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I’m the first person who will tell you that
going vegan is an astronomically beneficial

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decision for the planet, other humans, certainly
the animals, and your health…sometimes.

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There are so many ways to eat vegan that in
reality it doesn’t always equate to glowing

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health. Still, vegans abound who have seen
profound improvement in their health through

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dietary change and athletes who’ve seen
significant improvement in performance and

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recovery. But are these success stories based
in science? Or can we be just as healthy consuming

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animal products? Well my guest today has a
unique take on the matter as a vegan ultra-athlete

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and Registered Dietitian.

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Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome
to another vegan nugget. Nothing gets people

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up in arms so much as the debate on the perfect
way of eating, especially when you get into

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all the various factions of vegan dietary
approaches. It gets intense and health claims

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abound along with conflicting advice.

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Well endurance ultra-athlete and Registered
Dietitian Matt Ruscigno holds what is rather

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controversial view, at least in vegan circles,
that eating vegan isn’t necessarily the

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only way to be healthy. If you missed my first
video with Matt where he shares what he eats,

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be sure to check it out up there or in the
description.

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So let’s hear from Matt about eating vegan
for athletic performance, and in general,

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as well as the importance of not exaggerating
health claims:

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Matt, I want to thank you so much for
taking time out of your busy schedule to be

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on the channel.

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I’m honored to be here. Thank you
for having me.

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Can you speak a bit to, I mean, we
talked earlier about kind of what you eat

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and your philosophy with your own food but
can you speak kind of as a registered dietitian

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about eating vegan for athletic performance,
like what, what’s really the, of course

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there’s not “the” ideal but what is
something that people should try to trend

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towards as athletes?

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Right, great question and it’s something
on my mind especially right now having been

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at Vida Vegan Con in Austin where I gave a
presentation on why we shouldn’t exactly

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exaggerate health claims in vegansim because
being healthy and being vegan aren’t the

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same thing and the science is very complicated
and you know when I’m wearing my professional

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hat, the truth is you can eat animal products
and be healthy. You know, there are people

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who do it, there are people who have had great
results from Paleo. You know, they’ve lowered

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their cholesterol levels to which we vegans
say “No, they’re eating all that meat

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their cholesterol’s going to skyrocket”.
It’s like well there’s some published

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research that says they’re actually lowered
cholesterol levels eating Paleo, and we have

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to be realistic about these results and that
they exist. It’s naive to think the only

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way to be healthy is to be vegan. Now that
said, of course, I’m an ethical vegan and

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my stance is that you can be just as healthy
while being vegan. And we have actual research

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that says people who eat more plant foods
live longer, they have lower rates of chronic

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disease, all that stuff that’s based on
good, actual peer-reviewed research. And that’s

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great to have and I think it really gives
strength to our argument but to say that you

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have to be vegan to be healthy I don’t think
is true. And so for athletes, it’s the same

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sort of thing where you can perform just as
well and we have the examples you know, we

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have Scott Jurek, Rich Roll, we have the whole
PlantBuilt team, all those folks that are

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really kicking ass while being vegan but to
say that you have, that you are better to

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be vegan is, well, we don’t quite have the
research. We just have a lot of people who

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have given their own personal stories.

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For someone who is interested in athletics
or already is an athlete and is interested

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in transitioning to a vegan diet, what would
you recommend as far, because a lot of people

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have fears about, you know, well, how am I
gonna get this how am I gonna get that which

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ends up not being quite as complicated, I
think, as people think but what would you

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tell someone who is looking to that and wants
to make sure they can maintain their level

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of performance?

