11 Common Myths About Vegan Diets

It is said that it can make people lose weight and even reverse killer diseases.

However… vegan proponents usually don’t tell you the full story.

They make it seem like there is overwhelming evidence in favor of the vegan diet.

But in reality, this evidence is weak and there is a large body of evidence that they are ignoring.

The truth is, vegan diets can work… at least for some people.

There are also some ethical and environmental arguments to be made for avoiding animal foods (even though I personally don’t agree with them).

But many vegan advocates are incredibly dishonest about animal foods and spread unscientific fear mongering to convince people that their diet is healthy.

Here are 11 common myths about vegan diets.

1. The Health Benefits of Vegan Diets Are Due to Avoiding Animal Foods

 

There are a number of studies showing health benefits of vegan and vegetarian diets (1).

The proponents of such diets like to attribute these health benefits to the avoidance of animal foods.

However, there are many other factors at play.

A properly planned vegan diet consists primarily of whole foods. It is often called a Whole-Foods, Plant-Based (WFPB) diet.

This diet doesn’t just eliminate animal foods… it also eliminates a number of foods that science has shown to be harmful.

What else do they remove, besides animal foods? Let’s have a look…

• Refined sugar: Causes insulin resistance and fatty liver. Strong links to obesity, diabetes and heart disease (2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
• Refined grains: Lead to rapid spikes in blood sugar, insulin resistance and weight gain. Strong links to many chronic, Western diseases (7, 8, 9).
• Vegetable Oils: High in inflammatory Omega-6 fatty acids, increase inflammation and oxidative damage (10, 11, 12).
• Trans Fats: Extremely harmful, man-made fats found in processed foods and linked to many serious diseases, especially heart disease (13, 14).

Not to mention that these diets also eliminate processed foods… which are low in nutrients and high in harmful ingredients and artificial chemicals.

I personally find it plausible that the benefits of vegan diets are largely caused by avoiding processed foods and harmful ingredients like added sugar. It has absolutely nothing to do with avoiding unprocessed animal foods.

In the studies on vegan diets, they usually compare against the junk food-laden Western diet, NOT a whole foods based diet like paleo or the Mediterranean diet.