PEGAN DIET SPECS

flippy1234 wrote: »

Looks similar to vegan but you do have meat as a side dish, not a main. I hate beans!

Veganism is an ethical position on animal exploitation, so eating animals but less than you did before isn't "similar" at all.

This is a diet huckster (Mark Hyman) seeing two separate things he wasn't making money on (veganism, paleo) and attempting to combine them into something that he could make money on. Since he fundamentally fails to understand at least one of the concepts, it's incoherent.

So out of curiosity I looked it up, and there are 13 "pillars" and nothing about macros, so I would not worry about specific pegan (new name is needed!) macros. I would figure out a good protein goal (I like .8 g x goal weight in lbs), since if you are new to cutting back on meat you might go lower than you want, especially if you do low calories.

On the pillars, my thoughts:

1) "Stay away from sugar, flour, and refined carbohydrates. He then says you can consume in moderation." Shrug, I kind of think sugar and highly refined carbs should be consumed in moderation too, although I don't think of pasta with a lot of veg and some protein as a "recreational drug." Actual paleo would cut out all grains.

2) "Eat mostly plants." I agree with this. I also agree about prioritizing non starchy veg. I think this is common sense advice and not really about a specific diet.

3) "Easy on fruits.... Some Paleo champions recommend eating mostly low-sugar fruits like berries, while some vegan advocates recommend all fruit equally. I find that most of my patients feel better when they stick to low-glycemic fruits and enjoy the others as a treat." I think this is dumb. Fruit can have a good amount of calories and isn't a replacement for non starchy veg, but beyond that I think telling people to limit the types of fruit they eat and to worry about fruit is bad advice, and not really about "gut health." Ugh! on this one.

4) "Stay away from pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, and GMO foods. Also, no chemicals, additives, preservatives, dyes, artificial sweeteners, or other junk ingredients. If you don’t have that ingredient in your kitchen for cooking, you shouldn’t eat it. Polysorbate 60, red dye 40, and sodium stearoyl lactylate (also known as Twinkie ingredients), anyone?" Sigh. He is assuming people are ignorant. I personally think it's a good idea to understand what you eat. I don't think any currently marketed GMOs are issues. I buy from local farms for personal and ethical reasons and so eat a bunch of organics, but I don't think there's good evidence that it matters for health, it's more expensive, and they do use some pesticides on organics too (approved ones).

5) "Eat foods containing healthy fats. I’m talking about omega-3 fatty acids and other good fats like those we find in nuts, seeds, olive oil, and avocados." I agree with this, and also about including fish in the diet. I also do tend to go for grassfed meat, although the difference in fat composition is not nearly as great as he suggests.

6) "Stay away from most vegetable, nut, and seed oils, such as canola, sunflower, corn, grapeseed, and especially soybean oil, which now accounts for about 10 percent of our calories. Small amounts of expeller or cold-pressed nut and seed oils like sesame, macadamia, and walnut oils are fine to use as condiments or for flavoring. Avocado oil is great for higher-temperature cooking." I do this personally. You will see much disagreement, especially re canola, from people I respect more than Hymen, however, like (if memory serves) Walter Willett.

7) "Avoid or limit dairy. Dairy doesn’t work for most people..." This is dishonest, IMO. Dairy doesn't work for most people worldwide due to a genetic mutation they don't have but most from northern and western Europe do have, and if dairy works for you I don't see any rational reason to avoid it unless you have an ethical or taste issue with it. That said, this is also a paleo thing AND a vegan thing, so might as well include it.

8) "Think of meat and animal products as condiments or, as I like to call them, “condi-meat” — not a main course. Vegetables should take center stage, and meat should be the side dish. Servings should be 4 to 6 ounces, tops, per meal. I often make three or four vegetable side dishes." I happen to agree with this. It's definitely NOT veganism, though.

9) "Eat sustainably raised or harvested low-mercury fish. If you are eating fish, you should choose low-mercury and low-toxin varieties such as sardines, herring, anchovies, and wild-caught salmon (all of which have high omega-3 and low mercury levels). And they should be sustainably harvested or farmed. Check out http://www.cleanfish.com/and http://www.foodthebook.com/to learn more about your fish options." I agree with this too.

10) "Avoid gluten." Sigh, total faddishness.

11) "Eat gluten-free whole grains sparingly. They still raise blood sugar and can trigger autoimmunity. All grains can increase your blood sugar." Sigh again, and not true with healthy people. I don't love grains and so tend to limit them because of personal preference, but I don't pretend that makes my diet healthier.

12) "Eat beans only once in a while. Lentils are best. Stay away from big starchy beans. Beans can be a great source of fiber, protein, and minerals. But they cause digestive problems for some, and the lectins and phytates they contain may impair mineral absorption." This is the worse and most woo-tastic aspect of paleo. If you cook the beans, they are fine. If they give you digestive issues, and soaking isn't sufficient sprouted is good. Personally, I think for how healthy they are, and such a good source of non animal protein, beans are underconsumed in the average American diet.

13) "Get tested to personalize your approach. What works for one person may not work for another. This is called bio-individuality and it is why I recommend that everyone eventually work with a functionally trained nutritionist to personalize his or her diet even further with the right tests." Well, this is self-serving and basically garbage, IMO.