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Yeah absolutely, what I do, I get a
lot of clients like this that are very intelligent

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and they’re vegan-ish or an athlete-ish
and they say “I read all these books what

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do I actually do?” and my philosophy is
you need to start where you are. You know,

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do you really wanna be raw and 80/10/10 or
did you just read the book and you think it’s

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great. Is this this really practical for you,
do you have reasons to believe that this is

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better than any other way of eating. So it’s
all about starting where you are. You know,

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can you veganize the stuff that you’re already
eating and see how that feels. If you like

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broccoli and you’re familiar with cooking
broccoli, add it to more things, eat more

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of it. If you want to do some meat substitutes
for a little while, go right ahead. If you

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want to keep doing them, go right ahead. Just
make sure you are indeed eating actual fruits,

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vegetables, whole grains, beans are very important
for vegans and especially athletes, you know

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lots of nutrients, lots of protein, all those
amino acids, it’s really an important part

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of a healthy vegan diet in my opinion.

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You read about how they have kind of
anti-nutrient agents and if you soak them

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then it takes that out, is that something
that you ascribe to or that you know much

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about? Do you do that with your own?

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I think a lot of people are concerned
about these anti-nutrients and phytates and

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what not and when it’s true, those are present
in some plant foods but really the research

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shows that people who eat plant foods aren’t
getting nutrient deficiencies from these so-called

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anti-nutrients. So on paper yes they’re
there but in reality it doesn’t seem to

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matter for most people. When we get into like
young kids or someone who needs to restrict

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their diet for a certain reason, sure, maybe
you want to look closely at it but for most

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people it’s really not an issue. We really
get hung up on these very fine points and

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I think that that’s one, confusing and two,
difficult for people who just want to eat

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well, you know and I get a lot of people who
come from sort of a normal US cultural diet

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and they’ve never heard of any of these
things and those of us who are kind of seasoned

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in it are like well you can’t eat GMO, it
has to be local, it has to be organic and

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no you shouldn’t eat kale because it has
goitrogens and it’s like what the heck are

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you talking about, I just want to eat more
fruits and vegetables so you know let’s

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keep it simple. Let’s keep it simple and
not get hung up on these very fine points.

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Alright well, Matt I just want to thank
you again for taking time out of your schedule

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to be with us and for sharing your knowledge.

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Yeah absolutely, and thank you for having
me. It was great to talk with you. I love

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talking about all this stuff and thank you
for all the work that you do.

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I hope you enjoyed hearing from Matt on his
approach to simplifying vegan nutrition.

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While I completely agree that we vegans need
not and should not falsely inflate the health

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or any other benefits of eating vegan, the
astounding devastation of eating animals makes

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doing so completely unnecessary. As I’ve
said before in my videos, we don’t have

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to make things up—they’re bad enough as
it is.

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For me, it all boils down to the fact that
whether or not we can be just as healthy consuming

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animal products, doing so remains profoundly
devastating to the environment, diverts global

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food and water resources, and most importantly
violently ends the lives of trillions of beings

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every year. And that is not up for debate.

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I’m interested to hear what you think of
Matt’s approach. Do you think it’s possible

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to eat animal products and be healthy? Do
you think there is or needs to be an “ideal”

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way of eating vegan? Let me know in the comments!

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Be sure to check out the links in the description
to connect with Matt at this website where

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he offers nutrition counseling services, and
at his own vegan athlete video series Strongest

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Hearts where be profiles incredible vegan
athletes.

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If you enjoyed this video, give it a big thumbs
up. If you’re new here, do hit that big

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red subscribe button down there for more awesome
vegan content every Monday, Wednesday, and

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some Fridays and to not miss out the on the
rest of the Vegan Athlete series. If you want

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to help support Bite Size Vegan, check out
either of the support links in the video description

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below or click on the Nugget Army icon or
the link in the sidebar. Now go live vegan,

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keep nutrition simple, and I’ll see you
soon.

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I do have to admit that we vegans can get
a little carried away with exaggerated health

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claims.

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When you go vegan, you’ll never get another
pimple!

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If you go vegan you’ll never fart again!

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You’ll be able to run a marathon tomorrow!

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Being vegan means never having to blow your
nose again!

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Did your head come off? Go vegan and it will
pop right back on!

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Nothing cures decapitation like a healthy
vegan diet!

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When you go vegan, you’ll be a better dancer!

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A better lover!

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A better friend!

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You’ll rule the world!

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When you go vegan, you’ll never have body
odor again!