I’m the first person who will tell you that going vegan is an astronomically beneficial
decision for the planet, other humans, certainly the animals, and your health…sometimes.
There are so many ways to eat vegan that in reality it doesn’t always equate to glowing
health. Still, vegans abound who have seen profound improvement in their health through
dietary change and athletes who’ve seen significant improvement in performance and
recovery. But are these success stories based in science? Or can we be just as healthy consuming
animal products? Well my guest today has a unique take on the matter as a vegan ultra-athlete
and Registered Dietitian.
Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. Nothing gets people
up in arms so much as the debate on the perfect way of eating, especially when you get into
all the various factions of vegan dietary approaches. It gets intense and health claims
abound along with conflicting advice.
Well endurance ultra-athlete and Registered Dietitian Matt Ruscigno holds what is rather
controversial view, at least in vegan circles, that eating vegan isn’t necessarily the
only way to be healthy. If you missed my first video with Matt where he shares what he eats,
be sure to check it out up there or in the description.
So let’s hear from Matt about eating vegan for athletic performance, and in general,
as well as the importance of not exaggerating health claims:
Matt, I want to thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to be
on the channel.
I’m honored to be here. Thank you for having me.
Can you speak a bit to, I mean, we talked earlier about kind of what you eat
and your philosophy with your own food but can you speak kind of as a registered dietitian
about eating vegan for athletic performance, like what, what’s really the, of course
there’s not “the” ideal but what is something that people should try to trend
towards as athletes?
Right, great question and it’s something on my mind especially right now having been
at Vida Vegan Con in Austin where I gave a presentation on why we shouldn’t exactly
exaggerate health claims in vegansim because being healthy and being vegan aren’t the
same thing and the science is very complicated and you know when I’m wearing my professional
hat, the truth is you can eat animal products and be healthy. You know, there are people
who do it, there are people who have had great results from Paleo. You know, they’ve lowered
their cholesterol levels to which we vegans say “No, they’re eating all that meat
their cholesterol’s going to skyrocket”. It’s like well there’s some published
research that says they’re actually lowered cholesterol levels eating Paleo, and we have
to be realistic about these results and that they exist. It’s naive to think the only
way to be healthy is to be vegan. Now that said, of course, I’m an ethical vegan and
my stance is that you can be just as healthy while being vegan. And we have actual research
that says people who eat more plant foods live longer, they have lower rates of chronic
disease, all that stuff that’s based on good, actual peer-reviewed research. And that’s
great to have and I think it really gives strength to our argument but to say that you
have to be vegan to be healthy I don’t think is true. And so for athletes, it’s the same
sort of thing where you can perform just as well and we have the examples you know, we
have Scott Jurek, Rich Roll, we have the whole PlantBuilt team, all those folks that are
really kicking ass while being vegan but to say that you have, that you are better to
be vegan is, well, we don’t quite have the research. We just have a lot of people who
have given their own personal stories.
For someone who is interested in athletics or already is an athlete and is interested
in transitioning to a vegan diet, what would you recommend as far, because a lot of people
have fears about, you know, well, how am I gonna get this how am I gonna get that which
ends up not being quite as complicated, I think, as people think but what would you
tell someone who is looking to that and wants to make sure they can maintain their level
of performance?
Yeah absolutely, what I do, I get a lot of clients like this that are very intelligent
and they’re vegan-ish or an athlete-ish and they say “I read all these books what
do I actually do?” and my philosophy is you need to start where you are. You know,
do you really wanna be raw and 80/10/10 or did you just read the book and you think it’s
great. Is this this really practical for you, do you have reasons to believe that this is
better than any other way of eating. So it’s all about starting where you are. You know,
can you veganize the stuff that you’re already eating and see how that feels. If you like
broccoli and you’re familiar with cooking broccoli, add it to more things, eat more
of it. If you want to do some meat substitutes for a little while, go right ahead. If you
want to keep doing them, go right ahead. Just make sure you are indeed eating actual fruits,
vegetables, whole grains, beans are very important for vegans and especially athletes, you know
lots of nutrients, lots of protein, all those amino acids, it’s really an important part
of a healthy vegan diet in my opinion.
You read about how they have kind of anti-nutrient agents and if you soak them
then it takes that out, is that something that you ascribe to or that you know much
about? Do you do that with your own?
I think a lot of people are concerned about these anti-nutrients and phytates and
what not and when it’s true, those are present in some plant foods but really the research
shows that people who eat plant foods aren’t getting nutrient deficiencies from these so-called
anti-nutrients. So on paper yes they’re there but in reality it doesn’t seem to
matter for most people. When we get into like young kids or someone who needs to restrict
their diet for a certain reason, sure, maybe you want to look closely at it but for most
people it’s really not an issue. We really get hung up on these very fine points and
I think that that’s one, confusing and two, difficult for people who just want to eat
well, you know and I get a lot of people who come from sort of a normal US cultural diet
and they’ve never heard of any of these things and those of us who are kind of seasoned
in it are like well you can’t eat GMO, it has to be local, it has to be organic and
no you shouldn’t eat kale because it has goitrogens and it’s like what the heck are
you talking about, I just want to eat more fruits and vegetables so you know let’s
keep it simple. Let’s keep it simple and not get hung up on these very fine points.
Alright well, Matt I just want to thank you again for taking time out of your schedule
to be with us and for sharing your knowledge.
Yeah absolutely, and thank you for having me. It was great to talk with you. I love
talking about all this stuff and thank you for all the work that you do.
I hope you enjoyed hearing from Matt on his approach to simplifying vegan nutrition.
While I completely agree that we vegans need not and should not falsely inflate the health
or any other benefits of eating vegan, the astounding devastation of eating animals makes
doing so completely unnecessary. As I’ve said before in my videos, we don’t have
to make things up—they’re bad enough as it is.
For me, it all boils down to the fact that whether or not we can be just as healthy consuming
animal products, doing so remains profoundly devastating to the environment, diverts global
food and water resources, and most importantly violently ends the lives of trillions of beings
every year. And that is not up for debate.
I’m interested to hear what you think of Matt’s approach. Do you think it’s possible
to eat animal products and be healthy? Do you think there is or needs to be an “ideal”
way of eating vegan? Let me know in the comments!
Be sure to check out the links in the description to connect with Matt at this website where
he offers nutrition counseling services, and at his own vegan athlete video series Strongest
Hearts where be profiles incredible vegan athletes.
If you enjoyed this video, give it a big thumbs up. If you’re new here, do hit that big
red subscribe button down there for more awesome vegan content every Monday, Wednesday, and
some Fridays and to not miss out the on the rest of the Vegan Athlete series. If you want
to help support Bite Size Vegan, check out either of the support links in the video description
below or click on the Nugget Army icon or the link in the sidebar. Now go live vegan,
keep nutrition simple, and I’ll see you soon.
I do have to admit that we vegans can get a little carried away with exaggerated health
claims.
When you go vegan, you’ll never get another pimple!
If you go vegan you’ll never fart again!
You’ll be able to run a marathon tomorrow!
Being vegan means never having to blow your nose again!
Did your head come off? Go vegan and it will pop right back on!
Nothing cures decapitation like a healthy vegan diet!
When you go vegan, you’ll be a better dancer!
A better lover!
A better friend!
You’ll rule the world!
When you go vegan, you’ll never have body odor again!