop my retinopathy
from getting worse. It will be nice to still see the few veggies that I do eat.
I still do Chinese food, but it's from the icky diet section. Steamed chicken and veggies ( which I get to throw 1/2 away) no rice and no brown sauce. The only redeeming part I get to put a ton of butter on it.
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KenSmith108 wrote: »When I was eating almost nothing but take-out and prepared food, I never ate a vegetable unless it came in the form of a deep fried egg roll or appeared as broccoli in my Chinese food. I never ate a fruit unless it was blueberries or apples baked in a sugary, crust laden pie.
Now I eat 100 carbs a day consisting of fruits and vegetables. Typically I eat at least 2 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables every day.
Life is definitely better for me with fruits and vegetables in every way. Even though I could survive without them, luckily I don't have to.
Oh you're one of the lucky ones! I have to keep my carbs very low, I'm trying to stop my retinopathy
from getting worse. It will be nice to still see the few veggies that I do eat.
I still do Chinese food, but it's from the icky diet section. Steamed chicken and veggies ( which I get to throw 1/2 away) no rice and no brown sauce. The only redeeming part I get to put a ton of butter on it.
It's the constipation relief that's the best part of fruits/veg. Although I've heard that high fat eating can accomplish the same goal. Any way the jobs gets done, it's all good.
How True, How True! Very well lubed.
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I've never found that fruits/veg help with constipation, but I do eat a ton of them. I don't think they have much effect on my regularity one way or the other. I love them, and believe they are a healthy part of my diet (but I'm not low carb by most standards, and not a meatavore).KenSmith108 wrote: »When I was eating almost nothing but take-out and prepared food, I never ate a vegetable unless it came in the form of a deep fried egg roll or appeared as broccoli in my Chinese food. I never ate a fruit unless it was blueberries or apples baked in a sugary, crust laden pie.
Now I eat 100 carbs a day consisting of fruits and vegetables. Typically I eat at least 2 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables every day.
Life is definitely better for me with fruits and vegetables in every way. Even though I could survive without them, luckily I don't have to.
Oh you're one of the lucky ones! I have to keep my carbs very low, I'm trying to stop my retinopathy
from getting worse. It will be nice to still see the few veggies that I do eat.
I still do Chinese food, but it's from the icky diet section. Steamed chicken and veggies ( which I get to throw 1/2 away) no rice and no brown sauce. The only redeeming part I get to put a ton of butter on it.
It's the constipation relief that's the best part of fruits/veg. Although I've heard that high fat eating can accomplish the same goal. Any way the jobs gets done, it's all good.
ps: grains, on the other hand totally mess up my regularity.0 -
They aren't necessary. But I enjoy them, they don't have any bad effects on me(the low carb ones I mean), and make a great carrier for cheese and butter.0
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I don't like vegetables, and I'm pretty happy to hardly ever eat them. I enjoy mushrooms but they are a fungus, and I love avocado but that is a fruit. So I don't think I actually eat any veggies, now that I think about it.0
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
I've never found that fruits/veg help with constipation, but I do eat a ton of them. I don't think they have much effect on my regularity one way or the other. I love them, and believe they are a healthy part of my diet (but I'm not low carb by most standards, and not a meatavore).KenSmith108 wrote: »When I was eating almost nothing but take-out and prepared food, I never ate a vegetable unless it came in the form of a deep fried egg roll or appeared as broccoli in my Chinese food. I never ate a fruit unless it was blueberries or apples baked in a sugary, crust laden pie.
Now I eat 100 carbs a day consisting of fruits and vegetables. Typically I eat at least 2 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables every day.
Life is definitely better for me with fruits and vegetables in every way. Even though I could survive without them, luckily I don't have to.
Oh you're one of the lucky ones! I have to keep my carbs very low, I'm trying to stop my retinopathy
from getting worse. It will be nice to still see the few veggies that I do eat.
I still do Chinese food, but it's from the icky diet section. Steamed chicken and veggies ( which I get to throw 1/2 away) no rice and no brown sauce. The only redeeming part I get to put a ton of butter on it.
It's the constipation relief that's the best part of fruits/veg. Although I've heard that high fat eating can accomplish the same goal. Any way the jobs gets done, it's all good.
ps: grains, on the other hand totally mess up my regularity.
In my old world... white rice = cement
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Cement plug. Yup.KenSmith108 wrote: »Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
I've never found that fruits/veg help with constipation, but I do eat a ton of them. I don't think they have much effect on my regularity one way or the other. I love them, and believe they are a healthy part of my diet (but I'm not low carb by most standards, and not a meatavore).KenSmith108 wrote: »When I was eating almost nothing but take-out and prepared food, I never ate a vegetable unless it came in the form of a deep fried egg roll or appeared as broccoli in my Chinese food. I never ate a fruit unless it was blueberries or apples baked in a sugary, crust laden pie.
Now I eat 100 carbs a day consisting of fruits and vegetables. Typically I eat at least 2 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables every day.
Life is definitely better for me with fruits and vegetables in every way. Even though I could survive without them, luckily I don't have to.
Oh you're one of the lucky ones! I have to keep my carbs very low, I'm trying to stop my retinopathy
from getting worse. It will be nice to still see the few veggies that I do eat.
I still do Chinese food, but it's from the icky diet section. Steamed chicken and veggies ( which I get to throw 1/2 away) no rice and no brown sauce. The only redeeming part I get to put a ton of butter on it.
It's the constipation relief that's the best part of fruits/veg. Although I've heard that high fat eating can accomplish the same goal. Any way the jobs gets done, it's all good.
ps: grains, on the other hand totally mess up my regularity.
In my old world... white rice = cement
And most breads.
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I am not eating any veggies or fruit (when I am in compliance, this last week was a mess) and doing fine. I do not like most veggies and am sensitive to nightshades and fructose among lots of other things. My only plant-based foods are the occasional nut butter.0
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KameHameHaaaa wrote: »Someone told me that you don't need to eat a single vegetable to be healthy, just eat protein and fat. They said they don't eat veggies AT ALL since they started a LCHF diet and that vegetables are unnecessary for humans to eat. Kinda confused here....yeah I get potatoes and such are starchy, but where do you get your vitamins from then if you're not eating some asparagus or spinach etc? So, discuss, are vegetables necessary on a keto diet (or any diet, for that matter) ? Why, or why not?
Some ppl only eat meat/fat. I'm not real big on deleting an entire food group. That's why Id never be a vegetarian either.
I think varieties of food types were put here because we need to eat them, but more power to ppl who don't. I happen to love veggies, tho. Asparagus with bearnaise, summer squash with nutmeg and butter, green beans with bacon, mmmmmm....0 -
When I eat all animal products and cut out plants, I feel AMAZING. But I do tend to eat them a few times a week because my husband psychologically needs the variety and I'll taste whatever we cook. He's going out of town for a week or two next month and I plan to eat on the Goat diet (even going to try lactose free.. ungh...)0
